November 28th, 2004, 2:00 – 9:00pm

presented by:
Bordermates including
Paulina Lasa
Renato Ornelas
Kelly Coats

From: XXX@bordermates.org
Date: Sun Nov 07 21:55:53 2004
To: <XXX@fritzhaeg.com>
Subject: GIANT MARGARITA!!!
Hello Fritz!
Yoshua Okón  gave me your address and showed me the kind of events you hold in LA (through your website). I belong to a collective named Bordermates and we put together events in which food and music, alongside all sorts of expressions, make the day. We are planning a trip to LA in the next couple of weeks to make a giant margarita and cook tacos made out of the mexican hairless dog (xoloitzcuincle), being this last one a prank, of course. We are planning to do this event sunday 28th of November and we were wondering if there's a possibility of doing such an event over at your
Sundown Salon???? I'm sending a dossier over with Yoshua so you can get an idea
of what we do, or you can visit our webpage www.bordermates.org. This trip-action-performance is possible due to the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican Art Council (CONACULTA) but pretty much comes close to the end of our activities as a collective for the next 6 months.
Best
Renato Ornelas
BUEN PROVECHO HAPPY MEAL
BORDERMATES
RENATO

About Bordermates
By Kelly Coats
Bordermates was initiated in the summer of 2002 when I moved from Ohio to Mexico City to live and work with Renato Ornelas in the Juarez zone of Mexico City. In respect to our relationship as a North American/Mexican couple and collaborative team, we coined ourselves, "Bordermates." On a regular basis, we frequented the "comida corrida" (a three-course economical meal typical in Mexico) restaurant "Chyg's" that was conveniently located on the first floor of our apartment building. As regular customers, Renato and I quickly became good friends with the owner of the locale.

Chyg’s was open from Monday to Friday, catering to the masses of people who work in the surrounding business district. On weekends only a few residents populate this area. Because of this circumstance we began to organize bi-monthly events at Chyg's on Saturdays, making use of the commercial facility on a day that it was normally closed. For each event, we invited 7 participants (one which volunteered to cook) to install works that either responded to the physical characteristics of the restaurant or to the coinciding themes of food, transience and circumstance. We normally invited friends who were emerging artists, filmmakers, musicians, designers, etc.

These events, known as "Sabados de Chyg's" (Saturdays at Chyg's), were facilitated out of generosity and exchange. We paid Chyg's for the preparation of several a la carte items that were inexpensively sold along with beverages. The little money we earned was used to cover the production expenses of participants' works, and sometimes to pay friends who volunteered to help us in the kitchen. The participant who volunteered to cook was provided with assistance and ingredients to devise a meal for about 60 people. This food was served for free to our visiting public, allowing for an experience in which the visitor ate, participated and observed mutually.

A week before Renato and I separated in the summer of 2003, we had submitted a grant proposal to Cultural Contact, The US-Mexico Fund For Culture. In 2004 we received the grant and putting our personal differences aside we invited several new members (Paulina Lasa, James Young, Yvonne Dávalos, Alex Dorfsman) to help us continue the project. Since the owner of Chyg's had sold the restaurant and moved to the beach, we expanded the project to a citywide (and later international) level, with food always a core element.

The locales selected ranged from a parking lot in the downtown area, to Daimler-Chrysler's corporate headquarters in Santa Fe (Mexico City's prime financial and commercial zone), to the Sundown Salon to finish off the year. In most of these spaces the atmosphere for viewing works has often proved to be less stifling than that of the gallery or museum setting. We have often collaborated with the owner or employees of the locale. Although we spend several weeks to several months in preparation, there is always a sense of risk coordinating one-day events, we never know exactly what will happen or what to expect. It is quite rewarding to witness how artists, people involved with the locale and passers-by work together to make everything possible.

With the extra financial support, the project essentially has become more official, with articles in the newspaper and art magazines, lectures in Mexican Universities and the administrative responsibilities of obtaining permission from the various locales, seeking more sponsorship, and making quarterly reports to grant coordinators. In addition, having a greater budget occasionally has allowed participants to realize more ambitious projects, which has often meant more work on our end.

Coincidentally, we began hosting events the same month that Mexico City's 8-year old artist-run space, La Panaderia, closed its doors. In a city with just a few art spaces available for emerging artists, approaches like ours have played a vital role and become more common in the past few years. The collective Los Miniplugs opened El Mirador, in which bi-monthly exhibitions are viewed through the peepholes of a kiosk outside of one of Mexico City's busiest metro stations, and artist Mau Limón organized a series of three group exhibitions in the city's natural history museum.

We are about to complete the proposal we submitted for our second grant, which we received from UNESCO's International Fund for the Promotion of Culture (IFPC). This has involved coordinating several events in other Latin American cities like Buenos Aires and Guadalajara. It is a good time to take a break and re-evaluate the project. One of the reasons we have managed to stay together for almost 4 years now is the simple fact that we are constantly working with new people rather than just amongst ourselves. Although there are normally three of us who handle all administrative responsibilities, Bordermates has grown in membership, usually making it possible for each member to take a break when due. It is gratifying that a personal project that started between two people has grown and allowed many young artists to realize new works in versatile environments, and for countless people to be involved with those works.

Road Trip North of the Border
by Kelly Coats

In November of 2004, Bordermates went on vacation. We traveled from Mexico City to Los Angeles by car instead of plane for financial reasons, but also for collective bonding. We assumed that crossing the US-Mexico border by land would provide a more tactile experience. A month before leaving we were still trying to select a location for an event in Los Angeles. Yoshua Okón and Gabriela Jauregui suggested the Sundown Salon and as we began to correspond with Fritz, it seemed like the perfect match. Like Fritz, we had for several years been facilitating ephemeral events that offered a venue, a vacation if you will, away from the normal gallery/museum setting; a place for people of different disciplines and backgrounds to engage in out of the ordinary activities. With little time for planning, we agreed on hosting a giant margarita and video-taco convention and packed up some clothes, our mascot Sr. Tortilla, a case of tequila left over from a previous event, some paper mariachis to give to Fritz, spices for the food we planned to cook, and a bunch of other unmentionables that filled Renato’s small two-door Chevy.

The appropriated Griswald Family Vacation image that we used for the event invite, proved to be very indicative of our trip. With a lost gas cap, broken stereo, indigestion, refusals to eat, speeding tickets, etc, it was a somewhat dysfunctional family affair. Our late-night arrival into Ciudad Obregon where Renato’s relatives live marked a change in Bordermate morale. We were surprised and welcomed by the entire family waiting up to greet us at 11pm with a feast of tacos, salsas, frijoles, quesadillas, etc. The next morning Renato’s uncle, a surgeon, was able to transfer his knowledge of veins and arteries into the realm of circuits and cables, rapidly fixing the car stereo, and providing us with music as we smoothly crossed the border into the US.  

Our reaction when we finally arrived at the Sundown Salon by far superseded that of the Griswald family upon their arrival at Wally World. For one thing it was open! And to say open is an understatement as we immediately witnessed Fritz Haeg’s generousity and mellow demeanor as he showed us around the salon, and offered suggestions of how we could set the event up. His flexibility was extremely evident in the single fact that he allowed us to serve meat tacos and margaritas even though he himself consumes neither of the two. 
The Giant Margarita – Video Taco Conference proved to be the most laid-back event we have hosted to date. Preparation was mostly completed in one day. Renato’s friend Alvaro, an immigrant to Los Angeles from Singuilucan, Mexico guided us to all the Mexican goods. We limited our production to what could fit inside of the Chevy and instead of our usual practice of producing new pieces for the event we shared video programs from past events and other artist videos from Mexico. Participants that day were invited to share their videos as well and viewing stations were located in the dome, kitchen, and cave. The detachable car stereo system was moved to the Salon’s upper deck, providing music for the conference. We decorated the grounds with party streamers, floating candles for the pond, plastic margarita flowers, etc.  Renato’s Tacos del Rancho Chamaco (ancient Aztec dog-meat tacos) and vegetarian quesadillas were served, nourishing the bellies of all visitors. Renato made an offering to the Aztec gods, and everyone had a satisfying meal. The grill was also utilized as a heating device as winds soared to speeds of up to 15 miles per hour and the temperature dropped to 50 degrees fahrenheit. Paulina and I prepared the giant margarita, and it was so successful that we had to make several batches, the last of which was an improvisational pineapple margarita.

As the sun set in the clear Sunday sky, people went inside to talk and drink a little more, ultimately departing from the Sundown Salon with the fruit of the ancient Aztecs in their stomachs, and a Bordermates t-shirt to wear sometime in the future.

Salon Memories #15

about the giant margarita and video-taco convention, i remember it was a sunny day after 3 or 4 days of clouds. we were very happy to have the luck of the sun in the sky because the food was taking place outside... but then a super super strong wind changed our expectations. i was wearing a short skirt which was flying up and down all day, so at some point i just forgot about shame. perhaps that also had to do with the margaritas i was drinking... i think the event was succesfull in the sense that people had fun and ate all the food and margarita we prepared, i could see videos by people i never met before and probably won't see again, and i could show them mine too. the only thing that didn't work was that i didn't have the energy to go find the candies that i, myself, had hiden in the garden. - Paulina Lasa

we (myself, paulina and kell) traveled for 4 days, departing from mexico city to LA for our special event at sundown salon. I took the car to the mechanic shop and then, it's really weird now that i think about it, we stuffed as many things as could possibly fit into this 3rd world compact automobile. We never thought that we were going to meet so many army and police stands throughout the road, it seems that we chose to ride the same route druglords use to get their merchandise up north. I thought that it isn't a clever idea to transport cocaine through regular highways since there is all this security going on, but then we were asked to get out and show our id's at least 12 times. i mean we looked pretty harmless but probably they thought that the artist disguise might work to contraband a few pounds of blow into the USA. Among the things we traveled with there was a whole case of tequila (12 sponsored shiny bottles) that were transformed into a big bowl of margarita, DJ set (mixer, amp, cd players and speakers (ridiculous), 100 T-shirts (we wanted to sell them, but no one bought a single shirt, so we ended up giving them away) gladly those shirts made all the way to a pepsi commercial which is actually airing right now, so we came across many borders, both metaphorically and literally. - Renato Ornelas