Installed in the Castle of Chapultepec and conflating the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, Mexico's former emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, his wife Carlota, and former President Benito Juárez await 'History's judgment.' In the meantime, they entertain themselves -and the audience, a 'flock' to whom thought is prohibited- 'killing time with historic dignity.' The historical characters play betting games of dexterity (betting the political destiny of the fatherland), play political miniature horse races, perform a ballroom gestural dance to Catholicism, and watch a satiric puppet rendition of 'Red Riding Hood' where a girl resembling Mexico's First Lady Marta Sahagún teams up with an American wolf (who is in war with Iraq) in order to kill Grandma Vicenta (resembling President Vicente Fox) and seize political control of the hemisphere. In the meantime, Carlota, historically accused of madness, asks her 'magic' mirror to predict Mexico's 2006 electoral outcome.From Carlota's futuristic mirror (a 'reflecting film'), once 'reloaded,' springs History, who comes to judge the political characters and the problems of Mexico's so-called progress, ultimately deciding to stop the course of historical events. To Carlota's question on who will win the 2006 presidential race, History responds that no one can achieve it except for Mexico's athlete Ana Gabriela Guevara. But the athlete (staged as a transformed/strip-teased Juarez) refuses to get involved in politics, ending the story, and thus leaving History as an open ended question mark.

Video Inserts: Video inserts projected on stage as a part of the cabaret piece 'Foximiliano y Martota.' The video set includes footage of mirror reflections, a variety of TV footage (such as a documentary on the Seven World Marvels, a Discovery Channel documentary on the evolutionary future of the species on Earth, an interview and other footage on Mexico's First Lady Marta Sahagún, the theatrical trailer of the film 'Matrix Reloaded,' as well as footage of a race won by Mexico's athlete Ana Gabriela Guevara), and an image of Mexico's flag waving, with the caption 'Fin de la Historia' (End of the story/History).These video inserts are mostly incorporated as projections onstage 'provided' by a magic mirror through which Mexico's former emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, his wife Carlota, and former President Benito Juárez intend to foresee Mexico's 2006 electoral outcome while 'killing time with historic dignity' in a postmodern, satiric waiting game, awaiting the veredict of for 'History's judgment.'

HIDVL Video Holdings

Foximiliano y Martota (full performance, embedded below)
Foximiliano y Martota (performance video inserts)