The Port Huron Project
2006-2008
The Port Huron Project is a series of reenactments of protest speeches from the New Left movements of the Vietnam era. Each speech took place at the site of the original event, and was delivered by an actor or performance artist to an audience of invited guests and passers-by. Videos of these performances have been screened on campuses, exhibited in art spaces, and distributed online as open-source media.
“More than just recovering the past, these re-speaking projects use archival speeches to ask questions about the current place of stridency and forceful dissent, and the possibilities of
effective, galvanizing political discourse.”
- Julia Bryan-Wilson, Artforum, January 2008
Installation at the Park Avenue Armory
A two-screen installation featuring video from the Port Huron Project in "Democracy in America," a "major exhibition, participatory project space, and meeting hall" organized by Creative Time at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. Nato Thompson was the lead curator.
Times Square screenings
Excerpts from We Are Also Responsible: Cesar Chavez 1971/2008 and The Liberation of Our People: Angela Davis 1969/2008 from The Port Huron Project were screened on MTV's oversized high-definition video display in Times Square as a part of Creative Time's "At 44 1/2" project.
Additional exhibitions
Port Huron Project videos and installations have been also been exhibited at SITE Santa Fe, Marginal Utility in Philadelphia, Museo de Antioquia in Medellín, the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), the National Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow, the Aspen Art Museum, Southern Exposure (San Francisco), the Chelsea Art Museum (New York), Pixilerations (Providence), Pace Digital Gallery (New York), the Cranbrook Art Museum (Michigan), the Arlington Arts Center (Virginia), and Trinity Square Video (Toronto).
Reenactments
Port Huron Project Prints
Drop the Rock, laminated ink jet print on paper, mounted on Sintra, 71 x 61.5", 2009
Angela 30, laminated ink jet print on paper, mounted on Sintra, 71 x 52", 2009
Zinn 2007, archival pigment print, 24 x 36"
Chavez 2008, digital print with stencil cut-outs, 16.5 x 10.5", edition of 7, 2008
Special thanks to:
Helena Anrather, Winona Ruth Barton-Ballentine, Edith Bolton, Meghan Boudreau, Shane Brennan, Rickey Bronson, Sheilagh Brooks, Gina Brown, Max Bunzel, Mark Bussell, Angela Y. Davis, Marcel Diallo, Rene de Guzman, Ricardo Dominguez, Christina Ducruet, Peter Economou, Sean Elwood, Ato Essandoh, Cesar Garcia, Sonya Goddy, Greta Hanson, Aleta Hayes, Jen Heck, Sam Horine, Michael Kovnat, Gavin Kroeber, Ruby Lerner, Maya Manvi, Kevin McGarry, Meghan McInnis, Matthew Floyd Miller, Joan Miura, Jarah Moesh, Elli Mylonas, Christine Nichols, Jeff Pash, Anne Pasternak, Margaret Perkins, Veena Rao, Jules Rochielle, Adam Rozan , Stephen Salisbury, Abigail Satinsky, Marc Scarpa, Sarah Sharp, CB Smith-Dahl, Carol Stakenas, Sally Szwed, Nato Thompson, Ross Todd Kerr, Brian Valparaiso, Nikolas Van Egten, Patricia Vega, Paul Wallace, Nicholas Weist, Elizabeth Whipple, Bennett Williamson, Vivian Wong, Sheldon Yaeger, and Howard Zinn.
Support for the Port Huron Project was provided by Creative Capital,Creative Time, the Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards,LACE, and the Oakland Museum of California.