El Museo del Barrio, New York’s premier Latino and Latin American cultural institution, will present its fifth edition of El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files from July 25, 2007 through January 6, 2008. El Museo’s Bienal celebrates the experimental, immediate pulse of contemporary art, and supports the work of emerging Latino / Latin American artists based in the New York metropolitan area. The exhibition has been curated by Elvis Fuentes, Associate Curator, El Museo del Barrio, and E. Carmen Ramos, Assistant Curator for Cultural Engagement, The Newark Museum, NJ. In addition, guest curator Rodolfo Kronfle
Chambers (independent curator, Guayaquil, Ecuador), has included in the exhibition a selection of works by five artists from Ecuador, this year’s invited guest country.

Even among the diversity within the works presented in El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 007, the curators recognize several recurrent themes that have emerged organically within the exhibition. Some of the artists reference the hyper-reality of contemporary culture of violence and war, often in relation to social perceptions of masculinity. Others explore the public dimension of art and examine issues of labor, immigration, language and identity, frequently documenting the artist’s experience or citing art historical traditions. Resounding another global concern, many of the artists approach the environment and the natural world through landscapes real or imaginary, most especially evident in the selection of work from the five artists from Ecuador.

A 131-page bilingual English-Spanish catalogue will be available upon the inauguration of the bienal on July 24. The exhibition will be accompanied by a range of free public programs including a three-part series of conversations between the curators and artists participating in the show and a panel discussion on November 28 with gallerists and Latino artists to offer insights into the art market. Interviews with the curators and individual artists as well as visits to the galleries during the installation process may be arranged through El Museo’s press office.

List of Participating Artists in El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 007:

Alejandro Almanza Pereda (1977; Mexico City, Mexico)
Blanka Amezkua (1971; Mexico City, Mexico)
Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck (1972; Caracas, Venezuela)
Saidel Brito (1973; Matanzas, Cuba; lives in Ecuador)*
“Melissa A. Calderón (1974; New York, NY; Puerto Rican)
Pablo Cardoso (1965; Cuenca, Ecuador; lives in Ecuador)*
Liset Castillo (1974; Camagüey, Cuba)
Vidal Centeno (1960; New York, Nuyorican)
Cecile Chong (1964; Guayaquil, Ecuador)
César Cornejo (1966; Lima, Peru)
Pedro Cruz-Castro (1970; Caracas, Venezuela)
Franklin Evans (1967; Reno, NV; Mexican)
exit static (latino & gringo collective)
Fernando Falconí (1980; Guayaquil, Ecuador; lives in Ecuador)*
Andrés García-Peña (1961; Milan, Italy; Colombian)
Florencio Gelabert (1961; Havana, Cuba)
Eduardo Gil (1973; Caracas, Venezuela)
Tamara Kostianovsky (1974; Jerusalem, Israel; raised in Argentina)
Jessica Lagunas (1971; Managua, Nicaragua; raised in Guatemala)
Cristóbal Lehyt (1973; Santiago, Chile)
Shaun El C. Leonardo (1979; Queens, NY; Dominican/Guatemalan)
José Lerma (1971; Seville, Spain; raised in Puerto Rico)
Adriana López Sanfeliu (1976; Barcelona, Spain)
Luis Mallo (1962; Havana, Cuba)
Cecilia Mandrile (1969; Cordoba, Argentina)
Norma Márquez Orozco (1966; Chicago, IL; Guadalajara, Mexico)
Justin Mata (1979; Woodland, CA; Mexican American Chicano)
Iván Monforte (1973; Merida, Yucatan, Mexico)
Alex Morel (1973; New York, NY; Dominican)
Lisette Morel (1974; New York, NY; Dominican)
Andrea Nacach (1975; Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Oscar Oiwa (1965; Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil)
Renzo Ortega (1974; Lima, Peru)
Sebastián Patané Masuelli (1978; San Juan, Argentina)
Javier Piñón (1970; Miami, FL; Cuban)
Maria Teresa Ponce (1974; Quito, Ecuador; lives in Ecuador)*
Dulce Pinzón (1974; Mexico City, Mexico)
Manuela Ribadeneira ( 1966; Quito, Ecuador; lives in England)*
Jesús Rivera (1956; Ciego de Avila, Cuba)
Carlos Rodríguez Cárdenas (1962; Cabaiguan, Cuba)
José Ruiz (1975; Lima, Peru)
Reinaldo Sanguino (1973; Caracas, Venezuela)
Analia Segal (Rosario, Argentina)
Courtney Smith (1966; Paris, France; raised in Brazil)
Germán Tagle (1976; Santiago, Chile)
Sandra Valenzuela (1980; Mexico City, Mexico)
Mary A. Valverde (1975, Queens, NY; Guayaquil, Ecuadoran)
William Villalongo (1975; Hollywood, FL; Puerto Rican)
Karin Waisman (1960; Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Katarina Wong (1966; York, PA; Cuban-Chinese)
Augusto Zanela (1967; Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

*Indicates artists from El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 007 Guest Country, Ecuador. All other artists are currently living and working in the New York metropolitan area.

In addition to the exhibition of the work of these 51 artists at El Museo del Barrio, Instituto Cervantes New York will host an extension of El Museo’s Bienal in a selection of work by seven of the artists from September 13 through January 6, 2008. This off-site project explores the fragility and fluidity of language, ever appropriately held at this organization whose commitment is rooted in bridging Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide. Instituto Cervantes at Amster Yard is located at 211-215 East 49th Street in Manhattan and has more information available on their website, http://nuevayork.cervantes.es.

Lead support for El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 007 has been provided by Altria Group, Inc., the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, Bloomberg LP, The Greenwall Foundation, Peter Norton Family Foundation, and by Angel Collado Schwarz/Fundación Voz del Centro. Free admission to El Museo’s Bienal and related programs has been made possible by MetLife Foundation. Additional support has been provided by Mary McCaffrey, latincollector, National Endowment for the Arts and El Museo’s Contemporary Art Circle. Exhibition programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The presentation at Instituto Cervantes has been made possible by BBVA.