The fears which stalk those brave enough to enter the average haunted house tend to dissipate the moment that person steps back into the bright lights and laughter-filled air of a busy fairground. Not so with Doomocracy, a house of horrors with a difference created by the artist Pedro Reyes. "What's interesting about the idea of a haunted house in general is that it is in itself a sort of masochistic experience," says Reyes. He took this further. The spectres which haunted the Brooklyn Army Terminal between October 7 and November 6, 2016, continue to pose a threat beyond its doors; social inequality, climate change, and surveillance were just some of the issues tackled in this immersive installation.
Forced out of cars by 'police' in riot gear, visitors to Doomocracy were led through a series of rooms and asked to participate in the disturbing scenarios contained within: a Tupperware-style party for handguns, a team of cheerleaders chanting anti-abortion slogans, and children's coffins shaped like items of junk food. "I'm often very solution-oriented [in my work]," says Reyes. "Doomocracy was different – it was related to fears."
The project was developed in conjunction with the New York based non-profit organization Creative Time and realized with the help of a successful fundraising campaign, endorsed by Art Basel's Crowdfunding Initiative. "Crowdfunding is not only a way to raise funds, but also to reach out to an audience and to explore what your project might be," Reyes says. "It's a good way to get people involved, and it's a good motivation tool. You commit to delivering something."
Rewriting what's written
Doomocracy emerged in response to two events looming large in the US cultural imagination: Halloween and the presidential election. So how does Reyes feel about his work following the election of President Donald Trump? "It's curious to reflect, because a lot of the things that were part of Doomocracy in a science fiction way, such as the privatization of national parks, are Trump policy. The fears became real."
The left, Reyes believes, is now faced with a dilemma. "On the one hand, there's a need to fight Trump and everything he represents, because if he moves ahead with his policies and proposals, basically it represents a danger to issues such as climate change, gender equality, immigration, race, and cultural diversity. On the other, there's an awareness that we [on the left] have been talking to ourselves and that we need to reach other audiences."
This is where Reyes thinks art can play a role. "What art does is show that there is room for rewriting things that seem to be fixed," he says. "I'm interested in works that are transformational, like taking a gun and making a musical instrument. It's a symbolic act, but it's also a real act. That gun won't be able to kill anyone anymore […]. It's not that contemporary art will solve the problem, but it allows us to have sophisticated discourse. So as artists we have a responsibility to continue doing this work."