IN CONVERSATION: Dancing the Revolution - with Julia Tilton & Ilana Newman

Jon Bonfiglio speaks to journalists Julia Tilton & Ilana Newman about the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago's exhibition, Dancing the Revolution, which considers Dancehall & Reggaeton music and dance as a revolutionary practice for collective liberation. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi everyone, welcome back to Less Time Than Ideas, Art Across the Americas, where I'm joined today by regular guest Julia Tilton and special guest Ilana Newman. Hello both.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hi. Hi, good to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

We are in uh Chicago today, and we find ourselves at the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Dancing the Revolution exhibition, which traces the visual, political, sonic histories of Dance Hall and Reggaeton. It's a wide-ranging exhibition, I think it's better to say, body, sound, colour, and then resistance and activism. Definitely political agency, which brings together installations, paintings, photography, video, and almost anything else you could think of into a pretty vast gallery space. It especially focuses territorially on Panama, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. But of course, a central aspect of these genres is how they've been internationalized beyond those spaces. Julia, Ilan, and myself have just left the exhibition. Julia, what was your um reaction to what we've just spent time with?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, I think going through the exhibition in the lens of, you know, living here in the US and thinking about what lessons and takeaways we can apply to our own lives, I'm really struck with the joy and whimsy that can exist at the same time as structural and systemic violence. Um, and I think that is particularly relevant in this moment in the United States as we deal with ICE occupation of numerous cities. Minneapolis, of course, comes to mind, um, small cities, even like Portland, Maine, which we of course have talked about before, um, and sort of the coexistence between creating art and um and and having joy in everyday life and everyday practices, dancing, singing, um, being in community as its own form of resistance. That resistance can can take multiple forms. Um, we were just chatting before about um how you know at some of the ICE, anti-ICE protests, we've seen like inflatable costumes. And more recently at the No Kings protests, um, just a few weeks ago, um, seeing like creativity with um the sort of signage and the way that people are representing themselves, often like carrying music. And so I think um there's there's definitely uh there's the existence of that here in the US as well. And I learned a lot walking through the exhibition um about how this is this has existed for some time. And even dating back, there's a really striking image um of Bad Bunny at the top of a pyramid in Puerto Rico in uh 2017. And something that I learned while reading the description is that um there's actually some uh some symbolism in that really kind of iconic image dating back to the French Revolution um in the 1800s. And so I thought that was really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, it's it's it's definitely um a really, I mean, obviously the exhibition I think is deeply literate. Um, but of course, the and I think one of the reasons why it's an important exhibition as well is because on the whole, you don't assume when you read, uh when you listen to, but obviously it's subtext, when you read Dance Hall and Reggaeton, you don't assume that it is as sort of literate and infused within its own memory and emerges from a very particular sort of socio-political, historical base. The other thing I'd add to what you just said is of course it's it's harder to oppress people when they don't take you seriously. I think. I mean they might imprison you, they might beat you, but if you uh I think there's a when you when you laugh, when there is whimsy, as you say, the point of resistance is different. It it it it um it resists, it's uh refuses to be vanquished in a way. It says you can take everything away from me, but you can't take uh you can't take my spirit, my soul, um, who it is that I am at root at um at core. Ilana, how how is your uh reading your reaction to the to the exhibition in the space?

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah, I think that there's something really legitimizing of having a space like this and a museum. Um, and like you were talking about, it it feels like there is such a cultural history that feeds upon itself and has become what we see today with reggaeton and um how popular it is across the world. And this his I there was a lot of the history that I didn't know about. And so there was a lot I learned going through it, but it also just as an exhibit felt very fresh, very culturally relevant, internationally culturally relevant, um, very of this time, which is as we were talking I was mentioning throughout the exhibit, is not something I see at every museum. I I was struck by the fact that there were people who were born in the past 20, 30 years who were had pieces that were just created today in 20, or this year in 2026. So it feels very culturally relevant and very well arranged, very well laid out as a an exhibit in itself.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, I think just functionally, um the sort of the curatorial uh vision, I think is um by Carla Acevedo Yates is is really uh full of life, but it's also really coherent. And one of the things which sort of struck me is that often when you're in this, because you know, ultimately the museum of contemporary art is the pinnacle or perceived to be the pinnacle of art representation, contemporary art represent representation and the canon of art in any particular space. And as you say, that that's not, I mean, there are some canonical works in here, but I think what's interesting about those works is that oftentimes when you come into someone like this, you see the work and you are you are encouraged to be in awe of the work and receive the work as is in isolation. This does entirely the opposite. And placing some of these uh really important, uh received importance canonical works in this context, I think really draws out where it is, not just where it is that they come from and the context, but it gives them a splendor and a life and a vibrancy which otherwise they would they would like.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yeah, and there's a lot of you know very interactive pieces, which I love something that involves audio and visual elements, or is completely interactive, like a jukebox where you can choose songs that fit the whole exhibit. Um it it really feels like it brings it all together in a way that ex is very accessible for anyone. Um in this city, it's not behind any sort of uh closed door, or uh it just is in a public museum that is free. Some days the karaoke it's very interactive.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

I mean that there is a um a Victorian sense to this building. There's a big sort of esplanade, there's a big steps coming up here. Um, but it it I think the the curatorial vision sort of sits, if not in opposition to that, but it sort of it works, it's a Trojan horse. It works against it from the inside. It sort of breaks breaks it down. That's not necessarily what is taking place right across the rest of the space, but actually the way that where it is that we are in the cent in downtown Chicago, in and amongst high-rises, which of course is um you know paid for by uh a lot of sort of contemporary mercantile activity, but also undoubtedly there's going to be huge amounts of the funding of this city as everywhere else, which are based upon the extractivism of the um, I mean, territories across the the world, but very specifically, of course, where it is that we are geographically of the Americas and rooted in the very people that we see in this uh in this exhibition.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, I think Trojan Horse is a really good way to put it. Um, and it it feels like actually once you're here, it is very accessible. I agree with what Alana said, um, and that it draws you in in a way that, you know, sit down, have a listen. Um, it doesn't feel like this is me and this is the art. It's like, no, actually, I'm I'm part of this and and I'm being encouraged to learn and and to engage with it in a way that um I think other sort of more traditional end quotes um exhibitions or museums um don't have that same sort of appeal or engagement.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Um thanks so much, uh Julia. Thanks so much, uh Ilana. Good to see you both in the in the flesh, in the in the windy city, and uh and uh look forward to crossing paths again soon.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Thanks for uh having us and bringing us to this great exhibit. Yeah, this was great.