Defined as entropy, the second law of thermodynamics proposes that energy is more easily dispersed than it is concentrated. One basic illustration of entropy is to imagine white and black sand: once mixed together, it is highly unlikely that the contrasting grains of sand can be separated and restored to their original distinct color groups. Arturo’s Trópico Entrópico ( Entropic Tropics , 2012) considers the colonization of the American continent as a similarly irreversible process of cultural entropy. His inspiration derives from a place near Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon, where the Black River meets with the sandy-colored Solimões River, producing a river of two colors that extends over ten kilometers. In the late nineteenth century, the Brazilian rubber barons decided to commemorate this impressive natural phenomenon by covering the main square of Manaus with a design of black-and-white waveforms made from stones. The square is known as the Encontro das aguas (Meeting of the Waters). Decades later, Roberto Burle Marx used this same pattern in his famous Copacabana walkway in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, the design has spread across the continent to Lima, Bogotá, Cali, and beyond. Trópico entrópico uses this pattern to produce entropy in the exhibition space. Sugar, the material used, signifies one of many economic motivators for colonialism. Visitors are invited to collectively dissolve this modern design by walking on the brown and white sugar, and participating in its entropic mixing.
Felipe Arturo considers elements from urbanism, architecture, and art in relation to politics, history, geography, and economy. His works and projects often manifest as sculptures, installations, or videos, departing from concepts such as structure, sequence, and matter. They are deeply influenced by vernacular architecture and construction techniques, and reflect processes of assimilation and resistance to colonial and postcolonial processes. He frequently combines the language and materials of Modernism (e.g., concrete) with the informal methods of autoconstrucción (self-construction).
The installation Breathspace by Eduardo Navarro encompasses all the content presented at the artist’s first solo exhibition, of the same name, at Gasworks, UK...
Off-White Tulips is an intimate, meditative, and tender essay-film composed as a fictional exchange between Black gay writer James Baldwin and the artist, Aykan Safoglu...
22022021, Yawnghwe Office in Exile by Sawangwongse Yawnghwe belongs to a body of work made in response to the Myanmar military coup that began in February 2021...
Artists reflect on Success – Art and Cake July 4, 2023 July 4, 2023 Author Artists reflect on Success Amanda Maciel Antunes POLAROID Mount Wilson I’VE GOT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING self portrait I define success by the ability to contribute to the visualization of the invisible, to communicate the incommunicable and define the elusive...
Kubra Khademi’s work celebrates the female body and in her detailed drawings and paintings she portrays female bodies floating on white paper...
Icaro Lira has been developing the project “Museum of the Foreigner” since 2015, in which he recounts the trajectories of populations inside Brazil, from the north to the big cities of the south...
MoMA store recalls popular Yoshitomo Nara snow globes over ‘laceration hazard’ Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Museum gifts news MoMA store recalls popular Yoshitomo Nara snow globes over ‘laceration hazard’ To date almost 40 of the cutesy snow globes that were sold last November have either fractured or cracked Benjamin Sutton 8 February 2024 Share Yoshitomo Nara's Little Wanderer snow globes The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has recalled one of its store’s popular holiday gift items, a series of snow globes designed by Japanese contemporary artist Yoshitomo Nara, because they “can crack or fracture, posing a laceration hazard”...
40 ans du Frac ! — Gunaikeîon — Frac île-de-france, les Réserves — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook 40 ans du Frac ! — Gunaikeîon — Frac île-de-france, les Réserves — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back 40 ans du Frac ! — Gunaikeîon Exhibition Mixed media Vue de l’exposition 40 ans du Frac ! — Gunaikeîon au Frac île-de-france, les Réserves, Romainville © Frac Île-de-France 40 ans du Frac ! Gunaikeîon Ends in 2 months: October 15, 2023 → February 24, 2024 Pour les 40 ans des Frac, il s’agit à la fois de repenser l’histoire de l’institution, écrite notamment par le biais de sa collection, et de tendre vers des futurs communs et désirables...
davi de jesus do nascimento’s earthy paintings, from the series sorvedouro , recall his memories as an essentially organic matter...
In Un Hombre que Camina (A Man Walking) (2011-2014), the sense of rhythm and timing is overpowered by the colossal sense of timelessness of this peculiar place...