Press Release for ""Talking to Action: Art, Pedagogy, and Activism in the Americas""

              MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Press Contact:
Kathy MacPherson
kmacpherson@otis.edu
310.665.6909
Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design is pleased to present:
TALKING TO ACTION: ART, PEDAGOGY, AND ACTIVISM IN THE AMERICAS
An exhibition and bilingual publication, part of the Getty-led Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative
LOS ANGELES, CA – September 2017 – Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design is pleased to present Talking to Action: Art, Pedagogy, and Activism in the Americas, an exhibition and bilingual publication that investigates contemporary, community-based social art practices in the Americas. Talking to Action is part of the Getty’s initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Talking to Action is on view September 17 through December 10, 2017, with a public opening reception on Sunday, September 17, 3-5pm that includes a curator and artist led walk-through of the exhibition at 3:30pm. Major support of this exhibition and publication is provided through grants from the Getty Foundation.
Talking to Action features drawings, archival materials, sculpture, installation, video, and film that blur the lines between object making, political and environmental activism, community organizing, and performance art, created by contemporary artists and collectives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the US. Mirroring the educational imperative found in many of the artists’ practices, and Otis College’s commitment to Social Practice, Talking to Action leans on the history of critical, dialogically-driven pedagogies from Latin America such as those greatly informed by Paulo Freire and other important thinkers whose collective efforts were influential to generations of artists, teachers, and activists throughout the hemisphere.
The social practice artists included in Talking to Action address critical issues such as migration and memory, critical spatial mapping, environmental issues, gender rights and legislation, indigenous knowledge, and racial violence. The exhibition will feature a diverse array of projects, such as the collaboration between
Buenos Aires-based artist Eduardo Molinari and Los Angeles artist Sandra de la Loza as they research the archives and history of the production of space and landscape in their respective cities; SEFT-1 (Sonda de Exploración Ferroviaria Tripulada), a playfully futuristic vehicle used to explore disused railroads in order to map the history of capital development in Mexico; and São Paulo-based Frente 3 de Fevereiro, who use cartography, film, and urban intervention to trace the violent lineage of “exporting” militarization and social control of Afro communities within the historic conflicts in Medellín, Colombia, to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and the natural disasters in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.