WEBVTT

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[strumming music]

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[Speaking Spanish]

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[Plays "A" note]

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[Pedro Reyes] I believe that anything can 
become material for art.

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It's one of the freest environments
because you're requested to reinvent the rules.

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[Chimes]

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— Let's try with revolvers, but it would 
be better with pistols.

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— Si. Si.

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This is one of the many workshops that I've been 
doing where we turn weapons into instruments.

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[Speaking Spanish]

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[welding]

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The notion of sculpture is 
having the understanding

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that you can take that material and give it shape.

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Something that was designed to kill, 
how will it produce sounds for music?

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[Chiming]

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I often find myself knocking at the 
doors of different government agencies

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trying to persuade them to embrace this initiative 
as something that could happen on a national scale

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because we need to get rid of all the weapons that 
are entering our territory from the United States.

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Doing these workshops is an attempt to 
transform not only the material metal

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but also to try to create a 
psychological transformation and,

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hopefully, a social transformation.

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[Percussion music]

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[Electric guitar]

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[Music continues]

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I grew up in Mexico City, 
and I have always lived here,

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and I don't have any plans to move.

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I love it.

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I studied architecture, although I 
had always wanted to be an artist.

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After architecture school, I wanted to have 
a kind of a space for doing experiments,

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and I opened an artist-run space 
called Torre de los Vientos.

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It was a hollow tower made in 1968,

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and I knew this space was abandoned.

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I squatted in, and I started to use it as

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a studio and then invite other 
artists to do projects there,

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so when I started that, I was 23 years old,

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and I didn't have a kind of artistic dedication,

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but I learned through curating what 
was the trade of being an artist.

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[Rain falling]

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I consider myself a sculptor.

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As an artist, I'm very interested with how things 
are built and how you can walk around them.

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I also am very concerned with form and materials.

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It's interesting because in architecture,

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you learn to solve problems,

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so I think that that stick
with me, you know,

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the issue of having to solve problems

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to a degree that often, it's hard for me to think
just art for art's sake.

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— And then here we could have other 
sheet metal pieces

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so when it moves back and forth, you hear

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♪ Ping ping ping ping ♪

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Artists change the perception of things.

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So something that is considered disgusting,

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such as an insect, you could turn that into a 
source for protein and make food out of insects.

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These are the crickets.

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so, you see

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mm mm, mm

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They have their little legs 
and stuff.

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Mm mm. They're very yummy.

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Making a hamburger which, instead of meat,

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you use crickets could have a
tremendous effect in the environment.

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Our reliance of meat as a source for 
protein is driving the planet to extinction.

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This was an idea that my son gave to me.

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[laughs]

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— They're cricket hamburgers.

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— Whoa!

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— This is an experiment.

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— Really?

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— Let's see if it's successful.

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— They're so big, the issue is to grab them because...

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— No, but the size is good, it's actually very good.

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[Pedro Reyes] Other people may copy the idea, so you 
hope that, in a way, you spark a trend.

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[violin music]

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— Camarada, I have a new
idea for a manifesto.

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— Good, good, friend. What idea?

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— All that is solid melts into
air.

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Hwahhh...

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— I don't know if that could
happen.

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[Pedro Reyes] When I became a parent, I started to 
see how my kids were feeding their mind,

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so I decided to do this puppet show where I could 
present the political debate between, you know,

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capitalism and socialism,

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like Marx on one side or Adam Smith on the other.

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[Smith Puppet] And I have no cookie,
and, therefore,

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you should give me your
cookie.

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[Pedro Reyes] OK. Well, you're gonna fight
over who eats the cookie

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but using these kind of, uh,
ideological ideas.

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[Marx Puppet] Well, according to you,
the capitalist,

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you should have bought a
cookie

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so you would have ownership of
the cookie,

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and then you would have the
right to eat all of the cookie.

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[Smith Puppet] OK. Just give me the cookie.

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[Marx Puppet] You can't have my cookie.

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[Smith Puppet] Give me the cookie.

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[laughs]

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[Pedro Reyes] Mythology, mathematics, neurology, 
pacifism, poetry, psychology.

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That's social sciences, feminism, 
social justice, Latin America.

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I mean, like, I think that my
library is like my brain.

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In any moment, one section of the library 
becomes the raw material for a new series.

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For me, every year, I need to 
move to a different planet...

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One big, new field of research that I start.

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It becomes an entire system of reading materials 
and sculptures that will be made and a show.

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[strumming music]

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— All right.

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[Pedro Reyes]The People's United Nations, or pUN,
is an idea that I had since I was a kid.

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— I did it.

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[Pedro Reyes] There's a comic strip made in 
the Sixties called "Mafalda."

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She's saying, "Yes. When I grow up, 
I'm gonna be an interpreter at the UN

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so when one delegate tells another,

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"Your country stinks," uh, I'm
gonna translate, ''Oh, your country's charming,'

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and then, you know, 'I'm gonna avoid global war,'

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and then she looks at the planet and says, like,

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"Well, you have to promise you 
will last until I grow up."

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[laughs]

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— On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

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[Pedro Reyes] Role-play is something that 
is very much present in pUN.

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[indistinct conversation]

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The fact of being in character and the character 
being that you're the delegate of your country

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makes this game very serious,

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and I love serious games. 
I mean, I love serious fun.

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— So I'm from Mexico City. 
I've been living in California for 4 years.

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— Yeah.

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— I love my city. I love my
country...

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— Yeah.

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— but it isn't like, people are
scared.

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— "If you were the president or head of state of China,

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what change would you
implement?"

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— In the past two years,

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two members of my family have
been killed.

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— Remove the nationalistic
component of a school curriculum.


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— We need to rise as citizens.

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We need to not just complain.

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— Super fun talking to you.

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— So fun talking to you, too. [laughs]

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[Pedro Reyes] That is why art is useful,

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because you can have this
rehearsal space

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where you can play.

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[laughter and conversation]

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[Pedro Reyes] This workshop is called
"pUN Times."

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Each of you say to the group
something about your country,

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but it's, like, actually
something

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that you don't like about your
country,

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so we're gonna turn that
negative thing

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into a positive headline of
extremely optimist scenarios.

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[People murmur]

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— Hi. I'm the delegate from
Venezuela,

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and when I shared my concerns
about violence and crime

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in my country, the delegates
of Germany, Australia, Yemen,

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and Paraguay, um, helped me
think of a solution,

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so soon, the headline in the
papers in Venezuela will be,

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"Mandatory Use of U-Turn
Bullets in All Guns in the
Country."

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[Laughter and applause]

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[Pedro Reyes] I love my
life.

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[laughs]

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It's super fun.

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You're like a kid, and everybody 
gets to do what you wish.

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I mean, in terms of "Oh, I have this one idea. Let's make it." "Yes," and it happens.

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It's amazing.

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[Cheering]

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[soft electronic music]