Focus on Latin American Art and Agency

The provocative works of Guatemalan sculptor Dario Escobar challenge us to reconsider our relation to the myriad of mass-produced objects that encroach on our daily experience. The essays in A Singular Plurality offer a critical account of how his whimsical incisiveness dismantled the rigid opposition between the cosmopolitan and the local.

Mexico-based artist, architect, and cultural agent Pedro Reyes turns existing social problems into opportunities for effecting tangible change through collective imagination. Ad Usum: To Be Used is a full-color illustrated survey of Reyes’s projects including images, interviews, and critical essays by leading scholars in diverse fields.

The Logic of Disorder presents for the first time to the English-speaking world the writings of seminal Mexican contemporary visual artist Abraham Cruzvillegas. Each of the texts included in this volume is fully annotated and is accompanied by a number of critical studies by leading curators and scholars.

Cultural Agents Reloaded reflects on the accomplishments and failures of Antanas Mockus, twice Mayor of Bogotá. His example motivates us to sharpen our understanding of what cultural agency is in the present day by bringing into focus the challenges public humanities face when they travel South and struggle to become genuinely global.

Pre-Texts is a methodology developed for education professionals to stimulate close reading and critical-thinking skills by making art based on challenging texts. Presented in both English and Spanish, this book gathers descriptions and images of dozens of different Pre-Texts activities held across the globe with diverse groups.