Traveling ExhibitionsFood-Water-Life/Lucy+Jorge Orta
The sculptures, drawings, installations and videos by this French wife-husband duo, Lucy+Jorge Orta, collectively explore major concerns that define the 21st century: biodiversity, environmental conditions, climate change and exchange among peoples. These models and machines, constructed by the Ortas, suggest ways to purify, prepare and transport food and water, or launch a world-wide humanitarian effort. These humorous, jerrybuilt contraptions are poetic metaphors for these processes, and demonstrate the importance of art as a creative agent for awareness and change. This show is the first major traveling exhibition in the U.S. of the Ortas' work; it is guest curated by C2|curatorsquared and organized by the Tufts University Art Gallery. Lucy Orta's own work is widely published yet little is known of her broader approach to contemporary art and the projects she conducts together with her collaborator- husband, Argentine-born artist Jorge Orta. Working in partnership since 2005, Lucy+Jorge Orta create, produce, and assemble their artworks and large installations together with a team of artists, designers, architects, and craftsmen. They stage on-location workshops, ephemeral interventions, residencies and master classes which explore the crucial themes of the contemporary world: the community, autonomy, dwelling, migration, sustainable development, and recycling. The Ortas' work has been the focus of important survey exhibitions in major museums outside of the U.S., including the Barbican Art Gallery London, Modern Art Museum Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Boijmans Museum Van Beuningen Rotterdam, Hangar Bicocca Milan as well as the Venice, Havana, and Johannesburg Biennales. |
