FOOD-WATER-LIFE—LUCY+JORGE ORTA
ORGANIZERS AND DATES
Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, MA
September 6 – December 12, 2012
Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
January 22 – March 3, 2013
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
January 25 – May 25, 2014
Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
August 16 – December 7, 2014
Richard E. Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN
February 5 – May 7, 2015
Museum London, Ontario
August 29 – December 6, 2015
DESCRIPTION The work of LUCY+JORGE ORTA explores major concerns that define the 21st century: biodiversity, environment and climate change, and communication. At the same time, their work embodies the philosophy that steers their pioneering art practice, ‘the ethics of aesthetics.’ This exhibition will explore how the artists’ unique visual language tackles the global issues at stake that are affecting our lives. As their artwork communicates widely to audiences beyond the field of contemporary art, it demonstrates the importance of art as a creative agent for awareness and change.
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 partner, Argentine 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. Their work has been the focus of important survey exhibitions in renowned museums 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. This will be the first comprehensive exhibition of the work of LUCY+JORGE ORTA to be organized by an American museum.
The exhibition will focus on three themes that define today’s world: biodiversity, the environment and climate change. Three projects, spanning close to two decades of collaborative work, will be presented in the exhibition:
Hortirecycling, 1997-present
OrtaWater, 2005-present
Antarctica, 1990-present
The installation/event can be staged concurrent with the exhibition: 70 x 7 The Meal, 1997-present
CATALOGUE The first major book on the Orta’s collaborative work published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2011 includes essays by Zoë Ryan, Neville Bryan Curator of Design at The Art Institute of Chicago; Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, and director of the Graphic Design MFA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; and the exhibition curators.
