Latin American Art Encounters Anthropology at Rice

CONTACT: David Kaplan

PHONE:
(713) 831-4791

LATIN AMERICAN ART ENCOUNTERS ANTHROPOLOGY AT
RICE

The first large-scale encounter between art and
anthropology, featuring Latin American artists, will appear at Rice University
this spring. The nine-week multimedia course “Artists in Trance” will explore a
variety of social issues in South American and Caribbean countries and include
art exhibitions and live performances.

“Artists in Trance,” a unique series of lectures and events, will run from
Jan. 15 to March 26. The evening course is free and open to the public.

The works of the 10 artists are charged with social energy. Visceral,
exhuberent and sometimes humorous, they express the concerns of communities
within Latin American cultures. The artistic performances will include
everything from an act of ventriloquism to a shamanistic trance.

What makes these artists “anthropological” is that they use social dynamics
as their primary materials. In the process they become voices to the issues and
problems facing the people in their communities. In some instances they allow
other members of the communities-including those who are typically overlooked-to
become their collaborators.

For example, artist Abdel Hernandez of Caracas will re-create a Venezuelan
marketplace which will be installed on the Rice campus. Before building his 27-
by 27-foot, cross-shaped, covered marketplace, Hernandez took part in extensive
dialogues with a variety of people who sell at Venezuelan markets. Those
dialogues became the basis for his artwork. One of his conceptual collaborators
was a man who’s been selling bananas there since the ’40s.

Hernandez’s work is not a replica of the South American market; he has
instead used his artistic imagination and anthropological perspective to create
something more epic and dramatic-a world with its own brand of mystery and
surprise. Notes Hernandez, “We’re teaching a parrot to say a phrase in English.”
For the building of the marketplace creation he joined in partnership with the
renowned Venezuelan set and lighting designer Fernando Calzadilla.

Rice is a fitting location for the “Artists in Trance” non-credit illustrated
lecture series because the university’s Department of Anthropology and the
participating artists are champions of the same philosophy. Beginning in the
early ’80s, George Marcus, department chair, and other Rice anthropologists
helped lead an ideological revolution which challenged the basic anthropological
approach to the study of culture. The traditional anthropological view is that
an anthropologist should research another culture as a detached and neutral
observer. However, Marcus and others believe anthropology should be a more
collaborative endeavor in which the anthropologist and members of the community
create knowledge together. These Latin American artists are dedicated to that
same idea.

The “Artists in Trance” lectures will be held each Wednesday at 7 p.m. A
different art exhibition and/or exhibition-performance will appear every 15
days. Lectures and exhibits will be held in the Rice Media Center and the Farish
Gallery. Performances will be at Hamman Hall. Each lecture and exhibit is
self-contained; therefore members of the public can attend some or all of the
events.

The course is being offered by Rice’s Department of Anthropology and the
Transart Foundation in Houston, with the participation of Rice’s Department of
Art and Art History, the Rice Media Center and the School of Architecture. The
curators of the program are Abdel Hernandez of Caracas and Surpik Angelini of
Houston.

For more information and reservations call 524-2289.

###