Harald Szeemann

The Real Royal Trip/El Real Viaje Real Harald Szeemann

Throughout history, the excitements, surprises, and discoveries of travel have inspired many. Great travelers, of course, are often great ambassadors of knowledge and ideas, but while the exchanges between disparate cultures have enchanted--and sometimes puzzled--both the visitors and the visited, they have also historically been the cause of conflict and strife. Christopher Columbus's fourth long voyage from Spain to America has been chosen as a metaphor for P. S.1 Contemporary Art Center's exhibition The Real Royal Trip. The "artist-travelers" featured in this historic exhibition reveal through their work a potent creative energy and illuminate the flow of new ideas, images, and approaches emerging from Spain's unique contemporary cultural climate. Breaking down barriers established by nations, the exhibition reaches across the Atlantic Ocean to include work by artists from Cuba and Puerto Rico, pursuing the pioneering voices of contemporary Latin America. (The inclusion of Ernesto Neto ensures that the great South American dream is also represented.) With the language of Spain--and not its national borders--as a common currency, this international panorama of art-making proposes a new kind of Spanish identity, one that is intricately linked to U. S. and Latin American culture.