Pasajes/Passages Forum

October 16th-19th, 2024

About:

Pasajes/Passages is an international forum on borders, exile and artistic creation with a global perspective that will take place across our border. Public humanities dialogues and artistic interventions will promote meaningful exchanges between multicultural communities and scholars, activists and artists from UC San Diego and around the world. Within UCSD, this program will enhance collaborations between the School of Arts and Humanities and the School of Social Sciences and contribute to UCSD’s efforts to become a Hispanic serving institution. In the wider region, it will strengthen collaborations between UC scholars, students, artists and other cultural agents across San Diego and Tijuana. Particularly, we will create partnerships and student exchanges with Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico), International Cities of Refuge Network (Norway), and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

Program:

October 16 

Faculty of Humanities, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Tijuana

Dialogue on contemporary writing across borders & Taller California Presentation 

*Presented in Spanish

Sala de usos múltiples de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales

11 am - 12:30 pm: Escritura y desplazamientos forzados en America Latin y la frontera México-Estados Unidos

Philippe Ollé Laprune (Visiting scholar, Latin American Studies, UCSD) and Julián Beltran (UABC)

This dialogue will focus on contemporary writing across borders. Ollé- Laprune will talk about writers in exile across Europe and Latin America. Beltrán will discuss contemporary Mexican narrative concerning violence in the US-Mexico border.

3 pm - 5 pm: Taller California

Lorena Gómez Mostajo (UCSD)  will present the independent artist-book press for artists in the Tijuana-San Diego area Taller California with examples from its catalogue.

October 17 
UCSD & Mujeres Brewhouse in Logan Heights
Lunch talk on Writing in Exile,
Roundtable on Subjectivities, Globalization, and Artistic Creation & DJ Set at Mujeres Brewhouse

*Writing in Exile Lunch talk in Spanish

*Subjectivities, Globalization, and Artistic Creation Roundtable and DJ Set in English

12 pm - 2 pm:  Escribir en el exilio

Dolores Huerta/Philip Vera Cruz, Student Center UCSD

With Philippe Ollé-Laprune (visiting scholar UCSD) and Rodolfo Suárez (UAM, Mexico)

Come and learn about the history of two outstanding projects of solidarity action created in Mexico that protect world artists in exile. Pasajes/Passages is working towards a program of student mobility connected to these initatives. The conversation will be in Spanish.

5 pm - 6:30 pm: Subjectivities, globalization and artistic creation : Perspectives from Africa and Latin America

Mujeres Brew House, 1983 Julian Ave, San Diego

With Etienne Minoungou (Les Récréâtrales, Belgium-Burkina Fasso), Paulina León (FLACSO, Ecuador), Nadia Villafuerte (UCSD, Mexico-US), moderated by Amy Sara Carrol (UCSD)

Borders are places of hybridization where different forms of being and sensibilities meet to assert individuals and communities. These spaces, whether political, geographical, cultural, or even metaphorical, are breeding grounds for innovation and complex identity expressions inspired by in-betweenness, alterities, and undefined temporalities. The disruptions caused by forced displacement can lead to innovative creations or acts that constitute a form of reaction to these overwhelming realities. The three guests at this roundtable from Africa and Latin America are directly involved in such processes. Etienne Minoungou, with Les Récréâtrales, has set up a system that promotes theatrical creation in the African continent and beyond, taking into account the work of the diaspora. Nadia Villafuerte uses images and subjective temporalities to explore the realities of the Mexico-Guatemala border. Paulina Leon chooses a singular angle from which to reflect on how language and the body are affected by the experience of the border.

6:30 pm:  Shout! Music From the Rooftops

Halldór Heiðar Kristínarson (Iceland)

Halldor will DJ music selected from the archive of his activist media project that focuses on creating awareness of protest musicians and socially conscious artists from around the globe 

RSVP

October 18 

UCSD & The Front Gallery, San Ysidro
Lunch with Pasajes/Passages Guests & Grietas del Idioma Poetry Reading with Music

*Presented in Spanish and English

12 pm - 2 pm Lunch and informal conversation with Pasajes/Passages guests

Etienne Minoungou (Les Récréâtrales, Belgium-Burkina Fasso), Paulina León (FLACSO, Ecuador), Philippe Ollé-Laprune (visiting scholar UCSD), Nydia Pineda De Avila (UCSD)

Social Science Public Engagement Building, Room 721
UCSD

4:30 pm: Artistic Intervention

Sara Leghissa

exact place tbd

6 pm: Grietas Del Idioma Poetry Reading with Music

The Front Arte y Cultura, 147 West San Ysidro Blvd, San Ysidro

Poets:
Reina Maria Rodriguez (Cuba), Mohsen Emadi (Iran)

Musicians/Músicos:
Mariana Flores Bucio (voice/voz)
Boris Acosta Jaramillo (piano)
Wilfrido Terrazas (flutes/flautas, compositions/composiciones,
dirección/direction)

Readers:
Mónica Morales (Mexico), Philippe Ollé-Laprune (visiting scholar UCSD)

Reina María Rodriguez's poetry alternates gentle tones with bitter moments. Without falling into heavy lyricism or abstraction, she anchors her language in reality with a mixture of modesty and lucidity. Born on an island, she has experienced liminality and exile: her work makes words resonate to stir memories and seek correspondences between the immediate moment of the present and the traces of a past that never ceases to emerge in her mind. Mohsen Emadi's poetry is marked by a profound rejection, yet he shares with Reina María a taste for words that seem simple but are delicately put together. A stifled cry in his writing never gives in to the easy temptation to anger as the demands of poetic writing prevent over-schematic outbursts. The connection between these two works will resonate during a reading of their texts, and dialogue with the live music provided by Mariana Flores Bucio, Boris Acosta Jaramillo, and Wilfrido Terrazas.

RSVP

October 19
Centro Cultural Tijuana and Teatro Universitario Rubén Vizcaíno Valencia, UABC

*Presented in Spanish

12 pm - 2 pm CECUT
Roundtable: Traducción más allá de las fronteras

Translation across borders and media: Mohsen Emadi (Iran), Gaspar Orozco (Mexico), moderated by Anthony Harb (UCSD)

Public artistic intervention by Sara Leghissa

7 pm Teatro Universitario Rubén Vizcaíno Valencia, UABC
From the Lips to the Moon: Pouya Ehsaei and Tara Fatehi (Iran)

Curators:

Philippe Ollé-Laprune (ICORN/visiting scholar Latin American Studies, UCSD) is the coordinator of Latin America in the International Cities of Refuge Network, as well as writer, editor, publisher and cultural promoter. In 1999 he created casa Refugio Citlaltepetl in Mexico City, a cultural center that received and protected writers in exile until 2016. He is founding member of ICORN and is working to develop this initiative in Latin America and across the US-Mexico border. He is Visiting Scholar at UCSD in 2024-2025.

Nydia Pineda de Avila (History/Latin American Studies UCSD) is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at UCSD. Her work explores the history and politics of maps, art and science, multiculturalism and the movement of objects and people across scientific cultures in Early Modernity. She is also committed to the development of action-oriented cross-border and multilingual humanities projects.

Rodolfo Suarez (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico) is a Mexican philosopher of science and former rector of Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana de Mexico, Cuajimalpa. He supported the ICORN office for Latin America at UAM and is developing PASAJES/PASSAGES within the larger project Fronteras, with collaborations in Italy and Latin America. He is also the co-curator of Rumbos de Vida with Giula Palladini.

Giulia Palladini is a writer, researcher and educato. Her work strives for a situated and affective approach to writing, teaching and critical theory. She has collaborated as dramaturg to a number of critical and artistic projects in Europe and Latin America, in particular with the Colombian group Mapa Teatro. Her work is in dialogue with historical-materialism, feminisms, critical race theory, and with contemporary political movements.

Guest Speakers and Artists:

Boris Acosta-Jaramillo (Colombia/US) is a pianist, composer, and improviser celebrated for his diverse performances and innovative collaborations. His latest album, Echoes of Origin, showcases his deep exploration of improvisation and the blending of diverse musical traditions. Boris has worked with a wide array of musical and multidisciplinary artists and has served as a musical director for various touring bands and Off-Broadway shows, including the Tabula RaSa New York City Theater and Performance Lab. He has also been an Artist in Residence with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, contributing as an arranger and composer. His rich musical journey spans vibrant scenes across South and North America, Europe, and Asia. 

Julián Beltrán Pérez (México) is a research professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has a degree in Hispanic Language and Literature from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa and a PhD in Critical Theory from 17 Instituto de Estudios Críticos. He researches literature and violence in northern Mexico. He has presented her work in national and international conferences in Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Colombia among others. He is currently Coordinator of the Hispanic American Language and Literature undergraduate degree at UABC and is preparing the monograph: The palimpsest, a testimony about violence in northern Mexico in the light of memory and oblivion.

Mohsen Emadi (Iran-Mexico) is a poet, translator and filmmaker. Born and raised in Iran, he was an active member of Iranian Student Protests of July 1999 and participated in the Iranian presidential election protests in 2009, which forced him to leave the country. Consequently he lived in Finland, Czech Republic, and Spain. In Mexico since 2012, he works as a lecturer and researcher in poetry and comparative literature for various public institutes in the country. His poetic work has received various awards in Spain and Finland. 

Pouya Ehsaei (Iran) is a musician, sound designer, producer, curator and promoter from Iran, currently based in London. Pouya started his musical career in the underground scene of his hometown Tehran. He has since performed in acclaimed venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre and the Royal Academy of Arts as well as several festivals including Montreux Jazz Festival, Womex, Womad, Fusion, Shambala and Linecheck. Pouya is the leader of the band Ariwo and the figure behind the electronic and live music club night Parasang.

Tara Fatehi (Iran) is an artist, writer and performer. She works across performance, theatre, video, music, spoken word, dance and writing since 2006. Her work, at the intersection of the sociopolitical and the poetic, is primarily concerned with the ephemeral interactions between memories, words, bodies and sites. She has performed at the Royal Academy of Arts, United Nations Office at Geneva, V&A,  Stadtgarten Köln, SPILL Festival, Nuffield Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Toynbee Studios, Chelsea Theatre, HighFest and Molavi Theatre amongst other international sites. 

Mariana Flores Bucio (Mexico/US) is a singer and actress specialized in contemporary music and Mexican traditional musics. She has performed leading roles in classical and contemporary operas, has performed world premieres of several musical works, and has performed on important stages as a singer of Mexican vernacular music such as the Zócalo Capitalino, in Mexico City. She also produced and performed her successful vernacular music project "Morena del Alma". She is co-director of the vocal ensemble "Radical Ensamble" in Tijuana, Mexico. 

Anthony Harb (USA) researches the intersection of language, media, immigration, and education with a particular focus on emergent immigrant communities in the US. Harb’s research contends with how social inequality along the axes of race, gender, ethnicity, and citizenship status is negotiated and reconfigured through language practices and ideologies about those practices.

Halldór Heiðar Kristínarson (Iceland) is an investigative journalist and animal activist, as well as the creator and managing editor of the awarded music blog SHOUT! Music From the rooftops. He has a BSc degree in Audio Production from SAE Institute in Barcelona and an MA degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from The University of Iceland. The importance of music, to him, is a matter of survival and so he both listens and makes his own. He is currently based in Mexico.

Paulina León (Ecuador) is an artist, curator and scholar. Her production has as a transversal line of reflection and action the theories of gender and functional diversity. She has promoted the five editions of the Encuentro Iberoamericano de Arte, Trabajo y Economía / FLACSO (Ecuador); she directs Satélite, residencia en movimiento; she has curated several exhibitions for different museums and cultural spaces in the region. Among her latest curatorial projects are: ‘Volver a sentirnos’ (LASA, Vancouver, 2021), “Un jardín nuestro” (Museo de los Metales, Cuenca 2021 and Museo del Cacao, Guayaquil, 2022), “Cultivar gestos” (Museo Nacional del Cacao, 2023), and “Pensamiento manglar” (New Art City, 2024).

Sara Leghissa (Italy) is an independent artist based in Italy whose work encompasses performance, creation and curating. Her artistic practice is mainly developed in public spaces. Leghissa will present an unpublished piece developed for the festival, based on excerpts from a book by Valeria Luiselli Tell me How it Ends. An Essay in Forty Questions. The artistic device developed by Sara Leghissa consists of a series of posters in which some of the phrases extracted from Luiselli's book are collected, which are performatively placed on a wall, overlapping to form a new text. The incorporation of Luiselli's text responds and that through. The artistic intervention seeks to recover and make visible, at least partially, to the state of defenselessness and the silence of migrant people.

Etienne Minoungou (Burkina Faso), is an African actor, director, playwright and cultural entrepreneur, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Brussels, Belgium. After studying Sociology in the University of Ouagadougou, he decided to devote himself entirely to theater. He runs his own company, “Falinga”, and in Ouagadougou has set up Les Récréâtrales, a residency program for playwrights and creators, which brings together theatre-makers from many African countries. He is also a renowned actor with more than 850 appearances on stage recreating texts from Aimée Césaire Sony Labou Tansi. He participates in audio-visual projects with filmmakers such as Idrissa Ouedraogo.

Mónica Morales Rocha (Mexico) Writer, university professor, promoter and cultural manager. Editor of the electronic literary magazine Hipérbole Frontera. She is the author of poetry and short stories. She coedited “El incendio que habitan. Antología de escritoras de Baja California” (Pinos Alados / Hipérbole Frontera, 2022).

Lorena Mostajo (US-Mexico-Bolivia) is an artist and scholar whose photographic practice spans Mexico and the United States and Bolivia. Her current projects are centered on the ways in which vernacular and historical photographs, national imaginaries, global and local economies and tourism intersect. Mostajo’s practice also includes the production and dissemination of printed matter. She is the founder of Taller California (the word “taller” in Spanish means workshop,) a small press for artists, writers, and community members from the Tijuana-San Diego area. Taller California’s books are collaborative; the press fosters experimental ways of production and distribution.

Gaspar Orozco (Mexico) His books of poetry include Abrir fuego (2000), El silencio de lo que cae (2000), Notas del país de Z (2009), Astrodiario (2010), Autocinema (2010, bilingual edition 2016), Plegarias a la Reina Mosca (2011) and Book of the Peony / Memorial de la Peonía (2107, bilingual edition translated by Mark Weiss and edited by Shearsman Books in the UK), Juego de Espejos (2018, bilingual edition Spanish-Chinese).He has translated poetry from English, French and classic Chinese to Spanish. He was a member of the punk band Revolución X and co-director of the documentary film Subterraneans: Mexican Norteña Music in in New York. 

Reina María Rodríguez (Cuba) is one of the most important voices of contemporary Cuban poetry. Now in Miami. She hosted the most relevant literary independent scene in La Habana in her rooftop cultural center “La azotea”. Her poetry is translated in 10 languages. English translations of her work include Violet Island and Other Poems (Green Integer 2004), La Detencion del Tiempo/Time’s Arrest (Factory School 2005), Other Letters to Milena (University of Alabama Press 2014), and The Winter Garden Photograph (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2019). She now lives in Miami.

Willfrido Terrazas (US-Mexico) is a flautist, composer and educator inspired by experimental practices, indigenous and folk traditions. He is a member of the improviser’s collective, a pionneering group for freely improvised music in Latin America. He is also curator of Semana Internacional de Interpretación, in Ensenada. He has composed over 80 works and recorded more than 50 albums. He works have been presented in 22 countries. He collaborates extensively with poets from Latin America. 

Nadia Villafuerte (US-Mexico) is a Mexican scholar and fiction writer whose work focuses on borders as sites of existence. Raised in Chiapas, her research explores identity formation between Guatemala and Mexico. In her three solo-authored books, Barcos en Houston, ¿Te gusta el latex, cielo? and Por el lado salvaje, Villafuerte has used her personal and academic knowledge of Mexico’s lesser-discussed southern border to frame her stories. 

INVITATION FOR UCSD STUDENTS:

We are delighted to invite you a unique opportunity to spend two days with students and faculty from our closest neighboring academic institution in Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Tijuana. This encounter will be the opening of Pasajes/Passage: an international forum on borders, exile, and artistic creation, a series of public humanities dialogues and artistic interventions that aims to inspire new perspectives on the relationship between our region, international migration contexts, and artistic creation.

On October 16 we will cross the border together and spend the day at the UABC campus in Tijuana. We will participate in a roundtable discussion with Philippe Ollé Laprune (visiting scholar at UCSD) and Julián Beltrán (UABC) on forced human displacements that trigger creative acts in Latin America and the US border. We will also attend the presentation of Taller California, a transborder independent publishing house for artist books created by our very own Lorena Mostajo. Lunch will be provided and there will be plenty of time for informal conversation with our colleagues in Tijuana.

On October 17 we will host our new friends at UCSD. There will be a lunch-talk, followed by a student-guided tour of Barrio Logan and Chicano Park. The day will end with a stellar event at Mujeres Brew House featuring actor and playwright Etienne Minoungou (Burkina Faso), curator and artist Paulina León (Ecuador), and our new faculty member in Literature, fiction writer and scholar Nadia Villafuerte (Mexico). We are delighted to have Amy Sara Caroll as the presenter of the event.

Hopefully these two days of sharing intellectual conversation, meals, and fun will turn into a long standing relationship with our colleagues across the border. We would love you to create this foundation with us. 

Please sign up for student cohort here!

Sincerely,

The LAS team

Pasajes/Passages is supported in part by a co-sponsorship from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales, International Cities of Refuge Network, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California,The Front Gallery, Casa Familiar, UCSD International Institute, The UCSD CaliBaja Center for Resilient Materials and Systems, and UCSD History Department.