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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2006 > June > 21 > Entry
Police beat
Mexican artist Yoshua Okon is currently in Austin, here to give a talk Thursday night (7 p.m.) at the Blanton about his compelling 3-minute video “Poli IV” which is currently on exhibit. “Poli IV” is one of nine videos in Okon’s “Orllese a la Orilla” series in which the artist hired random Mexico City policeman to engage in various activities in front of a camera.
With “Poli IV,” Okon, who divides his time between Los Angeles and Mexico City, had the man demonstrate his police baton artistry. But after a few moments of twirling, the officer proceeds to make sexual gestures, clearly entranced and feeling empowered by the attention of the camera. Okon’s work is powerful comment on the nature power and authority, viewer and viewed. You can preview “Poli IV” here.
Wanting to know more, we e-mailed Okon a few questions which he answers here:
Seeing Things: How much did you pay the officer in “Poli IV” and what instructions did you give him? We’re you surprised at the kind of self-groping he ended up doing?
Yoshua Okon: I paid him 300 pesos (about 30 dollars at the time). My instructions were to give a demonstration of his skills with his baton to the camera. Yes, I was a bit surprised by his performance and at the end I realized that the monetary compensation played a very small role in his motivation.
ST: Did he have any sense of himself while he was doing it, i.e. was he looking in a mirror, did you play the video back to him or was it just him facing the camera?
YO: No, he had no way of looking at himself, he was just facing the camera.
ST: Did you plan in advance all of the nine situations in “Orllese a la Orilla” or did you find yourself developing new ones as you went along?
YO: The nine situations developed organically. At first I only had one in mind and after that went well, I decided to keep on going. In a way, every one I made triggered the next one, so yes, the experiences along the way kept inspiring new ideas.
It is also important to mention that the premise of these series was to expect a high level of uncertainty (since I was working with real policeman) with regard to the end result of the situations. Therefore, I think I was especially receptive to surprises and my process was kept very open ended.
ST: What are you currently working on?
YO: Now Im working on a piece for a show for which I was asked by the curator (Mariana David) to do an in situ piece in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. I just did a first visit to the city and I’m still unclear as to what will I be doing.
(still from “Poli IV)
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