Events — Exorcism = Liberation

All events are free to the public. Some require registration or reservations.

July

July 9

Exorcism = Liberation website launch

July 13
12:00—5:00pm

Prototypes of banners, stickers, and pins on display as part of LMCC/Open Studios at LMCC’s Governors Island Art Center. A collective listening of What is your first memory of dirt? at 4:00pm

August

Project launches in Chicago

Aug 12—Sept 3

Exorcism = Liberation will be part of Public Media Institute’s Democrazy: DNC Counter-Programming at Co-Prosperity. The DNC is returning to Chicago and Public Media Institute and Lumpen Magazine are inviting artists, writers, and community organizers to confront the legacy of the 1968 DNC protests, when artists and activists came together to protest the Vietnam War and were met with police violence and state repression. Democrazy will revisit these histories while engaging with the urgent political movements of today.

Exorcism = Liberation will participate with a window exhibition at Co-Prosperity and three slogan posters published in Lumpen Magazine 142: Democrazy.

September

Project launches in New York and Massachusetts with installation of posters, lawn signs and banners at all participating hubs

Sept 6
6:00pm

Activation of I came here to weep followed by a movement score performed by Martita Abril with ice pops, limbers de coco y limon, at Abrons Arts Center (Manahatta)

Sept 6—Nov 6

I came here to weep on view on the window of Abrons Art Center (Manahatta)

Sept 7
6:00pm

Activation of What is your first memory of dirt? followed by a movement score performed by devynn emory with ice pops, limbers de coco y limón, at The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn, NY)

Sept 7—Nov 6

What is your first memory of dirt? on view on the window of The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn, NY)

Sept 12
6:00pm

Codemakers event: Activation of Exorcism = Liberation and communal meal centering a dialogue on self-determination with Professor Joseph Krupczynski, Director of Civic Engagement & Service-Learning, poet María José Giménez and Stephanie Fetta, Associate Professor of Latinx Literature & Culture, presented by UMass Fine Arts Center at the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts lobby (Amherst, MA)

Sept 14
7:00pm

Activation of Exorcism = Liberation followed by a movement score performed by Martita Abril at CATCH 76! with ice pops, limbers de coco y limon, at The Chocolate Factory Theater (Queens, NY)

Sept 14—Nov 6

Exorcism = Liberation on view on the gate of The Chocolate Factory Theater (Queens, NY)

Sept 15—Oct 15

Pioneer Valley Transit Authority interior bus signs in Western MA installed

Sept 15—Nov 6

I came here to weep on view on the gate of A.P.E. Ltd (Northampton, MA)

Sept 17—Nov 6

Exorcism = Liberation, I came here to weep, and What is your first memory of dirt? banners on view in the windows of CENTRO - Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College at The Silberman School of Social Work (Manahatta)

Sept 21
2:00pm

Activation of I came here to weep and Long Table discussion with invited guests Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Sami Hopkins and Theodore (ted) Kerr at ISSUE Project Room (Brooklyn, NY)

Sept 25—Nov 6

Exorcism = Liberation, I came here to weep, and What is your first memory of dirt? banners on view in the windows of CPR – Center for Performance Research (Brooklyn, NY)

Sept 28
2:00pm—4:00pm

Activation of What is your first memory of dirt? with tea and dialogue at The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center part of Historias Launch Block Party (Manahatta)

Sep 28—Nov 6

What is your first memory of dirt? on view on the exterior of The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center building part of Historias, an expansive citywide initiative by Clemente to re-center Latinx narratives in NYC (Manahatta)

October

Installation of posters, lawn signs and banners at Chicago participating hubs

Oct 5
10:00am-4:00pm

Installation of 600 lawn signs along Chicago streets with Experimental Sound Studio, marking the history of Puerto Ricans from Lincoln Park, Logan Square to Humboldt Park. This is a community event in each neighborhood, handing out the project's lawn signs, and placing them along a map. Light refreshments served. To participate and/or get your own lawn sign: bit.ly/Liberation-Marking (Chicago, IL)

Oct 5—Nov 17

The Honeycomb Network presents, I came here to weep, an interactive exhibit featuring sound, text, papel-maché masks, and photographs from Castro’s body of work on grief, ritual, climate disaster, and the Caribbean diaspora (Chicago, IL)

Oct 5
6:00pm

Opening of the exhibit, I came here to weep, at The Honeycomb Network. The opening includes a listening session of the score, followed by designing and constructing “Grief Wreaths” utilizing medicinal plants and flowers with Denise Ruiz, and closing with a sound bath lead by Chrysalis Collective Member Jasmin, founder of Of the Mother. Get tickets. (Chicago, IL)

Oct 6
12:00pm

Activation of What is your first memory of dirt? with community garden members centering land and remembrance as a collective tool toward liberation at La Huerta Roots & Rays Garden as part of their Autumn Equinox Celebration with refreshments, drum circle with Entera Music & Wellness and a Water Ceremony with Cristina Puzio (Chicago, IL)

Oct 10
6:00pm

Activation of Exorcism = Liberation and Long Table discussion, Art as Civic Ritual, with invited guests Tonika Johnson, Faheem Majeed, Bindu Poroori, and Gibran Villalobos at 21c Museum Hotel Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Oct 16
5:00pm

Storytelling and Aural Archive - What is your first memory of dirt?, centering family, land, and remembrance as a collective tool towards liberation. Local teens interview their families and neighbors about their first memories of land at Holyoke Public Library with Holyoke Media. (Holyoke, MA)

Oct 17
4:30pm

Activation of I came here to weep and Long Table discussion with Professor Paul Schroeder Rodriguez and La Causa students focusing on climate disaster and communal care highlighting Casa Pueblo in Puerto Rico, at Amherst College Frost Library (Amherst, MA)

Oct 17
7:00pm

Community meal and activation of Exorcism = Liberation with La Causa students and faculty following library activation and dialogue. (Amherst, MA)

Oct 25
1:00pm—10:00pm

Aural archive installation of What is your first memory of dirt? gathers participants’ first memories of dirt in an intimate, analog recording session at CPR – Center for Performance Research (Brooklyn, NY)

November

Nov 1
6:00pm

Community meal and activation of What is your first memory of dirt? centering a Puerto Rican meal prepared by Castro using local ingredients from Nuestras Raíces, a grassroots urban agriculture organization based in Holyoke founded by migrating farmers from Puerto Rico. The meal will center land and remembrance as a collective tool towards liberation. Presented by A.P.E. Ltd at The Workroom @ 33 Hawley (Northampton, MA)

Nov 5

For CPR’s “OPEN HOUSE: Election Night” all three project banners will be on display, and free pins and stickers will be distributed at an election watch party at CPR – Center for Performance Research (Brooklyn, NY)