Press Release: Ordo Amoris Cabinet

New Works 01.3
11.08.01

New Works: 01.3

November 8, 2001 ?nuary 13, 2002

Jim Mendiola San Antonio, TX

Ordo Amoris Cabinet Havana, Cuba

RubŽn Ortiz-Torres Los Angeles, CA

Selected by CuauhtŽmoc Medina

Award-winning San Antonio independent filmmaker premieres a 3-D film
and sculptural installation.

Collaboration with Los Angeles experimental filmmaker explores the
contemporary history of the most symbolic historical landmark in Texas.

About the Artists

Living and working in Havana, Cuba, Francis Acea and Diango
Hernandez formed Ordo Amoris Cabinet in 1994. Acea was born in Havana,
Cuba in 1967 and Hernandez was born in Sancti-Spiritus, Cuba in 1970.
Attending the Havana Superior Institute of Design, Acea and Hernandez
received their degrees in graphic and industrial design respectively and
formed an artistic collaboration under the appellation of Ordo Amoris Cabinet,
the Latin terms for "order" and "love." Ordo Amoris Cabinet has exhibited
widely in Cuba, Europe, Costa Rica, and Canada, and make their United
States debut exhibition at ArtPace. Solo shows include various installations at
the Center for the Development of the Visual Arts and the Center of Art and
Design in Havana, Cuba; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo y Dise–o, San
Jose, Costa Rica; Banff Center for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; Kunsthaus
Berlin, Germany; Seventh Havana Biennale, Living la Vida, Sinpalabras
Studio, Havana, Cuba; and, the AFW Gallerie, Kšln, Germany. Group shows
include Champ Libre, Montreal, Canada; Kettle's Yard, Cambridge,
Cornerhouse, Manchester, Royal College of Art, London, and Camden Art
Center, London, England; Fabbrica del Vappore Art Center, Milan, Italy;
Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany; and the Tirana Biennial,
Albania.

Their sculptural installations evoke a reconsideration of necessity through
references to sociology, ethnography, and museology, and pose a thought-
provoking statement on the realities of politics and material culture in Cuba.

CuauhtŽmoc Medina, independent curator and art critic from Mexico City,
Mexico, selected Ordo Amoris Cabinet for their ArtPace residency. Medina
has written extensively on contemporary art and is a former curator of
contemporary art at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City.

About the Project

Since 1994, Ordo Amoris Cabinet have been analyzing and infusing
philosophical meaning into unremarkable, ordinary objects. Their sculptural
installations are loaded with social and political criticisms and observations,
primarily pertaining to the daily hardships and frustrations caused by the
economic crisis and political establishment in their native Cuba. Highlighting a
fascination toward the environment, objects, instruments and machines, Ordo
Amoris's version of contemporary archeology was made public in 1996 at the
Havana Center for the Development of the Visual Arts in their second solo
exhibition, Agua con Azucar y La Muestra Provisional (Sugar Water and
The Provisional Show). Their display of recycled objects, such as Object
(Stove)- a stove constructed from a medicine tin, copper wire, a metal can,
and fabric-provoked a reflection on the qualities of material culture in Cuba in
the 1990s and the extremes necessary for survival in an environment lacking
resources.

Technology's interaction with and impact on people, information, and
history is another source for Ordo Amoris's work. Referencing our globally
networked and rapidly accelerating society, the artists investigate concepts of
equality, functionality, and necessity through digitalization. With interest in an
overarching theme of duality, Ordo Amoris's ArtPace project is a four-part
installation composed of mouse pads used as floor coverings, a video
projection of two identical screen-savers, two customized keys cast in bronze,
and a collage created with digital prints of Cuban revolutionary posters. The
artists live their sociology and politics by analyzing extraneous fragments of
daily life and translating them into objects of art and design. Each segment of
their ArtPace installation is loaded with allusions to the power of technology
and the irony of the Cuban social, political, and economic reality.

Approximately 1,200 neoprene mouse pads carpet the entry of ArtPace,
creating a photographic field over which the viewer must navigate. For Ordo
Amoris, the mouse pads become stepping stones to access the world via the
Internet, thereby enabling one to enjoy unlimited travel anywhere the Internet
allows while never actually leaving one's physical space. Thus exists the
paradox of the Cuban situation: the physical boundary of the island versus
the infinite freedom supplied by technology. In the upstairs gallery, a double-
projection of a single computer screen-saver entices the viewer to consider
man-made objects whose sole function are to serve technology. By definition,
a screen-saver conserves a computer monitor and, although oftentimes
beautiful and interesting, is not meant strictly for visual enjoyment. The
customized keys cast in bonze are a reference to the artists' creative
partnership and to unlocking their futures and the future of Cuba. The final
work, a digital collage of prints of political propaganda posters, brings the
project full circle by boldly injecting Cuban politics into the installation and
making a critical statement about the current regime's oppressive nature,
hostile politics, and the country's impending and uncertain future.

Exhibition Dates

November 8, 2001 ?nuary 13, 2002

Opening Reception

Thursday, November 8, 6:30-8:30 pm

Artists' Dialogue

Friday, November 9, 6:30-8:30 PM

Featuring Jim Mendiola, Ordo Amoris Cabinet, and RubŽn Ortiz-Torres.
Moderated by CuauhtŽmoc Medina, independent critic and curator, Mexico
City, Mexico.

Brown Bag Lunch

Wednesday, January 9, 2002, 12:00-1:00 PM

Join us for a tour of New Works: 01.3 and a brown bag lunch provided by
Pecan Street Deli. Please call ArtPace to make reservations.

Event Locations

All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street
and Savings. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5
PM, Thursday until 8 PM and by appointment. There is no charge for
admission.

About ArtPace

ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an
advocate for contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant
art projects. We seek to nurture emerging and established artists and to
provide opportunities for inspiration, experimentation and education. Through
our International Artist-in-Residence Program, we invite 9 artists annually to
participate in a 2-month residency which supports the evolution of new ideas
in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks and studio visits
cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for
ongoing dialogue.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org