About

Following an invitation from 2020-21 Dallas Aurora Biennial curator Noam Segal, Chicago-based artist and educator Jan Tichy came to Dallas on the eve of the COVID pandemic in March 2019, searching for a community response to the recent decision by Governor Abbott that took  Texas out of the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program.

Following on from models of community engagement he developed in previous projects, like Beyond Streaming: Sound Mural for Flint in Michigan – where he facilitated connections between teens from water-poisoned Flint and from the state capital of Lansing, Tichy was interested in connecting, through a creative dialogue, a group of resettled refugee teenagers from the Vickery Meadow neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, to another group from the Oak Cliff neighborhood, who have their own experiences with immigration. Tichy also formed connections to fellow educators local to Dallas, developing collaborative relationships to reach out and work with young Dallas residents together. 

Local artist and activist Jin-Ya Huang of Break Bread Break Borders introduced the artist to the Kharchou family that resettled to Vickery Meadow from Syria. This connection led to the teacher and activist, Maria Viera-Williams from Judy Kharchou’s Lake Highlands High School, who joined with years of experience working with refugee teens. Oak Cliff artist and educator Giovani Valderas introduced Tichy to another local teacher and designer, Laura Quintero-Chavez from Moises E. Molina High School. Together the three educators embarked on a year-long remote journey to bridge connections between the teenagers from Oak Cliff and Vickery Meadow.These collaborative relationships included local artist and activist Jin-Ya Huang of Break Bread Break Borders, who introduced Tichy to the Kharchou family that had resettled to Vickery Meadow from Syria. Through Judy Kharchou and her enrollment at Lake Highlands High School, this led to teacher and activist Maria Viera-Williams from, who brought years of experience working with refugee teens. From the Oak Cliff neighborhood, artist and educator Giovani Valderas introduced Tichy to another local teacher and designer, Laura Quintero-Chavez from Moises E. Molina High School. Together, Williams, Quintero, and Tichy embarked on a year-long remote journey to bridge connections between the teenagers from Vickery Meadow and Oak Cliff.

The Inverted Pyramid

The Dallas City Hall was selected by the Aurora Biennale as the primary canvas for the project. The iconic building was erected as a part of larger campaign to remake Dallas’ public image after the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Architect I.M.Pei’s city hall design broke with the expected traditions of city hall architecture and challenged assumptions about what a civic symbol should be. One of the goals for the new city hall was to be a “symbol of the people”. The building is in the shape of an inverted pyramid, a shape and form that is charged with history and social meaning. It is made with a special concrete mix meant to reflect the colors of the local landscape, or in the case of this project – to form a public screen in a shape of an inverted pyramid to reflect the projected experiences of the local communities. A pyramid, a form that suggests priorities, hierarchy and preferences, was deeply explored by  Pei throughout his practice, culminating in his design for the Louvre in Paris, France,  which includes both the upright pyramid and  an inverted one. The remote working conditions imposed by pandemic restrictions resonated with the conceptual image of a distant pyramid. The inverted and remote pyramids suggested a conceptual framework to help guide the young participants through a series of workshops, dialogues, and meetings throughout  the course of the project. In writing, for example, the inverted pyramid refers to a story structure where the most important information is presented first. In the case of the project’s canvas – the inverted pyramids on the sides of the city hall, which could be understood in relation to the city’s service to all its communities –  it is  above all, about the people.

The Remote Summer Art Workshop

The three educators – Quintero, Williams and Tichy – spent April and May of 2020 meeting weekly, discussing what the upcoming pandemic over the summer would  mean for local teenagers and what they could  do about it. The realization that they were  going to be operating on a completely new platform, a digital space that would allow them to meet weekly “in Dallas” meant they could work with the teenagers from across the country, and still be as close as anyone . This major shift in the possibilities and understanding of community engaged art practice was crucial for the Remote Pyramids team. Together they developed the curriculum for the Remote Aurora Summer Art Workshop, which  after its delivery this summer, is offered here as a syllabus for any educators interested in using and developing it to suit the needs of their own communities.

Production of Remote Pyramids

The second phase of the dialogue about migration to Dallas was to introduce the ideas participants formulated during the Remote Summer Art Workshop into public space. Six young artists, three from Vickery Meadow and three from Oak Cliff, worked during the fall of 2020 to develop their ideas into public works of art, meeting weekly online with Tichy to discuss the progress on their projects. Each of them chose a different media to tell the story of their migration. Alexander Lopez and Andrez Rivas developed an interactive mural concept contemplating borders that included Little Free Libraries to create a community space. Judy Kharchou used watercolors and stop motion animation to tell the story of her journey from Damascus to Dallas in a short film. Josefat Delgado developed a series of cutouts illustrating the stories of his family. Sumaya Sakhi created a spiritual poster using henna painting techniques, and Sara Yassoumali drew a comic strip that deals with  issues of child marriage. Remote Pyramids.

“Questions for the Mayor” was  the Remote Pyramids’ response to the initial invitation by the Aurora Biennale to use the facade of the City Hall as a projection canvas. During the Remote Summer Art Workshop, the participants wrote “Questions for the Mayor” which were subsequently discussed with visiting artists and used to focus their concerns as artists-activists. These questions were projected as a part of Remote Pyramids, both onto the City Hall, as well as into the Storefront Galleries of the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. The questions addressed  four categories of concern: Poverty, Policing, Environment, and Heritage, topics which  were made into an interactive feature by Vesper Guo on this website. 

The Aurora Biennial 2020-21 –  Afterwards Was Already Before –  curated by Noam Segal, produced the projection of Remote Pyramids on the Dallas City Hall on January 23^rd, 2021, additionally accompanied by a PR campaign featuring the works of the young artists. The projection featured digitalized and animated interpretations of the artists’ work made by Tichy and L Koo, and wrapped  the northwestern corner of City Hall with images of places of origin alongside “Questions for the Mayor”  that come with being a resident of City of Dallas.

Oak Cliff Cultural Center invited Remote Pyramids as an exhibition to be displayed on their gallery windows, and to host the Little Libraries at their currently closed storefront . Quintero and Tichy worked with Rafael Tomayo, the manager of the Cultural Center, and Monica Luna, the Programs Coordinator, to curate a six- weeks long exhibition, featuring the works as they were intended for the neighborhood public space. 

The production of the Little Free Libraries by Alexander Lopez and Andrez Rivas started through  the Molina Architecture Studio curriculum developed by Laura Quintero-Chavez and Danielle Odis, and was incorporated into their Remote Pyramids mural concepts this fall. Their models and sketches developed in Odis’ class were later translated by L Koo into downloadable layouts that were manufactured at SMU by Ryan Goolsby. The production was organized and supported by Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, an exhibition space run by local artists Tamara Johnson and Trey Burns. Their Sweet Pass Sculpture School organized the final painting and cladding workshop led by local artists Hugo Juarez and Christian Rodriguez in order to prepare the libraries with Lopez and Rivas  for their installation at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. The Little Free Libraries feature an inspiring selection of art books donated by SAIC John M. Flaxman Library that are  available to  Oak Cliff residents. 

The production of printed works by Sumaya Sakhi and Josafat Delgado was generously supported by SAIC Service Bureau.
This online accessible platform to share, document, and archive Remote Pyramids was developed and designed by Vesper Guo.