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Fourth Bronx Latin American Art Biennial

Double Helix CollectiveHector Canonge, Argentina

The 4th Bronx Latin-American Art Biennial celebrated performance art through a series of programs at six cultural institutions throughout the Bronx including The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx Art Space, Lincoln Hospital Sculpture, Hebrew Home Riverdale, Allan Poe Park Visitor Center Gallery, and the Museum of Bronx History. Entitled Uninterrupted Fusion/Fusion Incesante, this Biennial encouraged a shift of the viewer’s attention from the art object to the artist’s action through the series of live performances and the presentations of filmed performances.

Double Helix CollectiveUninterrupted Fusion/Fusion Incesante explored the utopian ideas of experimental, avant-garde performance art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose earliest examples found influences in theatrical and music performance, art, poetry, burlesque and other popular entertainment. Also in this time, modern Latin American artists employed live events to promote extremist beliefs and challenges to bourgeois tastes and expectations, often through deliberate provocation. Hector Canonge, Argentina

Performance art is associated with controversies over government funding of the arts, censorship, and standards of public decency.  Further, it intends to draw attention to fact that art exists in real space and real time. Indeed, at its worst, performance art can seem gratuitous, boring or just plain weird.  But, at its best, it taps into our most basic shared instincts: our physical and psychological needs for food, shelter, sex, and human interaction; our individual fears and self-consciousness; our concerns about life, the future, and the world we live in.  It often forces us to think about issues in a way that can be disturbing and uncomfortable, but it can also make us laugh by calling attention to the absurdities in life and the idiosyncrasies of human behavior.

Performance art work is not confined to European or American art traditions; notable practitioners can be found in both Asia and Latin America. Latino/a vanguard art points to different traditions and histories, ranging from tribal ritual to religious practice to political social engagement. Performance art also developed a major presence in Latin America, where it played a role in the NeoConcrete Movement, and in Asia, where it was important for Japan's Gutai movement.

Uninterrupted Fusion/Fusion Incesante included artists Angie Bonino, Miguel Mariño, Domix Garrido, Hector Canonge, Diogenes Abreu, Maria Eliana Herrera Vergara Elisa Merino, Sandra Ayala, Iris Perez, Javier Carmona, Maximiliano Medina, William Bass, Javier Marmol Gonzalez, Maria Garcia Donoso, Moses Ross, Sheila Goloborotko, George Zavala, Raul Villarreal, Pedro Sanchez, Miguel Luciano, Cecilia Heredia Gonzalez, Pablo Concha.  Biennial curatorial committee: Alexis Mendoza, Yarisa Colón, Josue Guarionex Colón, Miguel Lescano, and Luis Stephenberg.

source: Colon-Rosado, Josue Guarionex . "Uninterrupted Fusion: The Art of Performance and Video". Bronx Museum. Web. Accessed 16 Nov 2016. 

"Bienal de Arte Latinoamericano del Bronx, Tema Difusion Cultural, NY1noticias Jose Semian, Moses Ros, Luis Stepenberg" YouTube