Tania Bruguera

Tania Bruguera, a politically motivated performance artist, explores the relationship between art, activism, and social change in works that examine the social effects of political and economic power. By creating proposals and aesthetic models for others to use and adapt, she defines herself as an initiator rather than an author, and often collaborates with multiple institutions as well as many individuals so that the full realization of her artwork occurs when others adopt and perpetuate it.

She expands the definition and range of performance art, sometimes performing solo but more often staging participatory events and interactions that build on her own observations, experiences, and interpretations of the politics of repression and control. Bruguera has explored both the promise and failings of the Cuban Revolution in performances that provoke viewers to consider the political realities masked by government propaganda and mass-media interpretation. Advancing the concept of arte útil (literally, useful art; art as a benefit and a tool), she proposes solutions to sociopolitical problems through the implementation of art, and has developed long-term projects that include a community center and a political party for immigrants, and a school for behavior art.

Tania Bruguera attended art schools in Havana, including the Instituto Superior de Arte (1987-92), and received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2001). She received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship (1998), and has been awarded residencies at Skowhegan (2002); Headlands Centers for the Arts (1998); Fundación Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Maracay (1998); Art in General (1997); and ART/OMI (1995). Major exhibitions of her work have appeared at the Van Abbemuseum (2014); Queens Museum (2013); National Museum Wales (2012); Havana Biennial (2010, 2003, 2000); Neuberger Museum of Art (2010); Venice Biennale (2009, 2001); Tate Modern (2008); Moscow Biennial (2007); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2006); Shanghai Biennial (2004); Istanbul Biennial (2003); Documenta (2002); San Francisco Art Institute (2002); SITE Santa Fe Biennial (1999) and the São Paulo Bienal (1996). Tania Bruguera lives and works in Queens, New York.

Events

8

Apr

 Apr 08, 2017, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
 Weinberg/Newton Gallery

300 W Superior Street
Suite 203 Chicago, IL 60654

Opening reception for In Acts, a group exhibition curated by Nabiha Kahn at Weinberg/Newton Gallery inspired by the summit that will bring international artists to the University of Chicago’s campus later that month to ask: What is an artistic practice of human rights?

29

Apr

 Apr 29, 2017, 3:30 PM – 11:00 PM
 Logan Center for the Arts

915 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Day one of the multi-day summit, What is an Artistic Practice of Human Rights?, features an imersive day of artist presentations to include performances, screenings, conversations, and lectures.

2

May

 May 02, 2017, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
 Logan Center for the Arts Performance Hall

915 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Day two of the two-day summit, What is an Artistic Practice of Human Rights?, features a public forum comprising two artist panels moderated by members of the summit's organizational team.

29

Nov

 Nov 29, 2018, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
 Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

The Gray Center is pleased to announce the launch of Portable Gray, a new journal dedicated to the weirdness found at the heart of the arts and scholarship(s). Free food. Free drinks. Meet contributors. Complimentary copies of the inaugural issue.