In the performance piece Presidential Alert (America, Lip-Sync for Your Life), Kevin Quiles Bonilla explores the act of lip-syncing as a strategy of embodiment and unearthing through multiple temporalities. For context, he uses the song “America” from the 1961 film version of the musical West Side Story, which is interrupted by multiple voices from the recent past, such as former president Trump speaking about the aftermath of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico in 2017, Young Lords member Pedro Pietri reciting his poem “Puerto Rican Obituary” in 1969, and Hawaiian activist Haunani-Kay Trask speaking on stolen lands in 1990.

This program is in-person at Smack Mellon and will be livestreamed on Instagram Live, @smackmellon.

Image above: Kevin Quiles Bonilla, Presidential Alert (America, Lip-Sync for Your Life), 2019, performance still. Courtesy of the artist.