The Instituto Cultural Cabañas exhibits from november 2017 the monumental sculpture installation “You”. This piece was edisplayed for the first time in 2015 at the emblematic Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom, and  in the beginning of 2017 at the Macro Plaza in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

This piece was conceived to question the complex concept of equality, built in bronze it operetas in two spaces: the physical in which interacts with the emblematic  Patio Mayor of the historic Hospicio Cabañas, a place that has been a witness of the city’s history. In the imaginary space, You approaches the meaning of pointing others, of being equal and different at the same time. What is the meaning of equality?

The artwork was conceived to question the difficult concept of equality. The monumental white sculpture is made of bronze and is located in two places: physical space and memory.

In the physical space, the You interacts with its surroundings and triggers all kinds of reactions in the spectators, who relate to it physically. In the realm of imagination, it captures the meaning of pointing at the other, of being equal and different at the same time. What is the real meaning of equality?

With two index fingers pointing at each other without touching, a sculpture that looks white although it is made of bronze and looks real but is not, Rivelino discloses the ambiguity, ambivalence and misunderstanding of the contemporary concept of equality.

The figures face each other in perfect symmetry. Nothing in them allows us to figure out any kind of hierarchy —their formal identity embodies an evident conceptual equality. The work generates three different perspectives: the others facing each other (them); them facing me (the others and I) and “all together” (the step from I to us).

You offers a unique aesthetic experience, inextricable from its ethical gist: the sterile solitude of individualism, the moral choice involved in joining the others or remaining unconcerned, the anguish caused by being pointed at by others, the awareness of human codependency and the courage to be part of collective action.

In a clearly unfair world, this work invites us to question our views on such an important subject as equality among human beings.

Monterrey is the first city in Mexico and America where the sculptural installation You will be exhibited, the work was presented for the first time in 2015 in Trafalgar Square London, United Kingdom and was conceived to question the complex concept of equality, the monumental piece made in bronze operates in two places: the physical and the memory.

In the physical it interacts with the emblematic Macroplaza of Monterrey in one of its most symbolic spaces: The Plaza de los Héroes, a place that has been the protagonist and witness of the history of the city. In the imaginary, You addresses the meaning of pointing to the other, of being the same, and at the same time being different. What is the meaning of equality?

The sculptor Rivelino will be in charge of closing this first edition of Obra en Obra with his intervention entitled ¿El ejército de quién?, made with 10,000 gold-colored soldiers who establish symbolic relations between the figures that are formed with them and the situations in which they were placed, around other objects also symbolic. The artist has drawn a series of long lines that relate to each other and to these figures, establishing a kind of connection with the activities performed by the armies in the world. With this, Rivelino seeks to lead the viewer to question the current function of the armies and what is defended by them that seems to be loaded with great ambiguity. Thus, the intervention is an exploration to open the question about the future of society in the face of the trend of an increasingly militarized planet. Is it possible that one day an army of 10,000 soldiers will invade my house?

By delineating complex geographical boundaries such as those of Ukraine and Russia, those of the Middle East, the Strait of Gibraltar or the two Koreas, including the Mexican coast, Rivelino evidences the growing global military trend. In some spaces of the construction, warlike relationships appear that involve large numbers of people, while in others there is talk of more particular cases such as those of Guerrero and Oaxaca, drawn on walls, and their current situation with armies, drug trafficking and the consequences of this binomial. The use of golden borders and gold colored soldiers is a reference to the apparent security that gold offers, but also to the fear it may cause.

Jimena Hogrebe.

The artwork was conceived to question the difficult concept of equality. The monumental white sculpture is made of bronze and is located in two places: physical space and memory.

In the physical space, the You interacts with its surroundings and triggers all kinds of reactions in the spectators, who relate to it physically. In the realm of imagination, it captures the meaning of pointing at the other, of being equal and different at the same time. What is the real meaning of equality?

With two index fingers pointing at each other without touching, a sculpture that looks white although it is made of bronze and looks real but is not, Rivelino discloses the ambiguity, ambivalence and misunderstanding of the contemporary concept of equality.

The figures face each other in perfect symmetry. Nothing in them allows us to figure out any kind of hierarchy —their formal identity embodies an evident conceptual equality. The work generates three different perspectives: the others facing each other (them); them facing me (the others and I) and “all together” (the step from I to us).

You offers a unique aesthetic experience, inextricable from its ethical gist: the sterile solitude of individualism, the moral choice involved in joining the others or remaining unconcerned, the anguish caused by being pointed at by others, the awareness of human codependency and the courage to be part of collective action.

In a clearly unfair world, this work invites us to question our views on such an important subject as equality among human beings.

Roots is a monumental intervention in the urban space which connected buildings, museums, squares, and archeological sites in the very heart of Mexico City. This work intervened the historical memory of public spaces and shows how society from different times has conceived differently that same space.

The huge artificial root (1200 meters long and 1.5 meters of diameter), was simultaneously mounted by young volunteers in 48 hours. Most of them were high school and university students from both public and private schools.

The temporary installation connected various iconic places in the city related to painful, violent, and even bloody historical events; episodes of repression, and social inequality. At the same time, the installation connects moments of pride, beauty and growth, all constitutive elements of the collective memory of Mexico City.

The extravagant and unpleasant white root disturbed the routine and familiarity of the places, widening and stretching out, climbing and penetrating in each of the places where it was installed. It provoked a wide range of reactions among spectators, critics and the media —surprise, repulsion, attraction, morbidity, rejection and amusement. The installation revealed an open, receptive and participative society reacting to this kind of artistic project in a very enthusiastic way, but it also exposed a more conservative part of society distrustful of this kind of transformations.

Our Silences is an itinerant sculpture created to make us reflect on the importance of free speech and self-censorship. It intends to incite an intimate dialogue with the spectator on one of the most fundamental human rights and, at the same time, to establish a symbolic interchange with the places where it is shown.

The ten monumental bronze busts with covered mouths and the so called “tactile box” for the blind and visually weak, are both designed to journey all over the world. Since 2009, the installation has been presented in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Mexico and the United States in cities like San Diego and, very recently, in San Francisco, by the bay.

Rivelino’s appropriationist style —apparent in the way he freely uses typical antique sculptural forms in his proposal— clearly seeks to establish an immediate bond with the past and the memories of the spectator and, at the same time, a strong physical relationship between the work and the spectator Nevertheless, underlying all this is a profound reflection on liberty and its daily exercise.

The eleventh sculpture is an interactive cube (2m3) which allows spectators to perceive what cannot be perceived with the eye. Each side has two holes that incite the spectator to discover what is inside and what is found are four tiny sculptures that reproduce the ones outside. People can actually touch the sculptures by introducing their hands through the holes and experience tactile, thermic, and affective sensations.

The purpose of this huge steel cube is to attract all kinds of spectators, but especially young people, children, and those visually weak or blind. It is a unique sculpture because it offers, beyond our sense of sight, the opportunity of sharing in a simple way an extraordinary aesthetic experience. For all this, Our Silences is an inclusive, open, artistic and social project.