News Press/Texts About Projects Work Contact

Exhibition: Tierras Prometidas 

Ex Convento del Carmen
Guadalajara, Mexico 

December 10, 2020 - February 28, 2021  

Tierras Prometidas (Promised Lands) is an exhibition that examines Human Rights with a focus on the issues of global, often forced migration, from Syria to the recent caravans of refugees from Central America crossing Mexico.

It is crucial that we, as a society, start a dialogue and become aware of these experiences; there is much more than just what meets the eye. OPC seeks to initiate this dialogue through the exhibition. - OPC curatorial team, 2020

Participating artists: Ai Weiwei / Fly the Flag · Francis Alÿs · Davis Birks · Forensic Oceanography and Forensic Architecture · José Hernández-Claire · Sean  T. Hawkey · Fernando Llanos y Jessica Herreman + Leonardo Tarifeño · Omar Pimienta · Claudia Rodriguez • David Taylor

Curatorial team: Ale Guillén, César R. Girón, Fernando Sanchez Aceves, y Pilar Perez

Photos: Carlos Díaz Corona

Entrance view of the exhibition Tierras Prometidas and the work US / ELLOS, 2001

US / ELLOS, 2001

Galvanized tubing, chain-link fencing, barbed wire, and enamel paint 

This cyclonic mesh reflects our learned position in the face of otherness. Borders are a social construction, which separates us from a different group of people, the others, those on the other side, them. Those on this side are us, us. This piece speaks to us in a very direct way, of how symbolically, more than physically, borders are sources of conflict between a group of human beings who, only because of the existence of a dividing fence, are different from another. Borders are the origin of any supremacist nationalist ideology. - César Guirón, 2020

Installation view of the works US / ELLOS, 2001, and Humanity First, 2020

Humanity First, 2020

Action and public installation constituting an intervention of the Human Rights flag designed by artist Ai Weiwei (Fly the Flag) with the national flag of Mexico.

Based on a simple paradigm shift with the national flag, the Humanity First Project creates a physical visualization of an idea that defends Human Rights with a focus on the importance, value, and quality of life as the primary basis for civic and governmental policy actions and decisions.

more on the Humanity First Project ...here>>

Dream Home, 2019

Mixed installation with cot, keys, mirror panels and vinyl.
Dimensions variable

The United Nations Refugee Agency's Global Trends report found that 65.3 million people, or one in 113 people, were displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution in 2015.

Each refugee has their own personal story, the struggle they face for survival and hopes for a better life. Dream Home highlights the importance of each individual and then multiplies this concept exponentially.

The useless keys refer to homes lost and past lives. The simple house plan can be associated with a house from the past or desires for a future home.

Dream Home, 2019

Empire: Tank, 2020


Printed and folded faux US Federal Reserve one dollar bills and acrylic paint on existing wall

Dimensions variable 

More on the Empire Series...here>>

Empire: Tank, 2020

Empire: Tank, 2020   

detail

Humanity First, 2020

Action and public installation constituting an intervention of the Human Rights flag designed by artist Ai Weiwei (Fly the Flag) with the national flag of Mexico.

Based on a simple paradigm shift with the national flag, the Humanity First Project creates a physical visualization of an idea that defends Human Rights with a focus on the importance, value, and quality of life as the primary basis for civic and governmental policy actions and decisions.

more on the Humanity First Project ...here>>