Noah Simblist works as a curator, writer, and educator. His dissertation, Digging Through Time: Psychogeographies of Occupation (2015) focused on the ways that contemporary artists in Israel-Palestine and Lebanon address history. Most recently, he edited the book Tania Bruguera: The Francis Effect (Deep Vellum, 2022) and co-edited Commonwealth (Publication Studio, 2022) tied to an exhibition that was co-produced by the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Beta Local, and the Philadelphia Contemporary. He is Associate Professor of Art at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Given that protests are multivalent and culturally specific, we ask: What were the political and, more importantly, the sentimental objectives of performances staged by subjects-in-revolt in Colombia and Palestine in spring 2021?