Mauricio Lupini’s work dismantles the myths of Western modernity via the use of ethnographic methodology. The idea behind this piece is to re-present a modern artwork adopting an ethnographical perspective. Diorama: The Location of Culture reworks the celebrated constructive-kinetic piece called Penetrable made by Jesus Rafael Soto in the 1960s, which became the icon of an ‘international style’ of Latin American art in the 60s and 70s. Lupini has reshaped Homi Bhabha’s book The Location of Culture according to the formal rules of the kinetic piece, in order construct a Penetrable. In the work, a shift of dimension goes from the flat surface of the pages to spatial reality, from the geometrical exploration to the contextual investigation of site. The abstract formal language of the rational, universal, and decontextualized piece is challenged by the cultural, social, and historical contextual analysis of Bhabha which collapses in the work.


Selected solo exhibitions: 2001: Sala Mendoza, Caracas; 2000: Milton, London; 1999: Archivio Fotografico Toscano, Prato; Museo Otero, Caracas; Sala Mendoza, Caracas; Museo Soto, Ciudad Bolìvar, Venezuela.
Selected group exhibitions: 2003: Tent, Podion, Amsterdam; 2002: Etnografía: modo de empleo, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas; 2001: Demonstration Room, Apex Art, New York; NICC, Antwerp Politicas de la diferencia, Recife, Brazil/ Generalitat Valenciana Spain; 1999: Stranger Knocking, Melbourne International Biennial; Cabinets of Curiosity, Essex University Gallery, England; Fourteen-day changing exhibition, 21:24, 21:22 Galleries, Oslo; Jaars III, Kunstcentrum, Sittard, NL; 1998: Orinoco. Arte, sciencia y tecnologìa, Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Caracas; Subway, metro stations in Milan; Pilgrim's thread, Fondazione Ratti, Como /Viafarini, Milano; The neighbouring shore, Bolivar Hall, London; Contemporànea/Adquisiciones 1994 /1998, Museo Otero, Caracas.