Puerto Rico Student Brochure

26 April — 9 July 2017

CULTURE, COMMUNITY, AND CIVIC IMAGINATION IN GREATER SAN JUAN

above: view of El Cerro cover: cushion for making a sol. Photo by Sara Madandar, 2017

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CULTURE, COMMUNITY, AND CIVIC IMAGINATION IN GREATER SAN JUAN 26 April — 9 July 2017

How can the exercise of citizenship

on sustainability criss-cross the projects:

constitute a creative act? How do

in the recuperation of lost histories

artistic practices become political

and traditions, in the revitalization of

acts? The projects collected in this

abandoned, urban spaces, in the re-use

exhibition document how participatory

of industrial and recycled materials, and

interventions in public and communal

in the recourse to the needs, desires, and

spaces throughout greater San Juan

abilities of community.

are allowing residents to reimagine the island’s future on their own terms.

On the 100th anniversary of Puerto Ricans’ US citizenship, these examples

The show brings together a diversity

both underscore and undermine the limits

of projects united by social interaction

of formal citizenship, demonstrating the

and a participatory spirit. These include

extraordinary resilience and vitality of

long-term, artist-initiated collaborations

Puerto Rican civil society and the civic

with communities; interactive and

imagination.

improvisational performances in public spaces; citizen-based urban

This exhibition was organized and curated

design and architectural revitalization;

by students in LAST 6951 - Women,

and community activism and cultural

Community and Art in Latin America:

programming—not necessarily initiated

Puerto Rico, co-taught by Edith Wolfe,

by artists but which, nevertheless,

Assistant Director of the Stone Center

produce resonant processes and

for Latin American Studies, and museum

outcomes.

Director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut.

The class—which traveled to the island in

The product is not a traditional object,

March 2017—asked how Puerto Rican

but a shifted social reality that actively

socially engaged activists and artists

responds to the legacies of colonialism

address problems of gender, food access,

and the island’s current “super crisis.”

blight, loss of traditions, and other issues

A reverence for the local and a focus

affecting their communities.

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EL CERRO AND ESCUELAS OFICIOS El Cerro, Naranjito, Puerto Rico The hillside neighborhood of El Cerro (The

created an active community center,

Hill) located in the city of Naranjito outside

which hosts workshops and events, and

San Juan exemplifies the organic beauty

a Museum of El Cerro that exhibits the

and human ingenuity of “spontaneous

history of the painting project and displays

architecture,” that is, of a space created

material from community workshops.

over time by inhabitants without formal planning or training. Since 2002 local

The traditional craft of “sol” making—lace

community members, volunteers, and

rosettes known as “suns,” which originated

students have collaborated with artist

in Naranjito—has become one of the most

Chemi Rosado to paint more than a

celebrated local activities in El Cerro.

hundred houses in El Cerro different

Directed by community member Francisca

shades of green. Although envisioned

Hernández, these women-taught,

by Rosado to show the harmony of the

intergenerational workshops not only

informal built environment with the

instruct craftwork technique, but create

natural hillside topography, the spirit of

a dialogue about Puerto Rican history,

participation and collaboration the project

culture, and identity. The classes were the

produced/necessitated transformed

brainchild of artist Jorge González who

Pintando el Cerro (Painting the Hill) into

initiated a series of Escuela de los Oficios

a vital source of community pride, social

(trade schools) teaching basketry, weaving,

unity, and the recovery of collective

and ceramics, among other things, as

memory.

an effort to recover local knowledge, traditions, and ancestral techniques. In this

Rosado credits the success of Pintando

way, the socially-engaged, collaborative

el Cerro to women, noting the critical

interventions of Chemi Rosado and Jorge

contribution of his mother, social worker

González provoked a communal response

and professor Luisa Seijo Maldonado, who

to the island’s legacies of colonialism and

helped mobilize support and non-local

neoliberalism, which threaten popular

volunteers, as well as community leader

cultural traditions and social practices.

Ivette Serrano, who quickly took the reigns of community organizing. Walking through this community, Serrano’s assertion that “Las mujeres son las jefas,” (“Women are the bosses”) is clear. Residents have also

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“Here, women are the bosses.”

—Jossie Serrano

Photos by Sara Madandar, 2017

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CASA TAFT 169 AND LA MARAÑA Bayola, Santurce, Puerto Rico La Maraña is a San Juan-based non-profit

yard of the abandoned house, sparking

organization committed to participatory

other neighbors to imagine how the

urban design. Founded in 2014 by Sofía

space might be transformed from public

Unanue Banuchi, La Maraña (the tangle)

nuisance to community asset. That

engages local residents in the planning and

same year, community members began

redesign of public spaces and abandoned

clearing debris and garbage that had been

properties, according to the needs and

dumped on the site; soon after volunteers

usage of the community. Most recently

removed a staircase that blocked access

the organization worked with residents

to the backyard allowing them to install a

of Bayola, a working- class neighborhood

cinderblock floor in the patio and build a

of Santurce, to construct a pocket park

wall out of concrete and bottles. The house

on a strip of ground that had long served

now serves as a grass-roots community

as an informal dumpsite. Created entirely

center hosting events and serving as a

with donated materials and with volunteer

gathering place for community discussions

planning and labor, Estrella Park now boasts

and leisure.

a community garden, domino tables, and a basic playground. In a city increasingly

The occupation and renovation of Casa Taft

dependent on car travel, the park offers

inspired a neighbor to begin a legislative

residents of Bayola a walking destination,

campaign to allow nonprofits to take control

strengthening community through the

of properties that have been abandoned

activation of public space.

or have no legal heirs, which resulted in the passage of Law 157. La Maraña is

Casa Taft 169 is a community center located

currently working with Casa Taft 169 to

in a once abandoned home, restored and

create a map of abandoned properties on

run by neighborhood residents. In the

the two main avenues in San Juan as part

words of activist and architect Marina

of a toolkit for nonprofits that wish to take

Moscoso, who helped organize the project,

advantage of Law 157. La Maraña and Casa

it is “a unique, co-created, bottom-up,

Taft 169 exemplify the potential of creative

self-run, self-sustained civic center.” The

place-making and the extent of the civic

project represents a spontaneous and

imagination in San Juan, as ordinary people

informal response to an epidemic of

take governance into their own hands,

abandoned properties in the city. In 2013,

bypassing the baroque and idiosyncratic

a woman in the Machuchal neighborhood

bureaucracy while strengthening

of San Juan planted a garden in the front

participatory democracy.

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“The truth is that life will never be the same once you have the guts to defeat our societies’ worship of the almighty notion of private property."

—Marina Moscoso Arabía

Photos top and left: Sara Madandar, 2017; right: Megan Flattley, 2017

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PISO PROYECTO Santurce and surroundings, Puerto Rico Born in Puerto Rico and having completed

broader political issues of decolonization

her higher education in the United

and universal questions of consciousness.

States, Noemí Segarra Ramírez is the embodiment of the vaiven, or the fluid

Segarra is an explorer of movement

motion of interchange between Puerto

and dance, a healer, educator, massage

Rican and “American” culture and physical

practitioner, yoga teacher, and cultural

space. Her work addresses questions of

and spiritual improviser. PISO proyecto

belonging and inclusion characteristic of

permits her to integrate her need to

both the migratory condition of Puerto

understand the world through movement

Rican citizens and the disorienting effect

with her need to incite that the world

of crisis on community.

also opens its eyes, reflects about space, the other, and the trajectories that many

Segarra’s most ambitious work, PISO

times we humans find ourselves following

proyecto (STEP project) was founded in

without questioning. Her work challenges

2011 in Santurce. One of the biggest

us all to close/ open our eyes and let our

districts in the capital and once the most

bodies flow in resistance to imposed

populated, Santurce has been hard hit

societal norms.

in the last two decades by the island’s financial hardships. PISO proyecto (piso being the Spanish word for floor and also

Segarra performed at the joint opening of

the phrase, “I step”) consists of improvised

Culture, Community, and Civic Imagination

movement on a 20’ x 9’4” platform. The

in Greater San Juan and Beyond the Canvas:

platform is the size of Segarra’s living

Contemporary Art from Puerto Rico one the

room, which serves as a semi-public

evening of April 26, 2017.

movement studio.

Segarra places the portable platform in urban spaces, engaging the public alternately as spectators and participants.

In so doing, she “reactivates” the increasingly depopulated and blighted public space, through ephemeral, spontaneous interactions that probe

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"Limits and geographies are ephemeral." —Noemí Segarra

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PATIO TALLER San Antón, Carolina, Puerto Rico Las Nietas de Nonó (the granddaughters

self-development and independence

of Nonó) are two sisters, Michelle Nonó

in children and adults alike. Though

and Lydela Leonor, who transformed

both sisters have traveled for work and

their grandparents’ ancestral home in

education, their lives remain centered in

an industrial zone of Carolina, Puerto

this small community. Their work engages

Rico into a community space referred

their personal family history in narratives

to as Patio Taller (Patio Project). Situated

representative of the community at large.

in an area that traditionally offered few safe public spaces, the sisters seek to

A variety of activities hosted on the

build trust and community by keeping

site—from performances and exhibitions

the house open to all who wish to come

to cooking demonstrations and use of

or go.

abundant fruit trees surrounding the property—invoke the history of Puerto

Considered by its founders as a site

Rico’s black ancestry, while demonstrating

of emancipatory education, where

local abundance, often hidden by scarcity

residents decide what they want

related to a forced dependency on U.S.

to teach and desire to learn, Patio

imports. In so doing, their projects reveal

Taller regularly hosts workshops

a level of prosperity independent of the

that recuperate local traditions and

government and liberated from historically

knowledge, such as the use of local

oppressive systems.

produce and medicinal plants, and organizes popular, participatory theater events that explore themes relevant to the community, among them incarceration, education, and state violence.

The Nietas’ primary focus is helping community members find abundance and education within their immediate surroundings, fostering

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"We are cultivating alternative economies of subsistence, based on local knowledge, indigenous medicine and ancestral memory." —Michelle Nonó

Photos by Sedrick Miles, 2017

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EL DEPARTAMENTO DE LA COMIDA Punta Las Marias, Puerto Rico A vegetarian restaurant and CSA (community-supported agriculture) might seem an unusual endeavor to consider as social practice art, yet co-founder of El Departamento de la Comida (the Department of Food), Tara Rodríguez Besosa, credits its inception to an artist residency at San Juan’s groundbreaking arts organization, Beta Local. During her residency, Rodríguez (who trained as an architect) encountered an intellectual and political community that inspired her total rethinking of issues of food security and Puerto Rico’s forced colonial dependency (the island imports 95% of its food from the U.S.) on fundamentally creative terms.

A legacy of monoculture in Puerto Rico (the government supported the singular production of sugar) had eradicated virtually all farming on the island—a paradox, given its rich agricultural potential. Rodríguez and her partner Olga Casellas Badillo began working with local farmers and small private gardens (including an organic farm started by Rodríguez’s mother) to bring a variety of produce to San Juan. Eventually they opened El Departamento de la Comida, the only

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vegetarian farm-to-table restaurant San Juan, in part because locals who were accustomed to a limited diet of rice, beans, and plantains did not know how to use the products they were providing.

El Departamento de la Comida works closely with the community, supporting an increasing number of urban gardens emerging in vacant lots and abandoned properties throughout the city and offering educational programs for children and adults.

As an artist and activist, Rodríguez sees the implications of her work as transcending agriculture. The agricultural notion of “polyculture” (the simultaneous cultivation of several crops) becomes a metaphor for bettering Puerto Rican society.

“It strikes me that we do not see the importance of cultivating a diverse society, with different types of people, different beliefs and tastes, and ways of being happy,” Rodríguez remarked, “I personally identify myself as ‘queer’ and in everything I do, including the Department of Food, there is a prodiversity proposal.”

“Polyculture is much better than monoculture. This applies to communities, too. We need to recognize the importance of cultivating a diverse society.”

—Tara Rodríguez

Photos by Sedrick Miles, 2017

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EXHIBITION ARTISTS & ACTIVISTS

clockwise from top left: Lydela Leonor, Michelle Nonó, Noemí Segarra Ramírez, Sofía Unanue Banuchi, Jossie Serrano, Tara Rodríguez Besosa. Portraits by Sedric Miles and Sara Mandandar

This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Jennifer Wooster (NC ’91), Don Peters (A&S ’81), and the Newcomb College Institute of Tulane University.

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STUDENT CURATORS

Back: (L-R) Sedrick Miles, community organizer Jossie Serrano, Sara Kittleson, Ericka Sanchez, Jade Madrid, Kelsey Reynolds, professor Edie Wolfe, advisor Laura Wolford, Megan Flattley, artist Jorge Gonzalez; Front: Chen Yu, Linett Luna Tovar, Hanna Dean, Eunice Lee, Katalina Euraque, Lindsay Bartlett, Sara Mandandar, Lucia Lozano-Hughes, artist Chemi Rosado

ABOUT THE MUSEUM The Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University builds on the Newcomb College legacy of education, social enterprise, and artistic experience. Presenting inspiring exhibitions and programs that engage communities both on and off campus, the museum fosters the creative exchange of ideas and cross-disciplinary collaborations around innovative art and design. The museum preserves and advances scholarship on the Newcomb and Tulane art collections.

The academic institution for which the museum is named was founded in 1886 as the first degree-granting coordinate college for women in America. The H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was distinguished for educating women in the sciences, physical education, and, most importantly, art education. Out of its famed arts program, the Newcomb Pottery was

born. In operation from 1895 until 1940, the Newcomb enterprise produced metalwork, fiber arts, and the now internationally renowned Newcomb pottery.

The museum today presents original exhibitions and programs that explore socially engaged art, civic dialogue, and community transformation. The museum also pays tribute to its heritage through shows that recognize the contributions of women to the fields of art and design.

As an entity of an academic institution, the Newcomb Art Museum creates exhibitions that utilize the critical frameworks of diverse disciplines in conceptualizing and interpreting art and design. By presenting issues relevant to Tulane and the greater New Orleans region, the museum also serves as a gateway between on and off campus constituencies.

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Tulane University 6823 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118 NewcombArtMuseum.Tulane.edu 504.865.5328