Con todo el respeto que usted me merece! / Book (work in progress)
Arnold Arroyo
and a big fellow too, installation view, 2006
Vulfrano Ernesto Arroyo, Coyoacán, México
Arnold Arroyo, Coyoacán, México
Vulfrano Ernesto Arroyo, Atlixco, Puebla.
Spinning Sugar: Notes on the Ephemeral and Social Practice in With all the respect that you deserve me!
Arden Decker
Consisting of performances, videos, photographs, and oral histories, With all the respect that you deserve me! is the result of Mauricio Limón’s ten-year investigation into the Arroyos, the family that helped modernize and popularize the cotton candy machine in Mexico. Using this family as source material and subject, the project maybe considered within the boundaries of what is now called “social practice“ in art.[1] Limón’s consistent employment of cotton candy suggests links two artistic strategies with strong ties to the Mexican context: social transformation through ephemeral projects, and collaborative performance as a vehicle for social engagement.
[1] While the definition of social practice in art continues to be debated, it may very loosely be understood as work that blurs the lines between artistic mediums, strategies as a means of engaging with publics or communities, either directly or indirectly.
See two comprehensive texts that define and complicate social practice in contemporary art: Claire Bishop, ed., Participation (London and Cambridge, MA: Whitechapel and MIT Press, 2006) and Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship (New York: Verso, 2012).