Guantànamo

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Press release:

Broadcast via blaring loudspeakers up to 20 hours a day,and chosen to be culturally offensive to the prisoners,one hears,”Fuck Yopur God” by Deicide,”Die Motherfucker” by Dope,”We are the Champions” by Queen,”Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen,”White America” by Eminem, and “I Love You” from the Americanchildren’s television program,”Sesame Street”.

In “Guard Tower Plans,Prison Cell Plans and the Songs of Guantanamo Bay”,the Canadian artist Bill Burns immerses us in a sound environment that evokes Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla’s,”Guantanamo Bay Song Book”.

In “Habeas Corpus”,the artist John Kessler reminds us that Guantanamo has provided the framework for the violation of the most basic rights of prisoners.This piece is a direct reference to the Habeas Corpus Act,a law passed by the British Parliament in 1679,that stipulates that any person arrested must be presented within 3 days before a judge,thereby setting in motion a system for the protection and defense of individual liberties.

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© rebecca fanuele