Tactics of Transmission

Abstract

Tactics of Transmisión is the first performative lecture publicly presented by the artists as part of the research they have been developing since 2022 on Puerto Rican collections at the Smithsonian Institution. This research examines the histories of accession of these collections, how they are housed in the institution’s storage facilities, and the possibilities of mediating their return to the people and places to which they belong. In this presentation, produced for the Vera List Center Conference in 2024, the artists share their experiences navigating the imperial archive as disobedient colonial subjects, as well as historical gossip, discoveries, and revelations that emerged throughout their research process.