Texas Biennial 2022

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We are using art and technology to permanently place these powerful sky typed phrases over four sites in Texas, for IPS’s contribution to the Texas Biennial. We premiered original AR skyptyped messages by Alok Vaid-Menon, Cruz Ortiz, Devon Tsuno, and Viva Ruiz using the 4th Wall app, placing them over contested political sites in Texas in perpetuity. 

These AR artworks are an extension of In Plain Sights OG action: Over the 4th of July Weekend, in 2020, @inplainsightmap ,a coalition of 80 artists, united to create a public artwork dedicated to the abolition of immigrant detention and the United States culture of incarceration. A a nationwide public artwork and performance, In Plain Sight launched the nation's skytyping fleets to spell out artist-generated messages in water vapor, legible for miles. These messages were typed in the sky over detention facilities, immigration courts, borders, and other sites of historic relevance. As the planes soared, they made visible in the sky what is too often unseen and unspoken on the ground: the appalling, profoundly immoral, imprisonment of immigrants. In partnership with over 30 organizations, In Plain Sight used art and engagement to break through this wall of secrecy, exposing to public scrutiny the sites of detention centers.