the LouvreFRITOS Opening, Tomorrow Friday, Oct. 3
In a bout of self-promotion (which I hope to keep to a minimum), I wanted to inform our readers that the show that Alex and I curated and have been working on for so long is finally open. The reception for the LouvreFRITOS will take place tomorrow, Friday, October 3rd at Cuchifritos gallery/project space from 5 - 7:30pm. This is our open invitation for everyone to come and celebrate with us and our friends. We’re very happy with all of the artists’ contributions and believe the show exceeded our initial aims. Thanks go to all of the artists, but also to d. yee, Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Felicity Hogan, Paul Clay, Zeina Assaf, and Jamie Sterns.
Works by Steve Ellis, Shanna Fisher, Gabe Kirchheimer, Rick Prol, Martin Wong, and Infinity SS
Opening Reception:
Friday, October 3, 5.00pm - 7.30pm — Performance by Infinity SS at 6:30pm
Exhibition on view through September 27 - November 8, 2008Open Monday through Saturday 12:00 noon to 5:30pm. Closed Sundays
The Louvrefritos explores the themes of gentrification and economic transformation of the Lower East Side by converting the Cuchifritos Gallery & Project Space into an imaginary LES Louvre branch. The Louvrefritos museum will display a collection of master works by artists living and working in the Lower East Side from the 1980s to the present, demonstrating the creativity and artistic productivity the LES has sustained throughout its recent history. The exhibition is an attempt both to celebrate this history, and to simultaneously critique the social and economic trends that are reconfiguring the face of the LES, displacing many of its inhabitants, and threatening the continued vitality of its visual arts culture.
In New York’s Lower East Side a complex process of economic and social reconfiguration is taking place, with upscale businesses and residences having moved rapidly into the neighborhood, often driving out its existing tenants. Often, cultural institutions like Tonic have been casualties in this transformation. However, the construction of the New Museum of Contemporary Art’s new space on the Bowery suggests that art institutions are not always the underdogs in such economic struggles.
In both cases, we are confronted with the reality that art, artists, and art institutions are, ideals notwithstanding, subject to the sway of economic forces-both as victims of processes beyond their control, and as beneficiaries and initiators of such processes. As an art space on the LES, conscious of both its role within the local economic and social structures and its relation to the larger world of contemporary art, Cuchifritos is an ideal nexus for the exploration of these themes.
This curatorial project was inspired in part by the Louvre Museum’s recent decision to license the construction of a Louvre location in Abu Dhabi. The Louvre Museum charged 400 million Euros for the rights to use its name alone. Opposition to this move has centered on the criticism that such “franchising” is a distinctly corporate activity at odds with the Museum’s perceived role as preserver of high culture against such interests.
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