In 1992, inspired by poet Eileen Myle’s presidential campaign, artist Zoe Leonard anonymously scribed the manifesto I want a president: »I want a dyke for president. I want a person with aids for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance [...]« The manually typewritten, photocopied sheet was passed around by hand at primary campaign events, years before most Americans had internet connections at home.
In 2006, on invitation from the feminist genderqueer journal LTTR, Leonard revived the text in the form of a postcard. Since 2010, starting with the collective reading project in conjunction with the general election in Sweden, public readings of the text have been staged in various languages around the world. ¹ A PDF of the original photocopy of the text is available to anyone for download: printouts of the file got distributed and placarded during the U.S. presidential election 2016 as well as the Austrian legislative election 2017.
In November 2016, on the occasion of the U.S. presidential election, I want a president got installed as billboard on The High Line under The Standard Hotel, at Little West 12th Street, New York. For the press release Leonard states that I want a president is not the text that she would write today, but she is interested in the ways the work asks: What is different today, and what remains the same? ²
¹ »I am interested in the space this text opens up for us to imagine and voice what we want in our leaders, and even beyond that, what we can envision for the future of our society. I still think that speaking up is itself a vital and powerful political act.«
https://iwantapresident.wordpress.com/i-want-a-president-zoe-leonard-1992/ (February 2018)
² Zoe Leonard: Introduction, I want a President: Transcript of a Rally, November 6, 2016, Op. Cit., p. 9
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| Zoe Leonard, I want a president (1992/2016), The High Line Art, New York 2017 |
I want a president… An Action/Collective reading project Website
"I want a president", billboard on the High Line under The Standard Hotel, at Little West 12th Street, October 2016–March 2017
