NADA MIAMI 2021

Rebecca Adorno, Esaí Alfredo, ASMA, Alex Becerra, Javier Bosques, Carola Cintrón, Taína Cruz, Juan “Jufe” Fernandez, Gabriella Torres Ferrer, Radamés "Juni" Figueroa, Sofía Gallisá, Ignacio Gática, Jorge González, Desis Santiago, Akira Ikezoe, Edgardo Larregui, Adriana Martinez Baron, Jesús “Bubu” Negrón, Nora Maité Nieves, Janice Quevedo, Claudia Peña Salinas, Manuel Mendoza Sánchez, Ivan Sikic, Eliza Sile, John Riepenhoff, Joe Roberts, Guillermo Rodríguez, Chemi Rosado-Seijo, Lulu Varona, Simon Vega, Rogelio Baez Vega, Omar Velázquez

“Why is Bezos flying to space? Because billionaires think Earth is a sinking ship,”

 – Nolan Hamilton, The Guardian

Inspired by the recent billionaire space race, Embajada and KM0.2 present an immersive and transportive installation featuring a diverse group of Caribbean and Latin American artists, as well as "Latinx" and international voices at the forefront of contemporary discourse. 

A large constructed platform suggesting a UFO designed by artist Radamés Juni Figueroa serves as a pedestal to present a selection of sculptures by artists including Rebecca Adorno, Ivan Sikic and Guillermo Rodríguez who evoke planetary realms in their use of organic materials: as in the case of Adorno’s use of magnetic black sand collected on the south-east coast of Puerto Rico or Sikic’s bronze potato sculptures presented in dirt patches that reference Pre-Columbian precious metals. Materiality is further used to evoke the celestial in Carola Cintrón Moscoso’s ethereal sculptures composed of paper and glass. 

Adriana Martinez Baron’s reinterpretation of her 2015 sculpture Tomarse el mundo (Soft Drink) of a rotating globe punctured with a drinking straw, is made this time with a moon. While the original work spoke of globalization’s effect on consumption, Tomarse la luna (Soft Drink 2), predicts a similar fate for the moon. George Orwells’ dystopian social science fiction novel, 1984, is mounted on skateboard wheels by artist Chemi Rosado-Seíjo from his ongoing socially engaged series History on wheels. Gabriella Torres Ferrer presents found objects inserted with microchips from the series Mine your own business that criticizes the current digital environment and the dynamics of appropriation and commodification of personal data.

The walls are painted dark blue with new and recent paintings and multi-media works installed at different heights emphasizing the notion of space. A sweeping nightscape by emerging painter Esaí Alfredo sets the mood while a lone figure suggests communication with outer realms. Claudia Peña Salina’s hanging geometric sculptures made with brightly colored plexiglass act as portals into other dimensions. A painting made of contrasting materials by ASMA invites viewers to explore alternate universes while a textured painting by Nora Maité Nieves suggests planetary architecture and Omar Velázquez’s lush paintings of birds on tree branches reinforce an elevated plane. Extraterrestrial figures from Taína Cruz's fantastical paintings pulse and glow, charging the presentation with cosmic tension.

On Wednesday at 10am, to coincide with the opening of NADA Miami 2021, digital artist Juan "Jufe" Fernandez will launch a non-fungible token (NFT) depicting a car commonly found in Puerto Rico as a rocket. Entitled To Infinity And Beyond, the digital animation at once suggests, critiques, and pokes fun at possibilities for Puerto Rico's precarious and complex future.