Inglés

Árbol Corazón (Heart Tree) (Detail) 2015 Installation Cement and galvanized iron This monumental installation in the form of a tree with a bark-covered heart, crea- ted by Lidia León especially for the CEDIMAT Cardiovascular Center in Santo Domingo, could have been taken from German artist Joseph Beuys’ project De- fense of Nature,21 which was displayed in a small town in the Italian region of Abruzzo in 1972. One of Beuys’ most frequent artistic actions was planting trees - in order to impress upon people, the understanding that every man is an artist when he creates life instead of destroying it. This action culminated in 1982, when he was invited to present a work at Documenta in Kassel: he built a triangular installation of 7,000 basalt stones in front of the Fridericianum, entitled “7,000 Oaks.”. The artist stated that he would use the funds from the sale of each individual stone to plant an oak tree. The magnificent art work was positively concluded a few years later, with the planting of all of the seven thousand trees. Three hundred years from now, they will become the forest the artist wished to create and a “green lung” for Germany, giving oxygen to future generations. Árbol Corazón is dedicated to that same curative power of nature. Lidia León has set up this large, six-me- ter installation on a pedestal in the therapeutic wing on the fifth floor of the CEDIMAT Cardiovascular Center in Santo Domingo. The direct relationship with nature and sensitivity to ecological politics that characterizes the poetics of many Dominican artists is clearly seen here in Lidia León’s work, with an anthropocentric bent. Giving a tree a human heart means not only recognizing the fun- damental importance of nature for human beings but also defending the individual, and educating him in respect for the environment he lives in. As in the Wabi Sabi art series, the artist continues to define a personal sense of aesthetics in her work, leading her to 21 Defense of Nature - Joseph Beuys, Lucrezia de Domizio Durini, Le Frecce 2014 “My country’s natural treasures (its coasts, mountains and vegetation) are reflected in my artwork and poems on music.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 97

Árbol Corazón (Heart Tree) 2015 Installation Cement and galvanized iron 5x6m Cedimat Cardiovascular Center, lent by the artist 98



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draw ever more on the repertoire of nature itself. Lidia could never imagine a tree, if not in the shapes and colors it was created with. Re-cognition, or the appreciation of the value of that which has always existed in the eter- nal present to keep it from being destroyed by the merciless machine of modernism –this is the heroic aspect of the artistic act: condensing time into an eternal present! Árbol Corazón breaks with the allegorical tradition of the tree of life, in which the form of the tree itself is loaded with numerous metaphysical meanings and is reinterpreted with many different stylistic approaches. Lidia’s tree with a heart is a real tree, which loves and is loved concretely and truly with its sincere heart. The artist here has represented it with the emotional immediacy of a child’s drawing, vivid in its depiction of an open-hearted attachment to nature. This is the expressive power of LiLeón’s artistic language. It goes directly to the viewer’s heart, eschewing intellectual artifice, to heal the viewer with the positive energy flowing through art itself; and a human tree, most likely, was what the patients at the cardiovascular center needed to be able to see themselves in the tree in a kind of symbiotic relationship. When the artist conceived the artwork, she cautiously decided not to use wood –it would have been unsuitable due to on-site fire regulations. Instead she designed a skeleton in galvanized steel, able to resist bad weather and high winds. The skeleton’s form was suggested by the structure of the human circulatory and vascular system, which carries blood to the lungs through the aorta (the largest artery in the human body, originating in the left ventricle of the heart.) She then modeled a rough draft of the sculpture, adding a protuberance shaped like a human heart. Finally, she tasked the Californian company NatureMaker, specialists in this type of work, with covering the skeleton and heart with a kind of epidermis in reinforced ce- ment, hand-carved and painted to resemble a bark of cork. The complementary roles of man and nature are underlined by the artist in her focus on the vital function of breath: humans inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, while trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the air. All Lidia León’s art revolves around the empirical sciences, from which the artist identifies the universe’s infinite relationships with that most impalpable sphere of the soul, decoding meaning from the language of nature to express the absolute values of art, both significant and unimportant. 101

It is no coincidence that the natural world is structured according to the exact same principles as the human body, repeating the same forms and the same proportions. A famous example is the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, the great Italian master who knew better than anyone how to marry art and science, and express them both in sublime works of genius. The forms of trees and branches return in our own bodies in the guise of our circulatory and cardiovascular systems. This leads us to reflect not only on the functions of the hu- man body and the ways in which they mirror those of all other living things, but also on how best to protect and heal the body by following the laws of nature itself. In this case, creating a heart-shaped protuberance on the trunk of her tree, Lidia León shows us the path towards healing. The action of planting a tree becomes an ethical and moral one, safeguarding the world from the extinction of the human race. The legend of Easter Island tells of its first inhabitants who, carried away by arrogance and pride, waged war on one another. They constructed the moai22, enormous monolithic stone sculptures, by cutting down every last tree in their once-lush forests. And thus, the land became scorched and barren. The island’s inhabitants, who could no longer feed themselves with the fruits of the earth, turned to cannibalism and then went extinct. The legend of the moai, more relevant today than ever, exhorts humankind to restore its symbiotic relationship with nature, that inexhaustible fount of life and inspiration. And this is why Lidia León has planted a tree with a human heart in her garden of fantasy. 22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai “My parents and school education with the Teresian Sisters stimulated integration as a social and personal value, generator of mental and spiritual health. My training as an architect reinforces having others play the leading role in my designs.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 102

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LATITUDES Y LONGITUDES 104

Latitudes y Longitudes 2014 Interactive Installation Video arte 10 x 10 x 10 m The installation Latitudes y Longitudes was presented at the Autozama exhi- bition space in Santo Domingo for the 2014 edition of Photoimagen, the most prestigious exhibit of photography and audio-visual art in the Caribbean, and that same year at the Miami Mix Festival. In this work, Lidia León takes on socio-political themes, starting from a structural analysis of a fragment of everyday life in one of the great metropolitan cities of our technological age. Almost by chance, inspiration struck her one day at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. One could almost say that the installation came to her thanks to two gigan- tic apples! For her critical approach, in addition to the means used, the artist was inspired by two ap- ples: the first being Apple, the American mass media tech giant, and the second being New York City, the Big Apple, arguably history’s first megalopolis. From the latter, she takes the context to closely observe the most frequent reactions to multimedia technology as it man- ifests itself in the chaotic movements of the human masses. León was immediately drawn to the sight of people ascending and descending inside the Apple store, both in a clear glass elevator and on large staircases with transparent steps. She set herself up to film and photograph for a few minutes, positioning herself where she could best capture those images. The effect the footsteps on the transparent staircase created when filmed from below, sparked her curiosity enough to keep filming. This dance of dark shadows moving impulsively and without rhythm is the most evocative moment of the video as projected in the interior of the installation. But as Marshall McLuhan states,23 it’s true that “the medium is the message.” This is why technologies that are, in fact, the combination of numerous media, generate continuous messages which, in turn, react with those produced by other media. The effect on peo- ple is a destabilizing one, and they find themselves losing their horizons and perspective, bombarded by thousands of pieces of information at the same time. This is why McLuhan 23 The medium is the message, Quentin Fiore and Marshall McLuhan, Corraini 2011 105

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Latitudes y Longitudes 2014 Installation of video fragments 107

Two views from the maintained the necessity of evaluating media in terms of its “sociological, political and opening of Latitudes y psychological implications.” Longitudes (Latitudes Furthermore, he believed that the so-called “hot” forms of media induce a kind of stupor and Longitudes). in human beings, such that they lose sight of reality. TOP: MIAMIMIX In the filmed images of Latitudes y Longitudes for which the Dominican artist constructed Wynwood Warehouse her interactive installation, the people seem almost like automatons caught in the course Project. Miami, Florida of their repetitive motions. They all constantly have their mobile phones in hand to make BOTTOM: Photoimagen 2014, calls, read messages, and take pictures. Autozama. Santo Domingo This mass of humanity flows in two directions: longitudinally, as they climb the stairs or take the elevator down to enter and leave the store, and latitudinally, as the crowd fans out across multiple levels of the pedestrian area. Lidia León, whose work often calls on her knowledge of the sciences, realized while filming these scenes that their incessant movement could not be measured in scientific terms. It was too disordered and chaotic, lacking any point of reference. Commenting on her work, the artist emphasizes: “We interact with parameters we use as reference points, but these, for their part, are in continuous flux. These constant changes create disorientation, confusion and chaos...” Marshall McLuhan advised the new generations born after the technological revolution to seek explanations of their changed reality, analyzing the structure of the media they used. The media he was referring to included not only communications media, but more gener- ally everything that caused a change (movement.) “Many of my designs promote social inclusion through play, releasing tensions and stimulating the imagination. They invite the public to interact with my work, promoting the social need of human beings, promoting a space of respect for our differences, and counteracting discrimination.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 108

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This is exactly what LiLeón invites the public to do in her interactive installation: step out- side of the real world for a moment and walk barefoot into a white room, built specifically to allow visitors to observe scenes of their own daily lives –and thus to understand that our frenetic, chaotic movements are no longer measurable in human terms, but are wholly controlled by technology. The artist has built a white room, which almost feels like a refuge, atop a large wooden pedestal covered with soft sand. The walls are white fabric, so the video can be projected inside. The artist requests that visitors remove their shoes and socks before entering the instal- lation, so they can better immerse themselves from head to toe in the shower of images and sounds that are projected from above onto the white walls. The video consists of one part in black and white images of feet walking filmed from below inside the store, and the other in color, filmed on the street in front of the store entrance. The two parts alternate multiple times, weaving together the story of the film. LiLeón’s soundtrack adds to the work in an intensely evocative way: in the first part, we hear a sort of metallic, non-human breath, and in the second, amplified city traffic sounds heighten the sense of disorientation brought by the images of individuals in chaotic movement. While during the first part the movement of the feet is progressively slowed, in the second, the people first move slowly and then ever faster, to reveal the various angles from which the artist observed them - both the interior, more reflective one and their exterior appearance. The constant changes of this chaotic procession “provoke an inner and outward struggle for control and power,” affirms LiLeón. To return to a state of balance in both personal and collective peace, we must manage our own bodies and psyches, silencing the violent impulses that lead us to all manner of battles. Today, everyone knows that the world is controlled by the global market, in which technology reigns supreme. But few stop to reflect on the mechanisms by which that control is exercised. And it is in everyday life that it most often operates, most of all in 110

the great metropolitan cities where people’s days are structured according to the rules dictated by the market, which even influence people’s movements and actions. Thus, Lidia teaches us the fundamental importance of building a place of refuge, which we can enter and leave, in order to better understand the true nature of the problem plagu- ing our modern reality. 111

A DN Arte De Nacer ADN - Arte De Nacer (The Art of Being Born) 2013 Installation 4x4x8m 27th National Biennial for Visual Arts in Santo Domingo Museum of Modern Art 112

Presented to the public for the first time at the 27th National Biennial for Visual Arts held in 2013 at the Santo Domingo Museum of Modern Art, ADN - Arte De Nacer immediately revealed itself to be a masterpiece, and won the audience award. The original title of the installation was ADN - Arte De Nadar –the art of swimming– be- cause the artist had found inspiration in the movement of spermatozoa: equipped with small tails (flagelli), they are able to swim inside a woman’s body. Marianne de Tolentino, director of the Galería Nacional de Bellas Artes, then renamed the piece Arte De Nacer –the art of being born– in her critical commentary, thus giving due recognition to the exhi- bition and consequently to Lidia León for grasped at the heart of the fascinating mystery of conception and having expressed it through her art. This meticulously-constructed sculp- ture is composed of three main elements: the head, the skeleton, and the base. The elements at the head and base of the structure, two eight-sided polygons in mirrored steel, are arranged so that they can reflect light back and forth between them. The skeleton is formed by a nylon mesh, like that of the edge of a fisherman’s net, and stands over eight meters tall between the head and the base. The thin aluminum tubes 113

which provide support to the structure cause the net to arrange itself in a spiral, similar to the shape of a DNA molecule. At the center of the polygon, at the base, a sort of “navel of the world” (recalling the Greek omphalos) opens up, holding a luminous central body surrounded by pebbles of various sizes. A crystalline prism hangs halfway up between the net and the reflective element at the base, aligned with the light. The beam of light emanating from the base passes first through the prism, then the net, and finally reaches the mirrored polygon at the top of the structure, which reflects it back down along the same path. The result is a projection of light in the shape of an eight-point- ed star that appears around the installation’s base. This exceptionally well-constructed installation is based on the fundamental scientific con- cepts of genetics, which the artist represents here in geometrical form. The polygons re- call organic polymers of nucleic acid, while the net represents the concatenation of those polymers. But the artist’s powerful vision leads the work to transcend pure science and re- connect to a more ancient theme: the theories of the esoteric philosophers who believed it was possible to generate life itself by bringing together complementary masculine and feminine elements. In this installation, the Dominican artist represents feminine energy with the polygon em- anating light at the base: it’s no coincidence that in Spanish, one of the most frequently used metaphors for giving birth is “ha dado a luz” –literally, has given to light. The variety of stones surrounding the luminous body are reminiscent of water, considered the feminine element in alchemy. A fetus forms floating in amniotic fluid, and a spring of water is an iconographic representation of the source of life itself. The eight-pointed star is one of the most frequently-recurring elements in church archi- tecture, representing the pole star and the center of the world. It is also a symbol that has been associated with many goddesses, eventually being adopted by Christianity as a Marian symbol. The artist has identified the masculine element as the polygon at the head of the instal- lation, from which the net hangs vertically downward to reach the feminine element at the base. The fishing net is an allegorical reference to evangelism, where Christ and his Apostles appear as fishers of men. In Lidia León’s work, the fishing net is also an allusion to the flow 114

of spermatozoa that are introduced into a human body at the moment of conception, from which the lucky sperm that will fertilize the egg is miraculously “caught.” Finally, LiLeón hangs a crystal like a magical talisman above the life that is being born (the light), a prism that has the power to transform light into positive energy through its partic- ular spherical form. The artist explains that crystals are frequently used in Feng Shui, the popular traditional practice of organizing architecture and interior design, for the specific energies they are capable of transmitting into space –and especially to protect living spac- es in dangerous geographical areas. Crystals are also used to rebalance the energy of the human body. In the practice of Reiki, crystals are placed on the body in alignment with its Chakras, or energy centers. A crystal prism also played a fundamental role in the development of science: it allowed Newton to discover the corpuscular theory of light, according to which light is made up of many microscopic particles that are launched from a light source at extremely high velocity. Whatever color a ray of light is composed of corresponds to its refractive index in the crystal. 115

ADN - Arte De Nacer But what makes ADN unique, beyond its rich scientific and symbolic references, is the (The Art of Being Born) functionality of its complex and multitudinous levels of meaning, immediately receiving 2014 and visualizing them all at once. Installation LiLeón’s ADN displays the same inventiveness as the Russian Constructivists used in 4x4x8m developing new materials and techniques, for creating structures where the body of work Cultural Artistic Program was identical to its meaning. LiLeón has given birth to ADN: a kind of avatar with a human at Ágora Mall heart, built from human DNA. This enormous yet delicate metal structure, with its spiraling shape, recalls Vladimir Tat- lin’s24 design for a never-realized monument to the Third International. Tatlin’s tower was to have been a twin helix of steel, rising over 400 meters in height over a cubical base. 24 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Tatlin 116

It was intended to be St. Petersburg’s statement in celebration of modernity, and a direct challenge to the Eiffel Tower, which held absolute supremacy. The metallic exoskeleton of ADN also recalls the work of another important Russian sculp- tor, Naum Gabo25, one of the signatories of the manifesto that lead to Constructivism. He maintained that the artist’s primary mission is to reveal and make visible the forces hidden in nature. LiLeón’s art often finds a dialogue between nature and science, particularly with those sciences that reveal the internal organization and underlying structure of the natural world. This is why her rigid geometric forms bend toward more organic shapes, transforming bodies into force diagrams. ADN could be a ballerina, carefully following her steps, who soars weightlessly through the air. But in truth, this piece represents the place, the time and the manner of conception itself, when one out of the millions of spermatozoa swimming through the uterus finds the egg and fertilizes it as if by magic, creating the light of life. The audience, therefore, becomes a witness to the ideas of cosmology, which seeks to describe the birth of the universe itself. Thanks to this work’s profound subject matter and suggestive power, during its exhibition at the Santo Domingo Museum of Modern Art, visitors were invited to participate in med- itation sessions specially organized for the occasion. This cosmic aspect of the work was amplified in 2014: when ADN was on display in the exposition space of Ágora Mall as part of a Cultural Artistic Program dedicated to the expression of creative energy, a mandala was added to the existing structure. LiLeón drew a large mandala on the ground around the base polygon, and invited the audience to complement it with a dash of color. Medi- tation sessions were again held atop the mandala, and a modern dance production dedi- cated to the ongoing dialogue between the masculine and feminine body was presented. “Mandala” is a Sanskrit word, which originally referred to a sacred circle around a place of sacrifice –where, at the beginning of the Universe, a primordial sacrifice was offered, caus- ing the birth of the cosmos. In Eastern philosophies, the mandala is used in meditation, so that a person can merge their own energy with that of the cosmos and thereby liberate their spirit. As LiLeón emphasizes, it was the philosopher Carl Gustav Jung who first 25 http://www.filosofia.unimi.it/itinera/mat/saggi/simoncellis_bioarte.pdf 117



“ADN - Arte De Nacer reminds us that we are a result of joining the feminine energy (represented by the shaft of light, stones and mirrors) and the masculine energy (symbolized by the vertical, upright element).” Lidia León [LiLeón] 119

introduced the mandala into Western thought, writing four essays about it. Jung believed that both the personal unconscious and collective unconscious coexist in every individual, and that the latter is expressed through archetypes. The mandala –which is essentially an archetype itself– spurs the individual to search for his or her true self, welcoming it into a protected, peaceful circular space, from where it becomes easier to recognize the central point and the source of all energy, thereby grasping the meaning of life. Through her powerful vision, the multifaceted Dominican artist transforms herself into a shaman, inscribing a magic circle around life itself, cleansing it and healing it from every ill. Because of these extraordinary inherent therapeutic qualities, as well as the incredible energy that emanates from its viewing public, we can regard ADN - Arte De Nacer as a truly unique work. “The installation ADN - Arte De Nacer arises from the need to honor the miracle of life, that magic that occurs at conception when the man’s sperm penetrates the woman’s egg. ADN reveals the cosmic code which functions as a bridge between art and science, between nature and spirituality. Lidia León [LiLeón] 120

ADN - Arte De Nacer (The Art of Being Born) (Detail) 2013 Installation

JAULA BRILLANTE 122

Jaula Brillante (Shining Cage) 2015 Interactive installation 12 x 12 x 12 feet 28th National Biennial of Visual Arts in Santo Domingo Museum of Modern Art The silver plastic balloons of Jaula Brillante cannot help but recall the most fa- mous inflatable objects in contemporary art history –the works of American artist Jeff Koons, who has (literally!) invaded the museums and galleries of the world with his gigantic, playful pieces. To understand this installation by Lidia León, which re- ceived the Audience Award at the 28th National Biennial of Visual Arts in the Dominican Republic, we must begin with an analysis of Koons’ inflatables, which occupy a philosoph- ical space at the very opposite pole from Lidia León’s thought. Out of all his contemporaries, Koons best represents the American way, a concept directly correlated with the American dream. His work emphasizes the inequalities inherent in the consumer class. For Koons, bringing the popular kitschy tastes of the middle class into art means bringing the upper class (who, as the social elite, are the most frequent consumers of fine art!) onto equal foot- ing with that same middle class. The cultural operation that Koons, considered the heir of pop-art icon Andy Warhol, is determined to enact is the banalization of art, in order to tear down the social barriers of inequality. Incredibly, the operation seems to have been successful: his piece “Balloon Dog - orange” sold for a record-setting 58.4 million dollars at auction at Christie’s in 2013. Put simply, when viewers see a huge inflatable rabbit or dog on display in a museum, they feel reassured and at peace with their world, since the work does nothing to stimulate their critical faculties and provokes in them no sense of psychological or intellectual inferiority. “Jaula Brillante suggests the expression of freedom juxtaposed against confinement. It shows that limitations can be transformed into a valuable resource of inspiration and expansion. No matter how difficult a situation may seem, there is always a way out.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 123

Jaula Brillante (Shining Cage) Interactive installation 12 x 12 x 12 feet Centro León Santiago 124



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All of this is the exact opposite of what Lidia León does with her interactive art installa- tions. Lidia León invites the public to reflect, expand their cognitive faculties and refine their perception. When the Dominican artist makes use of silver inflatable balloons so peo- ple can entertain themselves by making them float up to the top of the cage, she poses an important question to her visitors: “Is there any hope of feeling free, when in truth we are all prisoners of our own personal and social restrictions?” Jaula Brillante, a metal cage exhibited in 2015 at the Santo Domingo Museum of Modern Art and later at the Centro Cultural Eduardo León Jimenes and the Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña, immediately sets a choice before its visitors: whether to arbitrarily enter the cage, and thus confront the human condition itself. But it is an inviting and welcoming cage, full of festive helium balloons. Visitors are encouraged to play with the balloons, launching them as high as possible in the air and trying to get them to float out and away through the opening the artist has left at the top of the cage. In the joyful movements of the silver balloons, the cage becomes filled with light, trans- formed into a dreamlike scene. LiLeón, with a benevolent smile towards her audience, shows us how dreams can become reality through the liberation of the imagination. In this work, the artist emphasizes the fact that the ability to dream with eyes wide open belongs more to children than to adults weighed down by their life experiences, and helps nurture the hope of a freedom that can never be lost. Stimulating the imagination is one of art’s most delicate tasks, as delicate as the search for liberty itself. And art, by its very na- ture one of the freest languages on earth, demonstrates that there are in fact limits on that same concept of freedom. Objective freedom does not exist, since all living and non-living beings belong to a complex and highly structured system of relationships, correlations and interrelations that limit their being and actions. In the real world, only subjective freedom can be achieved, and it is precisely this to which individuals must aspire, always finding a possible exit route. This work itself demonstrates how the creative process forces the artist to disentangle herself from the impositions of her materials and techniques before she can soar on the wings of imagination. The metaphor of a cage as an allusion to the denial of freedom in a social, political and cultural context in the era of urbanism in the great metropolitan cities was previously used 127

by Italian-Venetian artist Federica Marangoni26 (b. 1940), who was part of the Nouveau Realisme27 artistic and cultural movement defined by art critic Pierre Restany. Nouveau Realisme spread throughout Europe in the 1960s as a near-contemporary of the New DADA in the United States and an immediate predecessor of Pop Art. Its adherents wanted to find common ground among all the artists seeking a new path post-abstraction, a new relationship with a reality being transformed by the continuous development of the industrial sector. Marangoni’s variously-sized metal cages, in which she imprisoned fragile sculptures of Murano glass representing the archetypes of her artistic language (butterflies, hands, screens, etc.) culminated in 2006, in an iron cage of more than a cubic meter in dimension, entitled Il Colore del Cuore (The Color of the Heart), in which the artist presented a pile of blown-glass hearts illuminated by a red light. Returning to Lidia León’s Jaula Brillante –along with the giant 12x12x12-meter cage, the Dominican artist uses another metaphor in her interactive installation to exhort the public to overcome the difficulties inherent in liberating oneself from all forms of bondage– the balloons which fly outside the boundaries of the cage. The use of this metaphor in her artistic language is intended to stimulate an intellectual reaction in the public through the evocative effects of an emotionally powerful image. And in the case of Jaula Brillante, the physical experience of immersing one’s own body in an affective image that brings one immediately back to childhood only serves to reinforce the metaphor. But even outside the various analyses of the artistic language used in this installation, it is telling that first Marangoni and then Lidia León, two women artists from completely 26 Federica Marangoni – I luoghi dell’utopia, Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 2007 27 https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouveau_R%C3%A9alisme “Jaula Brillante encourages people to enter their own prison, through play and curiosity. With courage, caution and determination, those who feel motivated can slip through the bars to enter voluntarily.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 128



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different backgrounds, cultures and generations (and from two very distant countries!) have both felt the need to dedicate time and space in their work to the important theme of freedom, even using the same metaphors. This very likely illustrates how, despite all the social progress we have made in recent generations, it is still women in particular who suffer from the limits our stubborn society imposes, a society that has still not un- derstood the profound value of freedom. “Jaula Brillante is built on the basis of the interactive process. Each person contributes their uniqueness, thus generating a collective vitality that gives the artwork a life of its own.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 132

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ricaca RiCACA (Detail) 2018 In this work, whose provocative nature begins with its very title (no explanation Interactive installation needed!), Lidia León has created a curious sort of domestic scene that gives the Toilets, pallets of wood, impression of being a hybrid between a dining room and a toilet. fabric and chocolate Entering the installation, the viewer has the sense of walking into one of IKEA’s faux homes, on display in the showrooms of the global ready-made furniture giant. The artist’s 134 enigmatic toilet/dining room is built from pallets of natural wood. A wooden console used as a dining table rests against one of its four walls –surrounded by three commodes, in green, light blue and brown, in place of chairs. The dining table is set with simple, small white plates. The central plate contains a piece of chocolate shaped like excrement. Ad- ditionally, two toilet-paper rolls are mounted on the wall in full view in front of the table, and a bathroom garbage can rests on the floor. The other two walls are created by panels of white fabric that strongly recall shower curtains. These curtains are closed during the performance, to make the atmosphere a more intimate one. The artist-architect thus re- invents herself as scenographer and director, staging a scene of two ordinary biological processes that are repeated every day: eating and defecating. At first sight, the irreverent theme of RiCACA recalls Italian artist Piero Manzoni’s provoc- ative work Artist’s Shit, in which he affixed his signature to 90 tin cans whose labels read: Artist’s Shit. Net weight 30 gr. Naturally preserved. Produced and packaged in May 1961.”28 On the upper part of each can, Manzoni wrote a number from 1 to 90, and signed his name. Manzoni’s work lent itself to two very different interpretations: the first, more poetic one saw even feces as a sacred relic of the artist; the second, ironic view saw it as a mockery of a contemporary art world in which everything was for sale, as long as it was a limited edition, signed by the artist and came with a guarantee of authenticity and exclusivity. Once the initial shock wears off, Lidia León’s work transforms a convivial moment of sharing a piece of chocolate into an exceptionally original performance where visitors eat their chocolate in silence upon taking their seat on the “throne”. The piece seeks to use audience participation to explore the relationships between the human digestive appara- tus and the cerebral and emotional functions of the individual. 28 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_Shit

In her invitation to the public to enter the installation, Lidia León suggests: “Those who wish to have a personal experience with RiCACA will have the opportunity to sit in a sanitary installation, on a “throne”. It’s no coincidence that the object of the performance is chocolate. Cacao contains a spe- cific amino acid, theobromine, that stimulates the production of feel-good hormones and, thanks to its vitamin, mineral and antioxidant content, chocolate is often recommended for tiredness and to improve mood. As a Dominican artist, Lidia León feels intensely attached to her native land. She often finds artistic inspiration while immersed in its natural environment, and is fascinated by the powers of cacao: the ancient Maya people called it the “food of the gods,” and restricted its use to a select elite. Christopher Columbus was the first European to taste cacao. Later, the Spaniards adopted the term “chocolate,” rather than the original Aztec word “caca- huate,” on account of the latter’s similarity to the Spanish word “caca,” meaning feces. Going back to Piero Manzoni –if feces can be considered part of his “body” of work, so too can chocolate be considered a “visceral” element of LiLeón’s art, taken directly from the 135

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Caribbean. (The Dominican Republic is one of the largest exporters of cacao in the world!) In her invitation to the public to enter the installation, Lidia León suggests that “Those who wish to have a personal experience with RiCACA may sit in a sanitary installation, on a “throne”, keeping in mind the following guidelines: 1. First and foremost, be completely spontaneous. Become children again. 2. Allow, without judgement, every natural manifestation of your digestive apparatus: burps, flatulence... 3. Silence is recommended during the experience. She hopes that visitors to her installation will maintain a good relationship with their own digestive systems –remembering that serotonin (primarily known as a feel-good hormone) is in fact produced in the intestines. Taking a step back in time, Lidia rewinds the tape of ancestral memory and brings us back to the ancient customs of our ancestors, who divined the future in animal droppings through the traditional practice of scatomancy. Continuing the journey through the past, we should remember that before modern scientific discoveries, doctors had to taste their patients’ urine to determine their state of health. It’s no accident that Lidia León has chosen a quotation from Jungian psychologist James Hillman to explain this installation: “Excrement is probably the most information-rich substance we have, full of billions of bacteria and microorganisms. That’s why some people undergo fecal transplants to re-sta- bilize their microbiome or intestinal flora. Yes, some people eat fecal matter to heal.” In agriculture, feces are used as fertilizer for the soil. A recent study on the thirteenth-cen- tury populations of the Maori people in New Zealand, conducted by the Università Ca’ Foscari of Venice and the Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Process (part of the National Research Council) was made possible through analysis of the sterols found in fecal sediment deposits.29 If Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 readymade sculpture “Fountain”, which was never exhibited to the public on account of being indecent, is now considered the most important work of the twentieth century, RiCACA –similarly making use of toilet bowls– can certainly be seen as an important cultural feat. Lidia León, who never resorts to formulaic shock-value in her work, now challenges a major taboo for the first time. In this piece, she transforms an apotropaic obscenity –the analogy of eating and defecating– into a positive exhortation. 29 http://www.telegalileo.com/2018/10/09/la-storia-delluomo-raccontata-dagli-steroli-fecali-nuove-scoperte 139

ricaca 2018 Interactive installation Toilets, pallets of wood, fabric and chocolate 2 x 2.30 x 2.30 m 140



Fountain, the readymade piece made from an upturned urinal that the French artist signed with the enigmatic name R. Mutt (Richard Mutt), was intended to be exhibited to the public in New York. It challenged the bourgeois morality and values of a society that, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, was about to enter a very dark period of history: that of the two world wars. RiCACA, on the other hand, despite its clear reference to the most famous ready-made in the history of contemporary art, aims to promote positive values in modern society, inviting the individual to behave responsibly towards his or her own body, and to not be ashamed of its natural functions. The playful, game-like aspect of RiCACA brings visitors back to childhood –one can’t help but feel like a little kid when sitting on the toilet and eating chocolate! But the extraordinary reaction that arrives after participating in the per- formance is that of a spontaneous, delighted smile: the visitor has overcome inhibitions and freed his or her self from the weight of preconceived ideas. This is Lidia León’s talent as an artist, with which she winks at her audience and brings the old Spanish proverb back to life: “Barriga llena, corazón contento” which translates to full belly, happy heart. “RiCACA’s seeks to discover the hidden wealth in poop. Through this collective performance I want to establish a closer and healthier relationship with my digestive system by merging chocolate (something we identify as tasty, pleasant or exquisite) with poop (something we reject as dirty, vile and disgusting).” Lidia León [LiLeón] 142

ricaca (Detail) 2018 Interactive installation Toilets, pallets of wood, fabric and chocolate



WHO IS l i l e ó n CHAPTER III

A RT I S T ’S STAT EMEN T “Discovering the interconnection between science, nature and spirituality, revealing the link between the intangible and the visible.” Lidia León [LiLeón] 146