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5/12/2006

Two exhibitions

Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation - CIFO, Miami

Forms of Classification

curated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill

Forms of Classification is an exhibition of contemporary art that focuses on the possibilities that art may offer of knowing/thinking about the world today, beyond normatives of convention. Knowledge and classification go hand in hand, in the same way that classification is interchangeable with the indexical. Art constitutes a powerful form of classification, both within its own system—for example, through the hierarchies established in art history, and the inclusion/exclusion determined by art criticism and the art institution—and as a determining factor in how we view the world.

Perhaps one of the most important things that the artworks in this exhibition propose is to look beyond the surface of things and to explore objects, situations, and histories beyond the generalized act of “naming," which replaces a deeper and more personal form of knowledge. Our constant form of relating with the world is through the infinite act of indexation, which becomes a normative and controlling system of knowing that finally appears to be the “natural" state of things. This exhibition is about dispelling this normative form of classification.

The works here do not function as a form of logically ordering the world; they are about expanding narrow definitions, about moving away from the known surface, in unexpected directions. Jimmie Durham, one of the artists participating in this show, writes: “I’m interested in the phenomena of the cultural meaning that fills things up, more than the specifics of the meaning or the specifics of the memory." It is from this “cultural meaning" that the artists in Forms of Classification explore the ways in which knowledge is constructed.

The Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection is deeply committed both to collecting contemporary art with a broad international focus, including emerging and established artists; and to producing unusual and innovative exhibitions that offer challenging perspectives on art today. The Collection is interested in artworks that address a wide range of critical issues that are relevant to our contemporary existence. This exhibition addresses specifically the issue of classification, though many more aspects are central to both the works presented here today and the rest of our contemporary art collection, including the art institution, the human condition, gender issues, memory, history, and the everyday.
Above all, this is a playful and open-ended exhibition.

The sites of latin american abstraction

curated by Juan Ledezma

The show draws on an important area of the collection—abstract-geometric art from Latin America—proposes a mapping of the geometric traditions in the continent, from the perspective of establishing a sense of cultural identity through abstraction.

It is striking that, beginning with Joaqui'n Torres-Garci'a in the 1930s, artists in Latin America—specifically, in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela—decided that geometric abstraction should be the vehicle for forging a new, modern sense of identity in a continent with strong cultural roots. At its core, geometric abstract art is nonrepresentational, the deployment of simple geometric shapes in nonillusionistic space. It proposes to be an art that refers to itself, to the space and surface contained within the picture plane or sculptural form. Ledezma addresses how a sense of cultural identity may stem from diverse forms of geometric abstraction, both aesthetically and conceptually. He deals with the contradictions of an artistic project that attempts to form a specifically Latin American identity using an artistic language that is neither based on inherited local traditions, nor associated with a narrative of identity. According to Ledezma, it is precisely “because of that disjunction that the idea of forging a distinct, specifically Latin American identity…could arise as a project."

This exhibition does not occur in a vacuum. In recent years we have witnessed important international shows that addressed the abstract-geometric tradition in Latin America. The fact remains, however, that this rich and complex artistic tradition is still widely unknown, especially if we compare it to the vast and long-standing awareness, through exhibitions and publications, of the abstract-geometric traditions both in Europe and in the United States. We hope with this exhibition to contribute to its further dissemination.

The Sites of Latin American Abstraction is unusual in the fact that, on the one hand, it is strongly grounded in academic research, and on the other, it proposes an unorthodox and dynamic museographical display. Ledezma presents three concrete sites of abstraction: the grid, writing, and public space. But these sites are neither presented in separate and well-defined spaces, nor are they arranged chronologically, geographically, or by media. Over one hundred artworks, ranging from drawings to painting, sculpture, and photography, are presented according to unexpected visual structural analogies that offer both new approaches to looking at the geometric abstract art from Latin America, and an alternative way of presenting a historical exhibition.

Image: Mark Dion, Rescue Archaeology (lockers), 2005 Mixed media.

Opening: 6 december 2006

Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation
1018 North Miami Avenue - Miami

Exhibition Hours: Thursday through Sunday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm or by appointment.

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