This event was recorded July 25, 2024 at Schermer Meeting Hall
during the 2024 Summer Series, in partnership with Aspen Public Radio.
Pedro Reyes (b. 1972, Mexico City) studied architecture but considers himself a sculptor. Although his works integrate elements of theater, psychology and activism. His work takes a variety of forms, from penetrable sculptures (Cápulas, 2002-08) to puppet productions (La Revolución Permanente, 2014), (Fabricando travesuras, 2018). In 2008, Reyes initiated the ongoing Palas por Pistolas project in which 1,527 guns were collected in Mexico through a voluntary donation campaign to produce the same number of shovels to plant 1,527 trees. This led to Disarm (2012), where 6,700 destroyed guns were transformed into a series of musical instruments. In 2011, Reyes started Sanatorium, a transient clinic offering brief unexpected treatments mixing art and psychology. Originally commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Sanatorium has been in operation at Documenta 13, Kassel (2012), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2013), The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada (2014) and OCA, São Paulo (2015) among 10 other venues. In 2013, he presented the first edition of pUN: The People’s United Nations at the Queens Museum in New York. pUN is an experimental conference in which ordinary citizens act as delegates from each of the UN countries and try to apply techniques and resources from social psychology, theater, art and conflict resolution to geopolitics.
Mia Locks is an independent curator and Executive Director of Museums Moving Forward, a research organization devoted to envisioning and creating a more just museum sector by 2030. She was previously a curator at MoMA PS1, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), where she organized exhibitions including the 2017 Whitney Biennial and Greater New York 2015. She also organized solo exhibitions with artists including Math Bass, Samara Golden, and Ulrike Müller. Her current projects include an exhibition of works by Miranda July, opening in March 2024 at the Fondazione Prada, Milan; and an exhibition of works by Cauleen Smith, opening in June 2024 at Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo.