Abraham Cruzvillegas’s 'Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist...' (2018) will be presented at Art Basel Miami Beach as a special collaboration between NYC's The Kitchen and Art Basel. Performances that activate the sculpture will take place on Friday, December 7, 2018 at 3 and 5 p.m. in the Miami Beach Convention Center's Grand Ballroom (enter from East or West Lobbies). Doors open 30 minutes beforehand with advance arrival recommended.
The piece builds on the artist's working methodology of autoconstrucción (self-construction), producing sculptures constructed using materials found in the vicinity of the venue during the weeks leading up to the project’s public presentation. The resulting sculptural object is suspended in an open space.
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Abraham Cruzvillegas's 'Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist...' Photo courtesy The Kitchen and Art Basel Miami Beach.
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‘Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist...’ builds on Abraham Cruzvillegas’ working methodology of autoconstrucción (self-construction). Originally presented in front of a small audience at Pista, an abandoned dance space in Colonia Roma, Mexico City, the installation and performance premiered in the United States at The Kitchen last April (organized by Tim Griffin and Rachel Valinsky). In its basic parts, ‘Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist...’ initially consists of an assemblage created in the vein of Cruzvillegas’ sculptures, constructed using materials found in the immediate vicinity of the venue during the weeks leading up to the project’s public presentation.
The resulting sculptural object is suspended in an open space, and performances take place at select times, created by Cruzvillegas’ collaborator on the project, choreographer and co-author Bárbara Foulkes, with dancers and musicians in improvisation, echoing Andrés García Nestitla’s direction for this year’s earlier iteration at The Kitchen.
The idea of ‘Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist…’ was born from Cruzvillegas’ experience of his parents building their family home using found materials, which evolved over time according to immediate necessity and opportunity. This fundamental part of the artist’s practice is also influenced by the collaborative building process undertaken by dwellers of improvised urban settlements around the world – favelas, barrios, slums or shanti towns – who rely on recycled and scavenged materials to ingeniously, but often precariously, respond to their rapidly changing living situations.
On the concept, Abraham Cruzvillegas says, ‘Autoconstrucción is about scarcity, solutions and ingenuity… how you can conceive a philosophy of life that you can make something out of nothing. That is also a metaphor for identity… we are constantly transforming ourselves.’
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Abraham Cruzvillegas's 'Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist...' Photo courtesy The Kitchen and Art Basel Miami Beach.
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Performances at Art Basel Miami Beach feature Cruzvillegas’s collaborators on the project, choreographer Bárbara Foulkes, with dancers and musicians in improvisation, echoing Andrés García Nestitla’s direction for this year’s earlier iteration at The Kitchen. The Kitchen is one of New York City’s oldest nonprofit art spaces, showing innovative work across disciplines since its inception in 1971.
This project is presented by Art Basel and The Kitchen, led by Tim Griffin and Lumi Tan, in collaboration with Philipp Kaiser, supported by MGM Resorts Art & Culture.
Click here to read an interview between Philipp Kaiser and Tim Griffin on the project.
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BASIC FACTS: Abraham Cruzvillegas’s 'Autorreconstrucción: To Insist, to Insist, to Insist...' (2018) will be presented at Art Basel Miami Beach as a special collaboration between NYC's The Kitchen and Art Basel. Performances that activate the sculpture will take place on Friday, December 7, 2018 at 3 and 5 p.m. in the Miami Beach Convention Center's Grand Ballroom (enter from East or West Lobbies). Doors open 30 minutes beforehand with advance arrival recommended.
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