Presented by Reynier Leyva Novo and Tobias Ostrander
Join On the Horizon exhibiting artist Reynier Leyva Novo and curator Tobias Ostrander for a conversation about the exhibition, Novo’s artistic practice, and his life as an artist living both in Cuba and in the diaspora.
Reynier Leyva Novo is one of Cuba’s leading conceptual artists. His multidisciplinary practice often involves extracting information from official documents and photographs that he alters to create new meanings. Novo’s work has been shown internationally in the Liverpool Biennial (2010), the Venice Biennale (2011 and 2017), the Sorocaba Triennial of Arts in Brazil (2017) and the Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA exhibition Deconstructing Liberty, A Destiny Manifested (2017). It is collected by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Peréz Art Museum Miami, and Walker Art Center. On the Horizon features works from his series The Weight of History—in which the artist applies INk software to measure the weight, volume, and area of the ink used in nine Cuban laws and reproduces them as black rectangles—and A Happy Day, in which historical photographs are altered to remove powerful political figures such as Fidel Castro.
Tobias Ostrander is the Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator, Latin American Art at Tate. He is the former chief curator and deputy director for curatorial affairs at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (2011–19). Major exhibitions developed for PAMM include Beatriz González: A Retrospective; Beatriz Milhazes: Jardin Botânico; On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection; Ebony G. Patterson: . . . while the dew is still on the roses . . .; and Poetics of Relation, a group exhibition inspired by the writings of Édouard Glissant, among others. Ostrander was a founding member of Tilting Axis, a platform for artists, curators, and creatives from the greater Caribbean region (2014–19). Ostrander served previously as the director at the Museo Experimental El Eco (2009–11) and chief curator at Museo Tamayo (2001–9), both in Mexico City, as well as the associate curator of inSITE2000 in San Diego and Tijuana (1999–2001). He was a founding member of the inter-institutional Museum of Hub initiated by the New Museum (2007–12). He has additionally held positions at XXIV Bienal de São Paulo, El Museo del Barrio, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
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