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Leandro Erlich Judi Werthein "Turismo"
Kent Gallery is pleased to present a collaborative photographic intervention executed in November 2000 on the occasion of the VII Havana Biennal, Cuba. Exhibited here will be a re-creation of the original installation, the photographs and polaroids realized, as well as a new publication documenting the project published by Kent Gallery.
In light of the resurgence of Cuba as a tourist destination, Tourism focused awareness on a unique paradox. Although Cuba has re-emerged as a major tourist destination, Cubans cannot be tourists. The cultural intervention documented here, part playful and part conscious-raising, allowed Cubans to transport themselves to a surreal vacation spot where they could experience being tourist for a fleeting moment and simultaneously preserve the memory with a photograph.
This installation involved the assembly of props to create a photographic setting of an unreachable Austrian Alps landscape to be transported by the artists from their Brooklyn studios to Cuba where it was installed in the on the occasion of the VII Bienal de La Habana. The project began as a performative intervention where the artists, Leandro Erlich and Judi Werthein, needed the participation of the Cuban community to complete the project. It was critical to the artists that Tourism be accessible to, as well as utilized by, the local community. The alpine backdrop was set up with artificial snow, skis, sleds and all other accompanying decorative items that helped create the magical illusion. Cubans residents were then invited to come and take their picture in front of the backdrop and thus completing the work of art.
Recent activities for Leandro Erlich include NEIGHBORS: an installation by Leandro Erlich exhibited in the Spring of 2001 at El Museo del Barrio, the recent installation entitled RAIN for the 2000 Whitney Biennal and the forthcoming major installation of THE SWIMMING POOL at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi
via Rialto representing Argentina for the 2001 Venice Biennale.
Judi Werthein, also from Argentina, has recently be featured by three exhibitions at Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Bahia Blanca, Ruth Benzacar Galeria de Arte, Buenos Aires, and Centro Cultural Gral Jose de San Martin, Buenos Aires. In addition, Werthein was recently a participant of Artists in the Marketplace, a program sponsored by the Bronx Museum of Art, New York.
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