BY MODESTO FLAKO JIMENEZ
AN OYE GROUP PRODUCTION
MARCH 8-20 & APRIL 5 – MAY 3, 2021
Taxilandia, created and written by Oye Group’s Modesto Flako Jimenez, is a site-specific play-within-a-tour of a city. The piece immerses its audience in the flavors, sounds, sights and dynamic history of a neighborhood confronting social stigmas and the realities of gentrification. Weaving a dramatic, performative ‘tapestry’ that interconnects generations, social classes, races and cultures, Taxilandia complicates our notion of what it means to be a local, an immigrant or a resident of a place, challenging us to answer: “What is my personal roadmap of home?”
Originally developed in Jimenez’s own neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, the piece was inspired and drawn from his nine years driving a taxicab and his documentation of conversations with passengers, residents, locals, and immigrants to the neighborhood. The Oye Group now works with companies all over the country to develop local versions of the piece specific to each city.
Taxilandia will offer four experiences for the New York City run:
VIRTUAL SALONS. In March 2021, Flako hosted four salons with local artists from each borough whose work intersects with gentrification.
TAXILANDIA GALLERY. While walking the neighborhood, guests will take in the sights, sounds, and history of the barrio—the part Vogue wasn’t talking about.
TEXTILANDIA. A new text message experience that invites you to traverse these blocks haunted with a deep history of conflict, perseverance and joy.
TAXI RIDES WITH FLAKO. A single pod of up to three people become passengers in Flako’s cab for a personal experience of Bushwick.
