Spend a little time outside the Guggenheim this month, and you may well find yourself talking to Tania Bruguera. As part of her ongoing project The Francis Effect, the MAP artist has been stationed in front of the museum on Fifth Avenue, engaging with visitors and passersby. As Bruguera discusses in the video above, she is collecting signatures in support of her plan to ask Pope Francis to grant Vatican City citizenship to the world’s immigrants. The artist has produced postcards bearing this request, and for many weeks now she has been stopping people on the street, asking them to sign a card and endorse her message.
By appropriating the “culture of petition,” Bruguera is simultaneously bringing focus to the perennially urgent issues of religion and immigration, and challenging traditional modes of interaction between artist and audience. “I’m creating a different relationship with the audience towards the work,” she notes, “because I’m there not to be admired as an artist, but to bring [people] difficult knowledge.” The reactions she receives vary—some people shy away from what they perceive as the familiar on-the-street clipboard appeal for donations. Others have proved more receptive: “They say, ‘Yes, OK, let me listen to what you want to do.’”
Indeed, many have proven willing to listen to Bruguera: the artist has already gathered nearly 12,000 signatures in person and online, surpassing her original goal of 10,000. She is now aiming to collect 15,000 signed cards, which she intends to deliver to the Pope in person. By approaching the Roman Catholic Church in this way, she hopes to “change their strategy from charity, which is what they have done for centuries, to public policy . . . implementing long-term changes and protection.”
Stop by the Guggenheim between now and October 1 to sign one of Bruguera’s postcards. Members of the public who are unable to visit the museum may also contribute their signatures online at dignityhasnonationality.org. Follow and share this project on Twitter with #FrancisEffect.