The National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) and the Smart Museum of Art are pleased to present their first-ever collaborative exhibition. Presenting the results of an exchange between six Latinx artists based in Chicago and six artists from Havana, the exhibition was presented at the Smart Museum. Support for the artist exchange and exhibition was provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation In spring 2017, the Chicago artists and the two Chicago curators traveled to Havana. There they met with local artists and curators, visited studios, and explored cultural spaces and the city. In fall 2017 and summer 2018, the Cuban artists and the Cuban curator visited Chicago and continued to build relationships with their Chicago peers while also touring the city’s museums and neighborhoods, and getting to know the arts community in Chicago. The artists used their experiences to develop new work for the exhibition that also reflects on their own artistic practices at this moment in time.

Participating Artists

Alberto Aguilar (b. 1974, Chicago); Carlos Barberena (b. 1972, Nicaragua); Dianna Frid (b. 1967, Mexico City); Rodrigo Lara Zendejas (b. 1981, Toluca, Mexico); Harold Mendez (b. 1977, Chicago); and Edra Soto (b. 1971, San Juan, Puerto Rico). The Cuban artists were mostly based in Havana: Humberto Díaz (b. 1975, Cuba), Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo (b. 1984, Cuba), Douglas Pérez Castro (b. 1972, Cuba), Alejandro González (b. 1974, Cuba), Celia Irina González Álvarez (b. 1985, Cuba) and Yunior Aguiar Perdomo (b. 1984, Cuba), and Requer (Renier Quer Figueredo, b. 1983, Cuba)

Curator

From Chicago, Alison Fraunhar & Cesáreo Moreno. From Havana, Raquel Carrera

Organizing Institution

National Museum of Mexican Art

Displayed at

The Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago