West Side Story Upside Down, Backwards, Sideways and Out of Focus (La Maleta de Futriaco Martínez)

Current Time 0:00
Duration -:-
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -:-
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
      ADÁL, West Side Story Upside Down, Backwards, Sideways and Out of Focus (La Maleta de Futriaco Martínez), 2002, suitcase, flat-screen LCD monitor, single-channel digital video, color, sound; 12:51 minutes, 14 x 20 x 7 in. (35.6 x 50.8 x 17.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.20A-B, © 2002, ADÁL

      Artwork Details

      Title
      West Side Story Upside Down, Backwards, Sideways and Out of Focus (La Maleta de Futriaco Martínez)
      Artist
      Date
      2002
      Location
      Not on view
      Dimensions
      14 x 20 x 7 in. (35.6 x 50.8 x 17.8 cm)
      Copyright
      © 2002, ADÁL
      Credit Line
      Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
      Mediums
      Mediums Description
      suitcase, flat-screen LCD monitor, single-channel digital video, color, sound; 12:51 minutes
      Classifications
      Highlights
      Subjects
      • Object — other — luggage
      Digital Catalogue
      Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies
      Object Number
      2013.20A-B
      Linked Open Data
      https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.20A-B

      Artwork Description

      ADÁL merged snippets of West Side Story, the classic 1961 film that widely introduced stereotypes of Puerto Ricans into American popular culture, with documentary footage of Puerto Ricans in New York, readings of Nuyorican poetry by Pedro Pietri, and the music of Tito Puente and Brenda Feliciano. By slowing down, rewinding, and blurring the film footage and contaminating its narrative and soundtrack, ADÁL disrupted the storyline and exposed its social-political omissions. Embedded in a humble suitcase, the video also sheds light on the social conditions that propelled Puerto Rican migration to the mainland and partially inspired the film.

      Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
      Description in Spanish

      ADÁL fusionó fragmentos de West Side Story, la película clásica de 1961 que diseminó ampliamente los estereotipos de los puertorriqueños en la cultura popular estadounidense, con filmaciones documentales de puertorriqueños en Nueva York, lecturas de poesía nuyorican por Pedro Pietri, y la música de Tito Puente y Brenda Feliciano. Al proyectar lentamente, devolver y desenfocar las imágenes de la película y contaminar su hilo narrativo y banda sonora, ADÁL alteró la trama y puso en relieve sus omisiones sociopolíticas. Empotrado en una humilde maleta, el video también revela las condiciones sociales que impulsaron la migración puertorriqueña hacia el continente e inspiraron parcialmente la película.

      Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

      Works by this artist (7 items)

      View all artworks
      Miles Burkholder Carpenter, Bull's Head, 1972, carved and painted wood, rubber, and thread, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.234
      Bull’s Head
      Artist
      Date1972
      carved and painted wood, rubber, and thread
      On view
      Miles Burkholder Carpenter, Self-Portrait (Indian Brave), 1967, wood, wool, linen, feathers, metal, paint and fur, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1993.40A-C
      Self-Portrait (Indian Brave)
      Artist
      Date1967
      wood, wool, linen, feathers, metal, paint and fur
      Not on view
      Miles Burkholder Carpenter, Devil on a Root Monster, 1974, painted wood, fur, leather, synthetic cord, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.54A-C
      Devil on a Root Monster
      Artist
      Date1974
      painted wood, fur, leather, synthetic cord
      Not on view
      Miles Burkholder Carpenter, WATER GATE, 1974, carved and painted wood, metal, paper, rubber hose, rubber bands, string, sawdust, and ballpoint pen and ink, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.237
      WATER GATE
      Artist
      Date1974
      carved and painted wood, metal, paper, rubber hose, rubber bands, string, sawdust, and ballpoint pen and ink
      Not on view

      Related Books

      The cover of the publication Musical Thinking New Video Art & Sonic Strategies
      Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies 
      Exploring the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music, the exhibition Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies features ten leading contemporary artists and the work.

      Exhibitions

      Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
      Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
      October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014
      Smithsonian American Art Museum
      Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.
      Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_2 - 139600
      Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies
      June 23, 2023–January 28, 2024
      Smithsonian American Art Museum
      Musical Thinking explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music.