"1999: preparing for a
new Me-llennium."
1999 Mural (triptych)
Mixed media on canvas, 1998
48" x 108"
xavier cortada's FIRST
NIGHT art project
Cuban American artist Xavier Cortada's
First Night project, developed in both Spanish and English, is designed to help us all
prepare for the upcoming millennium. Appropriately titled "A New Me-llennium,"
the project consists of an "Awareness Tunnel" of video and painted murals
expressing topics such as AIDS, drunk driving, street children in Bolivia, and youth
gangs. As participants walk through the zig-zag tunnel, there will be places for
them to sit and reflect on the images and the role we play in this world as we welcome the
year 1999. At the end of the tunnel - where Cortada will be working on a new painting -
participants will be asked to contribute messages which will be incorporated into the
canvas. As midnight strikes, Cortada will be working on his first painting of the year--a
painting that explores how to spend 1999 preparing for the new Millennium.
THE CONCEPT - The
year 2000.
That natural break that separates the "Me" of this millennium from the
"Me" of the next millennium. But the latter is different because he discards the
negative and embraces the positive. Too often, we let our dysfunctions, our bad habits get
the better of us. We resolve to change them at the beginning of every New Year, but
eventually succumb to our old ways.
But not this year. Not in 1999. Because
1999 is the last year of this millennium. It is our last shot at changing. Evolving,
transforming. If the symbolism of entering a new Millennium isn't enough to force us to
address all those things about us we want to change, then perhaps those things are simply
an inherent part of our being. Accepting them would be a part of that change.
So this New Year's Eve will seriously
look at managing that transformation during the next 12 months. To continue on this
journey. On this healing, soul searching. This life process. This evolution, maturation.
This place where we look at becoming whole. Addressing a whole range of issues: being at
peace, being financially stable. In check, physically, emotionally. Mentally, spiritually.
All.
Jan 1, 2000 will arrive soon. It will be
a new Me. One without all the baggage of the last millennium. So, the new millennium is
about a new me. A new order. A new world.
THE PROJECT - The Awareness
Tunnel
Cortada will have participant walk through an "awareness tunnel" showcasing some
of Cortada's collaborative community projects around the world. These will include actual
art pieces (The Bridging the Gap Mural, MADD murals, the Bolivian Street Children Mural),
as well as video-installations and blown up text and photographs documenting several of
his awareness generating projects on issues like violence, AIDS, and street children.
Confronted with the way others have persevered to resolve their problems around the globe,
the tunnel challenges participants to address how they plan to resolve their own personal
struggles in the coming year.
Aside from generating awareness about
global issues and stimulating introspection, the awareness tunnel demonstrates the process
of collaborating on art projects and encourages participants to assist in the creation of
the painting at the end of the tunnel.
The focus of the painting is on how they
plan to spend 1999 preparing for the millennium.
The 1999 Painting
Cortada will be at the tunnel's exit painting away and facilitating participants in a
collaborative art process. On tables there will be drawing utensils and pieces of paper
for people to write their resolutions. Their hopes and aspirations. And their baggage.
Their cleansing process. All the negative things in their lives that they plan to rid
themselves of as they build themselves anew for the new millennium.
These messages will be incorporated by
Cortada into his 1999 painting, similar to the way messages from people from different
places were incorporated into the surrounding murals. . As midnight strikes, Cortada will
be working on his first painting of the year--a painting that explores how to spend 1999
preparing for the new Millennium.
For more information on First Night,
please call 305-670-7053.
