CIFO announced the last days of its 2012 Grants and Commissions Program Exhibition

“Not Me: Subject to Change” features newly commissioned works by Eduardo Abaroa (Mexico), Francisca Aninat (Chile), Julieta Aranda (Mexico, Germany, USA), Tamar Guimarães (Brazil, Denmark), Glexis Novoa (Cuba, USA), Daniela Ortiz (Peru, Spain), Marta María Perez Bravo (Cuba, Mexico) and Marisa Rubio (Argentina). The sculptures, installations, drawings, performances and videos included in Not Me: Subject to Change all reference the body in a range of ways: From the subtle to the overt, signaled to commanding, violent to intangible. Together they are a series of gestures that connote the body as a reflective, reactive and affected entity.

This year’s Grants & Commissions Program awards were given to an increased number of emerging and mid-career Latin American artists living outside of their countries of origin. “This shift presents a more global perspective on the cultural contributions of artists from Latin America,” according to CIFO Founder Ella Fontanals-Cisneros. “Not Me: Subject to Change celebrates the winners, marks yet another milestone in our 10th year anniversary and sets the stage for a new chapter of cultural exchange initiatives at CIFO,” she added.

The title of the exhibition refers to Donald Winnicott’s psychoanalytic theory of the first “not me possession:” a transitional object that moves the child into his or her first understanding of their body as an independent entity. This shift into self-awareness takes the child from the illusion of supremacy (commanding the fulfillment of its essential needs at will) into a world of shared experiences filled with the successes and disillusions of its quest for dominance over his or her objects of desire. This transitional object—space or experience—in Winnicott terms, paves the way for understanding the intermediacy and distance between inner and outer experiences. In the case of the works included in this exhibition, however, the title also reflects the way in which artists use the body—or embodiment—to navigate through an increasingly complex contemporary existence: one replete with rapidly changing conditions, boundaries, borders and timelines.

The acquisition and production grants are awarded each year to up to eight emerging artists, up to three mid-career artists and on occasion one achievement artist. These artists are nominated by CIFO’s Honorary Advisory Committee of leading art professionals, curators and artists from Latin America, the United States, and Europe. After a rigorous review process, the annual recipients of CIFO’s Grants and Commissions are chosen by the Selection Committee and ratified by CIFO’s Board of Directors.

Now in its ninth edition, “this program has been recognized as one of the most prestigious of its kind among the Latin American contemporary art community," said Jesus Fuenmayor, CIFO Director and Curator. “To consolidate this position in the long run, we developed new ideas such as a Rotating Advisory Committee of past recipients, including works from CIFO’s Collection in several exhibitions, and we signed an agreement with a local artist residency program to benefit a future award recipient.”