Carlos Martiel: Maze
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
6 to 8pm
This performance includes mature content
and may not be suitable for children
Carlos Martiel, Expulsion, 2015. [Image Description: A photo of a nude, muscular male’s chest and torso. There are two black circles tattooed on his left forearm. Sewn onto the lower torso, inner elbows, biceps, and chest are 12 yellow stars, referencing the 12 stars of the EU flag. The background is all black.]
Carlos Martiel's new performance Maze reflected on the current system of mass incarceration and racial discrimination in the United States, where a disproportionate number of the imprisoned are African Americans and Latino immigrants. Focusing on forced labor within the prison system, and the threat of loss of privileges and solitary confinement for prisoners who refuse to work, Martiel took a position of stillness and drew parallels between current prison policies and conditions in the US and historical systems of oppression in Europe.
Bio
Carlos Martiel (born 1989, Havana) lives and works in New York and Havana. He graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts “San Alejandro” in Havana, 2009. Between the years 2008-2010, he studied in the Cátedra Arte de Conducta, directed by the artist Tania Bruguera. Martiel’s works have been included in: Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba; Pontevedra Biennial, Galicia, Spain; Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Biennial “La Otra”, Bogotá, Colombia; International Performance Art Biennale, Houston, USA; and Casablanca Biennale, Casablanca, Morocco. He has had solo exhibitions and performances at Y Gallery, New York, USA; Samsøn Projects, Boston, USA; Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA; Steve Turner, Los Angeles, USA; Axenéo7, Gatineau, Canadá; Nitsch Museum, Naples, Italy; Lux Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Contemporary Art Center “Wifredo Lam”, Havana, Cuba. He has received several awards including Franklin Furnace Fund in New York, USA, 2016; CIFOS Grants & Commissions Program Award in Miami, USA, 2014; and Arte Laguna in Venice, Italy, 2013. His work has been exhibited at Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy; Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece; Tornielli Museum, Ameno, Italy; Estonian Museum of Art and Design,Tallinn, Estonia; and Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires, Argentina, among others.