On Thursday, July 11 from 5–8pm attend a social summer opening evening jointly hosted by the Smart Museum and National Museum of Mexican Art celebrating the exhibition Cross Currents/Intercambio Cultural.

The outdoor evening get-together features a DJ set from the collective (((SONORAMA))), a printmaking activity, exhibition-inspired food, beer provided by Lagunitas Brewing Company and other refreshments, plus a first look at work by Chicago- and Havana-based artists who took part in an artist exchange.

This exhibition explores how issues of Latin American and Latinx identity and place are manifest in the practices of artists working in Chicago and Havana at a moment of social change and strained political relations between the United States and Cuba.

Cross Currents is the result of an artist exchange organized by the National Museum of Mexican Art. Six Chicago-based artists visited Havana in spring 2017 and six Cuban artists visited Chicago in fall 2017 and summer 2018. The work on view reflects the artists’ experiences and observations as they interacted with each other, curators, cultural spaces, and neighborhoods during their trips. The project aims to open pathways of communication and understanding between the two cities and peer artists while also reflecting on their own artistic practices at this moment in time. 

ARTISTS

Based in Chicago:

Alberto Aguilar (b. 1974, Chicago)

Carlos Barberena (b. 1972, Nicaragua)

Dianna Frid (b. 1967, Mexico City)

Rodrigo Lara Zendejas (b. 1981, Toluca, Mexico)

Harold Mendez (b. 1977, Chicago)

Edra Soto (b. 1971, San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Based in Havana:

Humberto Díaz (b. 1975, Cuba)

Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo (b. 1984, Cuba)

Douglas Pérez Castro (b. 1972, Cuba)

Alejandro González (b. 1974, Cuba)

Celia Irina González Álvarez (b. 1985, Cuba) and Yunior Aguiar Perdomo (b. 1984, Cuba)

Requer (Renier Quer Figueredo, b. 1983, Cuba)

TOUR: A version of the exhibition will travel to El Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba in January 2020.

Image: Visiting Celia Gonzalez’s home/studio in the Playa neighborhood, May 2017. Left to right are: Rodrigo Lara, Carlos Barberena, Harold Mendez, Dianna Frid, Alberto Aguilar and Celia Gonzalez.