In a new installation at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, León De la Rosa-Carrillo remixes art and culture in his art installation "The Remix Room."
"The Remix Room," which Rosa-Carrillo has been working on since 2013, opened Feb. 7 and will remain in the upper gallery at the UNM Art Museum until May 9.
The installation consists of five different stations of mixed media arts. Some of the stations are interactive, and most of them consist of multiple works of art. The exhibit includes remixed videos, embroidery, lenticular posters, books and a short story displayed prominently on the wall.
Each art piece in the installation uses remixing as an art form. This allows artists to interact with a culture that already exists and bring their own personal experiences into that culture.
Rosa-Carrillo, who is an art professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, did his dissertation on the language of internet memes. The themes of technology and the internet are highlighted in the installation.
"The posters, those were made starting as GIFs for classes in my Ph.D. program," Rosa-Carrillo said. "And that had its own process. It was kind of joyful, you know, since internet memes tend to be fun."
Traci Quinn, the curator of education and public programs at the UNM Art Museum, discussed her interest in the installment and said, "León is dealing with something I think speaks to a younger generation. Not to say the idea of remix is new, because it’s not. But I think it's something that resonates with something we see in our daily lives."
Rosa-Carrillo, who lives and teaches in Juárez, Mexico, includes remixed images from the U.S.-Mexico border in his artwork. This is featured in his lenticular posters and the station featuring the book "Ojala," which Rosa-Carrillo co-authored with Phillip Zimmerman.
Over the coming semester, Rosa-Carrillo looks forward to the community’s involvement in his art.
"I actually enjoy the idea of being around and having the chance to talk to people about it," Rosa-Carrillo said. "Not necessarily for me to explain it to them but talk to them and using the artwork as a jumping-off point to have meaningful conversations and meaningful encounters."
This spring semester, Rosa-Carrillo will be working with students in four classes at UNM. Two of the classes will be art classes and two will be in the honors college.
"He will be talking to them about remix and what that means," Quinn said. "It’s tied to the curriculum, and we’re thinking about what the faculty are teaching too, what students (are) learning. And that’s unique in the sense of having an artist's residency that is focused on learning."
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In these classes, Rosa-Carrillo will work with students and professors to consider the idea of remixing as an art technique. Student art will also be hung in the gallery alongside Rosa-Carrillo's.
"I want to find a way in with the purpose of thinking about remixing as a research strategy," Rosa-Carrillo said while explaining his plan for this residency. "Where people and users and consumers can become creators and can interact and interject themselves and their narratives that the others do."
As an art professor and professional artist, Rosa-Carrillo advises students who are looking for a career in art.
"I don’t really trust the idea that our path has to do with specific techniques and specific media but really with a way of thinking that is really creative and ethical as well," Rosa-Carrillo said. "With regards to the culture that’s already around us. I would say to ask yourself if whatever you’re trying to do or say is really worth trying to do or say — and a lot of times it’s not — but you’re the only one who can really figure that one out."
Loreena Cain is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @loreena_cain
