FEDERICO HERRERO INTERVENTION IN THE MEDELLIN BIENNALE

Federico Herrero paints the columns that support the metro rails at Parque Berrio Station in the city of Medellin, Colombia.

read more about Medellin's recent transformation in New Left Review
New Left Review 44, March-April 2007

Medellin's Makeover
by Forrest Hylton
Transformed from murder capital to corporate boom town, Medellín has been hailed as a rare urban success story for neo-conservatism in South America. The singular progression of Escobar and Uribe’s hometown—cattle-trading post, industrial centre, drug-trafficking hub, neoliberal Latin Mecca. In the face of a string of leftist successes in the Andes, with radical-populists elected in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, the Right can boast one spectacular triumph. Medellín, the most conservative city in Colombia, the continent’s most conservative country, has been undergoing a dramatic boom for the past few years. Levels of high-rise construction now surpass those of Los Angeles and New York combined. Since 2002, the profusion of apartment towers, luxury hotels, supermarkets and shopping malls has been breathtaking. The country’s largest conglomerates and over seventy foreign enterprises now have their Colombian headquarters in Medellín, among them Phillip Morris, Kimberly Clark, Levi Strauss, Renault, Toyota and Mitsubishi. A 30,000 square-foot convention centre opened in 2005, and over a dozen international conferences have been held there annually, generating more than $100 million in investment and business deals. Medellín’s fashion industry is at present second only to São Paulo’s; its medical sector is a Latin American leader in organ transplants, aids and cancer research. An upscale museum-park complex in the city centre, replacing the old outdoor market and red-light district, houses the work of world-renowned Medellín artist, Fernando Botero, with his sculptures featured in an open-air setting...

BLOW DE LA BARRA PARTY AT MACO-MEXICO CITY ART FAIR

Los Super Elegantes, Slow Dance Disco a la Carte (London version), c-print, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 24x20 inches/50x60cms, 2006

Blow de la Barra is pleased to invite you to its MACO-Mexico City Art Fair Party
Sunday APRIL 29, 2007, 9:00 PM
Hotel Habita, Presidente Mazarik 201, Colonia Polanco, México, DF 11560

9pm Richardette and Liliana from George and Dragon, London, spinning latino Spanglish

10 pm Los Super Elegantes djing over a projection of Four Silent Warhol Films

Warhol films selected by Cay Sophie Rabinowitz and Christian Rattemeyer
Films to be projected:
Kiss (1963): Kiss is a series of 3 1/2 minute silent films of various people kissing: man & women, women & women, man & man etc....
Sleep (1963): Sleep, a 6-hour film of a man sleeping, belongs to Warhol's early film studies that emphasize stillness and duration.
Empire (1964): A single shot of the Empire State Building over the course of one day.
Blow Job (1964): a single 35-minute shot of a man's facial expressions as he receives the title act.
Mario Banana (1964): also known as Mario Eats a Banana

with the support of Hotel Habita, Pablo Internacional Magazine and Iqons.com

MACO/Mexico City, April 25-29, 2007
Residencial Palmas Park, Av. Palmas 515, Lomas, Mexico City
Blow de la Barra, booth 415
Showing work by Los Super Elegantes, Federico Herrero, Marcelo Krasilcic, Matthieu Laurette, Miltos Manetas and Carolina Caycedo

http://www.hotelhabita.com
http://www.iqons.com
http://www.pablointernacionalmagazine.com
http://www.blowdelabarra.com

DONALD URQUHART RECREATES GREY GARDENS AT CENTRAL STATION

MARJETICA POTRC'S SHOW TO OPEN AT THE CURVE IN BARBICAN MAY 24

Marjetica Potrč The Curve, Barbican 24 May - 19 August 2007 http://www.barbican.org.uk/

MARJETICA POTRC AT THE SHARJAH BIENNAL

'Tasneem Primary School: Desalination Device with Solar-Panel Canopy' a poject by Marjetica Potrc for the Sharjah Biennal.

A small desalination device powered by solar energy is installed in a public school in Al Dhaid. It provides fresh drinking water for the students.

Although the main desalination plant in Sharjah City is intended to supply drinking water to all residents, in some parts of the city only salty water comes out of the drinking taps. The desalination plant runs on fossil fuels, reflecting the area's dependence on oil. In Sharjah, solar energy is only rarely used to create electricity.
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Obsession with water increases along with the consumption of it. Salty drinking water is dangerous for human health, and consuming it on a regular basis can be lethal. How then does one live in an environment where salty tap water is an everyday reality? Today, the Emirate of
Sharjah has become a test site for answering this question. Although the main desalination plant in Sharjah City – part of the Sharjah Water and Electricity Authority – is intended to fresh deliver drinking water to all residents, not all of the supplied water is of the same quality. In some parts of the city, salty water still comes out of the drinking taps.

Traditionally – and long before there were any desalination plants – Sharjah obtained its water from underground aquifers and rainwater harvesting. Parts of the emirate still practice these traditional methods. However, a simple equation tells us that the more people there are who use the water, the less fresh water there is in the wells. Making matters worse, the water in the underground aquifers is becoming increasingly saline from overuse. People who can afford it install a reverse-osmosis (R.O.) desalination device in their homes to maintain the quality of their drinking water.

Especially schools, which are often situated a bit outside the city centre, have a problem with getting good quality drinking water from the tab. For the Sharjah Biennial 8, Marjetica Potrc will install a reverse-osmosis (R.O.) desalination device in a public school in Sharjah. This device will be connected to a solar panel and powered by solar energy. It will thus become a self-sustainable device, independent from the big desalination plants that run on fossil fuels
– while these last.

Trained as an architect, Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc focuses in her mostly community-based projects on issues of self-sustainability, grown architecture and new building methods beyond the drawing-board. To exhibit other people’s designs is part of her artistic practice.

http://www.sharjahbiennial.org/en/

JESUS 'BUBU' NEGRON, 'CIGARRETE BUTT CARPET' AT THE 8TH SHARJAH BIENNALE

Jesus Bubu Negron, Cigarette Butt Street Rug, 2007
Cigarette butts, glue
Installation view at Souk Al Arsa, Sharjah Heritage Area
Commissioned and Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation
http://www.sharjahart.org/projects/projects-by-date/2007/cigarette-butt-street-rug-negron

MARJETICA POTRC, FEDERICO HERRERO AND CARLA ZACCAGNINI PARTICIPATING IN THE MEDELLIN BIENNIAL

Marjetica Potrc's drawing for Medellin, a flying woman breast feeding the city

http://encuentromedellin2007.com