Trials and Turbulence: Pepón Osorio

This exhibition culminates Pepón Osorio's three-year Artist-in-Residence at the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS). A former social worker and 1999 MacArthur Fellow, Osorio (b. Santurce, Puerto Rico, 1955; lives Philadelphia) conceived of this volunteer project as a series of interventions aimed at opening up the traditionally closed system. Working closely with DHS social workers, administrators, and clients, Osorio focused on the foster care system to conduct an institutional critique at one of the most vulnerable intersections between private life and public policy.

installation views > click to enlarge

Pepon Osorio, Face To Face, 2004. Mixed media including: 5 computer monitors with video, 2 large projected DVDs, TV with home video
Photo: Aaron Igler

Pepon Osorio, Trials and Turbulence, 2004. Mixed media including: 5 computer monitors with video, 2 large projected DVDs, TV with home video
Photo: Aaron Igler

Pepon Osorio, Trials and Turbulence, 2004. Mixed media including: 5 computer monitors with video, 2 large projected DVDs, TV with home video
Photo: Aaron Igler

Pepon Osorio, Trials and Turbulence, 2004. Mixed media including: 5 computer monitors with video, 2 large projected DVDs, TV with home video
Photo: Aaron Igler

Pepon Osorio, Run, Mikey, Run, 2004. Mixed media including: 5 computer monitors with video, 2 large projected DVDs, TV with home video
Photo: Aaron Igler

The show transforms the first floor galleries at ICA into a total DHS living- and working-environment. It is composed of a group of environmental tableaux based on what the artist refers to as social architecture. Face to Face (2002) represents the open plan offices at DHS with each cubicle, from its coffee cups and personal mementos, portraying people who work there. Standing in for the caseworkers clients is a towering cage of an actual family's possessions, borrowed from DHS storage. A second installation Trials and Turbulence (2004) recreates a Family Courtroom, where a young adult confronts the judge who sentenced her to the foster care system. Charged with realism, Osorio's imagery of a government system at work (and not working), along with the potential for reconciliation and awareness, are enhanced by the art gallery as a context for abstraction and contemplation. This exhibition is organized by ICA's Senior Curator, Ingrid Schaffner, and Curator of Education, Johanna Plummer.

A permanent public art project by Pepón Osorio has also been created for Congreso de Latinos Unidos, a commission by the Fairmont Park Art Association, Philadelphia. For more information and to view the public work, visit www.fpaa.org

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Image: Pepón Osorio, Face to Face, 2002, Mixed media including 5 computer monitors with video, 2 large projected DVDs, TV with home video. Photo Becket Logan. Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.