PUBLIC PROGRAMS ACCOMPANYING THE
CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ:
(IN)FORMED BY COLOR EXHIBITION
680 Park Avenue at 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
T: 212.249.8950
New Mythologies: Color as a Participatory Tool
Panel Discussion at Americas Society
680 Park Avenue at 68th St, NY
Thursday October 2, 6:30 p.m.
The members of this panel will discuss how artists in the 1960s such as Cruz-Diez, Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, and Abraham Palatnik explored basic visual elements such as color and light to redefine the parameters of art itself by directly engaging the viewer through social situations.
Speakers:
• Tanya Barson (Curator, Tate Modern)
• Estrellita Brodsky (Guest Curator)
• Ariel Jiménez (Curator, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros)
• Arnauld Pierre (Art Historian)
• Edward Sullivan, Moderator (Dean of Humanities, New York University)
Perceptual Transformations
Panel discussion at The King Juan Carlos of Spain Center-NYU
53 Washington Square South, NY
Tuesday October 14, 6:30 p.m.
This multidisciplinary panel will focus on theories of perception, phenomenology, and the development of spectator participation in artworks such as Carlos Cruz-Diez’ Cromosaturación and Pedro Reyes’ Leverage.
Speakers:
• Nuit Banai (Art Historian)
• Marisa Carrasco (Chair of Psychology, New York University)
• Pedro Reyes (Visual Arts)
• Edward Sullivan, Moderator (Dean of Humanities, New York University)
These events are part of the exhibition Carlos Cruz-Diez: (In)Formed by Color, on view at the Americas Society until December 13th 2008. The exhibition, curated by Estrellita B. Brodsky and Isabela Villanueva, presents Cruz-Diez one of Latin America’s Kinetic art masters in his first solo show at a major United States cultural institution. Focusing on the relationship between color and perception, the exhibition seeks to correct the limited understanding and visibility of Cruz-Diez’s work in the United States.
Carlos Cruz-Diez: (In)Formed by Color features Cromosaturación, a site-specific environment designed by the artist for the Americas Society’s gallery. Initially conceived of in 1965, this groundbreaking artwork consists of three separate light-infused color chambers of red, green and blue. The real content of the work is the visitor’s experience of walking through the shifting chromatic space and interacting over time to his or her own physical movement. In addition to the Cromosaturación, the exhibition will include 20 of Cruz-Diez’ early Fisicromías, a series of changeable chromatic structures that he initiated in 1959. These offer insight into the thinking process behind the artist’s exploration of the liberating, participatory experience of color projected into space. Cruz-Diez demands the viewer’s involvement through color as an autonomous, constantly shifting spatial event. Barely known in the United States, Cruz-Diez is considered a pioneer in the use of color as a participatory tool as well as a visionary who pushed the boundaries of art towards everyday life.
A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition, including contributions by Alexander Alberro, Nuit Banai, Mariela Brazon, Estrellita Brodsky, Gabriela Rangel, and Isabela Villanueva. The catalogue will be available in November 2008.
Americas Society gratefully acknowledges the following donors for their generous support of Carlos Cruz Diez: (In)formed by Color and accompanying public programs: Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Luis Alfonso and Maria Graciela Oberto; Mercantil; Stelac Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; Luis Benshimol; Clarissa Alcock Bronfman; Chevron; Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; Fundación Eugenio Mendoza; Leonor Giménez Pocaterra de Mendoza; Sotheby’s; Alberto Vollmer Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts; PINTA Art, LLC; and Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian.
Additional in-kind support has been provided by: Art Nexus; Arte al Día International; Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud; Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela – Ministerio del Poder Popular para La Cultura – Fundación Museos Nacionales; Pablo Pulido Mendoza; Mexican Cultural Institute of New York; Sicardi Gallery; and Terrazas de los Andes.
The listed events are free and open to the public.
Americas Society is located at 680 Park Avenue at 68th Street, in New York City.
Reservations are mandatory, so please RSVP to: (212) 277-8359 or culture@americas-society.org
For more information, visit www.americas-society.org If you have questions or comments, please email us at culture@americas-society.org
