Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere

The Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present the first US survey of the work of Angel Nevarez (born 1970, Mexico City; lives New York) and Valerie Tevere (born 1970, Chicago; lives New York) who have been working collaboratively for more than 14 years, seven of them under the collective name neuroTransmitter. Often incorporating popular music and visual forms, their projects traverse the cultural complications and contradictions at play within public spaces. This exhibition will be on view in the Edna S. Tuttleman Gallery and Ramp Space, February 3–March 27, 2016.

Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere will debut several of their sound- and video-based projects, including their recent film Memory of a Time Twice Lived (2015). Memory of Time Twice Lived is a journey through musical tempo, cinematic time, and the excavation of an image. The film builds a field of relations tying together 20th century mythic heroes, the collection of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, the Mexican luchador El Santo, and the accordion as a nomadic instrument. Shot on location in Philadelphia and Mexico City, the film references Chris Marker’s science fiction piece La Jetée (1962), features a concert arranged for film, and an accordionist performing throughout Philadelphia. The roots of the film go back to Nevarez and Tevere’s years-long research on the history of the accordion, an instrument they see as a poetic representation of how music and people move through space. Initially invited by ICA curator Kate Kraczon, they were drawn to Philadelphia for its rapidly changing demographic fabric, especially its growing Hispanic population, and the proliferation of Mexican norteño-style music, for which the accordion is a central instrument.

Organized by Associate Curator Kate Kraczon and accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
 

Public programs

Another Protest Song: Karaoke with a Message
February 24, 6:30pm 

PennDesign Fine Arts Lecture: Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere
March 3, 6:30pm 

Record Release Party: Prelude to a Memory
March 4, 6–10pm 
Brewerytown Beats, 2710 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19130 
 

Artist biographies
Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere are multidisciplinary artists whose projects and research investigate contemporary music and sound, the electromagnetic spectrum, dissent, and public fora. Nevarez and Tevere’s practice and research span well over a decade of projects, performances, and art world experiences created together, and in project-based collaborations with musicians, radio practitioners, and city agencies. Nevarez and Tevere have produced new works for exhibitions at: the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Manifesta 8, Spain; Casino Luxembourg; New Museum, New York; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden/Oslo; Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano, Guadalajara, Mexico; Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York; Creative Time, New York; and the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, among others. Their recent fellowships and grants include a Creative Capital fellowship, an Art Matters grant, a National Endowment for the Arts project grant, and a Franklin Furnace Performance Art fellowship. Both Nevarez and Tevere were Studio Fellows at The Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program and artists in residence at the International Artists Studio Program in Sweden (IASPIS), Stockholm. Nevarez is a faculty member in the MFA Fine Arts program at the School of Visual Arts, New York and Tevere is Professor of Media Culture at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York.

Funding for Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere is provided by Christina Weiss Lurie.