CECILIA VICUÑA: CLOUD-NET

DiverseWorks joins Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, and Art in General, New York City in the presentation of cloud-net, a touring solo exhibition of internationally known Chilean-born visual artist, performer, and poet Cecilia Vicuña.

The artist creates an installation designed specifically for each of the collaborating organizations and their environments. Vicuña created unique mappings that reflect the original uses of the spaces (Hallwalls was a Model-T Ford factory, DiverseWorks formerly a cotton warehouse, and Art in General was a hardware manufacturing building).

Cecilia Vicuña’s work draws from the urban Andean mestizo world where Andean and Western cultures meet and collide. She disorganizes and redefines meanings transmitted to her from both cultures, overturning notions of the vernacular and the international. In her installations, Vicuña uses wool, thread, and knots to explore connections between weaving and language.  Through these works as ephemeral as words in the air, Vicuña transforms indoor and outdoor environments and challenges Western notions of art and language. At first glance, her work is minimal and filled with characteristic feminine references to weaving and sewing. However, these gentle gestures mask political commentary and calls to action.