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Exorcism = Liberation: Art as Civic Ritual Long Table

  • 21c Museum Hotel Chicago 55 East Ontario Street Chicago, IL, 60611 United States (map)

Thursday, October 10
6-7:30pm
21c Museum Hotel
55 E. Ontario St., Chicago
FREE

Art as Civic Ritual is a Long-Table discussion, a participatory, non-hierarchical conversation for, with, and among the public about art making as a ritual for civic work, and a process for radical democracy. Featured guests  — artists, activists, and civic leaders Tonika Lewis Johnson, Faheem Majeed, Bindu Poroor, and Gibran Villalobos join the conversation to thicken and galvanize our dialogue.

Art as Civic Ritual is presented as part of “Exorcism = Liberation”, a public art project by Puerto Rican-born, Brooklyn-based artist Yanira Castro / a canary torsi that investigates our relationship to land, self-determination, migration, and climate disaster. 

Through collective citywide experiences in New York City, Chicago, and the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, the project invites the American public to imagine alternative futures through the lens of Puerto Rican culture and the U.S.’ ongoing colonial history. “Exorcism = Liberation” utilizes familiar forms of political media campaigns to immerse the public in sonic experiences, distributing stickers, posters, handmade banners, lawn signs and pins through local community and art organizations. 

“Exorcism = Liberation” is an act of intervention, a rehearsal for collective action during a critical American election. To learn more about the project visit exorcism-liberation.net.

“Exorcism = Liberation” is stewarded locally by Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. The project is made possible by the generous support of Creative Capital, a 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Interdisciplinary Artist Fellowship, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Arts Center Residency.


Puerto Rican-born, Brooklyn-based artist Yanira Castro / a canary torsi, and a team of collaborators, launch a new public art project as an act of intervention during the 2024 Presidential election. With Exorcism = Liberation, the award-winning Castro engages the American public to experience shared concerns and future-building, embedded in Puerto Rican culture and the U.S.’s ongoing colonial history. Born out of the necessity to come together to enact a just collective future, Exorcism = Liberation grounds us in immersive experience and action. Trusting in the power of empathy, the project’s audio experiences offer space for the public to feel and to act while reflecting on difficult questions like: What is the disaster you are preparing for? 

Coordinated with a multitude of participating community and arts organizations in citywide collective experiences between July and November 2024, Exorcism = Liberation will have an “on-the-ground” presence in three U.S. locations with strong Puerto Rican diaspora communities. This multifaceted project is stewarded locally by Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, IL; A.P.E. Ltd. in partnership with UMass Fine Arts Center in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts; and a canary torsi in New York City. Exorcism = Liberation can also be accessed on the project’s website: www.exorcism-liberation.net.

Exorcism = Liberation utilizes familiar forms of political media campaigns, placing provocative slogans on the street and mass transit, distributing stickers, posters, handmade banners, lawn signs, and buttons/pins through local community organizations acting as distribution hubs. The slogans reflect the project’s themes: 

“What is your first memory of dirt?”

“I came here to weep” 

and “Exorcism = Liberation.”

Accompanying each slogan is a QR code leading to an immersive audio experience in which local Puerto Rican performers prompt the individual listener to remember their connection to land, grieve, and conjure a liberated world. Exorcism = Liberation is a call to action, a rehearsal for collective liberation. “It offers a different kind of campaign than the election we are in the middle of,” says Castro. “We want to connect, challenge, spark conversation, contemplate, move, and provoke change.” 

Exorcism = Liberation is an extension of Yanira Castro / a canary torsi’s I came here to weep, a multimodal participatory project enacted by the public and supported by Creative Capital.