Conectado: Connecting

This past Sat­ur­day I attend­ed the open­ing for Conec­ta­do: Con­nect­ing at the Cre­ative Alliance in Bal­ti­more. I per­son­al­ly know the artists col­lab­o­rat­ing on the piece, Jaime Ben­nati and May Wil­son, and I was real­ly impressed with the instal­la­tion they had put togeth­er. Jaime and May had real­ly trans­formed the space, with a totem-like struc­ture of cement cylin­ders (cast­ed by May) and ship­ping pal­lets, inter­twined with wire. Not only was this a visu­al­ly com­pelling piece to view, but also was inter­est­ing to look at the indi­vid­ual assemblage. 

Both artists have spent time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (with Jaime spend­ing upwards of a year there), and Conec­ta­do: Con­nect­ing is a reflec­tion on the vibrant street cul­ture present in this city. Wires present in the fave­las, can­dy and fruit sold on the street — Jaime and May have ref­er­enced it in their instal­la­tion. The large pal­let and cylin­der struc­ture felt mon­u­men­tal, lum­ber­ing over the atten­dees of the show, a remark on the rapid speed of Brazil’s grow­ing econ­o­my. Also, pro­ject­ed on one wall (which I failed to cap­ture), were bus routes on Google Maps, flip­ping through dif­fer­ent streets at a rapid, almost dizzy­ing pace. 

Cast out of resin.