Latin American Artists atthe New Museum Art Triennial

Latin American Artists atthe New Museum Art Triennial

^{By Yohanna M. Roa, curator
02/12/2023}

Under the title "Soft Water Hard Stone [1]", the New Museum in New York City has held the fifth version of the Art Triennial. The event is proposed as the only recurring space dedicated to emerging artists worldwide. Margot Norton, Jamillah James, Jeanette Bisschops, and Bernardo Mosqueira, curators of the show, point out that"those structures that we visualized as stable in the past are disintegrating on the verge of collapse." From this perspective, Gabriel Chaile (1985 San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina; lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal) Tomás Díaz Cedeño (1983 Mexico City) Clara Ianni (1987 São Paulo, Brazil) Arturo Kameya (1984 Lima, Peru; lives and works in Amsterdam) Gabriela Mureb (1985 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); present works that point out gaps and latent omissions in certain historical constructions, which are used to sustain and preserve memories that support power structures and give meaning to social dynamics focused on hyper-productivity. In this way, they have regulated the relationships and functions between our bodies and the processes of writing history.

Clara Ianni is interested in making visible how the legacy of colonialism emerges in everyday life. With the work "Labor Drawings," made specically for the triennial, the artist makes a critique of the working conditions at the New Museum, mapping the routes that employees must take from their homes to the building located on Bowery St. In a series of graphs, the distances and times involved in the journeys are indicated, and next to the images, information concerning the working positions of the participants is displayed. In this way, Ianni makes evident the different labor conditions of the workers, which is a contradiction since one of the objectives of the Museum is the commitment to social justice.
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With a sculptural installation titled "1000 Years"(2019), Tomás Díaz Cedeño refers to the childhood years he spent traveling with his mother through the Mexican volcanic belt. The work consists of five hanging sculptures of poured concrete, connected by an irrigation system that sends drops of water down the chains, and the concrete accumulates on ceramic bases. It resembles a landscape of stalactites hanging from the museum's ceiling, gradually dripping water. Díaz points to the complex
socio-economic relationships we establish with nature; in this way, by observing a natural landscape, the artist asks us to visualize the problems between the natural world, including our bodies, industry, and the urban environment.
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Gabriel Chaile presents a work produced for the triennial:"Mamá luchona"(2021). The title comes from an expression often used in Latin America to refer to single mothers who strive to take care of their children instead of young women who dedicate themselves to personal amusement. The large-format sculpture, made with clay, metal structure, eggs, bricks, and pigments, is based on a ceramic piece from Condorhuasi (c. 400 B.C.-A.D. 700, Catamarca, Argentina). Chaile takes up indigenous objects, which were looted and organized in anthropological museums, intending to point out how the social problems of the present are connected to a long history of colonial anti-resistance.
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With interest in producing historical overlaps, Arturo Kameya interweaves historical facts and superimposes versions and details of the same story to make the divergences and contradictions between them resonate. In the work "Who can Afford to Feed More Ghosts" 2021, personal memories and various objects are presented to testify to social and political problems in Peru. Two stories relate death and resurrection; one of them is about Jaime Rolando Urbina, mayor of the district of Tantará in
Peru, who was arrested for violating the lockdown and breaking the curfew during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When caught by the police, Torres pretended to be dead inside a coffin; photos of this absurd scene went viral. Kameya reflects on media manipulation and stages an installation that recreates a dinner for the dead.
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Kinetic sculpture, sound, and video are the means used by Gabriela Mureb to recover experiences related to continuity, rhythm, and repetition. While questioning the meaning and value of industrial production systems, the artist reminds us of the decline of our bodies. Machine #4: Stone (ground) 2017 is inspired by a popular Brazilian proverb:"Soft water on hard stone and beat until it pierces,"the same that gave the title to the current triennial. A motor activates an aluminum rod that
repeatedly strikes a stone in a constant staccato. Over time, the rod will eventually poke a hole in the stone, creating a fine powder that accumulates and dissolves into the surrounding atmosphere. Of the 41 artists included in the current exhibition, 41.46 % are North American, 22% European, originating from Asia 22%, from Africa 4.8%, Oceania 2.4%, and Latin America 12.20%. Unlike previous versions, where the presence of Latin American artists based in and outside the United States was in 2018 15.3%, 2015, 5.7%, having the highest peak in 2012 with 28% and the lowest in the first version of 2009, with 6%.

NOTE
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[1]. “Água mole emp pedra dura, tanto bat até que fura”, The soft water on hard stone hits until bores a hole. Which has similar
versions in various cultures.

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