Events and Exhibitions

FOOD-WATER-LIFE/Lucy+Jorge Orta

orta

The work of Lucy+Jorge Orta explores the major concerns that define the 21st century: biodiversity, environmental conditions, climate change and exchange among peoples. At the same time, this work embodies the philosophy that steers their pioneering art practice, ‘the ethics of aesthetics.’ As heirs to the practice of social sculpture, formulated by Joseph Beuys in the 1960s, the Ortas’ works are, in a sense, relics of their own function—beguiling assemblages that are the platform for the preparation of food, mechanisms that actually purify water, and elements that they created for their 2007 expedition to Antarctica and that are part of an effort to amend Article XIII of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The works in this exhibition are metaphors-in-action, constructions that perform the tasks of which they are emblematic. It is in their ability to actually function, albeit, awkwardly and haltingly, that these objects gain power as works of art created to move us to awareness and action. 

Food-Water-Life/Lucy+Jorge Orta will be on view at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery from January 22, 2013 to March 3, 2013.

For more information and essays, visit the exhibition website.

orta

"Cutting across art, performance, architecture, and design, the arresting work of Lucy + Jorge Orta deals with fundamental human needs. Issues such as water, food, shelter, and mobility underscore their practice, rendered in their drawings, sculptures, performances, and large-scale installations, as well as in the workshops and conferences they have become known for. Rather than stand-alone projects, their works are often developed in series over a number of years, with various acts that build on one another, reinforcing their mission. Since creating Studio Orta, based in Paris, in 1992, their work has increasingly grown in ambition and scale while retaining a core mission to investigate, challenge, and stimulate dialogue and exchange about social and cultural issues that are rooted in and have come to define comteporary life."

-From Food-Water-Life/Lucy+Jorge Orta Introduction by Zoe Ryan.

Creative Campus

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Contact: Andrew Chatfield
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