Photo Interview Magazine
Carissa Rodriguez
Artist / Filmmaker
Carissa Rodriguez is an artist whose work reflects on the material and social conditions through which art is produced, reproduced, and received. Encompassing cinematic, photographic, and sculptural work, her exhibitions present complex and at times personal narratives that reveal the dynamics in play between artist, audience, and institution.
These artistic concerns are evident in her recent solo exhibitions such as The Maid, SculptureCenter, Long Island City (2018); I’m normal. I have a garden. I’m a person, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2015); La Collectionneuse, Front Desk Apparatus, New York (2013); and Carissa Rodriguez, Karma International, Zurich, Switzerland (2012).
Recent major group exhibitions include MEDUSA, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (2017); Finesse, The Wallach Art Gallery, New York (2016); 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2014); Theater Objects, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland (2014); Pro-Choice, Fri Art, Fribourg, Switzerland (2013); ProBio, MoMA PS1, New York (2013); Better Homes, SculptureCenter, Long Island City (2013); White Petals Surround Your Yellow Heart, Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania (2013); and Demanding Supplies, Kunstraum der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Lüneburg , Germany (2011). Early in her career, Rodriguez exhibited at American Fine Arts, Co., New York (1999, 1996), and her project The Stand traveled to several institutions internationally (1999-2004).
Rodriguez received a B.A. in Literature from Eugene Lang College at the New School in 1994, and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in 2001. She was a core member of Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York from 2004 to 2015.
Artist Statement
Arriving at art from other places (literature, cinema, subculture), I often feel like a non-artist trespassing in the field of art. The task therefore is to carve a temporary space to exist within it, and through it. This requires taking possession of space, but also accepting a job; in both senses – an occupation. Art for me is a way of living and working that necessitates being ready to exit art at any time, so as to consolidate the internal, external, conscious and unconscious conditions of each departure, in the form of an image, an object, an exhibition.
[Foundation for Contemporary Arts]
Carissa Rodriguez
Artist / Filmmaker
Carissa Rodriguez is an artist whose work reflects on the material and social conditions through which art is produced, reproduced, and received. Encompassing cinematic, photographic, and sculptural work, her exhibitions present complex and at times personal narratives that reveal the dynamics in play between artist, audience, and institution.
These artistic concerns are evident in her recent solo exhibitions such as The Maid, SculptureCenter, Long Island City (2018); I’m normal. I have a garden. I’m a person, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2015); La Collectionneuse, Front Desk Apparatus, New York (2013); and Carissa Rodriguez, Karma International, Zurich, Switzerland (2012).
Recent major group exhibitions include MEDUSA, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France (2017); Finesse, The Wallach Art Gallery, New York (2016); 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2014); Theater Objects, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland (2014); Pro-Choice, Fri Art, Fribourg, Switzerland (2013); ProBio, MoMA PS1, New York (2013); Better Homes, SculptureCenter, Long Island City (2013); White Petals Surround Your Yellow Heart, Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania (2013); and Demanding Supplies, Kunstraum der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Lüneburg , Germany (2011). Early in her career, Rodriguez exhibited at American Fine Arts, Co., New York (1999, 1996), and her project The Stand traveled to several institutions internationally (1999-2004).
Rodriguez received a B.A. in Literature from Eugene Lang College at the New School in 1994, and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in 2001. She was a core member of Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York from 2004 to 2015.
Artist Statement
Arriving at art from other places (literature, cinema, subculture), I often feel like a non-artist trespassing in the field of art. The task therefore is to carve a temporary space to exist within it, and through it. This requires taking possession of space, but also accepting a job; in both senses – an occupation. Art for me is a way of living and working that necessitates being ready to exit art at any time, so as to consolidate the internal, external, conscious and unconscious conditions of each departure, in the form of an image, an object, an exhibition.
[Foundation for Contemporary Arts]
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I Remember NothingLIMITED EDITIONIn the midst of chaos we hunt for dreams. It blends together. Their memories became my memories. Once-present. A personal story of search and encounters, of escape and returning. (more…)
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Anton Vidokle and the Institute of the CosmosJul 1 – Oct 28, 2023Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland presents the exhibition Anton Vidokle and the Institute of the Cosmos. The exhibition features four films that look at Cosmism through themes of biopolitics, immortalism, interplanetarianism, revolution, nutrition, utopia, resurrection, and museology: (more…)
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Sacha TurchiArtistSacha Turchi currently lives and works in Italy and collaborates with various visual and sound artists. The interactions between individual and nature, body and psyche, constitutes the essential matrix of her research. (more…)
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International Women’s Day / 2023March 8, 2023International Women’s Day: Founded over a hundred years ago evolving through various names and dates, this fulcrum of women’s rights was adopted by the United Nations only in 1975 and is still largely overlooked in many countries. (more…)
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Against ApartheidSep 29 – Dec 2, 2023Curated by Ashish Ghadiali, Against Apartheid explores the origins of climate apartheid through the work of international contemporary artists, activists and scientists. UN Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston, has dubbed the potential outcome of anthropogenic climate change as “climate apartheid” (more…)
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Lucy Beech / Working with WasteJul 6 – Oct 1, 2023The exhibition Working with Waste by the British artist Lucy Beech grew out of their research-based practice and ongoing exchange with poets, scientists, technologists, historians, and other filmmakers. (more…)
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Elle Pérez: IntimaciesJul 22, 2023 – Jun 2024Beginning July 22, 2023, MASS MoCA will present Elle Pérez: Intimacies, an exhibition of photographs by the acclaimed Bronx-born, Puerto Rican photographer. The show will be on view in B6: The Robert Wilson Building, through June 2024. This selection of works is an expanded presentation of a body of work titled Devotions shown in part in Pérez’s recent exhibitions at the Carnegie Museum and at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (more…)
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Dorothea Lange: Tales of Life and WorkCamera / Jul 19 – Oct 8, 2023“I was following instinct, not reason; I drove into that wet and soggy camp and parked my car like a homing pigeon. I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions.”
–Dorothea Lange / February 1960 (more…)
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Jinjoon Lee: Audible GardenJul 21 – Oct 13, 2023This summer, the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) and the Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) co-present Audible Garden, the solo exhibition of work by new media artist Jinjoon Lee as part of a yearlong celebration of the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the UK. (more…)
