Alternative Monument – Monumentos Alternativos

OJO MX ARTE X Durden and Ray

Artists:  Carlos Álvarez-Montero, Ismael de Anda III, Lana Duong, Alfredo Esparza Cárdenas, MAPA Visual Lab (Mara García + Juan Pablo), Martha Naranjo Sandoval, Alicia Piller, and Stephanie Sherwood

In an era when monuments are being reevaluated and dismantled as cultural mores evolve, it’s an interesting time to look to artists for alternatives in our human quest to concretize our values and perhaps quell the inevitable impermanence around us. The artists in the exhibition are seeking out – even scavenging for – new grounds to explore meaning and fragility in the objects around them, all with a spirit of play.

“For this collaboration with OJO MX ARTE, we wanted to work with the concept of new monuments at a time where so many old monuments are being reconsidered,” said curator Carolyn Mason.

In general, a monument is something that reminds or recalls something from history and evokes a sense of time and place. It can be a work of art, a physical object or it can take an immaterial form. Its meaning can be shifted depending on the audience and era. The artists in the exhibition reconceive the concept of monument in new ways while approaching it by undermining its traditional definition. Through the lens of changing paradigms of monument, the artists reassess and restructure monument and monumentality in binaries of permanence/impermanence, materiality/immateriality, personal/impersonal, collective/personal, industry-production/consumption. All of the artists in the exhibition incorporate playfulness and the exhibition will showcase color, a variety of textures, movement, and even humor.