Over the course of the exhibition, the artist and MOCA will invite the public to use the space for pandemic-conscious gathering, providing micro-grants to event proposals from local individuals or groups. Drawing from models such as the Bauhaus curriculum wheel, utopian garden cities of the late 1800s, and various cosmological structures, Camil synthesizes a floor plan that is open to multiple interpretations. The design simultaneously demarcates safe social-distancing parameters and offers an interpretable schematic inspired by decentralized methods of organization. Overlaid onto the rug is a large, hand-painted diagram designed by the artist. Blanketing concrete, the piece creates an inviting space to sit, gather, and gaze up at the colorful T-shirt tarps. The artwork playfully demonstrates tactical and inventive individual responses in the face of hegemonic power, invoking thrift, fast fashion, and part-to-whole relationships.įor MOCA Tucson, Camil has conceived of Autonomous Space Rug, a massive new work which covers the floor below Bara with a patchwork of overstock carpet. Bara speaks to complex economic relationships forced by American overconsumption, imbalanced trade policies, and exploitative labor markets. The installation’s title comes from the word barato, meaning cheap, an exclamation used by street vendors selling their goods. The shirts are sewn together into five sweeping tarps, each a different field of color. The piece is composed of secondhand T-shirts produced in Latin America for retailers in the United States that ended up in bargain markets in Mexico, either through charity or waste. The three major artworks that make up the show investigate relationships of power, intimacy, and collectivity during the pandemic, within the space of an art museum and in the broader bi-national landscape.īara, Bara, Bara, a large-scale, site-specific textile installation first presented in 2017, hangs from the ceiling of MOCA’s Great Hall. The Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson is pleased to announce an exhibition from noted artist Pia Camil, featuring new iterations of existing works and a site-specific commission.

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