Minerva Cuevas (born 1975) is a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called inst ...

ist known for site-specific interventions guided by social and political research and social change ideals. Her production includes installation, video works and photographic works as well as contextual interventions in specific locations. She lives and works in the neighborhood of el Centro Histórico in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

, often directing her artistic and social efforts towards questioning the capitalist system. She is a member of Irational.org and the founder of the Mejor Vida Corp. (1998) and International Understanding Foundation (2016).

Early life and education

Cuevas studied at the National School of Plastic Arts,

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

from 1993 to 1997. Cuevas also worked with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

as part of their Public Knowledge curatorial initiative. She engaged with local San Franciscans about the city's changing ecology as explored through the theme of fire. She was cited in Rubén Gallo's book ''New Tendencies of Mexican Art.'' In this 2004 book, Gallo recognizes how Cuevas’s connection to the streets of Mexico City and the struggles of working people guides her multimedia, often web-based artwork and social activism.

Notable works

''Mejor Vida Corp''

In 1998, Cuevas founded a project titled ''Mejor Vida Corp'' (MVC or Better Life Corporation). A non-profit organization. ''MVC'' provides free products and services, the project distributes “international ID cards, subway tickets, and barcodes for grocery stores”—all examples of what art historian

Pamela M. Lee Pamela M. Lee is an art historian and Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at Yale University. Her research focuses on late modernism and contemporary art, particularly the relationship between aesthetics and politics. She graduated from Yale ...

describes as “movement as a movement,” incremental disruptions of neo-liberalist policy through social welfare endeavors. Cuevas is the sole proprietor of the Mejor Vida Corporation, working as the owner, CEO, CFO, public relations officer, fundraiser, and more. The program addresses social and economic issues, in what becomes a complex and sophisticated critique of a traditional institution, the capitalist corporation. Professor of Latin American Studies Scott Baugh analyzes this, concluding that, through the satire and parodying of an official business website, Cuevas embodies the “traditions of the film avant-garde and of the Latina/Latino cultural expression… hichtend to resist, by definition and pragmatically, the conventionality of the mainstream.” According to Baugh, the digitized radio transmissions of Cuevas's ''MVC'' introduce an accessible voice that bypasses the Eurocentric conventions of corporate media and establishes a new mode of active communication with the Mexican working class.

Video and installation

As detailed by art critic Jean Fisher, Cuevas's written accompaniment to the performance piece, ''Drunker'' (1995), presents substance abuse "as a means to 'obliterate’ the anguish of trauma, where the sufferer is caught between the compulsion to bear witness to the catastrophe and the impossibility of articulating it." Cuevas’s solo exhibitions engage a variety of artistic forms, culminating in multisensory installations that, while operating in high art institutions, advocate public interventionism. Many of these contain specific visual and auditory allusions that generate social commentary. In particular, Cuevas’s ''Social Entomology,'' exhibited at the Van Abbemuseum in 2007, employs projected cellular and animal imagery, overlaid with a metaphorical orchestral soundtrack entitled ''Insect Concert,'' to remark on human societal structure and its exploitative relationship with the natural world. Critic Francis McKee explains the technological nature of ''Social Entomology'' as Cuevas’s evidence for modern humanity’s

commodification of animals The commodity status of animals is the legal status as property of most non-human animals, particularly farmed animals, working animals and animals in sport, and their use as objects of trade.Rosemary-Claire Collard, Jessica Dempsey"Life for Sale? ...

and the natural world. In a text entitled “Corporatocracy, Democracy and Social Change (in Mexico and Beyond),” Cuevas co-authors a discourse on the contemporary dissonance between humanity and the natural world. Her remarks affirm her opposition to the anthropocentric attitude driving industrialization, which has historically occurred at the expense of, not only animals and the natural world, but also indigenous and agrarian peoples. Moreover, initially explored in her ''Information/Misinformation'' billboard series, Cuevas's thoughts on the communicative importance of “national rumor” in a modern age find footing in the written record of the Lier En Boog philosophy and art symposium, ''Ljubljana: Information Strategies'', in which she participated in 2002.

Awards and fellowships

Cuevas was awarded the DAAD grant in Berlin (2005), reinvited in 2019 for a solo show at the daadgalerie in Berlín, Germany, was part of the Delfina Studios residency program in London (2001).

Exhibitions

Biennials

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

. 2010 *6th

Berlin Biennale The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. T ...

. Germany. 2010 *''The History of a decade that has not yet been named.'' Lyon Biennial. France. 2007 *Três Fronteiras Bienal do Mercosul. Porto Alegre, Brazil. 2007 *''How to live together''. 27th Bienal de São Paulo Brazil. 2006 *Belonging.

Sharjah Biennial The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cul ...

. United Arab Emirates. 2005 *On Reason and Emotion. Biennale of Sydney. Australia. 2004 *Poetic Justice. XX Istanbul Biennial. Istanbul. Turkey. 2003 *Information-Misinformation. 24th Biennial of Graphic Arts. Ljubljana, Slovenia. 2001 *Bienal internacional de Fotografía, Centro de la Imagen. DF. MEX, 1999

Selected solo shows

*''No Room to Play''. daadgalerie, Berlin. 2019 *''Dissidência''. Videobrasil, São Paulo. 2018 *''Feast and Famine.'' kurimanzutto, Ciudad de México. 2015 *''Minerva Cuevas''. Museo de la Ciudad de México. 2012 *''Minerva Cuevas''. VanAbbe Museum. Netherlands. 2008 *''La Venganza del Elefante''
kurimanzutto
Mexico City. 2007 *''Phenomena''.

Kunsthalle A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...

Basel. Switzerland. 2007 *''Egalité''. Le Grand Café-Centre d'art Contemporain. Saint-Nazaire, France. 2007 *''Reconstrucción''. Casa del Lago.

. 2006 *''The Economy of the Imaginary''. Luckman Fine Arts Complex. Los Angeles, CA. USA . 2006 *''Not Impressed By Civilization''. The Banff Centre. Alberta, Canada. 2005 *''On Property'' Reg Vardy Gallery. Sunderland, United Kingdom. 2005 *''Schwarzfahrer are my heroes''. DAAD Galerie, Berlin, Germany. 2004 *''MVC Biotec''

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

. Vienna, Austria. 2001 *''Mejor Vida Corp''.

Museo Rufino Tamayo Museo Rufino Tamayo is a public contemporary art museum located in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park, that produces contemporary art exhibitions, using its collection of modern and contemporary art, as well as artworks from the collection of its ...

. Mexico City. 2000

Collections

Cuevas' work is held in many permanent collections including: the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Guggenheim, MUAC, UNAM, Mexico City,

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lich ...

, Cologne and the

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wante ...

, Eindhoven.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuevas, Minerva Mexican contemporary artists Living people 1975 births Artists from Mexico City