A civil rights activist for African-Americans and Native Americans in the 1960s and ‘70s, Jimmie Durham was known as a dramatist and poet initially. He turned his attention to the fine arts after studying at ESAV (today’s HEAD) in Geneva, while preserving his political verve. Today, after showing in three Venice Biennials and two Documentas in Kassel, he is a touchstone for politically committed art. Invited by Hou Hanru to the 2009 Lyon Biennial, he premiered two new pieces, Thinking of You and Look/Regarde, whose scaffolding bristles with security cameras… all fakes! On the vulture in Thinking of You, the artist has said, “The vulture is the guardian of the established order more surely than all the cameras in the world.”