The Rules of the Game, 2000
‘The Rules of the Game’/ ‘Las reglas del juego’ was a project in two parts: the first consisted of the installation of a frontón court in Colonia Libertad, Tijuana, positioned adjacent to the border fence; the second was a sports event that took place in the gymnasium of the Lázaro Cárdenas high school in Tijuana on October 13, 2000. The event was based on a new game designed by the artist working together with high school basketball coaches in the US and high school soccer coaches in Mexico. In the end, the Mexican soccer teams and the US basketball teams played against one another on the same court at the same time. As such, the work operated as a metaphor for the reality of life in the border region—where two entirely different systems of government, politics, economy, and civil society are forced, for better or worse, to co-exist and operate in the same physical territory.
Curators: Susan Buck-Morss, Ivo Mesquita, Osvaldo Sánchez, and Sally Yard
Venues: Colonia Libertad and Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas III Plantel Valle Sur, Tijuana
Soccer teams
Osos
Cetys Indoor Soccer Team – orange/grey striped jerseys
Players: Julio Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Carpio, Carlos Jaramillo, Jaime Mariscal, Andrés Barajas, Juan Carlos Rivas, Jesús López, Fernando Villegas, Omar Monroy, Luis Miguel Lomelí, Diego Nuñez
Coach: José Ángel Gaytán
Jaguares
Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas Indoor Soccer Team – green striped jerseys
Players: Rafael Ochoa, Luis Díaz, José Miguel Perera, Julio Arce, Juan Nava, Alfredo Vejar, Oscar Soto, Leobardo Ibarra, Armando Juárez, Luis Espinoza, Christian Ocampo
Coach: Francisco Quintanilla Rentería
Basketball teams
Tarheels
Logan Heights Boys and Girls Club – blue jerseys
Players: Kenny Hill, Voltaire Lepe, Kenji Rockett, Mark Regans, Tito Littleton, Jamal Benson, Rafael Dew
Coach: Tamao Kawai
Lakers
Logan Heights Boys and Girls Club – purple jerseys
Players: Omar Harrison, Michael Watkins, Marshawn Cherry, Sergio Crevas, Stanley Ready, Derek Crenshaw, Tomas Mitchell
Coach: Lonni Jones
Alberto Caro Limón – creative consultant
Boys and Girls Club of San Diego
Jason Wyatt – branch director, Logan Heights Boys and Girls Club
Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cardenas
José Cruz Olguín Ruiz – director, Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas
Mario Ortiz Villacorta – Preparatoria Federal Lazaro Cardenas
Francisco Quintanilla – sports coordinator, Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas
CETYS, Tijuana
Miguel Angel Salas Marrón – director, CETYS UNIVERSIDAD
Francisco Cuevas Díaz – sports coordinator, CETYS
Francisco Martínez – student affairs, CETYS
Matt Adams – basketball announcer, UCSD Tritons
Luis Alonso Carazo – soccer announcer
Brent Tucker – basketball referee
Sam Wilson – basketball referee
José Vázquez – soccer referee, Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas
Mauricio Alegre – soccer referee
Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego
Saúl Castro Verdugo – director, Instituto Municipal del Deporte
Hortensia Guerrero – city delegate, Mesa de Otay
Cruz Roja Mexicana
Unidad Municipal de Urbanización
Enrique Ruelas López – director, Unidad Municipal de Urbanización
Miguel Ángel Arellanes – technical director, Unidad Municipal de Urbanización
Instituto de la Juventud y el Deporte de Baja California (INJUDE)
Guillermo Caballero
Iván Díaz – production assistant
José Luis Martín – production assistant
Blanca Quiriarte – production assistant