Tomorrow, Latin America comes to south London–indecently, home to one of the largest Latin American populations in Europe–as Guggenheim’s UBS MAP Global Art Initiative brings Under the Same Sun: Art From Latin America Today to Camberwell’s SLG. This will coincide with the opening of the gallery’s new space, at the former Peckham Road Fire Station.
This major survey of work from Latin America includes over 40 artists, who were largely born after 1968, though there is some work from artists who were paving the way in the 60s and 70s. Well-known names such as Mario García Torres and Gabriel Orozco mix with younger artists, and there is a selection of special projects that have been produced for this exhibition.
There is an extensive performance and in-situ programme, many of the artists working with locals and displaying in public areas. Costa Rican artist Federico Herrero’s residency culminates in the creation of a mural at a local Peckham playground; a project with community ties from start to finish, including events for residents of the adjoining estate. Amalia Pica (from Argentina) will perform Asamble in Peckham Square this weekend, when a group of performers will be invited to bring a chair along with them–a whole new spin on musical chairs–to ‘congregate in a choreographed, circular assembly that never closes’. This work references the baffling decision by the Argentine military junta to ban Venn diagrams from being taught in schools during the 70s as they viewed them as subversive.
Social and political threads run through much of this show, which spans film, sculpture, installation and more. As the title suggests, these artists have been selected for their living ‘under the same sun’, under the same regimes, under the same obstructions. How each have developed and formed their practice from this, is as varied as one might imagine.
‘Under the Same Sun: Art From Latin America Today’ runs from 11 June until 4 September at SLG, London
