Betsabeé Romero, Cars & Traces
Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero tells stories about cars and car-parts
24 September 2010 to 28 February 2011 in Tropenmuseum’s Parkzaal
The Tropenmuseum hosts a show by Betsabeé Romero (b. Mexico City, 1963) from 24 September 2010 to 28 February 2011 featuring sculpture and installations using cars and car-parts in relation to themes such as migration, modernisation and movement. “We all experience cars, either as a driver or a passenger. That’s why cars, and for example tyres, wheels and car bonnets are such wonderful, recognisable objects to use”, says Romero.
Betsabeé Romero combines cars and car-parts with familiar elements from Mexican and other cultures. This accentuates contrasts in stimulating ways. Cars represent speed and modernisation for example, as against the cultural traditions that we carry with us in our collective memory. From the Virgin of Guadalupe (patron saint of Latin America) and ex votos (altar objects and representations of saints) to Delft pottery and even Amsterdam’s new North/South subway extension.
“Everything has to be quick. Things are useful if they’re fast. Cultures have to develop quickly too. Without looking back at the tracks left behind on the earth and its inhabitants.” Betsabeé Romero compels us to stop and respect objects that have been made with great care and professional skill.
Traces
In some works Romero literally leaves traces, in others they appear as metaphors. In a work made especially for ‘Betsabeé Romero, Cars & Traces’ entitled Broken Landscape, she decorated two subway wheels with traditional floral-motif crockery. This refers to the problems caused by the subway construction in both Mexico and the Netherlands. The broken pottery applied to the wheels symbolises the city’s fragile underground.
Exodus
Two enormous photos show her installations of cars in the Mexican landscape (Exodo and Ayate Car). Exodo (Exodus, 2007) comprises the frames of six Volkswagen Beetles, with bags and boxes of migrating families brimming from the roofs. To make Ayate Car (1997), the artist went to the frontier region between the cities of Tijuana and San Diego. Together with people from Tijuana, she filled an old Ford with 10,000 roses, then painted the car and parked it along the border. Both projects draw attention to the endless flow of migrants in her country, and the human dramas that result.
In situ creation in Amsterdam
In September, Betsabeé Romero plans to create The Last Flower Power Vehicle with a group of Dutch people. They will paint a Volkswagen Beetle, and then Romero will place a huge syringe on the roof. The Beetle will be shown outside the museum for all to see.
Betsabeé Romero
Betsabeé Romero studied at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City and École Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Haar werk has appeared in various exhibitions and biennials in Mexico and other countries, including Canvas International Art in Amsterdam in 2000. Her work is represented in several museum and private collections.
Why the exhibition?
The Tropenmuseum presents a narrative about people and objects from different cultures. The museum follows a deliberate policy of using contemporary art to tell this narrative. Artists are selected who produce high quality work with a powerful visual impact that looks at the world with reference to the artist’s own sense of identity and roots: work that deals with themes which concern the museum, such as cultural interplay and change, and/or works that reinforce the museum collection. Betsabeé Romero matches these criteria perfectly. Her show is the second in the museum’s series of contemporary art presentations.
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by an attractive visual catalogue in the style of Betsabeé Romero authored by Sebastian Lopez and Mischa Andriessen.
About the Tropenmuseum
The Tropenmuseum presents, researches and promotes knowledge about and exchange between cultures. It offers an experience to a wide and varied audience employing every tool available to museums: presentation, collection and expertise, publication, the historical building, educational and other activities. The museum of the Royal Tropical Institute maintains an international programme relating to culture and development. The Tropenmuseum is supported by BankGiro Loterij.
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Note to editors
For more information contact Nanja Ruiter at the Tropenmuseum, (T. +31 (0)20 5688422 or by e-mail: n.ruiter@kit.nl). Visual material is available via www.tropenmuseum.nl under persinformatie.
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