A virtual tour of the photography exhibition Alejandro Cartagena: Photo Structure / Foto Estructura is now available at eastman.org
Rochester, N.Y., May 14, 2020—The George Eastman Museum has recently announced that the formerly postponed artist’s talks with Alejandro Cartagena (Mexican, b. Dominican Republic, b. 1977), originally scheduled for March 27 and March 28, have been rescheduled as virtual conversations. A Spanish-language talk will be held on Thursday, May 28 at 1 p.m. and an English-language conversation between the artist and Heather Shannon, Associate Curator at the George Eastman Museum, on Friday, May 29 at 1p.m. Both talks are free, but registration is required as space is limited.
An exhibition of Cartagena’s work, Alejandro Cartagena: Photo Structure / Foto Estructura, had been on view at the George Eastman Museum since January 31, before the museum temporarily closed due to the pandemic. Co-organized by the George Eastman Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art, the exhibition presents Cartagena’s latest work, including several new pieces. The exhibition and its accompanying audio tour are presented in both English and Spanish. The exhibition has now been adapted as a virtual tour, in both English and Spanish, for guests to experience from home. To view the virtual exhibitions, listen to the audio tour, or to see how Cartagena created these works, visit eastman.org.
[Virtual] Artist’s Talk with Alejandro Cartagena (Spanish-language)/ Charla con el artista
Thursday, May 28 at 1 p.m.
Register via Zoom
Artist Alejandro Cartagena will discuss his work in the exhibition Photo Structure / Foto Estructura live online. The talk will be in Spanish and registration is free. We encourage you to browse the exhibition virtually ahead of time. Texts and audio are available in both English and Spanish at eastman.org.
El artista Alejandro Cartagena discutirá en vivo y en línea su trabajo en la exposición Photo Structure / Foto Estructura. La charla será en español. Puede registrarse gratis. Le exhortamos a que explore la exposición en línea antes de la charla. Los textos y el audio están disponibles en inglés y español.
[Virtual] Conversation with Alejandro Cartagena and Heather Shannon (English-language)
Friday, May 29 at 1 p.m.
Register via Zoom
Artist Alejandro Cartagena and Associate Curator Heather Shannon will discuss Cartagena's work in his exhibition Photo Structure / Foto Estructura live online. Registration is free. We encourage you to browse the exhibition virtually ahead of time. Texts and audio are available in both English and Spanish at eastman.org.
El artista Alejandro Cartagena y la curadora asociada Heather Shannon discutirán en vivo y en línea el trabajo de Cartagena en su exposición Photo Structure / Foto Estructura. Puede registrarse gratis. Le exhortamos a que explore la exposición en línea antes de la charla. Los textos y el audio están disponibles en inglés y español.
About Photo Structure / Foto Estructura
For this latest body of work, Cartagena spent time sifting through landfills on the outskirts of Mexico City to collect thousands of discarded photographs—portraits, snapshots, and tourist views. Cartagena excises figures, faces, or other details from the found photographs and reconfigures the original compositions by either moving the cut fragments or removing them entirely. The altered photographs remain strangely whole and strikingly familiar, compelling the viewer to consider what gives a photograph meaning. His arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of an image are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works.
Cartagena lives and works in Monterrey, in northeastern Mexico. His projects employ landscape and portraiture as a means to examine social, urban, and environmental issues. His work has been exhibited internationally and is part of public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and the George Eastman Museum. Cartagena is also a self-publisher and co-editor of photobooks and has been published internationally in magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times, Le Monde, and the New Yorker. He is the recipient of several awards, including the international Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award, the Lente Latino award in Chile, and the Premio IILA-FotoGrafia Award in Rome.
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