Futuristic Native Outfits for Night Raids (and other paraphernalia)
James Luna
March 30 - May 7, 2000
911 Media Arts Center was proud to present the work of artist James Luna for our Windows Installation and Screening programs. Luna, a Luiseño Indian from the La Jolla Indian Reservation, is a nationally renowned multi-media artist working in performance, installation, photography, video and sculpture.
On March 30, we screened the Seattle premiere of Bringing It All Back Home, a film written by Luna and directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals). Luna introduced the film with a “performative lecture” and discussed the film with the audience. From March 30th through May 7th, we also displayed an installation by James Luna, Futuristic Native Outfits for Night Raids (and other paraphernalia) in our storefront windows at our previous location on Yale Avenue.
Luna’s installation at 911, Futuristic Native Outfits for Night Raids (and other paraphernalia), showcased examples of costumes and objects that served as both props and objects in Luna’s performances and installations. These works represented Luna’s investigation of cross cultural conflict and similarities in contemporary American society, which he presented with his customary irony and humor. Luna intends to produce work with a conceptual anthropological look and feel in order to bring into question the notion of cultural authenticity by the established expertise of academics and institutions. His installations have been described as transforming gallery spaces into battlefields, where the audience is confronted with the nature of cultural identity, the tensions generated by cultural isolation, and the dangers of cultural misinterpretation — all from a Native perspective.
As Luna states, “It is my feeling that artwork in the medium of performance and installation offers an opportunity like no other for Indian people to express themselves in traditional art forms like ceremony, dance, oral traditions and contemporary thought, without compromise.”
James Luna worked as an Artist in Residence at Cornish College for the Arts March 27 - 31. 911’s Windows program was supported in part through a grant from PONCHO.
