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Jul 282020
 

K CONTEMPORARY PRESENTS BLACK BODIES – WHITE LIES

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August 7-22, 2020.
A solo exhibition by CARLOS MARTIEL
Curated by Marisa Caichiolo

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“Carlos Martiel (Havana, Cuba 1989) is a performance artist whose work provides intense criticism on the ethics of humanity, its history, and its behavior through provocative and raw performances that explore the nature of existence, social barriers, and cultural traditions.

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At the heart of Martiel’s work are powerful performances that raise questions about the way different societies have treated ethnic minorities and outsiders throughout history. But these works also defy established values and draw attention to other pressing issues, such as the political and culturally motivated censorship and persecution present in many countries across the globe, particularly in his native Cuba. To this end, he uses physical expressions that are evocative of rituals and ceremonial procedures.

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Martiel’s solo exhibition Black Bodies-White Lies is a compilation of performances done previously by the artist in Buenos Aires at CCK, Denver for the Biennial of the Americas, and the last one in New York during his confinement for the pandemic and more precisely after George Floyd’s murder.

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Martiel will be performing one day during the exhibition at K Contemporary, the piece title is Third Person.

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The exhibition revisits the past to make us reflect on the current panorama of grieving the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, Tony McDade, and so many more people whose names we may never know.

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The murders of Black people have again risen to global and national attention, as has the centuries-long outrage in the U.S. Tragically we grieve and protest under a seemingly an impervious construct which is a social, economic and legal system that supports racism, rooted in our collective history of genocide and enslavement.

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Martiel wants to hold our gaze, to revitalize our attention, to the ongoing colonization, domination, slavery, and subjugation in our midst to this very day. These collective systems which devalue and denigrate the lives and souls of Black people and the most damning concepts written in universal history are analyzed by the artist.

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We know we must be part of the work to completely change racist, violent, and brutal systems. The changes come as protesters across the country continue to cry out for racial justice and accountability with a visceral force.

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The performance Third Person as part of BLACK BODIES, WHITE LIES’s exhibition is a social and political statement by Carlos Martiel.

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“Race is a social construction, an idea with no biological foundation” (Omi and Winant 1994 Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. 1994. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the1980s. New York: Routledge; Gossett 1997)

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The construction of the “Black Body”, has been a social, scientific, psychological, and educational conceptualization. These racial ideas have been challenging humanity, human rights, and the inclusion of black persons into American society since its inception. The focal point will be Martiel’s body highlighting what is happening to the black body in our current society and emphasizing the physical and psychological violence done to black people through slavery, lynching, and police brutality.

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Martiel in Third Person will create a visual conversation about the contemporary understanding of a Black Body and the struggle to have inclusion, equality, and liberation. We should also connect that conversation with historical discourses, public policies and devastating contexts, like African American education. The current Black Lives Matter movement is profoundly opening our perceptions of the social, economic, and environmental inequalities and violence that black communities encounter every day in this country.

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The long ugly history of Black disenfranchisement and injustice is the history of American mental illness. For centuries this illness has corroded our collective well being as a species and it must be examined and neutralized to ensure the health and evolution of the American project. The intention of this curatorial project focusing on Carlos Martiel practice is to engender sociopolitical change within the community of Denver, Colorado.

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(more info here)

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K Contemporary | 1412 Wazee St, Denver, CO, 80202, United States.

Jul 282020
 

Opening: 1/8/2020, h. 7 PM
Dal 2/8 al 30/9/2020

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On Saturday, August 1st, in the former Church of San Matteo in Lucca, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani inaugurates A volte penso che…, a collective exhibition that comes from a particular perspective, that is to let twenty-three artists tell a recurring thought through their personal insights and visual ideas.

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Julieta Aranda, Filippo Berta, Fabrizio Cotognini, Democracia, Zehra Dogan, Sarah Entwistle, Regina José Galindo, Omar Hassan, Diango Hernandez, Iva Lulashi, Edson Luli, Maria Evelia Marmolejo, Carlos Martiel, Ruben Montini, Ivan Moudov, Natalia LL, Luis Navarro, Silvia Rivas, Rosanna Rossi, Marinella Senatore, Santiago Sierra, Giuseppe Stampone and Mary Zygouri. They do not offer conceptual schemes, nor perspectives of truth or value, and they do not linger on anecdotal narratives. With their artistic language, each one of them expresses a thought, as a fundamental quality of being, contributing to a better understanding of living reality through its own relative, particular as well as specific and unavoidable contribution.

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In a historical moment like the one we are experiencing, which has all the semblances of the perfect storm, with psychological, economic, sociological and in cultural synthesis effects capable of resetting our system, Prometeo Gallery tries to give the right value to one of the instruments of knowledge that man has a primary need for interpretation, which does not leave behind a sense, but countless senses. With this spirit, it has chosen to derive a totality from the incorporation of different points of view, individually translated into tapestries, video works, photographs, paintings, drawings, collages, engravings, sculptures, and performances.

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A volte penso che… is a plural, dynamic reality, characterized by the mutual relationship between its parts, which is both spiritual and intelligible, but also sensual physical and emotional, to get substantially and directly to the heart of the logical and poetic power that keeps each individual alive.

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(more info here)

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Prometeogallery di Ida Pisani | Ex Chiesa di San Matteo, Piazza San Matteo, Lucca.

Jul 282020
 

Aug 01, 12 AM – 12 AM — ends Aug 29, 2020

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Steve Turner is pleased to present Herida oscura, a solo online exhibition by New York-based Carlos Martiel which features photographs that document a number of his performances over the last thirteen years. Martiel uses his body as an axis of conflict to unearth issues of race, migration, isolation, and injustice. Since 2007, he has presented ninety performances, many of which are informed by the experience of structurally oppressed and marginalized minorities throughout histories and cultures. Martiel researches these collective legacies of pain, resistance and survival to turn them into bodily rituals of self-inflicted violence and sacrifice, channeling through a visceral language his radical and candid vision of humanity’s long-standing struggle with otherness. The unapologetically blunt and poetically infused images created and embodied by the artist bear witness to the uncomfortable truths that keep shaking our societies to the core.

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Carlos Martiel (born 1989, Havana) graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Havana (2009). Between 2008 and 2010, he studied in the Cátedra Arte de Conducta, directed by Tania Bruguera. His works have been included in the Sharjah Biennial; Cuenca Biennial; Venice Biennale; Casablanca Biennale; Liverpool Biennial; Pontevedra Biennial and Havana Biennial as well as the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; La Tertulia Museum, Cali; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Quito; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia, Maracaibo; Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, among many others. This is Martiel’s third solo exhibition with Steve Turner.

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(more info here)

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Steve Turner | 6830 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038

Jul 212020
 

par GUILLAUME LASSERRE pour MEDIAPART

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L’acquisition de la vidéo-performance « Prodigal son » par le Frac Pays-de-la-Loire marque l’entrée de l’artiste cubain Carlos Martiel dans les collections publiques françaises. Il s’attaque à l’ « apartheid mondial » en performant son corps jusque dans la souffrance envisagée comme vecteur de vérité et revendique un art de l’activisme, générateur et transformateur d’une conscience collective.

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« Je mets sur ma poitrine toutes les médailles décernées par l’État cubain à mon père pour ses mérites patriotiques[1] ». La vidéo « Prodigal son », performance filmée en 2010 à la House Witch de Liverpool, est la première œuvre de l’artiste cubain Carlos Martiel (né en 1989 à La Havane, vit et travaille entre New York et La Havane) à entrer dans les collections publiques françaises[2]. Agenouillé au sol et vêtu uniquement d’un pantalon, l’artiste épingle à même sa poitrine, lentement et méthodiquement, les cinq médailles officielles qui furent décernées à son père au cours de sa carrière de policier, puis de militaire. La performance, menée à la manière d’un rituel martial, traduit un sacrifice sociétal accablant et douloureux, transformant les cicatrices qui marquent le corps en une cartographie mémorielle du triomphe de la Révolution. Ce sont elles qui contiennent la vraie bravoure, bien plus que des breloques épinglées sur un symbole du pouvoir, l’uniforme militaire servant d’enveloppe de protection, d’armure ou même parfois de leurre. Pour ce fils prodigue, la seule médaille que l’on porte avec fierté est celle qui se lit dans les meurtrissures de la chair, témoin du combat physique, métaphore de celui, quotidien, que mènent nombre d’individus à Cuba, attendant toujours que l’Etat reconnaisse leur sacrifice pour la Révolution. La population compose une société mixte dans laquelle l’héritage afrodescendant est visible partout mais où le racisme est pourtant présent, bien que le gouvernement affiche une attitude égalitaire pour prétendre que ce problème n’existe pas. Tout le reste n’est que pacotille.

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(more info here)

Jun 052020
 

Jun 052020
 

by Ethan Seidenberg for Kulture Hub

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Art has the power to evoke empathy and bring people together as a community, and in this time of protest and pandemic, positive creative influences are needed now more than ever.

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Here are some artists who have taken to social media or other online outlets to express their artistic perspectives on current events or experiences of being black in America.

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(…) Cuban artist Carlos Martiel creates astounding visual pieces through the use of mediums such as forms of sculpture and 3D-art, or even photography with him as the main model of the artwork.

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Many of his pieces focus on themes such as activism or immigration and often provide social commentary. Their commentary is enhanced by how Martiel often uses materials related to the work’s central theme.

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He’ll use rocks and pieces of bricks and security fence spikes to form an American flag, a piece of his own dreadlocks to document the places he’s lived, a photo of him lying prone with an American flag piercing his skin.

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These pieces and more tell a complex narrative about identity and society.

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The artist has also recently taken to social media to protest police brutality and support the Black Lives Matter movement. From using his art to spread his message to showing photos of himself at protests and marches, Martiel’s artistic expressions are arguably another form of rebellion and a call to action in these times.

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Carlos Martiel posts his artwork in addition to chronicling his activism on Instagram, as well as on his personal website (…)

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(more info here)

Jun 052020
 

por Piter Ortega Núñez para HYPERMEDIA MAGAZINE

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Hay obras de arte que adquieren una dimensión y trascendencia mucho mayores con el paso del tiempo, a propósito de algún suceso coyuntural que las regresa del pasado al presente y les otorga una nueva vida, una narrativa más poderosa. Obras que se adelantan a un momento histórico determinado y presagian una sensibilidad que se avecina. Tal es el caso de la performance del artista cubano Carlos Martiel titulada “South Body” y presentada en 2019 en la 5ta Bienal de las Américas de Denver, Estados Unidos (K Contemporary Gallery, con curaduría a cargo de Marisa Caichiolo). En ella el artista permaneció desnudo recostado sobre el piso de la galería durante una hora, mientras en uno de sus hombros llevaba clavada, por dentro de su piel, una bandera norteamericana con una punta dorada.

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(más info aquí)

Jun 012020
 

Jun 012020
 
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Beginning this fall with the commencement of our 14th season, Lux will unify our exhibitions and programing under a seasonal campus wide theme. Each of our Artists-in-Residence and Regional Artists will be exploring their own unique ideas, concepts, and processes within the designated theme. This will allow Lux and the community to dive into the relevant issues while considering them from a variety of perspectives, and hear from a diversity of voices.

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Our upcoming season, titled A New Territory, explores issues of Migration.

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A New Territory explores the structure that exists around the movement of bodies; be it human, animal, or plant. Some questions we will be considering this season are: What happens to the construction of identity in cross-cultural territories? What does Othering mean to the construction of identity? How do physical and non-physical borderlines influence the movement of people, flora, and fauna? What social-political-economic systems influence the lived experiences of migrating people?

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Season 14 Artists-in-Residence:
Cosmo Whyte, Carlos Martiel, Beatriz Cortez, Baseera Khan, Guillermo Galindo.

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(more info here)

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Lux Art Institute | 1550 S El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024

May 062020
 

by Marelys Valencia for PARSE

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This essay explores the role of performance art in redefining blackness in the transnational sphere within the logic of “global apartheid” as defined by Manning Marable. It particularly addresses how imagined and lived blackness(es) continue to express life in proximity to death, yet persist in life, as conveyed in the performances of Afro-Cuban artist Carlos Martiel, who resides in the US. His work trespasses the national framework, either regarding Cuba or the United States, to engage in a cross-border solidarity that confronts the realities of black people and other subaltern groups within contemporary global neo-liberalism. Martiel’s use of his body as canvas points towards the differentiated histories behind today’s migratory movements that bear witness to the perpetuation of unequal guarantees of life, safety and hospitality for non-Western immigrants. I argue that the immediacy of the performance, instead of creating a community of strangers, reveals the fragility of guarantees for non-white bodies subjected to historical violence, and in so doing, his work circumvents the possibility of appropriation by Western audiences of any enduring suffering.

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(more info here)