RASUA
Collaborating Artists:
Coco Fusco Team
Daniel Bejar
Xandra Ibarra
Chukwumaa
Natalia Mali
Freya Björg Olafson
Amber Hawk Swanson
Josephine Turalba
Master Artists in- Residence.
Atlantic Center for the Arts ACA
New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US.
2013
The Master Artists in Residence program, in its 149th edition, was led by Coco Fusco and focused on performance.
At that time in Cuba, the beaches of Este—where I often swam and spent time—were scattered with chicken bones, naturally cleaned by the sand and seawater. Fried chicken was widely sold along these beaches, leaving behind these remnants. I collected some of the bones to use as material for a piece developed during my residency.
A group of artists collaborated on a collective work over the course of the program. I asked each participant the same question: if you had to identify a source of sustenance in your life at a particular moment, what would it be, and how would you represent it using one or more of these bones?
Beyond culturally established structures, every person—whether consciously or not—relies on a personal source of sustenance that forms the foundation of their life at a given moment. Guided by this idea, each artist selected a bone from the collected fragments to represent a source of support in their own experience.
The responses took different forms. Some approached the work as a site-specific performance; others explored sound by recording the bones; and others created photographic works through them. These varied expressions became ways of recalling and articulating the moments, experiences, and invisible structures that have sustained each participant.
The result of this process is presented in book form. Each entry includes three images: one of the selected bone, another documenting the artwork created with it, and a third presenting the text that accompanies and reflects on the concept.