Annual Observatory Day of the Dead and Halloween Costume Party

Image: Rebeca Olguín (rebecaolguin.yolasite.com)

Music, Performance, Costumes, Tequila, Traditional Altar, Sugar Skulls, Death Piñata, and tacos provided by our favorite local taqueria Oaxaca!
Date: Saturday, November 3
Time: Doors at 8:00 PM, Performance at 9
Admission: $15
Presented by Morbid Anatomy and Borderline Projects

Please join us on Saturday, November 3 for the annual Observatory Halloween/Day of the Dead costume party! This year we will welcome back the ghosts of the dead in the tradition of our favorite holiday-the Mexican Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead-with Aztec dances and chants, traditional foods and drink, tacos catered by local favorite taqueria Oaxaca, episodes of The Midnight Archive, tequila, music, sugar skulls, our beloved La Catrina, a Day of the Dead Altar honoring the late Chavela Vargas and Neil Armstrong and, as always, an opportunity to strike a mortal blow to our beautiful piñata of Lady Death herself! There will also be, as always, the opportunity to don-and admire other!-amazing Day of the Dead-themed costumes.

The year’s iteration will include:

ENTERTAINMENT!

  • Cetiliztli Nauhcampa: Aztec dances and chants
  • Borderline Projects‘s Salvador Olguín with a brief lecture on the origins and significance of Day of the Dead celebrations
  • The Midnight Archive: Screenings of The Midnight Archive, Ronni Thomas’ web series based on Observatory
  • Music: Halloween music for the all night dance party

FOOD AND DRINK!

  • Event will be catered by local favorite taqueria Oaxaca!

TRADITIONAL DAY OF THE DEAD ATTRACTIONS!

  • Day of the Dead Altar honoring the late Chavela Vargas and Neil Armstrong.
  • Special appearance by our very own La Catrina
  • Pan de Muerto: Indulge in this traditional dessert called Bread of Death
  • Piñata: Dash death to smithereens with our annual death piñata!
  • Sugar skulls: Decorate and eat or bring home your own Day of the Dead sugar skull
  • Offerings to the Departed: In some places in Mexico, people leave small, coffin-like figures out for the souls of the departed. Guests are invited to leave their own offering; they will be available at the installation.

For photos from last years’ party, click here. Hope very much to see you there.

Photo Journalism and the War on Drugs in Mexico: Taking Pictures of the Dead

Photo by Manuel Álvarez Bravo

Photo Journalism and the War on Drugs in Mexico: Taking Pictures of the Dead (an illustrated lecture)

Date: Friday, August 31

Time: 8:00 p.m.

Admission: $12

Presented by: Borderline Projects

Since the beginning of the war between the Mexican Armed Forces and Federal Police and the country’s drug cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 people have lost their lives. In this context, many of the country’s major newspapers decided to limit their coverage of drug related executions, arguing that this would palliate the terror that the drug cartels are trying to create among society. But images and videos of these crimes have proliferated in the Internet, distributed by citizens who believe this information should be known, but also by opportunistic sources and even the cartels themselves.

Crime-scene photographs are as old as photojournalism itself. Their shock value makes them a perfect fit for tabloids and newspapers interested in sensationalist stories, and they have been a staple of what in Mexico is called la nota roja (“red news”). But crime-scene photographs are also produced in our society for useful reasons, and even aesthetic ones: they are a key element in forensic investigations, and some photographers have incorporated them into their oeuvre. The tension between ethics, aesthetics, journalism and shock in crime-scene photographs will be explored in this lecture by Salvador Olguin.

Note: Some of the images presented in this lecture may be too disturbing for some people. Discretion is advised.

Salvador Olguin is a writer and researcher born in Monterrey, Mexico, currently based in Brooklyn. He holds a MA in Humanities and Social Thought from NYU. His work has been published in magazines and journals in Mexico, the US and Spain. He is the author of Siete Dias, a multimedia theatrical piece that celebrates the convergence of traditions and hybridism that characterizes Mexico’s fascination with mortality. He has worked extensively with Mexican cultural artifacts connected to the representation of Death, and has developed critical studies on post-humanism and the relation between literature and photography. Olguin is the founder and director of Borderline Projects.