Binary Code: Genders in Art

Artists’ Panel

Auditorium, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd | Transportation Options

Gender presentations in art are the outcome of the cultural process of defining sexual and social identity. Gender as a social structure and a function of culture results in its institutionalization throughout society, impacting labor markets, organizational culture, politics and policies, family and social roles, among other things. These patterned arrangements in society determine a system of socio-economic stratifications that shapes social and cultural institutions. With the rise of globalization and neoliberalism, we are witnessing an increase of the hegemonic masculine corporate culture and state ethos that is impacting all spheres of society. At the same time, we are witnessing an upsurge in movements around gender, such as the LGTBQI movement, Metoo movement, and Incel movement, among others. This panel will initiate an open discussion about how these issues impact the production and consumption of art and will ask what is the role of art in collective cultural consciousness.

Janet Batet Independent curator, art critic and essayist, Batet is passionate about contemporary art, Latin American art, and new technology. Her articles on art practices are regularly published in Art Nexus, Art Pulse, Arte al Dia, Cuban Arts News, Arts on Cuba, and El Nuevo Herald, among others.

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, now located in Boston, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons grew up on a sugar plantation in La Vega, Cuba in a family with Nigerian, Hispanic, and Chinese roots. Campos-Pons’ artistic practice is thus deeply influenced by her polyglot heritage as she integrates a diversity of media into her work. Her autobiographical work moves through themes of history, memory, gender, and religion as they inform one’s identity. She has gained an international reputation as an exponent of the New Cuban Art movement that arose in opposition to Communist repression on the island.

Nereida García-Ferraz’s artistic practice encompasses painting, photography, video, sculpture and social art projects. Interested in exploring autobiographical, ecological and feminist themes, Garcia-Ferraz uses art as a connecting language. An active art educator, Garcia-Ferraz has been a facilitator of the outreach program, Women on the Rise!

David Rohn is best-known for his interactive performance art and visual interventions. His artistic practice encompasses painting, photography, video, site specific art, installations, and performance. As a member of the socially-focused performance duo Homo-Sapiens Collaborative and LaboMamo Collaborative, Rohn creates artwork that addresses social issues, gender and stereotypes.

Nina Surel is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is an ongoing exploration of the deepest recesses of our collective unconscious, from a decidedly feminist standpoint. Surel’s informed baroque and surreal findings are part of an exceedingly personal quest to envision a non-patriarchal version of the eternal feminine through painting, mixed-media, video-installation, and in-situ installation.

Michelle Weinberg is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural incubator who creates art for surfaces, interiors, architecture and public spaces. Her works include various mediums such as painting, collage, silkscreen, rugs, tiles, mosaic and art in public spaces, with the animated pictorial space being a central component of her practice. Weinberg is Creative Director of Girls’ Club in Fort Lauderdale, and a consultant to museums and nonprofits, developing exhibitions, education programming and more.