CHUCHERIA  (Things of little value)

Art Space Gallery

Fresno City College

 

In Chuchería (loosely translated as a thing of little value), Duarte uses drywall, lumber, packed earth, cement, and plaster to construct a temporary architectural intervention in the gallery. His practice engages with multiple art histories and legacies, including Arte Povera, the postwar Italian radical art movement that broke down barriers between art, life, and material; the durational performances of artists like Vito Acconci, Frances Alÿs, and Phil Collins, and the work of theorist Augusto Boal, founder of Theater of the Oppressed, a theatrical form in which spectators become engaged participants in acting out solutions to social problems. Most profoundly, Duarte is immersed in the artistic and cultural practices of Zapatista autonomous communities in Chiapas, Mexico, where there has never been any separation between art and life in the first place.

 

Duarte uses ordinary construction materials to create temporary structures that go on to serve as sites for performances that Duarte organizes in collaboration with communities, most recently working with unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.