In Global Shower the now ever-present plastic garden chair is employed by Adriana Arenas as a symbol of globalization. These chairs, found in cafés, outdoor decks, gardens, and even makeshift conference rooms become commonplace in public spaces throughout the world. The regional music soundtrack that accompanies the images generates another level of reading since the local is not lost in the process and only objects that render a
practical service are globally assimilated. For Arenas, Latin America
constitutes a model for an ‘organic’ study of the transmutation of cultures and traditions. As opposed to theories of globalization that predict the
disappearance of the local, in Latin America heroes, music, and food are exchanged as part of a natural dynamic and without a marketing strategy behind them. This has recently been made evident by, for instance, the appropriation of Colombian vallenato rhythms by musicians from Dominican Republic, which have in turn become bachata hits in Europe, specifically in Spain, without proper credit or copyrights being acknowledged to the original authors. Arenas juxtaposes one of these vallenatos turned into bachata in the
soundtrack of her video piece, presented as a karaoke, to articulate a
commentary on clichés about neoliberalism and globalization via a song that describes a servile and exaggerated love, synonymous, for the artist, with the attitude with which the majority of countries affected by this economic
system negotiate with those who profit from it.

Selected solo exhibitions: 2002: Bronx Museum of Art, New York; El Parche, Bogotá; Roebling Hall, New York; Media City, Winsor; Rice University Art Gallery, Houston; 2000: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Kapernicas Fine Arts, New York.
Selected group exhibitions: 2002: Pink, Luxe, New York; 2001: Lite, Roebling Hall, New York; Biting Style and Spitting Image, Bass Museum, Miami; Digital, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; 2000: 7th Havana Biennial; B&W and of Color, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Amigo Racism, La Raza, San Francisco; Greater New York, P.S.1, New York; 1999: Status.quo, Valenzuela & Klenner, Bogotá, Colombia; N.Y, N.Y: Big City of Dreams, Openspace, Milan; Three Suitcases, Art & Idea, Mexico City; Scope 3, Artists Space, New York;1 In Sync, Anthology Film Archives, New York.