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Maria Alos

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Maria Alos
María Alós
Born
1973

Cambridge, Massachusetts
Died2011
Mexico City
NationalityMexican, American
EducationMA Syracuse University

Maria Alos (1973–2011) was an interdisciplinary artist who lived and worked in Mexico City and New York.[1] She received a MFA from Syracuse University (2000) in New York.[2] Throughout her artistic career, she created various installations, performances, and archives for museums and public spaces in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.[3]

Career

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Maria Alos created site-specific interventions that challenge institutional structures, as well as value and belief systems in both society and the art world.[4] Her work was inspired by activities that referred to societal control and bureaucratic procedures that everyone is subjected to on a daily basis.[5]

Alos' work has been shown in internationally renowned institutions, such as the Ninth Havana Biennial; Madrid Abierto – ARCO 2005;[6] Bronx Museum of the Arts; Everson Museum of Art; The Clocktower Gallery / PS1 Contemporary Art Center; Exit Art; Artists Space;[7] El Museo del Barrio; Museo Reina Sofía;[8] MUCA Roma;[9] Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil; The New Children's Museum; The Power Plant, Toronto; TBA Exhibition Space;[10] Nasher Museum of Art;[11] among other institutions.

Works

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The Passerby Museum (2001–)

Co-created with Nicolás Dumit Estévez, The Passerby Museum is an itinerant institution whose collection is made up of thousands of objects donated by passers-by who live or work in the places where the museum has been installed.[12] The museum opened its doors in 2002, on 42nd Street in New York, in the heart of Times Square. The Passerby Museum has been shown in New York, US; Madrid, Spain;[13] Mexico City; Puebla, Mexico; Kitchener, Canada; Claremont, US; Havana, Cuba;[14] and other locations.[15]

Is this art? (2005)

First shown in Barcelona, Spain, in 2005, the work consists of a series of three differently colored stickers that read: "this is art", "this is not art", and "is this art?".[16] The artist distributed these stickers to visitors to her exhibition and invited them to classify anything they saw inside and outside the museum. Is this art? is an invitation to reconsider the meaning and value of a work of art, as well as the use and value of the objects that surround us.

Publications Department (2007–2008)

Emulating the aesthetics and routines of the bureaucratic, several of Alos' works involved line-up and filling out paperwork. For Publications Department, in Mexico City, Alos removed thousands of publications from the Carrillo Gil Museum's storage and installed them in one of the museum's galleries. Visitors could take as many catalogues as they wished for free as long as they lined up, showed some form of identification, and filled out a form, which the artist made available to them.[17]

Cataloging of the Museum of the Object of the Object

Alos' fascination with archives and classification systems led her to work on the first classification, cataloguing, and registration of thousands of objects in the collections of Mexico City's Museo del Objeto del Objeto. This work was completed between 2003 and 2011. A plaque in the museum honors the artist's work and her various contributions to the institution.

Alos previously worked for the New York Public Library, making photographic documentation of collections and rare books.[18]

References

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  1. ^ Rodrigues Widholm, Julie (2007). Escultura Social. A New Generation of Art from Mexico City. MCA Chicago; Yale University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0300134278.
  2. ^ Nieves, Marysol (2011). Taking Aim! The Business of Being an Artist Today. Fordham University Press. p. 281. ISBN 9780823234134.
  3. ^ David, Mariana (2007). "María Alós: The Art of Collecting Institutions". No. 2. Umělec.
  4. ^ "María Alós". Here in Jamaica. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  5. ^ Arozqueta, Claudia (June–July 2008). "María Alós: Las huellas de lo oculto en lo visible". Ambientes: 108–110.
  6. ^ "El museo peatonal María Alos + Nicolás Dumit". Madrid Abierto. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  7. ^ "Maria Alos: Incognito". Artists Space. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  8. ^ "Otros trabajos de María Alós y Nicolás Dumit". Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  9. ^ "ARTES VISUALES: Exposiciones en el MUCA-Roma". Proceso. Proceso. August 26, 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  10. ^ "Cute Girls, Heavy Metal, Sports and Hope". e-flux. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  11. ^ "Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City". Nasher Museum of Art. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  12. ^ Farlow, Victoria. "Museum offers Mexican culture". La Verne Campus Times. La Verne Campus Times. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  13. ^ The Passerby Museum. Madrid: Madrid Abierto. 2005.
  14. ^ Novena Bienal de la Habana 2006. Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam. 2006. p. 132.
  15. ^ "Claremont Museum of Art Presents Exhibitions Multiverse and The Passerby Museum". Claremont Lewis Museum of Art. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  16. ^ "María Alós: Is this Art?". Here in Jamaica. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  17. ^ Arozqueta, Claudia (June–July 2008). "María Alós: Las huellas de lo oculto en lo visible". Ambientes: 108–110.
  18. ^ Visitors Guide & Map (PDF). The New York Public Library. 2018.


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