Protests, Rituals, Deconstructions – the Borderland of USA and Mexico in the Contemporary Art of Sound

Peer-reviewed article, Submitted 22.01.2026, Accepted 18.02.2026

Antoni Michnik

antek_antek@poczta.onet.pl
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2279-2374

Abstract

An essay on contemporary works on the art of sound dealing with the USA–Mexico borderland. The point of departure is, on the one hand, Borderwall as Architecture. A Manifesto for the U.S.–Mexico Boundary, a book by Ronald Rael, and, on the other, the tradition of reflections (Gloria Anzaldúa) and artistic praxis (Guillermo Gómez-Peña), which shaped contemporary, dynamic border studies. The reasoning focuses on artistic praxis using borderland recordings (Ultra-Red, José Manuel Flores, Glenn Weyant), material objects found along the borderland (Guillermo Galindo, Glenn Weyant), and trans-border experiments conducted with radio art (Cog•nate Collective, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer). These studies were placed within a wider context of works concerning the USA–Mexico border as well as those on the art of sound art referring to other borders and borderlands. Fundamental research questions concern the possibility of deconstructing borders as well as undermining the policies of militarizing them by means of the art of sound.



Keywords:

borderland, sound art, border, sound studies, artivism

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Published
2026-05-27

Cited by

Michnik, A. (2026) “Protests, Rituals, Deconstructions – the Borderland of USA and Mexico in the Contemporary Art of Sound”, Konteksty, 352(1), pp. 179–187. doi: 10.36744/k.4788.

Authors

Antoni Michnik 
antek_antek@poczta.onet.pl
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2279-2374

Antoni Michnik PhD at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, culture historian, performer. Founding member of research-performative group Grupa ETC. From 2013 to 2024, editor of the Glissando magazine. He published i. a. in Dialog, Konteksty, Kultura Popularna, Kultura Współczesna, Kwartalnik Filmowy, Polish Theatre Journal, Rocznik Historii Sztuki, Ruch Muzyczny, Zeszyty Literackie.



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