Hearsay consists of a wall “newspaper” and a video loop. It concentrates on issues resulting from the 8th Adventure Travel Trade Association Summit meeting in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas Mexico, a six day conference with 650 tour operators from 54 countries. The summit received funding from the federal, state and city authorities, was opened by the Mexican president and, on paper, appears much like any large trade conference aimed (in this instance) at developing tourism. Hearsay deals with a field of tension that emanates from the relationship of the authorities with “Mexico profundo” (deep Mexico) i.e. the indigenous and mestizo communities, as they intersect with the—mainly North American and European—globalised tourist industry. Point of contention thus relate to the ownership, use and control of land and landscape, the key “raw materials” of adventure and eco-tourism infrastructure, control over external investment and attempts to limit the extent and workings of indigenous autonomy.

Further text material (PDF):

• Hearsay

Hearsay, 2012 · Category: Installations, Photo Tags: autonomy vs central government, event culture, oral vs written history, tourism, trade conferences, wall newspaper