Social media technologies bear diverse possibilities for human connection on immense and unprecedented scales. Analogizing these potentials, Rewell Altunaga and Naivy Pérez present “From East to West,” a participatory project that aspires to collect and circulate images of the sunset from around the world on the Winter Solstice. Presenting the images on Instagram—a platform that is constantly updating and that inherently emphasizes the here and now—the artists lay bare the temporal complexity of the world around us. They approach the sunset as a singular event that is both globally shared and uniquely experienced, subject to infinite variations of perspective, climate, and position. Altunaga and Pérez will source images from their wide-ranging peer network, and invite Instagram users to post images of the Winter Solstice sunset from wherever they are, using the tag #fromeasttowestsolstice. These images will be immediately reposted on @boffo_ny, and all photographers will be credited as collaborators. Through this open call for images from across the world, and the near-live posting of sunset images, the aggregate representation of the setting sun stretches a fleeting event into a perpetual present.
Full project details can be found here: FROM EAST TO WEST
Rewell Altunaga (b. 1977, Camagüey) is a Cuban artist and curator. In Altunaga graduated from the Academia de Artes Plásticas Oscar Fernandez Morera, Trinidad, Cuba where he studied painting, ceramics and photography and become fascinated by the potential of new media – especially video games – as platforms for artistic expression. In the past decade, Altunaga has produced a significant number of machinima, mods, and other kinds of works based on videogames. For instance, Coward (2007) is based on Delta Force: Black Hawk Down + Team Sabre (2006) and presents a series of re-enactments of “real” and simulated missions to Colombia, Somalia, and Iran. Ammu-nation (2006) is a mod of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002). The Journey (2009) is both a mod and machinima based on Grand Theft Auto: IV. Set on a virtual replica of the Brooklyn Bridge with an eerie radio soundtrack, The Journey depicts an entire day in the span of a single gameplay hour. Mario’s Dream (2011) focuses on virtual violence and presents scenes from several games – among others, Arma II, Grid, Kane & Lynch. The titular plumber’s dream – or nightmare – is about the collusion between reality and fiction and the epistemological short circuits. He has participated in over thirty group exhibitions and has had eight personal shows. Altunaga’s curatorial practice is equally impressive. He has curated several exhibitions.
Naivy Pérez (b. 1986, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba) artist and designer. Graduated in Higher Institute of Art (ISA), with Gold Diplomat, Faculty of Visual Arts in 2010, and it studied in Kungliga Konsthogs Kolan (Royal University College of Fine Art), Stockholm in 2009-2010. Perez solo exhibitions include the Raul Martinez Gallery, Center of Development of the Visual Arts and Salle Zero. Recently Naivy’s has participated in group exhibitions such as 2015: Cuban Virtulities”, Sullivan Galleries and Betty Rymer, Aidekman Arts Center in Chicago, Estados Unidos. 2014: “xL2, Por el dos”, VI Salon of Contemporary Cuban Art, Development Center for the Visual Arts in Havana, Cuba. “IX Encounter: Schedule”, Hemispheric institute, PHI Centre in Montreal, Canada. “MachA, VaronA, MasculinA: La femme artiste dans la barbe de l´art cubain”, Estudio XX, in Montreal, Canada. 2013: “Cuban Virtulities”, Tufts University Art Gallery, Aidekman Arts Center in Boston, Estados Unidos. 2012: Video Guerrilha project, Sao Paulo, Circular Motion: Subverting Circumscription, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco and Creaciones compartidas, 11na Havana Biennial, Cuba Pavilion. She has also received various awards including Scholarship Juan F. Elso in Havana, Scholarship Study 21 in Havana and First prize: Fifth edition of the National Festival of Ephemeral Sculpture.
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