Eclipses for Austin at the Blanton Museum
Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Eclipses for Austin by Pablo Vargas Lugo
Workspace: Pablo Vargas Lugo
Eclipses for Austin
Blanton Museum
November 14, 2009 – February 21, 2010
The Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin presents Eclipses for Austin, the next installation in the museum’s WorkSpace series of contemporary art. Eclipses for Austin, conceived by Mexican artist Pablo Vargas Lugo, will address the sense of belonging that collective activities inspire in people – despite their unique backgrounds. Total eclipses of the sun provoke astonishment, anxiety, hope, joy, and fear in many people, compelling them to question their place in the world.
To highlight this phenomenon, Lugo will assemble several hundred people on October 6th in the stands of UT’s Darrel K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. The crowd will stage ten solar eclipses that are scheduled to occur in Texas over the course of the next 340 years by holding up black and white signs in a choreographed simulation of each eclipse. The performances will be documented in both videos and a newspaper and will be installed in the museum’s gallery as part of Lugo’s installation.
The artist will be in the gallery from 1- 3 p.m. on November 14, and will be available to answer questions about his installation. A discussion with Lugo and professor Roberto Tejado follows at 3 p.m. in The Blanton Auditorium.
Pablo Vargas Lugo
Lugo was born in 1968 in Mexico City and currently lives and works in Mexico City and Lima. He has shown extensively throughout Latin America as well as in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Ranging from painting and collage, to sculpture and installation, Lugo’s work is distinguished by its simplicity and elegancy of shapes, and often incorporates visual and conceptual games. The artist’s interest in craftsmanship and detail, expressed extensively in his trademark paper cut-outs, expands in to many media including mosaics, light boxes, video animations, large murals, and sculptures. Using a wide range of materials with multiple manifestations reflects Lugo’s various cultural interests such as music, archeology, biology, anthropology and philosophy. He often addresses concepts of measurement and time through conventional representations such as weather diagrams, maps, psychological tests, or camouflage.
WorkSpace at The Blanton
WorkSpace showcases cutting-edge developments in the work of emerging and established contemporary artists on the museum’s second floor, serving as a coda to the modern and contemporary collection galleries. The exhibitions that result from these artistic investigations provide Blanton visitors ever-changing glimpses into the art of the present moment.
WorkSpace: Pablo Vargas Lugo is generously supported by members of the Blanton Contemporary Salon.
Eclipses for Austin by Pablo Vargas Lugo
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Saw this happening today. They were apparently short half the people needed to make the entire circle…so they did the sequence twice, with the volunteers in the top half and then the bottom half. It’ll be interesting to see if that can be edited together.
Thanks for the update, Katie. I can’t wait to see the art work. Cheers.