Artist Grimanesa Amorós to Speak About the Work at Louisville’s IdeaFestival 2012
PRESS RELEASE – 21c Museum Hotels is pleased to announce the first of several site-specific art installations planned for the Cincinnati location, opening in the fourth quarter of this year. Interdisciplinary artist Grimanesa Amorós will install Uros, a light sculpture, in a corridor just off the lobby gallery at 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati. Born in Lima, Peru, Amorós is now based in New York City. Her light sculptures, videos, and interactive installations have been exhibited in galleries, museums, and in public venues in cities all over the world, most recently in Venice, New York, Seoul, and Mexico City. Amorós will be talking about her work and the upcoming installation at 21c Cincinnati in a lecture at Louisville’s IdeaFestival at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, September 21, 2012.
The sculpture, Uros, is part of a series of works commissioned by the Issey Miyake flagship store in New York City last year. Made from vinyl, diffusion material and LED lights, the sculptures were inspired by the artist’s trip to the floating Uros Islands, an ancient and sustainable community off the coast of Puno, Peru. Originally designed to be a floor installation, Amorós is adapting Uros to be installed as a wall sculpture at 21c Cincinnati. A custom-designed lighting sequence will change the color of the piece to emit a spectrum of glowing hues, transforming the surrounding space, and engaging viewers in an awareness of site and self, while referencing the Peruvian island environment.
“The Uros Islands are located in Lake Titicaca, southeast of Peru,” explains Amorós. “They are floating islets made entirely of totora reeds, a sub-species of the giant bulrush sedge. The pre-Incan Uros, who live on forty-two handmade islands in the lake, build everything out of this material—from boats to watch towers. I created the Uros Islands series to reflect the natural elegance of sea foam and totora reeds. The light sculptures maintain the traditional technique and shape of these islands. I have always worked with subject matters that relate to my personal experience.”
Working at the intersections of art, social history, scientific research, and critical theory, Amorós creates works that illuminate our notions of personal identity and community. For more information on the artist, visit www.grimanesaamoros.com.
The artist’s talk at IdeaFestival is sponsored by artwithoutwalls, a non-profit, non-collecting art organization launched in 2009 by contemporary art collectors and 21c Museum Hotel founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. The organization joins with artists to present ambitious and unconventional projects in a wide range of media and locations, and collaborates with a broad range of cultural and civic institutions to bring new art to new audiences. Alice Gray Stites, Director of artwithoutwalls, also serves as Chief Curator and Director of Art Programming for 21c Museum Hotels. For more information see www.artww.org.
What: Grimanesa Amorós speaks about her work and the upcoming installation at 21c Cincinnati
Where: IdeaFestival 2012 at Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts; 501 West Main Street Louisville, KY
When: 9:00 a.m. on Friday, September 21, 2012
About 21c Museum Hotels
21c Museum Hotel was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 2006 by preservationists and contemporary art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. The project supports both their desire to preserve beautiful Kentucky farmland through revitalization efforts in downtown Louisville and their vision for making contemporary art a part of more people’s daily lives. The couple tapped architect Deborah Berke to convert a series of 19th century tobacco and Bourbon warehouses into a contemporary art museum with 9,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 90 room boutique hotel, and a restaurant and bar, Proof on Main. As North America’s first museum devoted solely to the art of living artists, 21c Museum Hotel features a rotating program of curated exhibitions as well as site-specific, commissioned installations. 21c has garnered praise from many notable publications including Travel + Leisure, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, W, and Condé Nast Traveler, whose readers voted 21c among the top 10 hotels in the world in the annual Readers’ Choice Survey in 2009, 2010 and 2011. With the critical and financial success of the Louisville property and after having been approached by local partners interested in having a 21c Museum Hotel in their community, 21c Museum Hotels was formed in 2007 to oversee the development and management of 21c Museum Hotel properties in new markets. Hotels are under construction in Cincinnati, OH (opening the fourth quarter of 2012) and Bentonville, AR (opening the first quarter of 2013) and under development in Lexington, KY and Durham, NC. The company plans to develop 15 properties over the next five to ten years.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie Greene
502.582.6300 x112
sgreene@21chotels.com
