Eileen Myles The poet and novelistused humor to disrupt the political process. In 1991, she announced that she was standing as the only “openly female” candidate in the U.S. presidential race. Her write-in campaign from the East Village quickly spiraled into a project of national interest, an opportunity for those denied a voice by mainstream politics to make themselves heard. Her participation in the political process was part performance project, part protest, and part joke. Nonetheless, she exhibited more political integrity than anyone else running.

Christian Boltanski Bertrand Lavier Our project Do It began in Paris in 1993 as a result of a discussion with the artistsandabout how to make exhibitions more flexible and open-ended. The conversation developed into the question of whether a show could be made from ―scores or written instructions by artists, which could then be openly interpreted every time they were presented. How would an artist’s work be transformed if others made the artwork? For the project Eileen wrote a text called “HOW TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” The text is a reminder that, even in these frightening times, democracy belongs to the people and that art is a means of reclaiming it:

You know, they really can’t stop you. In except for maybe two states, Nevada being one, any citizen can be a written-in candidate. In New York, for instance, you simply need 33 of your friends to sign affidavits saying that if you won they would go to the electoral college. You can just call them from home, and they probably wouldn’t mind bringing the affidavits over. They can get them notarized by a travel agent. No big deal.

This text is an extended version of a talk I gave at the Creative Time Summit when Tania Bruguera announced her candidacy. In a country that has never held a democratic election her statement has taken on renewed significance since the death of former leader Fidel Castro in the month after she made the announcement.

The decision is an extension of her lifelong project to address political and humanitarian issues in Cuba through performances and social movements. Tania practices ‘Arte Útil’—literally, useful art—and has developed long-term projects that include a community center, political party for immigrants, and an institution working towards civic literacy and policy change in Cuba. Bruguera describes ‘Arte Útil’ as follows, and I think it serves as a good introduction to her work:

I really wanted to rethink the role of the art institution in terms of political effectiveness. I kept encountering limitations while doing my work, but in the process, I found a great group of artists and artworks that had already been dealing with the same issues for a long time. I could identify them with what I called Arte Útil because they went beyond complaining about social problems and instead tried to change them by implementing different solutions. They were not only imagining impossible utopian situations (which is what most artists do), but they were also trying to build practical utopias.