Beyond the Supersquare explores the indelible influence of Latin American and Caribbean modernist architecture on contemporary art. The exhibition features over 30 artists and more than 60 artworks, including photography, video, sculpture, installation, and drawing, that respond to major Modernist architectural projects constructed in Latin America and the Caribbean from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beyond the Supersquare examines the complicated legacies of modernism through architecture and thought—as embodied by the political, economic, environmental, and social challenges faced by countries throughout Latin America—through the unique perspective of artists working today. This exhibition is co-organized by Holly Block (New York City) and María Inés Rodríguez (Colombia), and designed by Benedeta Monteverde (Mexico).
Artists in the exhibition include: Leonor Antunes (Portugal), Alexander Apóstol (Venezuela), Alexandre Arrechea (Cuba), Felipe Arturo (Colombia), Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck (Venezuela) and Media Farzin (USA), Alberto Baraya (Colombia), Carlos Bunga (Portugal), Los Carpinteros (Cuba), Jordi Colomer (Spain), Livia Corona Benjamin (Mexico), Felipe Dulzaides (Cuba), Fernanda Fragateiro (Portugal), Magdalena Fernández (Venezuela), Carlos Garaicoa (Cuba), Mario Garcia Torres (Mexico), Terence Gower (Canada), Patrick Hamilton (Belgium/Chile), Diango Hernández (Cuba), Quisqueya Henriquez (Cuba), Andre Komatsu (Brazil), Runo Lagomarsino (Argentina), Pablo Leon de la Barra (Mexico), Maria Martinez-Cañas (Cuba) and Rafael Domenech (Cuba), Daniela Ortiz (Peru), Jorge Pardo (Cuba), Manuel Piña (Cuba), Ishmael Randall-Weeks (Peru), Mauro Restiffe (Brazil), Pedro Reyes (Mexico), and Chemi Rosado-Seijo (Puerto Rico) and Roberto 'Boly' Cortéz (Puerto Rico).
María Inés Rodríguez is the Director of CAPC Contemporary Art Museum Bordeaux. Her previous positions include chief curator at MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo) in Mexico City, and at MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León), Spain, where she was also director of the collection Arte y Arquitectura, as well as guest curator of the Satellite Program at Jeu de Paume, Paris. Currently, she lives and works in Bordeaux.
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Beyond the Supersquare is made possible with major funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with additional support from Acción Cultural Española; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Embassy of Colombia; The Consulate General of Colombia/New York; The Evelyn Toll Family Foundation; Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo; Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund; Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Agnes Gund; Toby Devan Lewis; The National Endowment for the Arts; The O’Grady Foundation; Sciame Construction; and The Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Aeroméxico; The Architect’s Newspaper; Walter Puryear and the Andrew Freedman Home of the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council; The Sherwin Williams Company/Manhattan; and Galia Solomonoff.
Jordi Colomer
Avenida Ixtapaluca, 2009
Video, 6 min
Collection of Joost & Siska Vanhaerents-Dezutter, Torhout, Belgium
Courtesy Michel Rein, Paris and Meesen De Clercq, Brussels
Leonor Antunes
assembled, moved, re-arranged and scrapped continuously, 2012
Walnut and stainless steel
Courtesy of Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles
Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck
In collaboration with Media Farzin
Mobile for the Hotel Ávila and The Larger Picture, 1939-1942
From the series Modern Entanglements, U.S. Interventions, 2006-2009
Courtesy of the artist and Henrique Faria Fine Art, New York
Fernanda Fragateiro
After Clara Porset and Xavier Guerreiro drawing "Muebles de bajo costo" for International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture, MoMA, 1950, 2013
Dust Cover, 2013
Courtesy of the artist and Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid
Diango Hernández
If a letter in a Wall, if a Cut, 2011
Courtesy of Alexander and Bonin, New York
Andre Komatsu
Base Hierárquica (United States), 2011/2014
Popular glass, crystal bowl and concrete blocks
Courtesy of the artist
Maria Martínez-Cañas and Rafael Domenech
Bunker Series 004, 2013
Pigment print, collage and watercolor on Arches Aquarelle 310 gms paper
44 x 34 inches
Collection of Laura Blanco and Robert F. Shainheit
Courtesy of Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Bunker Series 005, 2013
Pigment print, collage and watercolor on Arches Aquarelle 310 gms paper
46 x 37 inches
Courtesy of Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Ishmael Randall-Weeks
Arq. Graffitti, 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
7 1/4 x 7 7/8 inches
Extension (Nuevo Mundo Number 6), 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
10 1/2 x 8 7/8 inches
Two places one line (Nuevo Mundo S.), 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
Brazilia II, 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
5 3/16 x 6 7/16 inches
Arq. Graffitti Series III, 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
8 11/16 x 10 7/8 inches
Frame (Nuevo Mundo S.), 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
6 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches
Arq. Graffitti VII, 2012
Acrylic and photo transfer drawing with cut-out mounted on paper
6 3/8 x 7 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Eleven Rivington
Diango Hernández
If a letter in a Wall, if a Cut, 2011
Courtesy of Alexander and Bonin, New York
Quisqueya Henríquez
Familiar Things, 2012
Acrylic paint on inkjet print on fine art paper
Series of 4 - 27 x 27 inches
Courtesy of David Castillo Gallery
Terence Gower
Ciudad Moderna, 2004
Digital video, 6:20 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
Mauro Restiffe
Empossamento #8, 2003
Gelatin silver print
24 x 30 inches
Courtesy of Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Alexander Apóstol
Documental, 2005
Digital video, 2 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck
In collaboration with Media Farzin
Mobile for the Hotel Ávila and The Larger Picture, 1939-1942
From the series Modern Entanglements, U.S. Interventions, 2006-2009
Two C-prints (44 3/4 x 59 3/4 in. and 34 3/4 x 59 3/4 in.)
Mock construction plan of Calder’s mobile for the Hotel ballroom, (39 x 39 in.)
Two wall labels with narrative text
Installation dimensions 85 x 160 in. (approx.)
Courtesy of Henrique Faria Fine Art, New York
Felipe Arturo
Casa Domino, 2010
Reinforced concrete
39.5 x 23.6 x 19.7 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Describing the show as “a subtle and elusive think-piece of an exhibition,” Holland Cotter also highlights SuperPuesto, which he notes as giving an architectural image “practical use.” He writes that the structure comes to life “when people are added, filling it, changing it, making it their own until it disappears in the fall.”
Contributor Carolina A. Miranda featured the Bronx Museum and its exhibition Beyond the Supersquare in a story on U.S. Museums and Latin American Art. Highlighting the Bronx Museum among some of the most notable institutions across the country—including Getty, MoMA, LACMA, L.A. MOCA, and the New Museum—Miranda noted the Bronx Museum as one of the leaders of this trend with its exhibition Beyond the Supersquare.
Susan Delson highlights work of the show’s Cuban artists and noted the exhibition as showcasing “imaginative and at times humorous responses to modernist design and its history.”
Contributor Francesco Zuddas highlights the exhibition’s connection to the Bronx Museum’s 2011 Beyond the Supersquare Conference as well as the “well-curated” exhibition’s exploration of “two crucial issues:” “the legacy in terms of artistic practice,” and “the observation of the contemporary South-American city.”
Senior Editor Will Lamb highlights the exhibition’s response to modern Latin American architecture “through the prism of unique political, social, and environmental challenges.”
