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

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      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, 14207 in. (35.650.817.8 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
      14207 in. (35.650.817.8 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
      Object Number
      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 (1 item)

      Bob Diamond, David Behrman, Robert Watts, Cloud Music, 1974-1979, hybrid sound/video installation with custom electronics, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.64, © 1979, Robert Watts Estate, David Behrman, Bob Diamond
      Cloud Music
      Date1974-1979
      hybrid sound/video installation with custom electronics
      Not on view

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      Exhibitions

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      June 23, 2023January 28, 2024
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      Date1925
      pencil on paper
      Not on view
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      Date1981
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