Artist Minerva Cuevas

  • November 7, 2017 7:00 PM

Generally I think my work is the research I do. Minerva Cuevas, “Bridging Borders: Minerva Cuevas,” Extended Play, Art21, March 24, 2017

Minerva Cuevas, based in Mexico City, is a conceptual artist who generates projects in response to politically charged contexts. Employing irony and humor, Cuevas’s work provokes reflection on politics and the potential impact of local actions on the enforcement of fair labor practices and the redistribution of monetary flow. Her practice encompasses a wide range of supports – including painting, video, sculpture, photography, and installation – through which she investigates certain power structures that underlie social and economic ties. Cuevas’s interdisciplinary projects combine aspects of anthropology, product design, and economics in order to explore different ways of intervening in the urban space and museums and galleries. Interventions include hacking public utilities to provide discounted or free services, as in the case of Mejor Vida Corp., which she founded in 1998, and her recently founded International Understanding Foundation; as well as her poetic marking of river stones for her 2010 performance Rio Bravo Crossing.

For Tuesday Evenings, Cuevas’s presentation is centered on research-based projects formally developed through the use of socio-cultural strategies, including actions such as marking a crossing point in the Chihuahuan desert at the US-Mexico border, or multidisciplinary processes such as the simultaneous collaboration with the SFMOMA and public libraries around the subject of public knowledge. She explores the possibilities of generating positive social impact from the sphere of culture.

Image credit: Minerva Cuevas, Rio Bravo Crossing, 2010. Action/multimedia installation. Courtesy kurimanzutto gallery

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