I'm Lisa Rockford, one of the three curators for the exhibit Inhabited here at FATVillage
Projects.
This is actually the inaugural exhibition for the C3 Collective, which stands for Contemporary
Curator Collective.
And one of the goals of C3 Collective is actually to have shows in alternative spaces and to
break that mold of the traditional gallery format, how we can activate those spaces in
a new way.
When you have pieces that are meant to be interacted with, several people almost become
like actors in the exhibit, and so the audience becomes like part of the work as well.
We gave a directive to the selected artists to create some type of structure or dwelling.
Those different diverse representations became sort of a village for the exhibit.
My name is Martin Casuso, and this is my piece Biscayne Bay Fort, but my inspiration was
my childhood.
I grew up in down south, near the Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove.
So, this is my version of a fort based on my youthful remembrances, but using the materials
as I use as an adult.
I work with found objects and knits, and I make knit things, and I love textiles.
I love the history of them and I love the fact that craft is now really being accepted
as a material that fine art can be made of.
The boards themselves that cover the structure are made using a little knitting machine that
was designed in the '70s for little girls to learn how to knit.
Thrift store objects are wonderful because they have a history of their own, but they're
not your history.
But they're sort of, they're things that you can touch upon that are familiar, but they're
also by somebody you'll never know.
And a big part of buying things at thrifts that I found fascinating was that somebody
spent a lot of time making these for their family.
The piece is made up of a lot previous projects.
So, this is the first time that I've actually put it all together in one funny little space.
I'm halfCuban, halfDutch.
My father had to come here after Castro, my mother was a completely foreign country, so
I always identify with outsiders or those that aren't really part of a main group, and
these objects to me are that kind of thing as well.
They're like discarded, they're slightly embarrassed or embarrassing, and therefore, I love 'em.
So, I like bringing 'em together and trying to create something that's my own with them.
My name is Donna Haynes, I'm an interdisciplinary artist, and this my installation at the Inhabited
exhibit.
The title of this piece, it is called Portrait of the Artist.
I went into this piece I think a little bit differently as I was thinking about Inhabited
as space inside of yourself or in your mind.
This is how I envision my mind or an artist's mind, or anyone who really has inspiration,
and when that creativity really hits, how I think our mind probably looks, and I have
this metaphor that it looks like this beautifully intricate lace pattern that really is that
blooming of creativity that comes out of our minds.
It was important for the outside to be very different and blank, almost a blank slate,
and when you go inside, you see more of the designs, the ideas, and definitely, I made
a distinctive choice to use paper because it is so fragile, and I think that it really
speaks to how fragile we are, our ideas, we are vulnerable.
The sketchbook pages that are actually lasercut, and the images start with an actual brain
synapse, the image of one, coming into the lace, and inside, there's also a couple doors,
and in those doors, you can also look inside of the structure, and there's a little video,
a vignette, in there.
And in that video vignette, it's kind of a loop of an artist coming up with an idea,
the candle comes on, the light comes on, we have a little vignette of that idea, and then
we blow the candle out, because definitely, creativity comes in spurts, and some ideas
are good, some ideas aren't.
I went through 10 years of sketchbooks.
It took a lot of courage at some point to make the decision to do it, but I think it
makes it authentic, and I want people to see that side.
Some of the artists interpreted that in a sociopolitical way, thinking about issues
of homelessness, or immigration, even.
Some artists are thinking about it in a very personal way, thinking about their own homes
and their past dwellings.
Some people are thinking about the social space, where the space can have several people
inhabit it and create their own community within the space.
And yet, other artists were thinking about activating the space around them and responding
to a sitespecific interpretation of creating a dwelling.
The Curator Collective, one of our goals is to unify the tricounty area of South Florida,
of Broward, Palm Beach, and MiamiDade, so we invite artists from the three counties
as well as we hope to curate shows within those three counties as well.