During NADA Miami 2020, anonymous gallery will present new works and live-stream a series of puppetry performances created, written and directed by Wendy Cabrera Rubio. Addressing historical links between the Americas, the performances highlight the implementation of rhetoric and terminology that perpetuate notions of race, ethnicity and nationality in contemporary culture.
The performance, Economías del Pacífico, references a map made by Miguel Covarrubias in 1939, which in this case, will be recreated as the backdrop for a comic dramatization of historical relations between Nelson Rockefeller and Walt Disney. The work explores the travels made by Disney to Latin America as part of “Pan-American” initiatives for the production of educational propaganda through animated films. The script and performance specifically addresses imagery from The Grain that Built a Hemisphere (1943), an animated documentary about the origin and commercial uses of corn in America.
From the gallery's new space in New York, the performative theater will be made available to a live audience, at limited capacity. The performances will be live-streamed through a variety of platforms and a conversation with the artist will follow.
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Ah, how the gringos love us!
Watch them now. They are sitting on a cloud admiring the South Seas, in a conversation full of subtle eroticism. Why not? They are a duo endowed with unparalleled genius: Nelson A. Rockefeller — virile, dashing and heir to greatness — alongside the iconoclastic, sensitive, and elegant-bearing artist that is Walt Disney.
It is an unrepeatable meeting. Mr. Nelson cautiously explains to Mr. Disney the great beauties of the Southern Cone while sweetening his throat with Bourbon, a little lemon and corn syrup. Regarding that, did you know that corn unites America? Everyone on the continent eats the same, what this land gives us, isn't that a proof of our brotherhood ?! I won't take no for an answer! But hey. One second. Let's go back to the seduction scene, let's breathe the libido that floods the atmosphere. Both gentlemen are there, floating on a map drawn by the non-scientific artist —another great genius, Miguel Covarrubias, whose skill and ability sought to unify an area beyond the lands of the West. I am referring, of course, to a map showing the geography of Pacific cultures. The same map that helped the North American people to understand and admire not only the peoples of the south, but all the cultures on the other side of that great water surface.
And that is how the heir to Standard Oil captivated the desire of the mouse creator Miguelito to bring his magic to Latin America. As if it were a present that a lover gives to his beloved, Mr. Disney insisted on producing a portrait of our peoples, which eroded our problems to let us see the most beautiful moments of our day to day, our culture processed in it’s finest details, look, there comes a little cake for the Lord! Diplomatic landscaping was present in those entertaining encounters in which the artists admired the customs of each region. An art at the service not only of the people, but of the Latin American peoples.
Mr. Disney managed to compose an Inter-dimensional collage for internationalist purposes, a didactic delight through the American map. Movies that made a tour of the entire continent possible in an instant. Everything so close, without borders, isn't that how the American peoples should be? United? A metaphor to understand that we are not so far apart, and that we cannot live without our good neighbor to the north, nor he without us. Did we learn the lesson well?
The (poly) love that Nelson A. Rockefeller, and the North American Nation, had with the Latin American peoples overflows in each of these works that at the same time teach us and amuse us. "Edutainment" they said around there. A great party of enjoyment and color. Ah, how the gringos love us! And so after all this, I don't think there is more to thank on behalf of all the Latin American peoples. Thank you United States!
- Eduardo Ramos Higuera
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ABOUT NADA / MIAMI 2020:
The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), the definitive non-profit arts organization dedicated to the cultivation, support, and advancement of new voices in contemporary art, is pleased to announce the exhibitor list for NADA Miami, the organization’s annual flagship art fair, taking place December 1–5, 2020 in a reimagined format.
The 18th edition of NADA Miami will showcase an international series of presentations from a diverse roster of 46 NADA Members and 27 first-time exhibitors for a total of 96 galleries from 44 cities, both in gallery spaces and online. The fair features gallery hubs in multiple cities, with collective presentations from 4649, imlabor, Kayokoyuki, Misako & Rosen, Satoko Oe Contemporary, and XYZ Collective in Tokyo; LETO, Polana Institute, and Raster in Warsaw; and 427, Kim?, and Low in Riga; in addition to gallery hubs in Los Angeles and New York.
Highlights from this year include solo presentations from Karen Finley (FIERMAN), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Rena Bransten), Alteronce Gumby (False Flag), Wendy Cabrera Rubio (anonymous), Guimi You (Helena Anrather), and a group exhibition of quilts by the women of Gee’s Bend (Parts & Labor) in the Galleries section; and solo presentations from Dr. Charles Smith (Good Weather/Chakra), Lotte Andersen (Ginsburg), Baseera Khan (EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop), and Nanami Hori (XYZ Collective) in the NADA Projects section.
NADA Miami remains dedicated to celebrating rising talents from around the globe. Visitors of the 2020 fair will be invited to experience gallery presentations in person in their local city, and discover the best of contemporary art online through a newly-designed digital platform. Accompanying the fair, the virtual programming series will continue to showcase conversations and performances from the defining voices of contemporary art and culture.
CREDITS:
"Economías del Pacífico"
Direction: Yafte Arias
Script: Neil Mauricio Andrade and Wendy Cabrera Rubio
Actors: Chico Amerikan as Nelson Rockefeller and Jes Fabiane as Walt Disney
Special credit / editing: Juan Pablo Guzmán Mendoza