Shocking Images Portray Political Messages in Neuberger Exhibit

Credit: Sean Tomizawa

At a typical museum exhibition, most people are used to being greeted with information about the collection and some biographical information about the artist. But the new, politically provocative collection at the Neuberger Museum of Art is anything but typical. “Tania Bruguera: On the Political Imaginary,” uses initial shock value to lure the audience deeper and deeper into a world of artistic political statements.

Chief Curator and Deputy Director Helaine Posner met Bruguera 10 years ago in Cuba, and recommended her as the first recipient of the Roy R. Neuberger Prize. The prize was "awarded to an artist for an early career survey and catalogue," according to Neuberger.org. Posner said she admired “the role of imagery between art and life,” and the incredible power that Bruguera engages in her viewers.

Laid out in a progression throughout various rooms, the main entrance to the exhibit was inspired by Bruguera’s temporary residence in India. “Poetic Justice” was a funnel shaped hallway coated in used aromatic tea bags from top to bottom. Speckled across the tea bags were eight LCD screens that were depicting historical footage.

After seeing footage of Fidel Castro on the LCD screens, Docent Martin Kantor recalled his experience at one of Castro’s speeches: “When he spoke in the square, nothing else was heard except his voice and the flags flapping in the wind.” This reflects the mood of Bruguera’s exhibit, especially concerning “Untitled (Havana 2000).” The piece consisted of four naked men positioned against the walls, which left the viewer with a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty.

Another work of Bruguera’s rousing maze included “Untitled (Bogotá, 2009)," a performance piece that originated at the Facultad de Bellas Artes. It demonstrated the paradigm of free speech.

In “Untitled (Kassel, 2002),” the room ignited with bright lights and then darkened, leaving the audience with the sounds of guns being reloaded. The echoes of guns also resounded in “Untitled (Palestine, 2010),” which was a white room with almost invisible fragments of a proposal to unite Palestine and Israel. Bruguera said, “I want to write to Obama and the United Nations and propose this unity.”

Live sculptures such as “The Burden of Guilt” hypnotized the audience with their uninhibited nudity and unnaturalness. This piece included a nude woman draped in a skinned lamb carcass eating dirt and water with her bare hands. Another work consisted of a woman at the top of a pedestal with bands of metal placed across her eyes, mouth, breasts and groin, while cupping a sliver of raw meat in her hands.

Emily Grant, chairman of the board of trustees for Purchase College said, “Her bondage is a form of censorship and of constraint. It took me awhile to think about it before I realized that her kneecaps were flexing and she was breathing. But where there’s life, there’s hope."