Visual Arts
Caribbean: Crossroads of the World
Caribbean: Crossroads of the World will examine the visual arts and aesthetic development across the Caribbean, considering the histories of the Spanish, French, Dutch and English islands and their Diasporas. An international advisory group of scholars and artists have been working with all three institutions to plan and present scholarly discussions, public programming, events, educational components, the multi-venue exhibition itself, and a major resource publication due to be published in Spring 2012. A Caribbean curriculum initiative for public school youth, including online resource materials, teacher workshops, and New York City area school partnerships is also in the works.
This exhibition is both ambitious and groundbreaking, highlighting rarely-seen works in thematic sections ranging from the Haitian Revolution to the present. Each of the three venues will explore distinct themes, as follows:
El Museo del Barrio
Counterpoints reflects on Caribbean plantation systems and industries such as sugar, fruit, tobacco and coffee which had tremendous aesthetic and social impact while proving to be a source of wealth and conflict.
Patriot Acts studies the idea that artists and intellectuals in the Caribbean were instrumental in the creation of the identity, both visual and conceptual, of the young Caribbean nations, which often pitted traditional, academic aesthetics against the “authentic,” indigenous and African past of the region.
Queens Museum of Art
Fluid Motions examines the complexities of the geographical and geopolitical realities of a region made up of islands and coastal areas, connected and separated by bodies of water.
Kingdoms of this World considers the amazing variety of languages, cultures and religions that co-exist in the Caribbean, and their role in the development of popular traditions such as syncretic religions, newly created language, and the carnival.
Studio Museum in Harlem
Shades of History explores the significance of race and its relevance to the history and culture of the Caribbean, beginning with the pivotal moment of the Haitian Revolution in 1804. Race is analyzed as a trigger for discussions on human rights, social status and beauty.
Land of the Outlaw addresses the dual images of the Caribbean as a utopic place of pleasure and a land of deviance and illicit activity. Here artists debunk widespread myths and stereotypes, such as those of pirates, zombies and drug smugglers.
Curatorial Team
Elvis Fuentes, Curator of Special Projects for El Museo and CARIBBEAN: Crossroads Project Director
Edward J. Sullivan, Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of Art History; Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
Lowery Stokes Sims, Curator, Museum of Arts and Design, NY
Gerald Alexis, Scholar of the Institut Canadien de Quebec, and former Minister of Culture in Haiti
Yolanda Wood Pujols, Director of the Center for Caribbean Studies, Casa de las Americas, Havana, and Professor of Art History at the School of Arts and Letters, University of Havana
Institutional Curators include Deborah Cullen, Director of Curatorial Programs and Exhibitions at El Museo del Barrio, Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Curator at El Museo del Barrio; Hitomi Iwasaki, Chief Curator at the Queens Museum of Art; Lauren Haynes and Naima Keith, Assistant Curators at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Presenting Sponsor
