TEOR/éTica proudly presents Novo Museo Tropical, a curatorial project by Pablo León de La Barra.
July 21–September 16, 2012
Novo Museo Tropical is a "museum without walls" that centers on a historiographical chart shaped like a bunch of bananas, created by León de La Barra. The bananas bear the names of a range of significant artists, artworks, and avant-garde movements that are part of the artistic and visual field of Latin America.
For TEOR/éTica, the Novo Museo Tropical features a number of artworks, architectural perspectives and archival material that address the economic and political exploitation, fantasy and exoticism associated with banana plantations in different contexts. In addition, a museum-designed micro-climate showcases videos, films, texts and works in various formats by other artists and filmmakers who make up this "banana encyclopedia".
Novo Museo Tropical is a first approach toward building a new art history. It is an attempt to create an expanded field for tropical manifestations, which de-localizes it from any geography. In other words, as León de la Barra's Manifesto says, “Being Tropical is not about location, it's about attitude”.
Click here to read about León de la Barra's Travel Award Research.
Novo Museo Tropical is a curatorial project funded by TEOR/éTica, Costa Rica. Pablo León de la Barra's research fellowship is funded by Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
Visit the website here for regular updates on León de la Barra’s research trip or contact Sofía Olascoaga at sofia@curatorsintl.org for more information.
