Curated by Paco Cano, Eva Mendoza Chandas and Jodie Dinapoli «Ñew York» addresses mobility in an era of widespread displacement where barriers between the global and the local are broken down. The artists were selected based on their accomplishments, artistic careers and their approaches to concepts of mobility, migration and cultural exchange, all intrinsic to a city where new ideas, experiences and diversity converge.

Artists: Sol Aramendi, Julieta Aranda, Ada Bobonis, Alberto Borea, Antón Cabaleiro, Juanma Carrillo, Nicky Enright, Félix Fernández, Jessica Lagunas, Abigail Lazkoz, Lluis Lleó, Manuel Molina Martagón, Esperanza Mayobre, Carlos Motta, Iván Navarro, Dulce Pinzón , Fernando Renes, Jose Ruiz y Manuela Viera-Gallo.

«Ñew York» showcases the work of 19 artists from 10 countries of Latin America and Spain who have made New York city the gravitating force of their artistic discourse. Alberto Borea (Peru) has made a series of collages where real estate market information is used to create sorts of imaginary favelas and cities. Abigail Lazkoz (Spain) is inspired by the everyday details and presents a series of abstract drawings, predominantly in black and white. The Empire State Essays is a series of video animations where Antón Cabalerio (Spain) presents two opposite ideas of New York. On the one hand, an idealized New York. In contrast, he narrates scenes taken from everyday-life experiences. Julieta Aranda (Mexico) and Carlos Motta (Colombia) present Broken English, a 48- page newspaper that was originally commissioned by Defne Ayas and presented for the first time in Performa 11 in New York.

The project includes interventions by over twenty artists such as Liam Gillick, Anton Vidokle, Shirin Neshat, Carolina Caycedo, among others. The term “Broken English” reflects the elasticity of the negotiation of public spaces in the urban environment and the cultural diversity. Jessica Lagunas (Guatemala) exhibits an edition of prints entitled Ai Spik Inglish where she uses English sentences pronounced by Hispanic immigrants. Nicky Enright’s(Ecuador) Rights of Passage explores the theory and practice of borders, whether they are physical, linguistic or conceptual. This Leak by Juanma Carrillo (Spain) and Felix Fernandez (Spain) presents a character who works on Wall Street. He will find something that will change his whole existence as he has always understood it. If I Come Back to this Life I Want to be an American Dentist is a mockumentary by Manuel Molina (Mexico) in which he reflects the artist’s experience in New York and the ordeal that artists have to go through due to the high cost of medical services in the city. In recent years, Ada Bobonis (Puerto Rico) explores the relationship between the individual and the environment through an installation that refers to the modern architecture in Puerto Rico. José Ruíz (Peru) works in the seemingly invisible line between politics and arts, paying attention to the multitude of connotations implied in these interactions where art functions as the messenger of the politics of culture. Esperanza Mayobre (Venezuela) creates spaces and situations with the intention of communicating a story. The themes she explores are those which people generally try to avoid, such as disease and immigration, among others. These ideas give shape to works like Symphony of Nothing. In The Real Story of the Superheroes, Dulce Pinzón (Mexico) uses the concept of hero in the form of real people who perform extraordinary achievements, as opposed to sacrifices of those who pass unnoticed. Fernando Renes (Spain) creates compositions of drawings using cultural elements from both Spain and New York. Iván Navarro’s work establishes interactions with the audience and highlights the social and political factors involved in formal composition. Lluis Lleó (Spain) introspective narratives are based on constructed biographical elements that appear in both his paintings and sculptures. Carlos Motta (Colombia) presents Ideological Graffiti, a series of photographs documenting political graffiti in the streets of several cities in Latin America and Ivory Tower, filmed from the site of the World Trade Center Building in New York. Manuela Viera-Gallo (Chile) presents a model of the UN building in New York, which has been put in the hands of a dove-knife. Sol Aramendi (Argentina) explores psychological impressions resulting from her life in New York. Her scenes reflect processes and obsessions, studying them from the outside in order to comprehend them.

Site: Eva Mendoza Chandas

Title: Ñew York
Place: AMA | ART MUSEUM of the AMERICAS
City: Washington DC
Country: United States of America
Date: February 16 – May 20, 2012