Coca-colonized

Claire Breukel
Coca-colonized
ÖIP/EIKON

ÖIP/EIKON

Claire Breukel · Coca-colonized
ÖIP/EIKON

Coca-colonized
Published on the occasion of the exhibition ‘Coca-colonized’ at the Galerie Hilger BROTKunsthalle

Artists
South Africa
Anton Kannemeyer
Peterson Kamwathi Waweru Kenya
South Africa
Cameron Platter
Baudouin Mouanda Congo
Maria Jose Arjona Colombia
El Salvador
Simon Vega
Omar Obdulio Peña Forty
Reynier Leyva-Novo Cuba
Emilio Chapela Perez Mexico
curated by
Claire Breukel
Puerto Rico

*The term cocacolonization is used to describe cases where a country’s indigenous culture is eroded by a corporate
mass-culture, usually from a powerful, industrialized country. This is more metaphorical usage as people need not
move, to the colonized country; only cultural signals, symbols, forms of entertainment, and values need to move
to the colonized country. (Wikipedia)

Coca-colonized
Coca-colonized is a selection of work by South-, Central America- and Africa -based artists (both physically
and conceptually). It is a response to the ideology that the influence of mass culture on another,
what is termed ‘less established’ or ‘developing’ region, implies an absolute relationship between
the influencer and the impressionable. Coca-colonized is an attempt to question this relationship
(neither prove nor disprove), rather provide evidence of how mass cultural influence has been absorbed,
reinterpreted and at times rejuvenated, inverting this implied power relationship. What results is a
new ‘third language’ that is beyond dual identity and more than a straightforward combination of
mass culture and local culture—rather one that is a powerful cultural phenomenon in its own right.
Coca-colonized departs from the notion that artists’ reflect society in many of its forms (including,
but not limited to, social, political and cultural)… and to push the notion further … have a capacity
to preempt cultural trends. The exhibition is composed of artists chosen primarily for their response
to the topic rather than for their specific geographical demarcation—although their unique
context of country does factor in the work. Associated with countries in South- and Central America
and countries in Africa, these artists sometimes echo and sometimes provide commentary on
the influence of the ‘developed’ North. Collectively they reveal how these influences have filtered
through—parts thrown away and other parts gradually absorbed—in to the everyday culture of
these regions. The outcome is an identity metamorphasized from a complex and constructed
multi-identity that in turn reflects cultural evolution. The artists in Coca-colonized have in common
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the ability to interpret and reflect contemporary culture as it evolves—specific and pertinent to
their experience—through this new language. A language that is unique in structure, composed
by its regional setting, yet universal in its parts.
“As Legrain (2003) maintains, ‘The beauty of globalization is that it can free people from the
tyranny of geography’…the increasing spread of democratic governments, liberalization of trade,
liberal neo-economic reforms, the rise of technology, and the emergence of a truly global market
for goods and services produced by modern industry have resulted in a decline in the significance
of national and other barriers to globalization.” (Anon; Globalization and Culture 2009).
It is commonly believed that globalization has made third-world markets more susceptible to
external influence, much of which has been absorbed in to mainstream living. For generations
the influence of the ‘developed world’ has integrated in to everyday life, becoming part of, and
reinventing, cultural dialogue. Adapting from, and usurping its manipulative beginnings, this
dialogue emerges as a re juvenated and at times more compelling expression—creating an ethos
of ‘palatable exoticism’ that is perhaps more attractive than ever.
Adding to this is an element of the accessible (and let’s be honest often the unpretentious).
The experience of being considered below (both physically and metaphorically) the Northern
more established counterparts—specifically North America and Europe—connects these new
cultural movements with the idea of being outside private spaces (museums, galleries, curatorial
spaces- a traditionally colonialist enterprise). Aside from a select few who are able transcend to
global status, lack of relevant exhibition opportunity inside formal and prolific private spaces
creates the need to seek out alternative means of engagement with the audience.

Private vs. public; interior vs. exterior; excluded vs. included.
It is not unusual then that many artists in these regions work in peripheral spaces— informal and
sometimes ad hoc spaces are connected more directly with ideas of ‘street’. Not ‘street’ for being
lesser or impoverished and not for any reference to street art (which is in itself a genre), but rather
for a direct interaction with street culture. These peripheral spaces are less filtered and have the
ability to more readily engage the public, bringing the art experience intrinsically closer to its audience.
For the artist the capability to receive audience response, be self reflexive and
reactive, is immediate. The work invariably becomes rich in its integration with street culture and
therefore an uninterrupted and effective reflector of mass cultural phenomena.
‘Periphery’ for these reasons is desirable. As an amalgamation of ideas amassing from layered
influence and forming, through a generation of absorption, a new cultural language…which in
turn has the ability to critique, extract from (both positive and negative), and therefore usurp its
initial influence. No longer can one simply refer to dual identity, but rather an evolved identity
reflecting the reality of living in multiplicity: an identity of a ‘local is global’ generation.
Claire Breukel
My thanks and respect to Ernst Hilger for his ongoing and courageous support. Many thanks to
the participating artists, collaborating galleries and staff at Hilger gallery and BrotKunsthalle.
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This is the 5th exhibition at BrotKunsthalle starting its second year
of operation, and beginning the series of exhibitions we plan to
organize to celebrate 40 Years of Gallery Ernst Hilger.
Even though it all began a long time ago, the past two years have
marked a fundamental new beginning in the life of the gallery.
Brotkunsthalle, as a new platform to showcase independence and
bring visibility to program a whole, is completely dedicated to
facilitating unique and different approaches.
Being influenced by curators and advisors and colleagues,
Brotkunsthalle aims to be unexpected bringing its audience an element
of surprise—while being dedicated towards absolute quality.
Claire Breukel began collaborating with the gallery years ago in
Miami Beach and Palm beach, then together we created the Hilger
/LOCUST Projects Artist award. Her first show at Hilger contemporary
was some three years ago spanning the gap between Miami and
South Africa, and now Coca-colonized brings our programming a
step further with an even more intense investigation than before.
After ‘The absence of Iran ‘ curated by Shaheen Merali, the 60 years
Hilger collection show, the Czecho-Slovak pavilion curated by Lucie
Drdová and Martin Mazanec, and the Massimo VITALI retrospective,
Claire Breukel’s exhibition again focuses on the art as political mirror
and documentation of what is, and why, and from where.
In a time were commercial values have become overwhelmingly important
in the art world I and my partners wish to enable
cooperation’s which still fulfil our need to do something important.
For years we have created and nurtured our network of dedicated
artists before they become assets and commodities.
For this we are grateful to our partners and collaborators and are
willing to direct and support our energy.
Thank you the artists and our curator Claire Breukel and our sponsors
mainly the Alexander Reznikov collection who strongly supports BROT.
Next years major collaborations will include the Falckenberg
Collection and Alenka Gregoric of Mestna Galerija Lubljana
Ernst Hilger
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Anton Kannemeyer
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Anton Kannemeyer was born in 1967 in Cape
Town, South Africa where he continues to live
and work. He has an MFA from the University
of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is a
cofounder and ongoing co-editor of the
Bitterkomix series, which started in 1992.
The four works selected for this group show are all
satirical in nature. “Very, very good” and “Caption
Contest” were included in an earlier solo exhibition
entitled “A dreadful thing is about to occur”
(Michael Sevenson, April 2010). The premise for
that exhibition drew on one-liner gags as found in
publications such The New Yorker, but focusing on
the ironies and comedies around race in a postapartheid
South Africa.
I implicate myself in works such as “Very, very
good”, not only because I’m also a white African,
but because I believe one should constantly
question one’s position in a system that
discriminates and abuses. It’s an interesting
position to be working from, given the history of
South Africa and Africa in general. But to be
“liberal” in South Africa today is, to my mind, not
an effective way of dealing with the urgent social
and political discrepancies facing those who live
here. “Liberalism” is a place where one can hide
and be safe from criticism. (As much as we like to
regard ourselves as ‘post racial’ I think we’re not
there by a long shot yet – and this goes for 1st
World countries as well. Maybe you can “buy”
yourself “post racial” status as Obama or Tiger
Woods did…)
I make provocative work that hopefully challenges
the viewer. And I agree with Picasso who said,
“No, painting was not invented to decorate houses.
It’s an instrument of war for attack and defense
against the enemy.” (And in Africa that enemy is
mostly corrupt governments and greedy and
unscrupulous corporations.)

Anton Kannemeyer
Very, Very Good
ink and acrylic on paper
2010
152 × 166 cm
59.8 × 63.4"
Courtesy the artist and Michael Stevenson Gallery
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Anton Kannemeyer
Caption Contest
2010
Acrylic on canvas
103 × 169.5 cm
40.5 × 66.7"
Courtesy the artist and Michael Stevenson Gallery

Peterson Kamwathi Waweru
16
Peterson Kamwathi was born in 1980 in
Nairobi, Kenya. He started practicing art at
the Kuona Trust Museum Art Studio where he
was exposed to many different techniques,
including print-making and drawing. Since
2005, his work has been mainly engaged
with his perception of the immediate society
and its variety of facets. He lives and works in
Kiambu and Nairobi, Kenya.
Symbols are an important part of my work. In the
different themes and bodies of work I have used
symbols which, in my opinion, might have either
local or universal meanings. These symbols are
meant to act as trigger mechanisms, which allow
the viewer into the subject on my work. Almost like
a password. On the other hand these symbols may
allow an observer, who is not affected, concerned
or conversant with these issues, the space to
manoeuvre or bypass the issues.
In my current work I am creating imagery depicting
“queues”. These are derived from diverse experiences
and issues for example, the voting process,
the migration process and in service provision such
as banking and health. Queues are signs of events
in time. They are almost like frozen testaments or
monuments to the consequences of events; they
may also be a representation of events taking place
and may act as clues to, and signs of, events that
may possibly happen. In this way I imagine the
queue takes on the form of a symbol; complex
because of the human participants but simple in
the sense that with reasonable accuracy it describes
the period and cause. In this way I am also trying to
look at channelling, manipulation and the world of
man as might be symbolized by people in a queue,
referencing politics, migration, economics and
social life in both contemporary and historical
contexts.

In Kenya queuing is a part of the normal way of life.
In the times I have queued I have come to realize
that there is a social code and energy to Queues
that varies with the context; People meet and
part, conversations are born and die, issues are
dissected, emotions expressed all within the time
one stays in the queue. I am exploring the energy
and symbolism contained within this system.
Queues are very much a manifestation of limitations
and how Man deals with that.
Peterson Kamwathi Waweru
Untitled (Movement). Queue series. Charcoal. paper.
152 × 488 cm
59.8 × 192.2"
(diptych). 2009-2010
Untitled (Voting). Queue series. Charcoal. paper.
152 × 488 cm
59.8 × 192.2"
(diptych). 2009-2010
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Cameron Platter
18
Cameron Platter was born in 1978 in
Johannesburg,South Africa. His is an
intoxicating vision of Good vs.Evil,
documenting contem porary morality through
the telling of simple stories drawn and
appropriated from the media, TV, films, art,
history, advertising, pornography, battle
scenes, politics, music, and religion. He works
in drawing, video, and sculpture, and lives
and works in Shaka's Rock, KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa.
OR IS IT REALLY AN ISLAND…
Zoom on island
OR A SECRET HI-TECH FACILITY/ LAIR???
Island opens in half to reveal cut-out facility/ lair
satellite dish grows out of lair and sends red circles
into the sky
Zoom
Cut to series of 4 interiors
Lizard in lab coat walks through them, interiors
constructed from cutouts, all have playboy pinups
on the wall
Cut to SHAKIRA DANCE STRIP SCENE (chop up of la
Loba soundtrack)
Suddenly dance sequence turns into TV screen with
static. Clawed, gloved hand changes the channel.
Cut to ad
GET THIS 3 IN 1 PENIS COMBO
ONLY R 1000 IF YOU CALL 0727123082 NOW
AND WE’LL GIVE YOU THIS JUMBO SIZED LYODE
CREAM ABSOLUTELY FREE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY…
BUT EVEN THOUGH EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT ON
ASSTROPOLIS, THE ZEBRAS WANTED TO GIVE BACK
TO THE INTERGALACTIC COMMUNITY. ON PLANET
EARTH, WHERE BAD THINGS HAPPENED ALL THE
TIME, SHIT WAS TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL. THE
ZEBRAS DECIDED TO SORT THINGS OUT ONCE ALL
FOR ALL BY FORMING A TEAM OF…”
Text scrolls downwards, white on black
Text disappears, hold black for 3 sec
KILLER TRANSVESTITE ZEBRAS FROM OUTER SPACE
Text flashes Yellow/ White
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT
Noir sound (Third Man soundtrack) Text flickering,
grainy, black and white.
Quick cuts of rain and lightning flashes
Cut to exterior view of door. It reads “Prince Barrack
Hussein/ Private Investigator”
Zoom through door
Cut to interior view of run down office, crocodile (in
red hat) paces up and down
I WAS WATCHING THE RAIN POUR…
cut to shot of rain
THE CLOCK TICK…
shot of a clock ticking- second hand moves slower
than a second
AND THE SMOKE CURL LAZILY TO THE CEILING
smoke spirals past a light, against a bare brick wall
WHEN I HEARD A KNOCK AT THE DOOR…
AN EXCERPT FROM: NOTES ON THE “OLD FASHION”

Cameron Platter
Spaceship for Transvestite Killer Zebras From Outer Space, 2008
acrylic on carved jacaranda wood
250cm × 220 cm
98.5 × 86.6"
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Cameron Platter
The Old Fashion, 2010
video still
duration 15 min 23 sec, colour, sound

Cameron Platter
The Old Fashion, 2010
video still
duration 15 min 23 sec, colour, sound
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Baudouin Mouanda
22
Baudouin Mouanda was born in 1981 in
Brazzaville, Congo. He started taking
photographs chronicling life in Brazzaville for
local newspapers— his images taking a
stance against the wars in Congo. In 2009,
Mouanda exhibited at the Dapper Museum,
Paris and in 2010 won the Young Talent prize
at the Bamako Encounters African Photography
biennale awarding him a residency in
Libreville, Gabon to develop his “Hip – Hop
and Society” series. Baudouin Mouanda has
been published in Africa magazine, Jeune
Afrique (Young Africa), VSD, l’Express Style
and Planete Jeune (Young Planet) and is a
member of Generation Elili et Afrique in visu.
The “Hip Hop and Society” series began with the
idea to document young African leaders involved in
the hip hop movement in francophone Africa.
These youngsters (born at the end of the
1980’s) use hip hop to question the social,
economic and political situation in which they live.
Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the
Congo, has been the prime site to meet with these
youngsters. In the Congolese society, as in other
African countries, hip hop music is often seen as
the style of music most appreciated by the young.
In the shanty towns one rediscovers these groups of
rappers inspired to sing about these realities. The
majority are students without purpose, whose
qualification certificates lie dormant in their top
drawers. They have experienced firsthand the set
back of the socio-political crisis. There are also
uninitiated listeners among the students, who
witness the unused diplomas transform into “poets
in the city”, and join in to call out against the
official “shit” spoken by a relative, an uncle or a
son. These positions develop from the idea that
African countries are ready to mortgage their
people and participants express disdain at the
difficulties experienced in their countries, including
unemployment, disease, war, impoverishment,
interrupted water and electricity supply. A freedom
of expression underlies this rhetoric…
These poets disappear and reappear daily in
the streets of African cities in order to have their
voices heard, calling out words like: democracy,
suffering, unemployment, …aware of their
existence through the slant of hip hop.
In Libreville, Gabon the participants are young
and, as with all the people of their age, the horizon
is their future. A future they want full of promises
and sweet certainties. But the daily realities of a
country, which despite having large amounts of oil
reserves, remains stubbornly on the list of the most
impoverished countries. So they sing, write verses,
launch messages and incantations “for those who
still have hope, dreams…raise us up and sing together”.
These idealists are the youngsters of
Libreville split up into groups of friends: Comme
Hayoe, Movaiz Haleine, Communaute Black,
Pacificator, 241… names given to identify the
groups.
On private television channels this group just
about occupies the entire content of the music
program. Far from being negligent toward
the public however, they understand their
responsibilities…. ”One moves for change,
the divisions of people, the corruption, the
misappropriation of funds…” tells Leint’s, a young
female rapper of 23 years. On scene, in the
opening of her home amidst the shanty town of
the capital, she repeats her subject “this music
gives me hope, despite the image that we have, we
dream of these things. You are behind the wall, a
dust bin, a mosquito… the same as the figure on
the portrait of the late president…”
Gabon is one of the main and principal bases of
hip hop in central Africa thanks to a Gabao hip hop
festival which is organized every year in Libreville.
This event provides young artists a space for better
experimentation and on the basis of their sound
they demonstrate subtle militant expressions.

Baudouin Mouanda
Hip-Hop et Société, Libreville-Gabon, 2009
30 × 40 cm · 11.8 × 15.8"
Edition of 10 and 2 AP
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Baudouin Mouanda
la Sape
C-print, 30 × 40 cm · 11.8 × 15.8"
Edition of 10, 2 AP

Baudouin Mouanda
la Sape
C-print, 30 × 40 cm · 11.8 x 15.8"
Edition of 10, 2 AP
25

Maria Jose Arjona
26
Maria Jose Arjona was born in 1973 in
Bogotá, Colombia. Her work is focused in
performance art and she received her MFA
form The Superior Academy Of Art Of Bogotá.
She currently lives and works in New York,
USA. Arjona has participated in numerous
museum and gallery exhibitions in the Latin
America, Europe, USA and Asia.
VIRES
Exercise #1
The performance pretends to reveal throughout each
transformation, the understanding of relations, and
exercises of power, between individuals belonging to
first and third world nations. The presentation of the
performance in it's first instalment used a taxidermy
wolf to create a direct association between Rome (as
the originator of political and social structures such as
democracy and the concept of citizen) and the body
(presented as a third world nation performer),
allowing the audience to address verbally the tensions
created between both objects. The body is addressed
in this performance as a body restrained by the weight
and system represented by the wolf (the wolf as
symbol of first world nation’s political and economical
power over the third world). At the same time it
creates a comparison with sexual power via the use of
leather garments utilized in bondage and S&M
practices, where positions of power are clearly
established and tied to and through the body implied
in these relations and exercises. The performance becomes
a metaphor of the political and economical dynamics
between Europe, USA and third world nations
that still today are subject to such domination
(through economical pressure), resulting in absorption
of first world nation behaviors and trends.
The second transformation of this piece moves
forward into a more intimate relation between the
performer and the audience. Tracing back a pivotal
piece in performance by Austrian artist Valie Export
who walked her curator with a leash and a collar in a
public space, addressing a relation of power between
the artist and his/her curator. The performance in
Naples started with the curator from the Madre
Museum taking the artist out of the museum and
giving the collar to people present in the streets of
Naples. To surrender the power is an important
element of this part of the performance allowing the
power to flow and be retuned to the audience.
The third and last transformation uses the same
structure of walking the performer but this time the
leash disappears and the performer is guided by the
spectator who uses a set of signals drawn onto the
performers back to direct her through several paths
designed by the viewer. The performer does not know
the city so the relationship of power emerges as a
“trust” driven negotiation where the viewer commands
but the performer leads (similar to horses).

Simon Vega
28
Simon Vega was born in 1972 in San Salvador,
El Salvador. He currently lives and
works in El Salvador, where he also teaches
at several local universities and art
institutions.He graduated with a degree in
Fine Arts at the University of Veracruz, Mexico
in 1994 and received a Master´s degree in
Contemporary Arts from the Complutense
University, Madrid in 2006. He has exhibited
his work extensively in Europe, the United
States and Latin America, including the 2006
Havanna Biennial, Cuba, Zona MACO in
Mexico City, Mexico in 2007 and at the Bronx
River Art Center, New York, USA in 2009.
Simón Vega creates drawings, ephemeral
sculptures and installations inspired in the
informal, self made architecture found in
marginal zones and shantytowns. These
works—elaborated with wood, cardboard
and found materials—often parody famous
modern and mythological buildings and
cities.
CIUDADES PERDIDAS (LOST CITIES)
Mythological cities and urban utopias mixed with
marginal zones and dysfunctional metropolis. High
Tech meets make it yourself creative constructions.
"Lost Cities" is a series of works equally inspired by
shantytowns, like those found in Central America
(or any third world country for that matter) and by
elusive legendary cities such as Atlantis, Cibola
or Babel; cities within cities, enclosed, walled,
isolated, cities sprouting like the living organisms
that they are.
I’m interested in informal, self made architecture
and often fuse it´s materials and methods of
construction with modernist and biblical utopias.
In my ephemeral sculptures, maquettes and
drawings I explore different aspects of the city:
political and social phenomena, overpopulation,
surveillance, forced globalization, social hierarchies,
cities as a by-product of economic structures.
Buildings as imaginative portraits of power or the
lack of it.
These buildings and cities are also a metaphor for
the human being, for civilization´s dreams, history
and change, a metaphor for life and death.
Third World cities mirror a region’s society, its
beliefs and culture, but also globalization's forced
impact upon them and are a result of social and
economic structures.
This series of works, which include drawings,
ephemeral sculptures, installation and public interventions
are mainly constructed with garbage,
discarded plastic, paper, cardboard, wood and
other found materials. They are forced fusions of
socio-economic opposites, architectural structures
and spaces that combine tropical marginal zones
with the hyper-capitalist facades, branding and
billboards these landscapes are massively
bombarded with.
TWASA (Third World Aeronautics Shantytown
Administration) has launched a series of earthcrafts
designed to study the surface of First World
countries; areas previously unknown to some of
the earth´s poorest regions, the FWERs (First World
Exploration Rovers) mission has been to explore
what had only been seen on television and pirate
movies: clean, functional, well designed cities,
populated by healthy, respectful and beautiful
human beings. The Vienna Kunsthaus Lander
apparently did not achieve a proper setdown, as no
signal was ever received.
FWERs (First World Exploration Rovers)
This project revolves around the robotic devices
developed by NASA for exploring the surface of the
planet Mars.
I´m interested in the concept of "exploring other
worlds" the whole Sci-Fi genre, but reinterpreted
from a third world perspective. It amazes me how
much money (literally billions of dollars) and time
are invested in exploring other planets or "worlds"
while totally turning away from the exploration and
solving the problems of our own, specifically the
world of the marginal zones and shantytowns
which do surely seem to many as "another world",
despite the fact that over one sixth of the earth´s
population live in such towns; also the whole
demarcation between 1st and 3rd worlds and

etween social classes amongst the same country
or region.
I am also addressing the view from the "other
side" how people living in these hidden towns
would view and explore the so called 1st world,
contrasting the fascination with technology and
special effects as seen in Sci Fi movies and scientific
explorations with its own lack of technology and
knowledge (let alone the basic sevices such as
running water, electricity, drains, etc.).
For the past couple of years I´ve been investigating
and visiting many marginal zones in El Salvador.
Studying the informal architecture and methods of
construction (raw, do it yourself) as well as the
vehicles used for informal street commerce. These
works mix these elements with state of the art
technology.
Simon Vega
from “transpolitica” at Burgos. 2006
surveillance hut at zonaMACO Mexico 2007
29

Omar Obdulio Peña Forty
30
Omar Obdulio was born in 1977 in Rio
Piedras, Puerto Rico. He completed his
Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Escuela de Artes
Plásticas in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2001.
Obdulio works in diverse media including
drawing, performance and photography,
and in 2006 was awarded first place at the
category of Prima Obra, International
Association of Art Critics (AICA), Ateneo,
San Juan, Puerto Rico. He currently lives and
works in Puerto Rico.
Omar Obdulio Peña Forty
“Fiesta”,
Digital Print, 2010
76.2 × 50.8 cm
30 × 20"
The purpose of Fiesta is to transmit, through a
party, essential elements of Puerto Rican culture
using music and dance. Puerto Ricans are known
worldwide as people with great spark and good
humor. This energy and heat is widely used by
advertising campaigns to sell their products.
In Fiesta I have made the festival the product itself,
advertising this cultural exchange with satire.
Through drawn diagrams I explain the movement
of dances such as Salsa, Raggaeton, Bomba and so
on.. using lots of color and rhythm to describe
Puerto Rican culture.
It's like coming to Vienna with a suitcase full
of energy.

Omar Obdulio Peña Forty
“Simple Smile”,
Digital Print, 2010
76.2 × 50.8 cm
30 × 20"
31

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Omar Obdulio Peña Forty
“Beautiful Colors”,
Digital Print, 2010
76.2 × 60.96 cm
30 × 24"

Omar Obdulio Peña Forty
“Beautiful Colors y Baile”,
Digital Print, 2010
76.2 × 60.96 cm
30 × 24"
33

Reynier Leyva Novo
34
Reynier Leyva Novo was born in 1983 in
La Habana, Cuba. He began his professional
training at Higher Institute of Arts, at the
Department of Behavior Arts founded by
artist Tania Bruguera and at the Fine Arts
Academy “San Alejandro”. In 2009,
together with Maria E. Zayas, he founded
the indepen dent project OrganoProCurador
in Mexico DF, as an international network for
promotion of contemporary arts in Cuba.
Novo Aniversario
Why does “Novo Anniversary” target consumers so
strongly and accurately? Because it’s wide-ranging
and intricately polemic, inspired in contemporary
ideology as a form of quotidian celebration.
Fashion is a vibrant universe, a plethora of
possibilities, that’s why it lends itself like no other
to collective commemorations, thus the title
choice of Anniversary. This collection is marked by
diversity, because its true intention is to reach out
to everybody alike. For that reason, Novo has
chosen a basic conveying vehicle, T-shirts, as support
for his production. The charm of such T-shirts’
synthetic and neat iconography is maximized exponentially
by the suggestive accompanying phrases.
The Cuban artist draws from his own experience.
Coming from a social context where austerity defines
your life-style and homogeneity of individual image
is taken as something positive, as a welcomed
attitude synonymous with consensus, Novo proposes
unity through difference. A subtle mixture of classic
and modern elements, this collection turns clothing
into a sharing-in and democratic arena.
Novo Aniversario seeks a strong impact at the
image level in the quest for a direct identification
with consumers. In other words, a harmonious
balance of what we wear and what we are,
because ultimately, like this campaign’s slogan
reads, “We are what we believe.”

Reynier Leyva Novo
Novo Aniversario Collection
2010
Limited edition
35

Emilio Chapela Pérez
36
Emilio Chapela Pérez was born in 1978 in
México DF. His academic background is
in mathematics, and he then studied arts at
the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City,
Mexico. He has participated in collective
shows like the XIV Rufino Tamayo Biennial
and the PhotoFest 2010 biennial. He has
also showned at the Ilmin Museum in Korea,
the Bass Museum in Miami, and at the
Museo de Castellón de la Plana in Spain.
He lives and work in Berlin, Germany and
Mexico City, Mexico
Spectacular but Empty.
Empty... Yet Boring.
Boring but Smart.
Smart, then Academic.
Acedemic or Rigid?
Rigid: Not Intuitive
Intuitive: Not Conceptual.
Conceptual or Trendy
Trendy and Empty
Empty but Spectacular

Emilio Chapela Perez
Spectacular, but empty, 2008
Neon lights, transformers
Dimensions variable
37

Emilio Chapela Perez
Democrazia, Democracia, Democracy,
Démocratie, Demokratie, 2010
Acrylic paint on canvas
Variable
125 × 400 cm
317.5 × 157.5"
38

Emilio Chapela Perez
Dollar, Euro, Peso, Pound, 2010
Acrylic paint on canvas
Variable
125 × 300 cm
317.5 × 118.1"
39

Impressum
Curator
Claire Breukel
Editor
Galerie Ernst Hilger
Dorotheergasse 5
1010 Vienna, Austria
Phone +43-1-512 53 15
Fax +43-1-513 91 26
e-mail ernst.hilger@hilger.at
www.hilger.at
www.brotkunsthalle.com
Editorial Coordination
Klaudia Kreslehner
Design by
fuhrer visuelle gestaltung, Vienna
Printed by
Lindenau Productions GmbH, Vienna
© Copyright
of texts: the authors
of catalogue: the editor
of images of works: the artists and representing galleries
Published in 1000 copies
Catalogue published on the occasions of the exhibition,
at Hilger BrotKunsthalle Vienna, Austria, 2010.
Published by:
ÖIP – Österreichisches Institut für
Photographie und Medienkunst
c/o EIKON – International Magazine for
Photography and Media Art
Museumsquartier/quartier21
Museumsplatz 1/e-1.6, Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 1 597 70 88
Fax: +43 1 597 70 87
Email: office@eikon.at
Web: www.eikon.at
Special thanks to for their collaboration
This exhibition is made possible by Galerie Ernst Hilger
and Hilger BrotKunsthalle, in collaboration with
Michael Stevenson Gallery, South Africa; EDS gallery, Mexico,
Anita Beckers gallery, Germany, Whatiftheworld Gallery,
South Africa and Afrique in Visu.