Spinello Projects Presents a Solo Project  by Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares Grand Opening
Saturday, July 13th, 7 – 10 PM
Spinello Projects
2930 NW 7th Avenue
Miami, FL 33127.
 

Spinello Projects is pleased to present the grand opening of State of the Book, an interactive installation from multidisciplinary artists Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares. Wright and Millares transform the gallery entrance into the façade of a bookstore storefront. Behind the glass doors is an interactive reading room where visitors may sit, read and physically engage with books borrowed from the Miami-Dade Public Library System, private collections and the artists’ own bookshelves. The Florida heat in the summer becomes a New England winter – an invitation to retreat indoors to think.
 
The work considers the devaluation of the printed book in a society plagued by rising budget cuts to the arts and education, successive shutdowns of mom-and-pop bookstores and public libraries, and the rise of the e-book. It is the artists’ hope that the room will generate a dialogue around the changing role of books in contemporary culture, but also furthering a love of reading centered around and within the act of community-building. In addition to regular gallery hours, ongoing programming will activate the space for the duration of the exhibition. Wright and Millares will conclude the exhibition run with a live performance.
 
The sad, strange, beautiful vulnerability and (sometimes) painful faces of the human condition are all considerations in the oeuvre of Miami-based artists Antonia Wright and longtime collaborator Ruben Millares. Investigating the various politics and comic facets of natural behaviors both unique and routine, Wright and Millares examine these elements through a multifarious, process-oriented practice combining video, performance, photography, poetry, sound and sculpture. Wright and Millares acknowledge the layers of societal taboos and barriers between their artistic choices, and pointedly pushes them into the visual arts realm for the viewer to regard, question and/or enjoy.