Couple in The Cage: Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit the West

The Couple in a Cage: Two Amerindians Visit the West was a 1992-1993 performance art piece by artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco for their exhibition The Year of the White Bear and Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit the West--which toured four countries and was performing in eight different locations. First performed in honor of the quincentenary anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival to the Americas, the work sought to make visible the history of abuse, captivity and exploitation of indigenous peoples. Their inspiration drew heavily upon the history of othering, the human zoo, and life stories of historical figures such as Ota Benga and Sarah Baartman—beginning with the kidnapping of Arawak Indian by Columbus and his men to be displayed in the Spanish Court.

Presenting themselves as previously undiscovered Amerindians from the fictional uncolonized island of Guatinau, Fusco and Gómez-Peña presented a fabricated Encyclopædia Britannica entry on "Amerindians" and a corresponding map of the Gulf of Mexico island of Guatinau as part of the staging of their performance. This information was further supplemented both by plaques or pedestals alluding to the history of peoples placed on exhibit over the last 500 years. Other texts provided also narrated their role as volunteer representatives of Guatinau, detailing the daily life activities of the Amerindians, and validating the habitat of the cage and its contents as their natural habitat.

Aided by the students of the University of California-Irvine, the artists erected a cage and filled it with a ghetto blaster, candles, Polaroid camera and film, bed pans, ritual artifacts, spray paint, body paint, a television and hammock. Students and institutional staff members served as guards and assistants to the caged couple: feeding them, educating the audience about their origins, and assisting audience members in taking commemorative Polaroids with the caged performers. Those acting as docents or guards also were responsible for the daily disposal of cage waste, feeding the performers, and escorting them to the bathroom on a leash.

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