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New York (AFP)
The Rockefeller Center in New York, famous for its skating rink and art deco buildings, was turned Thursday into an art gallery housing 20 sculptures, some with a strong political focus.
The exhibition was organized by the Frieze group and will last until the end of June. It is spread throughout the Rockefeller Center, which spans three blocks and was built in the 1930s in the heart of Manhattan. He has already presented works of art, but never a complete exhibition.
Curator Brett Littman said he had chosen artists from diverse backgrounds, particularly Hispanic and African, and that he insisted on the inclusion of female artists – four in total.
Many works play the vertical spaces of urban architecture.
Although Littman said there was no open theme, "one of the things that is really close to my heart is that it is a difficult political time and many artists are thinking about it."
Two huge cutouts are placed on either side of the entrance to the main building, one representing sprinter Tommie Smith, famous for raising his fist clenched in a Black Power salute on the podium at the 1968 Olympics.
On the other hand, Ruby Bridges, who at the age of six became the first African-American child to be admitted to a white elementary school in the isolated South American in 1960.
Paulo Nazareth, the Brazilian creator of both sculptures, saw the symbolism near the statue of Ruby Bridges and a toy store on the ground floor of the center, where it might have been banned at the little girl to enter during her lifetime.
Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has also replaced the 192 flags of UN member states that normally line the rink with jute flags, a cheap material used as a bag in his country.
"It's about his critique of global capitalism, his idea of the spice trade, the slave trade, or even immigration to Africa," Littman said.
"So that's a lot of things and it really changes the landscape," he said.
? AFP 2019
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