About this project
Read these blog posts in a three-part series by PhD student and Mellon Humanities Public Fellow Daniel Valtueña about his experience curating the project En un cuartito los dos in the James Gallery at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Watch a video recap below:
En un cuartito los dos is a curatorial project that brings performer Niño de Elche to the space of the gallery. Conceived as a short artist residency, Niño de Elche will spend a few days at the James Gallery exploring the curatorial and spatial implications of the space in order to articulate innovative venues for the public to gather.
The notion surrounding the Spanish term cuarto –partially translated for “room” in English– is the main premise for this project. The cuartos flamencos used to be marginalized performing spaces where dissident bodies and practices used to take place in fin-de-siècle Spain. Related spaces such as cafés cantantes contributed to articulate traditional imaginaries on Iberian culture which ignored the individuals who inhabited them. Niño de Elche aims to explore the non-normative practices spaces censor by working on sound experimentation and performative actions in the gallery space. By calling on other cuartos such as black holes and dark rooms he will explore notions such as tradition, intimacy, and queerness.
This project started to be formulated in the frame of the graduate seminar Curatorial Practicum: Exhibitions, Research, and Publics in the Spring 2018 semester.
This project is organized by Daniel Valtueña and Katherine Carl.
Related Events:
Wed, May 1st, 6:30pm: Towards a Desanctification of the Gallery Space (Round-table Discussion)
Thu, May 2nd, 6:30pm: "En un cuartito los dos" Niño de Elche (Performance and Conversation)
Co-sponsored by the James Gallery; Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures Department; Theatre and Performance Department; Lucille Lortel Chair; the Doctoral Students' Council; and The Foundation for Iberian Music.
