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About the Exhibition
Opening reception: Wednesday, September 4, 6
– 9 pm
Gallery talk: Wednesday, September 4, 4:30 pm
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania
opens its new season with the first one-person U.S. museum exhibition
by Mexican artist Damián Ortega.
The exhibition, Cosmic Thing, is an extended and humorous meditation on
one of Mexico's most potent symbols of Westernization and mass production:
the Volkswagen Beetle. For this installation, Ortega (b. 1967, lives and
works in Mexico City) employs photography and a sculptural decomposition
of his personal VW Bug, suspended from ICA's 30' bay ceiling. Ortega's
work explores the political and cultural currency found in everyday objects
and images especially as they relate to his native Mexico. These works
continue Damián's participation in a history of satire stretching
through DaDa, political cartooning, and conceptual art.
Damián Ortega has recently participated in group exhibitions at
the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland; the P.S. 1
Contemporary Art Center in New York; and at the Witte de With Museum of
Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Mr. Ortega had his first
New York gallery exhibition earlier this year at D'Amelio Terras.
The opening reception, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled
for Wednesday, September 4, 2002 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Exhibition walk-throughs
will take place on Wednesday September 4, 2002 beginning at 4:30pm. Damián
Ortega; Reinaldo Laddaga, Assistant Professor of Romance Languages, U.
of Penn; and José Roca, ICA Whitney-Lauder Curatorial Fellow will
conduct a tour of this exhibition.
ICA acknowledges the generous sponsorship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and The Consulate of Mexico in Philadelphia. Additional support has been
provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The
Dietrich Foundation Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary
Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. ICA
is also grateful for the in-kind support of the Mexican Cultural Center
and La Casa Latina/University of Pennsylvania Center for Hispanic Excellence.
(Information complete as of 8/7/02.)
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About the ICA
Founded in 1963 at the University of Pennsylvania, the Institute of Contemporary
Art provides a forum for the presentation and documentation of recent developments
in the visual arts. ICA challenges the public's understanding of contemporary
art by presenting innovative work of established artists and the work of
emerging artists through critically-acclaimed exhibitions, educational programs,
and publications. New this year is a Project Space gallery designed to present
smaller, one-person shows of emerging artists, and to serve as a laboratory
for artists at various junctures in their careers to test new ideas and
create experimental works. |
