‘It’s Finding a Gap in the Bureaucratic Process’: Watch Minerva Cuevas Explain How Her Artistic Acts of Sabotage Inspired Real Activism in Mexico

How can art create real political and social change? This is the
question that the Mexican artist Minerva Cuevas
has sought to answer in her
decades-long conceptual, socially-engaged art practice, in which
she riffs on issues like consumer culture and unfair labor
laws.

Through her sculptural installations, paintings, and videos, as
well as activist interventions, Cuevas hopes to draw attention to
the troubles her country faces in the wake of political upheaval
and capitalist excess. This fall, Cuevas’s first solo exhibition in
New York City debuts at the Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College. The
show, titled “Disidencia (Dissent),” features eight installations
and video projections on view through November 1.

In an exclusive interview as part of Art21’s series “Art in the
Twenty-First Century,” Cuevas begins with the statement, “we are in
a general crisis.” The “we,” of course, is Mexico, where she was
born in 1975 and has lived and worked ever since. Cuevas’s art is
inextricably linked to the country.

Speaking to Art21, Cuevas describes the
organization she founded, Mejor Vida Corp/Better Life Corporation, which
blurbs the line between social service and art, as “probably my
most important work.” The project began with “symbolic actions” in
which she altered the barcodes on products in the grocery store to
change the price of food, or on a student ID card. These
interventions gave rise to organized protests and art actions,
which she documents. Her work comprises what she calls
“mini-sabotages.” “It created this sense of freedom,” she says.
“It’s finding the gap in the bureaucratic process.”

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new season of the nonprofit Art21’s
flagship Art in the Twenty-First
Century television is available now on PBS. Watch full
episodes and learn about the organization’s education programs
at Art21.org.

Read more https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/art-21-minerva-cuevas-1638289