Museum of Contemporary Art

July 2018

Founded in 1984 in Santurce, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC) was born out of the will of Puerto Rican artists and other members of the cultural community and in recognition of the urgency to create an alternate model for exhibiting and promoting contemporary art and its issues. The MAC is the only institution in the island expressly dedicated to the study, collection, preservation, exhibition, and promotion of art produced since the mid-20th century in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Latin America, and its diasporas. It fosters an open view of contemporary art within the Puerto Rican context by encouraging a constant dialogue between artists and audiences, between past and present, and among art practice, theory and criticism, through curatorial work and innovative strategies that make the Museum’s cultural diversity, its exhibitions, activities, and its historical building, available to all types of audiences. In every instance of the Museum’s work toward fulfilling its mission, we are proud to recognize and reinforce the bonds of culture between and among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean basin, as well as the Latinx communities and the Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States. We are pleased to fill this particular space in Puerto Rico, and that this contextualization furthers the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art from a multiplicity of perspectives that converge in Puerto Rico: Diasporic, Latinx, Caribbean-regional and Latin American cultures within a global context.

Transcript

MR: (0:19) My name is Marianne Ramirez and I’m the executive director and chief curator for the Museo del Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico. The Museo is an artist-founded museum, created in 1984 in San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico. The exhibit that right now we are presenting at the museum, it’s called “Entredichos”, which would be translated “In Question.”

MR (0:49): After the passing of the hurricanes, I was watching international media and seeing and learning the way that Puerto Ricans and our history was being portrayed. So I thought that we had to react and give our view of who we are as Puerto Ricans and take a stand about different issues with regards to our culture and our social situation and our history.

MR (1:15): One of the artists that has been addressing these political issues is Elsa María Meléndez. The work was originally created as a response to a student strike that took place at the University of Puerto Rico in 2010, but she has been adding, you know, different elements to the installation.

MR (1:36): She includes different hashtags. For example, “#TeOdioMaría”, which would be, “I hate you María.” And “#FueraJuntadeControlFiscal” which would be “Out PROMESA and the Fiscal Management Board”. PROMESA is a financial oversight board that basically is working with the budget of Puerto Rico. And the people that are in charge of the implementation of this law were not voted for by the Puerto Rican people, so we don’t see it as something that does justice to Puerto Rico as a country because we are a nation.

MR (2:20): There’s another work in the exhibition by Garvin Sierra which is called Nave al Garete, which would be “Ship Adrift”. This was also another installation that the artist modified after the hurricane and specifically after the coming of Donald Trump to Puerto Rico. So you’re gonna see there’s a boy separating the Puerto Rican ship and the United States flag. And this boy is comprised of paper towels. And this raft, or this boat, is made of a very heavy bathtub. It has an old fan that, you know, if the fan would be working it would not move that ship anywhere. So it’s to give this idea as to how we are somehow stuck. You know, we are really at a crossroads here in Puerto Rico and this crossroad is always defined by our relationship with the United States.

MR (3:20): The long-term effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico is that people from different walks of life, and the different social and geographic communities that coexist in Puerto Rico, have come to terms with the idea again that they have to take things into their own hands. Not, you know, waiting for the government to solve everything. To the arts, the same is true. When the hurricane passed, cultural organizations — they went way beyond, you know, what they usually do. Not only were they able to contribute to collective healing, but also we were able to attend to, you know, practical issues such as for water, tarps, or for medicines. And then we were able to distribute that.

MR (4:10): We are very creative people. So, we have always been very creative as to the different measures we have to take in order to keep on doing our work. And I think that we all have to come together if we are to have a better future.

[Outro Music Plays, Credits begin to roll]