Los Carpinteros
Ciudad Transportable (Transportable City)
May 20 – September 3, 2001
Opening Reception Sunday, May 20, 12 – 6:00pm
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center is
pleased to present Ciudad Transportable (Transportable City), an exhibition
of portable tents made by Cuban artists’ collaborative Los Carpinteros (The
Carpenters). Los Carpinteros are among the most innovative and internationally acclaimed
Cuban contemporary artists. Working under a name suggestive of a craftsmans’ guild,
Alexandre Arrechea (b. 1970), Dagoberto Rodriguez (b. 1969) and Marco Castillo (b. 1971)
have been making art together since 1991 and coined their name in 1994.
Ciudad Transportable is comprised of
intriguing abstractions of well-known Cuban buildings (such as the state capital) and was
first shown at the 7th Annual Havana Biennial in winter 2000-2001. Set against the
spectacular Havana waterfront and skyline, the work drew considerable popular and critical
attention, and Los Carpinteros were awarded the UNESCO Prize for Artistic Excellence, an
honor they shared with four other artists. The jury included art critic Pierre Restany and
P.S.1 Director Alanna Heiss, who also organized this exhibition. The work will tour to the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Sao Paolo Biennial later in the year.
Installed throughout three floors of
galleries and in the outdoor courtyard, Ciudad Transportable, made up of ten tents
of aluminum tubing and nylon canvas, explores the experience of living in urban space.
Each element recalls the shape of a building: a lighthouse, a cathedral, a factory. Los
Carpinteros use various materials and techniques that refer to human labor and traditional
vocations, while these tents serve as metaphors for transience in contemporary urban life.
In mid-June, works in the lobby and courtyard will be removed to accommodate upcoming
exhibitions, while the installation on second floor will remain on view, further
underscoring the nature of the "movable city." Outside, the courtyard will be
transformed for the summer months by Lindy Roy, a Manhattan-based architect and winner of
the Second Annual Museum of Modern Art/P.S.1 Young Architects Program, a
competition that invites emerging architects to build projects at P.S.1’s Long Island
City facility.
Los Carpinteros’ work is included in
the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Ludwig Forum in Aachen,
the Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City, the Museo Meiac in Badajoz,
Spain, and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana. They have exhibited in the 1994 Havana
Biennial, the 1997 Johannesburg Biennial, at The New Museum of Contemporary Art and P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center in 1998, and in New Art from Cuba at Whitechapel, London,
in 1999.
Los Carpinteros: Ciudad Transportable
is made possible through the generous support of: The Contemporary Arts Council
and The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art; Angeliki Intzides; Mellville and
Leila Straus; Kathleen Lingo; Barbara and Ira Sahlman; Carol Ann Schuster; Marazul
Charters and Cuba Travel Services, Long Beach, CA. Special thanks to Rosa Lowinger. |
