Biennial of the Americas

Denver pulled it off. The Biennial of the Americas was a much-criticized dream organized in a ridiculously small time frame. Rumor has it that Mexican curator Paola Santoscoy had a little less than five months and a minuscule budget with which to organize this hemisphere-wide art show. The result was "The Nature of Things," an ambitious exhibit showcasing the work of 24 artists from Canada to the Patagonia, which runs through July 31st at the McNichols Building in Denver. Headquartered in a long-vacant city building one block away from the Denver Art Museum, the exhibit seems to fulfill its regenerational ambitions solely from its location. In reality, it accomplishes plenty more...

Once inside, visitors are greeted by a solar-powered neon sign that reads: "Vivo en América," an evocative welcome to the exhibit from Puerto Rican artist Karlo Andrei Ibarra. Reminiscent of Chilean Alfredo Jaar's digital art display in New York City "This is not America" (1987), Ibarra's deceitfully simple declaration is loaded. Not only does it come from a Puerto Rican artist--which problematizes the whole concept of "America," but installed straight down the main entrance, it screams to the visitor... in Spanish:

Children play on a large geometric map of the Americas below Ibarra's sign.

Another highlight of the exhibit is "Palas por pistolas" by Pedro Reyes, an installation showing a row of garden shovels made with the metal from handguns collected in the Mexican city of Culiacán.

Imagine the possibilities...

Peruvian Sandra Nakamura's "E Pluribus Unum" consists of a little over 360,000 pennies meant to symbolize the taxes paid to the US by undocumented workers. They have been carefully arranged across one of the exhibit rooms, resembling a golden carpet, yet one that will certainly fall apart if one were to step on it...

Definitely something to think about...