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THE CISNEROS FONTANALS ART FOUNDATION PROUDLY ANNOUNCES THE 2011 CIFO GRANTS AND COMMISSIONS PROGRAM EXHIBITION

Miami, August 2011—Viewpoint: 2011CIFO Grants & Commissions Program Exhibition commemorates the eighth annual exhibition dedicated to the foundation's grants programs at the CIFO Art Space. The emerging artists selected as recipients of CIFO's 2011 grants are: Laura Belém (Brazil), Marcius Galan (Brazil), Fritzia Irizar-Rojo (Mexico), Begoña Morales (Peru), Amalia Pica (Argentina), and Antonio Vega (Mexico). The mid-career artists selected for CIFO's Commissions award are: Tania Bruguera (Cuba) and Alicia Villarreal (Chile). This year also commemorates the first time in four years since the foundation has awarded its prestigious Achievement Commission, this time to David Lamelas whose artistic contribution in the past 30 years has been a pioneering force in the development of conceptualist practices and has laid the framework for a younger generation of artists who have expanded these practices in to their own.

The exhibition includes works by all the artists with the exception of Bruguera, who's thought provoking performance will take place in January 2012. The works in this exhibition, by artists whose experiences range from emerging to long established, examines the relationships and highlights the commonalities between artists with varied conceptual approaches and generational divides.

The works presented in this exhibition are the result of a year-long process in which artists are nominated by CIFO's Honorary Advisory Committee of art professionals and then selected and ratified by CIFO's Board of Directors. The artists in the exhibition are not chosen based on a specific theme, movement or approach but rather selected based on the investigative nature of the work proposed and on the relevance of its content within the context of contemporary art. Every year, CIFO invites the artist to Miami to install their artwork, participate in public programs and interact with the other recipients of the program.

The title of the exhibition, Viewpoint, plays on the idea of a point as a place from which to view. Starting from the artist, through the viewer and back, it is the relationship with and through the artwork that is the focus of this exhibition. It documents the transition of works (whether in video, photography, performances, sound, space interventions and drawings) from a personal place where a work is born as a subjective idea, to the exhibition space where it is transformed into an object to be experienced.

Artists David Lamelas, Begoña Morales and Alicia Villarreal peripherally employ documentation tactics to create views of time, place and space. The works in Viewpoint then move from alternative proposals for documenting place to pieces that create space anew such as those by Marcius Galan and Laura Belém. On the other hand, Amailia Pica, Antonio Vega and Fritzia Irizar-Rojo's pieces examine the viewer's position in social and physical space and how this determines their ability to perceive and access the concepts explored in each of these works.

Although her contribution to the exhibition will not be seen until January 2012, Tania Bruguera's interdisciplinary trajectory has long explored behavior and performance art in an effort to demonstrate (and a belief in) the power of art to change and awaken society. Her performance will bring to question our own position in society and how we act or passively resist the elements that inspire discontent in our relationships with each other, with our neighbors, with government policies and beyond.  It is in this way that her performance will complement the other contributions by artists in Viewpoint.

These works explore our position in place, reformulate our relationship to space and explore the importance of our positions on communication, interaction and cooperation. They explore the position of the viewer, the executed, the outsider, the affected, the listener, the winner and the loser through a series of enabled views, retold narratives and histories. As a result Viewpoint becomes not only a passageway in to each individual practice, but a slideshow of the dynamic dialogue that characterizes contemporary art today.

Related Exhibition Programming

Thursday, September 8, 2011 6-9pm
Viewpoint Opening Reception
6-7pm Private gallery tour with the artists
7-9pm Cocktail Reception

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Each invitation admits two

Sponsored by Bacardi

Saturday, September 10, 2011 7-10pm
CIFO Art Wall Unveiling, CIFO has teamed up with Primary Flight's Johnny Robles to create a block-sized mural at the CIFO Art Space

RSVP: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / 305-455-3338

Saturday, September 24 and October 22, 2011 1-3pm
Cultural Family Spot @ CIFO (limited space)

$5.00 per child; Free for CIFO members – Ages 5-10
We suggest you RSVP and purchase your ticket in advance.

Thursday, September 22, October 6, and October 20 2011 7pm
Cinema @ CIFO; Select film screenings pertaining to themes found within

Exhibition Brochure and Extended Catalogue

Visitors to the show are provided with a free, illustrated brochure designed to provide information concerning the exhibition and its related programs and events.

The extended exhibition catalogue, including a Q&A with all the artists in the exhibition and installation images will become available, free of charge, beginning in the month of October.

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The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation is dedicated to the foundation's primary focus, providing critical funding and visibility for contemporary artists from Latin America, helping to broaden global appreciation of their work while challenging stereotypical notions of Latin American art. Over the past 9 years, CIFO has cemented its place as a driving force in contemporary art from Latin America.  CIFO has granted awards to over fifty artists from countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Ecuador.  In addition, many of the artists that have been recipients of our grants have gone on to forge important relationships with collectors, museums and galleries, and have launched international careers.

CIFO Art Space
1018 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33136
Thursday: 1-9pm; Friday-Sunday: Noon – 5pm
Admission is free
www.cifo.org 305.455.3380