Indeterminate States & Beyond Delirious

Indeterminate States

As video art has evolved from its performance-based origins, artists have increasingly adopted an idea-driven approach that leans toward the abstract and poetic—merging the non-narrative essence of James Joyce with Marcel Duchamp's expansive view of what constitutes art, contemporary media artists—equipped with elegant concepts and solid techniques—craft filmical experiences distinct from traditional movies and television. Like many of their peers grounded in contemporary conceptualism, these artists often embrace a more enigmatic style, offering suggestive rather than definitive works. Their creations can be characterized as "indeterminate," embodying a mystery that transcends specific contexts of place or personality.

The video art showcased in the Ella Fontanals Cisneros media collection, still in its early stages, beautifully captures a nuanced yet dramatic engagement with the human condition. This expression often transcends individual experiences, making it more universally relatable and deeply resonant.

From the performance pieces of Ana Mendieta and Marina Abramovic to the multi-screen installations of Julian Rosefeldt and Kutlug Ataman, Indeterminate States provides an intimate glimpse into prominent video artists and emerging talents on the international scene. Several of these creators are realizing the vision that Andy Warhol proposed in the 1960s: the emergence of a new cinematic art form. He used cinematic because traditional elements—such as richly textured visuals and diverse shots that create a captivating overall experience—are vital to their work, now made accessible through affordable digital technology. The interplay of tradition and contemporary media art's conceptual, non-narrative poetics comes to life in their installations.

Beyond Delirious

Architecture and urbanism have become central themes in contemporary art, as highlighted by Beyond Delirious, a selection of photographic works from the Ella Fontanals Cisneros Collection. This exhibition features pieces ranging in scale from intimate to monumental and in mood from coolly objective to poetically expressive. Each work emphasizes architectural space as a crucial element of our cultural landscape.

While these pieces offer keen observations of architectural forms, their most remarkable trait is the profound sensitivity of the artists to the social and psychological intricacies of the buildings and cityscapes depicted. In recent decades, artists have increasingly explored how the built environment reflects the public ambitions and the hidden concerns of the society that shapes it. The works in this exhibition reveal that every architectural space can encapsulate a unique worldview, inviting us to empathize with the artists' perspectives.

Several pieces in Beyond Delirious showcase the transformative nature of urban forms worldwide, particularly in mega-cities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These cities have emerged amidst rapid cycles of demolition and construction, challenging traditional notions of urbanism and architecture and often transforming them beyond recognition. The potential of these changes is both intriguing and inspiring.

Beyond Delirious draws attention to the classical elegance of Venice's Piazza San Marco alongside the sprawling labyrinth of Mexico City and the futuristic towers of Shanghai. Can we see the beginnings of a redefined vision for twenty-first-century urbanism in these contrasting environments?

The arrangement of these works within the CIFO exhibition space invites reflection on the relationships between public and private spaces, planned and spontaneous urban growth, and rational versus imaginative architectural forms. This creates an open dialogue of images and ideas, encouraging viewer engagement as a vital component of the experience.