Pedro Reyes´ Mis-en-scene at the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico
“The Permanent Revolution” is an original mis-en-scene by the Mexican artist Pedro Reyes, in which, through the narrative format of theater, he investigates the two great ideological tensions that still permeate contemporary culture: Socialism and Capitalism.
The project takes on as a starting point the series that Reyes worked on from 2008 called “Baby Marx”, where he exposes the contradictions of these two schools of thought, using puppets of key figures like Vladimir Lenin, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and Milton Friedman, amongst others. “The Permanent Revolution” brings together for the first time in Mexico important thinkers to debate their revolutionary ideas and unmeasured ambitions.
For this mis-en-scene, commissioned by the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, a new script of approximately 60 minutes was developed. The script takes place in a contemporary context, and addresses urgent issues, such as radical ideology, transparency, and the control of information. Six new characters were also created (in addition to the original “Baby Marx” cast): León Trotsky, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Steve Jobs, and Julian Assange.
“The Permanent Revolution” has political intrigue, romance, philosophy, conceptual art, celebrity gossip, technology, espionage, explosions, and guaranteed laughs from beginning to end for the entire family. In the story, we find philosophical questions and political issues that affect our lives directly, making the plot of this tangled comedy even more explosive. In it, what’s real, what’s false, and what’s ironic are indistinguishable.
With more than 40 shows in four weeks, “The Permanent Revolution” will be presented at the Galería 1 of the Museo Jumex, and will be accompanied by an exposition that includes artistic approaches by Pedro Reyes that are tied to the project.
