A convergence of time-based pieces activates the installation by Edra Soto, La Casa de Todos, for a night. Pointing to the kinship between Caribbean ornamental fences and architectural jealousies or latticework—celosías in Spanish— Suspirar es Hacia Adentro, Susurrar es Hacia Afuera conjures happenings behind celosías’ porous membranes and highlights the “seeing without being seen” that they create. Celosías were used in Roman, Islamic, and subsequently in Western sacred architecture to separate inside from outside in a translucid way: the sun and heat were blocked while the wind could blow; Muslim women could look outside without compromising their modesty; and cloistered nuns attended mass with an unbroken vow to mystical life. The bodily, visual, and discursive poetics of confinement of performers Kat Bawden, Inés Arango-Guingue, and Vince Phan, with the melodics of voluntary reclusion of Beatriz Eugenia Díaz, aim to channel the unseen whispers behind Soto’s Caribbean ornaments.
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An initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art in partnership with artists and organizations across the city, Art Design Chicago is a series of events and exhibitions that highlight the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.
