Critical distance can be an ambitious aspiration for an artist,
particularly if her practice strives to directly engage complex
economic, environmental, or social-justice issues. How can traditionally
partisan discourses be avoided? Can a political viewpoint be
communicated without merely contributing to a staunchly divisive
cultural dialogue that is easy to tune out? There is no one strategy or
formula for this challenge. Coco Fusco’s recent performance at the Studio Museum in Harlem
deftly employed science fiction to gain some critical space. Her
successful approach afforded her a new viewpoint and a platform—from a
whole species away.
For Observations of Predation in Humans (2013), her contribution to the exhibition Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, Fusco revived and fully embodied the character of Dr. Zira, the female chimpanzee animal psychologist from the 1968–1971 Planet of the Apes films. With a Skyped-in introduction from Donna Haraway, an esteemed commentator on hominoid interrelations, it was explained that despite the narrative of the 3rd film, Escape from Planet of the Apes,
which portrayed the character’s assassination by the U.S. government,
Dr. Zira had actually survived and been in hiding in an isolated cabin
in the Midwest for more than 20 years.
http://dailyserving.com/2014/01/coco-fusco-observations-of-predation-in-humans-at-the-studio-museum-of-harlem/
