¡Merengue! Visual Rhythms / Ritmos Visuales
This Skin I’m In: Contemporary Dominican Art from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection

September 29, 2006 – January 21, 2007

Tony Capellan, Caribbean Sea, 1996

Spanning the 20th century (1933-present), ¡Merengue! introduces to New York more than 50 works by 36 artists exploring the pictorial representation of merengue, the genre of music and dance that has come to define Dominican culture and identity. This overview will be presented concurrently with This Skin I’m In: Contemporary Dominican Art from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection, featuring mixed-media works using the concept of skin as metaphor and membrane to evoke the experiences of Dominicans and Dominican Americans.

Press Release - ¡Merengue!

Press Release - This Skin I'm In

ELLIOT, A SOLDIER’S FUGUE
▪ October 6 - 29, various matinee and evening performances at 3:00 pm, 8:00 pm.
Page 73 Productions (P73)and El Museo del Barrio proudly reprise the critically acclaimed play Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue written by Quiara Alegría Hudes and directed by Davis McCallum on the stage of Teatro Heckscher of El Museo. Page 73 Productions first presented the play’s premiere in early 2006 at the Culture Project, where it received critical praise and played to sold-out houses.

Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue tells the story of three generations of Puerto Rican men in one family and their experiences in the US military. At 18, Lance Corporal Elliot Ortiz crossed over to Iraq . At 19, he received the Purple Heart. Now, back from active duty, Elliot is a hometown hero. As Elliot comes to terms with his own memories of war, the military experiences of his father and grandfather unfold, revealing tartling similarities that unite the Ortiz men across time.  As Elliot’s tale moves back in time, the stories of his father, mother and grandfather move forward until past and present collide, wringing love and beauty from devastation.
Admission: $35 per ticket, $25 for El Museo members. Call 212 279 4200 for tickets or visit www.p73.org for more information or for group sales rates.

Héctor Méndez Caratini: The Eye of Memory—Three Decades, 1974-2003

June 10– September 10, 2006
Curated by Ricardo Viera, Lehigh University Art Galleries;

Freddy Rodríguez, Homage to Tony Peña, 2005, Mink glove with gold leaf
Collection of El Museo del Barrio

Selections from this traveling exhibition present Méndez Caratini’s 30-year trajectory of photography and videos. Méndez Caratini (b. 1949, San Juan ) is acclaimed for his examination of historical changes and the cultural heritage of emerging Caribbean nations. Placing his photographs in dialogue with santos de palo , masks, and other folk art objects from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection allows for first-hand examination of the objects documented.

Press Release

Between the Lines: Text as Image. An Homage to Lorenzo Homar and the Reverend Pedro Pietri

February 24 – September 10, 2006

This project features works by two artists that utilized language within their visual arts practices: the recently-deceased master printmaker Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004) and the renowned poet Reverend Pedro Pietri (1944-2004). Connections will be made from Homar’s calligraphic images that honor poets and bookmaking, to the works of his colleagues and students, including Rafael Tufiño, Antonio Frasconi, and Antonio Martorell. Pietri’s personal, political and performative projects will be linked to the practices of another generation of artists, including Papo Colo, Adál, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

Press Release

EL MUSEO’S BIENAL
THE (S) FILES / THE SELECTED FILES

On View August 31, 2005 – January 29, 2006

NEW YORK, NY – August 2005 – El Museo del Barrio, New York’s premier Latino and Latin American cultural institution, is excited to announce our fall exhibition. El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files / The Selected Files highlights the most cutting-edge art produced by emerging Latino/Latin American artists working in the greater New York area. While celebrating the experimental immediacy of contemporary art, the project offers the excitement of noting rising talents. This selection of innovative works by 40 artists includes traditional media such as painting, drawing, photography and video, but also showcases more experimental work incorporating sound, performative elements, interactive projects and site-specific installations that will extend beyond the galleries into the lobby and courtyard as well as into the students’ taller, or workshop. This 4 th edition of El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files continues El Museo’s commitment to up-and-coming artists: many of the works on display have been chosen from the unsolicited submissions to El Museo’s Artists’ Archive over the past two years. The exhibition has been curated by Deborah Cullen , Director of Curatorial Programs, El Museo del Barrio, and Miki Garcia, Executive Director , Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum. For the first time, the 2005 bienal features an invited guest curator who, spotlighting a specific country or region, will bring artists from their home nation to be represented in the show. This year, guest Marysol Nieves, Curator of Contemporary Art, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico , has selected four artists from Puerto Rico for inclusion in the bienal.

List of Participating Artists

El Museo’s Bienal:The (S) Files / The Selected Files

• Karina Aguilera Skvirsky (1967; Providence, RI)
• Carlos Aponte (1960; New York, NY)
• Michael Paul Britto (1968; New York, NY)
• David Cabrera (1956; Victorville, CA)
• caraballo-farman (1971; Argentina/1966; Canada-Iran)
• Patricia Cazorla (1973; Lima, Perú. Raised in Venezuela)
• David Antonio Cruz (1974; Philadelphia, PA)
• Chio Flores (Lima, Peru)
• Nancy Friedemann (Bogotá, Colombia)
• Graciela Fuentes (1975; Monterrey, NL, Mexico)
• iliana emilia garcia (1970; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
• Richard Garet (1972; Montevideo, Uruguay)
• Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom(1972; Miami, FL/1974; Providence, RI)
• Yasmín Hernández (1975; Brooklyn, NY)
• Cristina Hernández-Botero (1977; Bogotá, Colombia)
• Juan Iribarren (1956; Caracas, Venezuela)
• José Enrique Krapp (1970; El Paso, Texas)
• Michael D. Linares (1979; San Juan, Puerto Rico)
• Nicola López (1975; Santa Fe, NM)
• Adria Marquez (1975; Weehawken, NJ. Raised in Miami, FL)
• Diego Medina Rosas (1969; Guadalajara, Mexico)
• Carlos Motta (1978; Bogotá, Colombia)
• Alfonso Muñoz (1962; Isabela, Puerto Rico)
• Jesús “Bubu” Negrón (1975; Arecibo, Puerto Rico)
• Claudia Peña (1975; Nuevo Leon, Mexico)
• Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz (1976; Bronx, New York)
• Fay Ray (1978; Riverside, CA)
• Quintín Rivera-Toro (1978; Caguas, Puerto Rico)
• ChemiRosado Seijo (1973; Vega Alta, Puerto Rico)
• Milton Rosa-Ortiz (1967; Santurce, Puerto Rico)
• Raymond Saá (1972; New Orleans, LA)
• Luis M. Salazar (1974; San Salvador, El Salvador)
• Alessandra Sanguinetti (1968; New York, NY)
• Beatriz Santiago Muñoz (Puerto Rico)
• Erik Shorrock Güzmán (1973; Caguas, Puerto Rico)
• Marisa Tellería-Díez (1963; Managua, Nicaragua)
• Alejandra Villasmil (1972; Maracaibo, Venezuela)
• Patricia Zarate (1962, Cali, Colombia)

Mexico: The Revolution and Beyond.Photographs by Casasola
1900 - 1940.

April 13 through July 31, 2005

Curated by Pablo Ortíz Monasterio

New York, NY March 2005 – El Museo del Barrio, New York’s premier Latino and Latin American cultural institution, is pleased to announce the opening of Mexico: The Revolution and Beyond. Photographs by Casasola 1900 - 1940. This remarkable exhibition will be on view from April 13 through July 31, 2005. One of Latin America’s first photojournalists, Agustín Victor Casasola documented the tumultuous events of the early twentieth century in a style that ranged from the celebratory to the unforgettably tragic.  The exhibition of 92 selected photographs, culled from the nearly 500,000-image archive, which is part of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico, (INAH); was organized by leading Mexican photography specialist and well-known photographer Pablo Ortiz Monasterio.

The images presented in the exhibition document the history of a nation in the midst of transformation. As it entered a new era, Mexico sought to rid itself of a socially repressive regime. Photographers looked at the people in a celebratory way by focusing on figures of prominence as well as everyday citizens. The themes of revolution, work, modernity, and urban life are captured in images that record an epoch full of drama and hope. The work of the Casasola photographers included in the archives is rich in historic content but also hints at the great power of the medium in shaping the way that history is viewed and perceived.

Focusing on eight distinct themes, the exhibition reveals Casasola’s compelling choices, technical expertise, and extraordinary drive to document his country during one of its critical periods.

About the artist

Agustín Victor Casasola was born in Mexico City in 1874, began working in typographic workshops at an early age, and was working as a reporter by the age of twenty.   At the turn of the century he had established himself as a photographer.  In 1912, he opened one of the first professional photography agencies in partnership with his brother Miguel; later his children and grandchildren joined the partnership.  Casasola’s motto for the company was, “I have or can produce the photo you need.”  The agency helped Casasola realize his lifelong obsession:  the creation of a photographic archive that recorded the history of Mexico as it unfolded.  

Catalogue

A 220-page book accompanies the exhibition and includes additional images. Featured in the publication are essays by Pete Hamill, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Sergio Raúl Arroyo, and Rosa Casanova. The English version is published by APERTURE in cooperation with CONACULTA (Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes) and INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia); the Spanish language edition is available from Turner.

Retratos: 2000 Years of Latin America Portraits

December 3, 2004 – March 20, 2005:

Ana María de la Campa y Cos y Ceballos
Andrés de Islas (Mexican, active second half of
18^th century) Oil on canvas, 107 x 82 cm, 1776
Rodrigo Rivero-Lake Antigüedades, Mexico, D.F.

Curated by Fatima Bercht, Miguel Bretos, Carolyn Kinder Carr
and Marion Oettinger

This exhibition, a collaborative effort between El Museo del Barrio, the San Antonio Museum of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery, marks the first time a comprehensive exhibition of Latin American portraiture has been organized. It will show both the depth and breadth of the tradition and explore the meaning of this interesting art form for the societies represented, providing us valuable insight into the minds of both the artist and the sitter, as well as their time and place. Latin America has a long and rich tradition of portraiture. For over 2000 years, portraits have been used to preserve the memory of the deceased, provide continuity between the living and the dead, bolster the social standing of the aristocracy, mark the deeds of the mighty, advance the careers of politicians, record rites of passage, and mock symbols of the status quo. Comprised of approximately 100 portraits, in a variety of different media, this exhibition will contain examples from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the United States, from the pre-Columbian period through the Vice-regal era, Independence, and the modern and contemporary periods.

Early portraiture will be represented through the ceramics and codices of the ancient Moche of Peru, the classic Maya of Mexico and Central America, and the Mixtec painters. The Viceregal period (1520-1820) will present portraits symbolizing the Spanish Crown’s power in America, the wealth and social standing of particular men and women, and generic portraits which attempted to create an imagined ideal social order through “caste paintings.” As Latin American republics achieved independence from Spain, France, and Portugal, leaders such as Toussaint l’Ouverture, Simón Bolívar, San Martín, Hidalgo, and Morelos became symbols of the break, their portraits serving as emotional and political touchstones in the formation and maintenance of new governments and national identities. Only decades later, other bold individuals, such as Mexico’s Benito Juárez and Cuba’s José Marti, were commemorated. The final section of the exhibition will present twentieth-century Latin American portraiture—while it records deeply entrenched oligarchs, bold revolutionaries, and Nobel laureates—also presents the emergence of self-portraits and satirical portraits: popular commentaries on the self and the world.

This project and all related national and local programs and publications are made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund.

Since the 1960s and 1970s, performance has been a pivotal contemporary art form. The term ‘performance’ often refers to an action, an event, a happening, an enactment, a set piece, a form of body art, a vocal or audio event, or any other artistic undertaking that happens in time. Performance has exerted a strong influence on the field of video, which often serves to record, shape and present performative actions.

No lo llames performance/Don’t Call it Performance examines recent activities gathered under what has become known as ‘performative’ by presenting the work of over forty artists, paying particular attention to numerous contemporary Latino and Latin American practitioners. Through a mixture of screenings and live presentations, the exhibition provides a framework for analysing contemporary performative works, while drawing attention to both the similarities and differences between past and present.

Performance remains the only discipline within the scope of the visual arts that offers a direct, vivid, spontaneous product without recourse to mediation. For many artists, the body continues to be the most accessible and the most malleable of materials, with the capacity to generate immediate critical discourses about everyday politics and life.

Paco Barragán is an independent curator, based in Madrid. No lo llames performance/Don’t Call it Performance was organized by the Audiovisuals Department of the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Nacional (Madrid, Spain), and presented there in 2003. It traveled to Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Seville, Spain), Centro Párraga (Murcia, Spain).

MoMA at El Museo
Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art

March 5 - July 25, 2004

The Museum of Modern Art and El Museo del Barrio, both of New York, have jointly organized the first exhibition highlighting MoMA's outstanding collection of Latin American and Caribbean art. MoMA at El Museo presents a selection of more than 100 paintings, sculptures and works on paper created between the 1920s and 2002.

The exhibition is organized chronologically, reflecting the history of acquisitions and donations, as well as the shifting politics that influenced collecting.

The first gallery is dedicated to the initial, major acquisitions of 1935; works by "Los tres grandes" Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as Candido Portinari, and Wifredo Lam.

The second section surveys acquisitions after 1942, when the Inter-American fund was established. Important paintings by well-known modernists, such as Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, and Carlos Merida; Antonio Berni; Matta; Amalia Peláez; and Joaquín Torres-García were incorporated.

The third portion focuses on the 1960s, when acquisitions of drawings, print portfolios, and Pop and Op art works markedly increased. Seminal works by Rafael Montañez-Ortiz, Fernando Botero, Julio Le Parc, Gego, Marisol, and Jesús Rafael Soto entered the collection. The exhibition concludes with a compelling range of recent works, created by outstanding contemporary artists. Among them are works by: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Enrique Chagoya, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ana Mendieta, Los Carpinteros, Guillermo Kuitca, Juan Sánchez, Arturo Herrera, Cildo Meireles, Helio Oiticica and Gabriel Orozco.

A lavishly-illustrated, full-color catalogue, and a diverse range of educational programs, will accompany the exhibition.

Admission fees: MoMA at El Museo
March 5th through July 25th, 2004
Adults: $7.00 (with Acoustiguide $10.00)
Students & Seniors: $5.00 (with Acoustiguide $8.00)
Members & Children Under 12: FREE
THURSDAY: 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. FREE
Acoustiguide: $5.00

VOCES Y VISIONES
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO'S PERMANENT COLLECTION

November 14, 2003 - February 8, 2004

An amplified version of the nationally-traveling exhibition of highlights from El Museo del Barrio's permanent collection, including: Taíno pre-Columbian objects; popular arts (including Santos, masks, and textiles); graphics; and modern and contemporary arts. Accompanied by a 5-volume catalogue, celebrating El Museo's 35th anniversary. This project debuts at the Tampa Museum of Art, July 20 - October 19, 2003.

A nationally traveling exhibition 2003-2005 sponsored by


Additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency

Support for the New York presentation of this exhibition has been provided by:
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration

Rafael Tufiño, Pintor del Pueblo / Painter of the People

Organized by Fatima Bercht, Chief Curator; curated by Dr. Teresa Tío for the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan

This exhibition will be Rafael Tufiño's first major retrospective in the United States, presenting the entire breadth of his work (prints, paintings, drawings and sculpture), as selected from the major retrospective held in Puerto Rico from July 6 through October 7, 2001. Tufiño (b. Brooklyn, 1922) is one of the central figures in the history of twentieth-century Puerto Rican art. A member of Generación del Cincuenta ("The Fifties Generation"), Tufiño has been of one of the major forces in founding and furthering modern Puerto Rican art-both on the Island and in the Caribbean diaspora of New York. Tufiño was one of the founders and leaders of the Island's print tradition, and has been one of the hemisphere's most distinguished poster-makers, an illustrator of books and stories, a draftsman and letterist. The expressive and gestural purity of his draftsmanship became a trademark of Puerto Rican graphics of the 1950s and 1960s. Tufiño consistently depicted the Puerto Rican people in all their daily expressions, working and celebrating. Tufiño made many images of dance, music, and religious festivals, and El Museo will offer public music and dance programs and folk art demonstrations as programming to accompany the exhibition.

October 24, 2002 - February 16, 2003

Featured Artist: Karin Schneider

Voices From Our Communities On view through September 16, 2001, Voices From Our Communities culminates a comprehensive five-year effort to explore the connection between a museum's permanent collection and its highly diverse audiences. This exhibition features over 100 works created by Latino artists in the United States, as well as by artists working in the Caribbean and Latin America. Noteworthy pieces include paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and mixed-media works by contemporary artists, including Rafael Ferrer, Miriam Hernandez, Alfredo Jaar, Pepón Osorio, and Liliana Porter, as well as Shipibo vessels and Haitian vodun flags, Puerto Rican ex-votos and colorful Chicano prints, Mexican masks and an extraordinary 17th century book by Bartolomé de las Casas. Pre-Columbian and traditional arts, such as masks, textiles, and devotional objects, are also highlighted. The variety and richness of artworks in this exhibition derive, in great measure, from the expansion of El Museo del Barrio's mission in 1994 to represent and include, beyond the founding Puerto Rican community, all the Latin American communities that are transforming El Barrio, New York City, and the country at large. Members of these communities as well as artists, curators, anthropologists, etc. have been invited to contribute to the interpretation of works in the collection. The soundtrack of their diverse "voices" and points-of-view will be incorporated as a crucial and lively element of the exhibition, through a sound installation in each gallery.

Contemporánea 2001 Permanent Visibility by Ingrid Menendez On view June 12th through September 16, 2001 Curated by Deborah Cullen, Curator, El Museo del Barrio Ingrid Menéndez, a Venezuelan sculptor (b. 1963, Caracas) living in New York, creates an interactive installation. Each visitor, alone in an intimate gallery, must decide on how to interface with her experimental artwork. Menéndez's work investigates the boundaries between private and public experience, and the ever-increasing role played by the technologies of surveillance.