Opening May 3, Erick Meyenberg: The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg

On view at Americas Society, May 4 through July 22, 2017
Curated by Gabriela Rangel and Lucía Sanromán

Press Preview and Reception: Wednesday, May 3, 5:00–7:00 p.m.

New York, April 26, 2017—The exhibition Erick Meyenberg: The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg is the end result of the artist’s collaboration with members of the high school marching band, Banda de Guerra Lobos, at the Colegio Hispanoamericano in Mexico City. Meyenberg and the teenagers—together with curators, guest musicians, composers, costume designers, and a video production team—co-created choreographies, musical scores, and a series of performances that took the band through some of the city’s most emblematic and politically marked sites: the Plaza de Tlatelolco, where striking university students clashed with the state in 1968; the Monumento a la Revolución, commemorating the Mexican Revolution of 1910; and the Forum Buenavista shopping center, symbolizing Mexico’s embeddedness in transnational capitalism.

Meyenberg developed The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg (2016) over two years as a commission for inSite/Casa Gallina, the sixth edition of the public art project, inSite. The exhibition is co-organized by Americas Society and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, and is curated by Americas Society’s Visual Arts Director and Chief Curator Gabriela Rangel and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Visual Arts Director Lucía Sanromán. A press preview and reception will be held at the Americas Society Art Gallery in New York City on Wednesday, May 3, 5:00 p.m., followed by a panel discussion with the artist and the curators. RSVP: mediarelations@as-coa.org

Composed of a three-channel projection, flags, a relief sculpture, and archival materials, The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg takes its enigmatic title from the 1917 prologue to Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1903 play Les mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias). Meyenberg’s project translates these sources into a critical stance toward normative pedagogical structures—here taking the form of uniforms, discipline, education, gender, the state, and symbols of nationhood—and a conception of the “surreal” not as an evasion of reality, but as an invitation to surmount other realities. Culminating in a synesthetic experience, The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg suggests the complexities of Mexican modernity.

The exhibition is accompanied by a forthcoming richly illustrated publication, which documents the process and performance of The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg and includes essays by Gabriela Rangel and Osvaldo Sánchez, as well as an interview with the artist by Lucía Sanromán.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Erick Meyenberg (b. 1980, Mexico City) works at the intersection of drawing, collage, video, data analysis, and sound. The artist studied visual arts at the National School of Fine Arts (ENAP) in Mexico City. In 2009, he was a guest student at the Berlin University of Arts (UdK), under the guidance of the German artist Rebecca Horn. His work received the honorable mention Centennial Award at ZONA MACO in 2011. Solo exhibitions have included Un Futuro Anterior (An Anterior Future), Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City and Aspirantes (Aspirants) for Proyecto Líquido, Mexico City (2016); The Return of the Dinosaur, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City (2014), Back to the Present, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2011), Das ist kein Fleisch, International Festival of Lights (FILUX), Laboratorio de Arte Alameda, Mexico City (2013), and Labor Berlin 2: Erick Meyenberg. Étude taxonomique-comparative entre les castes de la Nouvelle Espagne et celles du Mexique contemporain, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2010).

The presentation at Americas Society of Erick Meyenberg: The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg is made possible by the generous support of the Panta Rhea Foundation and Genomma Lab Internacional. This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Additional support comes from AMEXCID, the Consulate General of Mexico, the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

The video piece The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg was commissioned by inSite/Casa Gallina, 2014–16, and curated by Osvaldo Sánchez and Josefa Ortega. The production in Mexico City was made possible through the generous support of Cámara de Diputados (México), Secretaría de Cultura (México), and Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo.

Image Credit: Erick Meyenberg, The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg (video still), 2016. Courtesy of the artist.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

ON VIEW
May 4 – July 22, 2017
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065
View map
Gallery hours:
Wednesday to Saturday
12:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Free admission

PRESS PREVIEW
Wednesday, May 3
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue at 68th Street
New York, NY 10065

OPENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION
Wednesday, May 3
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Artist Erick Meyenberg engages in a conversation with co-curators Gabriela Rangel (Americas Society) and Lucía Sanromán (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) in a panel discussion moderated by Professor Anna Indych-López (The Graduate Center, CUNY).
Americas Society
Free admission

CONVERSATIONS IN COLOMBIA: HANS ULRICH OBRIST INTERVIEWS MIGUEL ÁNGEL ROJAS AND MARÍA FERNANDA CARDOSO
Friday, May 5
7:00 p.m.
Curator Hans Ulrich Obrist will interview artists Miguel Ángel Rojas and María Fernanda Cardoso. They will present Conversations in Colombia, a project Obrist began in 2010 that turned into a comprehensive mapping of the country’s artistic landscape.
Americas Society
Free admission

CITY CIRCUITS: TALK WITH WRITERS FRANCISCO GOLDMAN AND MÓNICA DE LA TORRE
Tuesday, May 16
7:00 p.m.
Novelist Francisco Goldman and writer Mónica de la Torre discuss The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle, Goldman’s personal memoir on two crucial years (2012–2013) in both his own life and that of his adopted city.
Americas Society
Admission: Free for Americas Society members, $10 for non-members. Free for Hunter College students.

GUIDED TOUR
Tuesday, June 13
7:00 p.m.
Visitors are invited to join a guided tour of Erick Meyenberg’s multilayered and collaborative project.
Americas Society
Admission: Free for Americas Society members, $10 for non-members. Free for Hunter College students.

CATALOGUE LAUNCH
Erick Meyenberg: The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg
Date TBA
Edited by Gabriela Rangel, Lucía Sanromán, and Karen Marta, the catalogue accompanies the solo exhibition of the artist at Americas Society in New York and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Americas Society
Free admission

Please check as-coa.org/visualarts for more details on all public programs.

Press Inquiries: mediarelations@as-coa.org | 1-212-277-8384.

Americas Society is the premier organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Established by David Rockefeller in 1965, our mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship. Americas Society Visual Arts program boasts the longest-standing private space in the United States dedicated to exhibiting and promoting art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada; it has achieved a unique and renowned leadership position in the field, producing both historical and contemporary exhibitions.