“May 1st, 1981 – February 1st, 2013” Performance by Maria Evelia Marmolejo at MAAS Long Island City

Maria Evelia Marmolejo, Mayo/81. Project sketch on paper

Courtesy of the artist and Julian Navarro Projects, New York

May 1st, 1981 – February 1st, 2013 Performance by Maria Evelia Marmolejo

Friday, Feb 1st Performance at 8pm - Reception 7:30pm

MAAS Talks

Maria Evelia Marmolejo in conversation with curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill

Saturday, Feb 2nd at 5pm

MAAS | 36-01 36 Ave. 3rd Floor North. Long Island City, NY 11106

The political and feminist performatic work by Maria Evelia Marmolejo (Pradera,Colombia 1958) started in the late 1970s in Cali, Colombia. In her work, the woman’s body plays a powerful role addressing socio-political issues, pertinent to Latin America and the world at large.

Maria Evelia Marmolejo, one of the most radical performance artists to emerge in the 1980s in Latin America, is returning, after many years of silence, to the public arena with the performance “May 1st, 1981 – February 1st, 2013”. The piece was originally conceived in 1981 under the title “Mayo 1981”, but the performance never took place.

For the first time after more than 30 years, Marmolejo is performing the piece adding a new element - the present time. The artist is using the space to connect her personal

experience of a violent, chaotic past to a present time marked by great technological advances, but where the dynamics of social violence remain or have worsened.

Marmolejo’s work has been shown both inside and outside the art institution, often taking place in secluded locations away from the public view, others in public places with or without the authorities consent, and also in institutions such as Museum of Modern Art of Bogota, Museum of Modern Art Cartagena, Contemporary Art Museum Guayaquil.

Conferences include History of Contemporary Art in Latin America, Universidad Central of Quito and in the Contemporary Museum and Pinacoteca of Guayaquil, Ecuador; The History of Pre-Colombian Performance Art to present day, State Institute of Fine Arts of Cali, Colombia; Poisoning Pachamama, Plan Colombia, York College, New York; International Interests Behind Illicit Crops, York College, New York.

Her work has been published through research projects such as Re.Act.Feminism, a performing archive based in Berlin, and articles in international publication such us Art

Nexus and Arte y Critica. Marmolejo’s work will be on view in the context of the historical exhibition “The Political Body: Radical Women in Latin American Art: 1960-1985”, which is curated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and Andrea Giunta.

Maria Evelia Marmolejo is a New York based Colombian artist and holds a Master of Arts in Humanities from The City University of New York.

MAAS Talks

On Saturday, Feb 2nd at 5pm Maria Evelia will be speaking about her work with Cecilia Fajardo-Hill. In this conversation her earlier and emblematic works from the 1980s will be discussed and the public will have the opportunity to ask questions to the artist.

For further information, please contact Laura Lona at l@mandragoras.org or by

telephone at 347 527 2269.