Beyond the Dust: Colonial Legacy in the Desert

We are excited to present the VDB TV program Beyond the Dust: Colonial Legacy in the Desert, programmed by Martí Madaula Esquirol, 2023 - 2024 Graduate Curatorial Fellow at the Video Data Bank, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago MFA candidate in Film, Video, New Media, and Animation. The program reveals the shape-shifting strategies of colonial regimes across disparate desert contexts. Throughout the presented works, the colonial memory and imagination of the desert – as opportunity or empty space – are evoked or destabilized. Featured artists include Rebecca Baron & Douglas Goodwin, Jesse Drew, Peer Bode, Colectivo Los Ingravidos, and Dana Levy. Martí has written an accompanying essay exploring the program's themes and histories.