Cuban artist Alejandro Figueredo Diaz-Perera armed himself with a mat, pillow, blanket, lamp, and hammer two weeks ago, before settling into his new home: a 2.5' wide, 10' long claustrophobic crawlspace inside the West Loop gallery of Chicago Art Coalition (CAC).For the three-week duration of his project, In the Absence of a Body, the BOLT resident is sleeping, performing basic acts of personal hygiene, and eating, assisted (and fed) by his romantic partner and artistic collaborator Cara Megan Lewis. His main occupation, however, is observation: through the slatted metal grate of his modest abode, the artist is seeing without being seen.If Diaz-Perera’s silent statement rings your conceptual-art-bells, it should. In preparation for In the Absence of a Body, the artist underwent meditation training by none other than Marina Abramović during her stint in Cuba. CAC describes Diaz-Perera’s performance as the artist’s own “attempt to embrace the act of becoming a Ghost himself, an absence, nothing.” This voluntary invisibility is a reflection of the material and familial absences Diaz-Perera felt during his childhood in the economically devastated nation.Below, check out more images of Diaz-Perera inside the crawlspace:In the Absence of a Body will be presented at Chicago Arts Coalition’s West Loop gallery until February 26th.Via Huffington PostRelated:It's Art: Sven Sachsalber is Looking for a Needle in a HaystackI Looked Into The Void And Saw Marina AbramovicThese Animated Touchscreen Hand Gestures Would Have Made Marcel Duchamp ProudDo Not Watch This Experimental Animation If You're Claustrophobic
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