Sun-Drenched Disasters
12.8. – 28.8.2021
Avajaiset / Vernissage 12.8. 18-20:00
suo
“Puerto Rico: eksoottinen, turistien trooppinen paratiisi, sijoittajien verovapaa turvasatama, sekä paikka, joka on kestänyt vuosisatojen kolonialismin ja sorron. Aluksi Espanjan hallitsema siirtomaa vuodesta 1493 lähtien, jonka jälkeen Espanjan, Kuuban ja Yhdysvaltojen välisen sodan päättyessä vuonna 1898 Puerto Rico luovutettiin Yhdysvalloille sotasaaliina. Olemme altistuneet pohjoisen maailman voimakkaimmalle imperiumille korruptoituneen ja uusliberalistisen hallituksen johdon alaisena.”
– Dianne Bràs-Feliciano
Näyttely Sun-Drenched Disasters on ensimmäinen osa kuraattori Timo Tuhkasen ja taiteilija Pedro Vélezin käynnistämää pitkäaikaista kulttuurivaihtoa Puerto Ricolaisten ja suomalaisten taiteilijoiden välillä. Siihen sisältyy residenssejä, näyttelyitä ja keskusteluja sekä Suomessa että Puerto Ricossa.
Näyttelyn ääniraidan on tehnyt Ópera Coquí.
eng
“Puerto Rico: an exotic, tropical paradise for tourists, a tax-free haven for investors, and a place that has endured centuries of colonialism and oppression. First, a colony under Spaniard rule since 1493, then, after the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898 Puerto Rico is handed to the United States as a spoil of war. We have been subjected to the most powerful empire in the global North while being led by a corrupt and neoliberal government.”
– Dianne Bràs-Feliciano
The exhibition Sun-Drenched Disasters is the first part in a long term cultural exchange between Puerto Rican and Finnish artists initiated by curator Timo Tuhkanen and artists Pedro Vélez. It includes residencies, exhibitions and talks in both Finland and Puerto Rico.
Exhibition soundtrack by Ópera Coquí.
Biographies
Lilliam Nieves is an interdisciplinary artist based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nieves has received numerous international residencies and recognitions for her mixed media, installation, and performance art. This includes being a 2018 Artist-in-Residence at The Studios at MASS MoCA. Nieves uses a variety of materials to manifest her investigation of the connections between women’s bodies and capitalism. Her work centers body justice and questions stereotypes of beauty and femininity by creating and documenting beauty rituals of excessive and incomprehensible nature. Nieves has a Master of Fine Arts in New Media from Donau-Universität Krems in association with Transart Institute (Austria / Berlin / New York). And a Bachelor of Fine Arts from La Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico, with a concentration in Art Education.
Dr. Dianne Bràs-Feliciano is an experienced collections manager, curator of exhibitions and writer. Her research and curatorial interests revolve mainly around the relationship between Modern and Contemporary Art and social movements. Throughout her career, she has worked with private collections, like the Reyes-Veray Collection, galleries, museums such as Museo de Las Américas and Museo de Arte y Diseño de Miramar, alternative spaces like Área: Lugar de Proyectos in Caguas, PR, and Exit Art in New York, NY., libraries, and universities. Dr. Brás-Feliciano holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a master’s in Arts Administration both from the University of Puerto Rico. She also has a Ph.D. in History from the Center of Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico & the Caribbean.
Pedro Vélez obtained his B.A. in Communications at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico and an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work as an artist has been discussed in Artforum, Frieze, Chicago Tribune, Pelican Bomb, Star Tribune, Miami Herald, Daily Serving, Hyperallergic and Heather Warren Crow’s book Girlhood and the Plastic Image among many others. For 12 years Vélez worked as a cultural critic for Artnet Magazine and Newcity Chicago, and his writing has been published in New Art Examiner, Art F City, Modern Painters and Arte al Día. He was also the founder of notorious blog El Box Score in San Juan. The artist retired from professional art criticism in 2013. He lives and makes art in Puerto Rico.
Gretchen Ruíz Ramos began experimenting with photography since her childhood shooting on 110 film with a Kodak Instamatic. Her passion for the medium led her to study the craft of black and white photography, working with analog cameras and developing her own images at Liga de Arte in Old San Juan and then in Barcelona, Spain at Escola Superior d’Imatge I Disseny. In her fine art work, the photographer focuses in landscapes with an interest in creating environmental and social awareness, with the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea as main characters. Gretchen has pursued a career in the arts working with the arts community in Puerto Rico for more than 20 years. She completed a Master Degree in Arts in Education with a Major in Museum Studies and currently is a Ph.D. candidate in History of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Gretchen is the founder of Pitirre Proyectos, a non-profit organization with the mission to empower Puerto Rican artists and foster their economic growth through art exhibitions, educational programming, conferences, and research.
Dr Timo S. Tuhkanen holds a PhD from the University of Leeds, they received their Master of Music at Brunel University of West London. Tuhkanen has been the director of Myymälä2 since 2017 and they have curated projects such as A Listening Room and the international screening series Becoming a Target. Currently their works intersect between contemporary art and music and involves research between the fields of sound and touch in everyday life and archives. Their practice involves imagining, designing and creating cultural instruments that act as social interventions and political tools for institutional critique. Their work is published in CrossSections: Processsing Artistic and Curatorial Research (De Gruyter, Editions Angwandte, 2020) and has been featured in Manifesta12; Forum Wellis Contemporary Music Festival, Switzerland; BAM – Biannale Arcipelago Mediterraneo, Italy; Kunsthalle Exnergasse WUK, Austria; Museo delle Trame Mediterranee, Italy; luftArt in Neue Music Berlin; Sound Museum, Russia; Nordham Recorder Festival, Germany; 3éme Biennale de l’Art Contemporain Casablanca, Morocco; XXV Mänttä Art Festival, Finland; European Mediterranean Art Association, Cyprus; Emma Museum of Modern Art, Finland.
The exhibition is supported by Kone Foundation Saaren Kartanon Residency
Photo credits: Banner photo by Pitirre Proyectos
Dianne’s photo: Photo by: José F. Sànchez
Pedro’s photo by: Mark Markley.
Timo’s photo by: Antti Ahonen