OTHER THAN ART
Allora and Guillermo, Landmark (Footprints)
Ivan Navarro, Briefcase (Four American Citizens Killed by Pinochet)
Elissa Levy, Soldier Doily Trim, 2005
Other than Art features the work of collaborators Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Ivan Navarro, and Elissa Levy.
Artworks by the renowned Puerto Rican team of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla include a series of photographs and a video installation documenting their protest performances on the island of Vieques, for sixty years a site used by US military and NATO to practice total warfare, including extensive bomb testing. The photographic series, entitled Land Mark (foot prints), documents the practice of protestors trespassing on the military base in order to disrupt testing exercises. For these protestors, Allora and Calzadilla designed special soles for their shoes so that military personnel would receive a range of messages. The video installation, entitled Under Discussion, follows the son of a local Vieques fisherman, whose father led the Fisherman’s Movement that initiated the civil disobedience movement on the island.
The artist Ivan Navarrro follows in the footsteps of minimalist Dan Flavin in his choice of materials, using fluorescent lights to achieve a minimalist aesthetic. Navarro’s piece, The Briefcase, a sculptural work based upon the killing of three American and one Chilean citizen who were killed in bombings ordered by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Navarro’s piece memorializes these victims, but also sheds light on the broad reach of the Pinochet dictatorship.
Levy’s installation piece Soldier Doily Trim references the shape of decorative domestic accessories. The work appears from across the room to be a pleasant decorative addition to the space; however, a closer inspection reveals a beautifully symmetrical arrangement of gun wielding soldiers, staring one another down in a never ending face off. Levy merges these two seemingly separate spheres, not to reveal their differences, but to remind us of the many points at which they collide.
Other Than Art was on display March 18, 2006 – April 29, 2006