Studio Revolt’s first video on the issue of deportation was titled “My Asian Americana” and submitted to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders’ “What’s Your Story” Video challenge on November 1, 2011. In February, the Initiative selected “My Asian Americana” as one of 11 finalists from over 200 video submissions. The contest, then, opened the judging process to the public to watch and vote. The winners would be awarded the chance to bring their issue to a White House event called “Champions of Change.”

“My Asian Americana” won the highest public vote. The White House ignored this win. It is election year and the Obama administration has done a great job to avoid addressing real concerns. So much so that they would ignore a democratic process that voted the issue of deportations as a critical problem facing AAPI communities.
Studio Revolt’s response to this dismissal and act of silencing is as follows:
1.) Assisted by Cambodian Royalty and the greater Phnom Penh Arts Community, Studio Revolt organized the “Champions of Change, too” performance gala. The award ceremony held on April 2, 2012, honored the creators and collaborators of “My Asian Americana.” The event was a statement against the White House’s attempt to silence voices criticizing deportations. View images from the event here: http://studio-revolt.com/?p=764
2.) “Return to Sender” is a video letter sent from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Washington, D.C. The video is a collection of testimonies by Khmer Exiled Americans extradited to Cambodia under harsh US deportation policies. The video continues the studio’s interest in giving voice to abandoned and forgotten stories.
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bc9oWFvUQs
Vimeo link: http://vimeo.com/39758123

We urge the public and concerned citizens to write your congressional representatives, senators, and the president about these unjust laws and the need to reform our immigration and criminal justice systems. Write to the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and ICE about their destructive policies that are ripping American families apart. Ask the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders to address the issue of deportations in the White House. You can write them directly at whitehouseaapi@ed.gov
 
Additionally, please write Ms. Valerie Jarrett (vjarrett@who.eop.gov), Senior Advisor to the President, and ask her to investigate the way her Office of Public Engagement silenced this issue despite the popular vote outcome during the White House AAPI’s “What’s Your Story” video contest.

For more information about Studio Revolt, please visit our website (www.studio-revolt.com).

Cloudy & Loud
Light installation
Collaboration between Mao Soviet and Arnoldo Hurtado
On display 10 April – 13 May, 2012

JavaArts invites Make Maek (Battambang) to share their installation of light sculptures from their current exhibition Cloudy & Loud.  Several “clouds” will be suspended inside and in front of the downstairs café, illuminating the space during the night. 

Statement from Make Maek: “The Cloudy & Loud exhibition is a collaborative effort between Khmer curator/artist, Mao Soviet, and American artist Arnoldo Hurtado in which the idea of illuminating (both physically and metaphorically) is explored.

Through collaboration, both artists journey to understand each other’s process, culture, ideas, and ways of communication. Cloudy and Loud is the merging of two unlikely but compatible backgrounds, in which a seemingly serious tone meets playfulness, culminating in a show that literally illuminates.”

Make Maek art space is a cultural hybrid gallery/lounge/studio.  Our vision is to connect Battambang’s contemporary art scene internationally, bringing artists from abroad to collaborate and exhibit with local artists.

http://www.makemaek.org/

White House officials have refused to acknowledge “My Asian Americana” as the official contest winners despite the video winning the highest public vote. 

On Monday April 2, 2012 the Phnom Penh arts community in collaboration with Khmer Exiled Americans hosted “Champions of Change, too” award ceremony at Java Café & Gallery. The event honored “My Asian Americana” a video created by Studio Revolt as the 2012 Winner of the Public Vote for the White House “What’s Your Story” Video Challenge Contest. 

The event was a dinner and award ceremony with guests that included contest winners, local artists, dignitaries, and concerned citizens. H.R.H. Soma Norodom presided over the ceremony, presenting awards to the recipients. 

“My Asian Americana” video: http://studio-revolt.com/?p=305 

As a follow up to My Asian Americana Studio Revolt will release a new video on April 4, 2012 (on the date of the White House award ceremony Champions of Change) Return to Sender featuring the responses of the Khmer Exiles and their appeal to the American government. http://studio-revolt.com/?cat=5

As part of JavaArts new residency program, Anida Yoeu Ali takes up position as the first artist in residence at the JavaArts Lab starting April 2.  Her residency will run until the end of June leading to her first solo exhibition opening June 24, 2012.

JavaArts residency program is thanks to the added support of Van Cleve Fine Arts (www.vcfineart.com)

About Anida Yoeu Ali:
Performance artist, writer and global agitator, Anida Yoeu Ali is a first generation Muslim Khmer woman. Utilizing video, installation, sound, and performance, her works investigate the artistic, spiritual and political collisions of a hybrid transnational identity. Anida is a recipient of the 2011 U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to Cambodia where her art and research focused on creation mythologies and birthing stories of Khmer women. She is a collaborative partner with Studio Revolt, an independent artist run media lab that produces films, videos, installations and performance projects in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Their first collaborative video “1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim” won the Grand Prize award from the “One Chicago One Nation” film competition beating out over 5,000 entries. The film blends narrative, music, and poetry to intervene against the racial profiling of Muslims in post-9/11 America. A believer in the power of collective creations, she is a founding member of the national performance collectives, I Was Born with Two Tongues (with whom she was named “Top 20 Most Influential Asian Americans” by A. Magazine) and Mango Tribe, whose theatrical and touring productions she successfully produced and performed in from 1998-2005. Her artistic works have been the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts (Abrons Arts Settlement), and the Illinois Arts Council. She earned her B.F.A. in Graphic Design from University of Illinois and her M.F.A. in Studio Arts/Performance from School of the Art Institute Chicago.