Remaking the Exceptional marks 20 years since the opening of the United States' extralegal prison in Guantánamo by examining local and international ramifications of state violence, while also uplifting acts of creative resistance. This exhibition highlights connections between policing and incarceration in Chicago and the human rights violations of the "Global War on Terror." It celebrates the struggle for survival, justice, and reparations by imprisoned people, activists, and artists. Remaking the Exceptional, curated by Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes, brings together a diverse group of artists and activists working on the legal and moral implications of torture and incarceration. Schedule a visit.
From the Invisible Institute, Maira Khwaja, managing editor of the Chicago Police Torture Archive, contributes new research on the connections between Chicago Police and the U.S. Military. “Chicago to Guantánamo: Connections in an Ecosystem of Violence,” is an interactive map installation, and an article in the forthcoming exhibition book, Remaking the Exceptional (UChicago Press, July 2022). If you’re interested in updates on the exhibit, including the book release or special events, fill out the following form for future invitations:
In 2002, following the start of the "Global War on Terror," the United States established an extralegal military prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The location was chosen to intentionally avoid U.S. and international law. Since then it has been the site of major human rights violations, such as holding people for indefinite periods of time without trial, subjecting them to extreme interrogation methods, torture, and even death. Extralegal imprisonment and torture at Guantánamo is also directly connected to the Chicago Police Department through detective and Navy Reserves Lt. Richard Zuley. After years of subjecting poor, Black, and brown Chicagoans to torture, Zuley oversaw torture at Guantánamo from 2002 to 2004. But this was not the first time the violence of wars abroad have come home to Chicago. Under the direction of police commander and Vietnam veteran Jon Burge, police subjected hundreds of predominantly Black men and women to torture between 1972 and 1991. In 2015, after years of activism by torture survivors, mothers, artists, educators and attorneys, Chicago passed the first tangible reparations for racially motivated police violence in the United States. Inspired by this victory, Remaking the Exceptional celebrates the history of local and global movements for reparations.