Fall 2023 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) Newsletter

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
FEDERICO URIBE
METAMORPHOSIS | METAMORFOSIS
State Street Gallery, The Shop, and the Lobby
September 30, 2023–May 26, 2024
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MMoCA presents Metamorphosis | Metamorfosis,
featuring the Colombian-born, Miamibased
artist Federico Uribe’s magical, colorful,
and sculptural menagerie of plants and animals
made of ordinary materials. Multi-colored
shotgun casings and golden, varying caliber
bullets are brought together to form a lion;
saddles and horseshoes are fashioned into a
horse; and scissors, zip ties, and wool become
a sheep.
Uribe fills a former MMoCA office space adjacent
to The Shop with his magical ecosystem
depicting the flora and fauna found in a coral
reef. A farm scene and a family of immigrants
are among the worlds in which visitors can
become immersed.
One might think that Uribe intends to alert
viewers to the exploitation of animals and the
environment. But, instead, Uribe aims to use
everyday and sometimes provocative materials
to challenge associations; the goal is against the
grain and utopian—or, as he explains, to “make
people happy”—in spite of preconceived connotations.
Uribe shape-shifts feelings of sorrow,
rage, and despair to create positive, immersive
environments.
Metamorphosis | Metamorfosis is Guest
Curated by Laura Dickstein Thompson, EdD.
RELATED EVENT
SAVING CORAL REEFS FROM CLIMATE
CHANGE THROUGH SCIENCE AND ART
Saturday, October 22 • 2–3 PM
MMoCA Lecture Hall
At first look, Federico’s Uribe’s Plastic
Reef (2018-2023) appears to be an underwater
world filled with corals, mussels,
and schools of fish. However, everything
is created and replicated using thousands
of pieces of upcycled plastic carefully
cut, dyed, and arranged. Discarded plastic
bottles, cutlery, flip flops, and other
plastic detritus that highlights the damage
done to the oceans by pollution.
Pupa Gilbert is a Professor of Physics at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison and
a visiting faculty scientist at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.
This talk is presented in conjunction with
the Wisconsin Science Festival.
FREE ADMISSION
COVER: Federico Uribe, Panda Bear (detail), 2018. Bullet Shells, 60 x
52 x 48 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Adelson Galleries. PAGE 2:
Federico Uribe, The Immigrant, 2021. Suitcases, 61 1/2 x 104 x 44 1/2
inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Adelson Galleries.