Uros House
Uros House, a site-specific, lighting sculpture installation by artist Grimanesa Amorós, is on view at the Museum from August 6th through the end of the year. Recently shown in Times Square (see above), the sculpture was presented as part of the 2011 Armory Show along with three other artists: Tom Otterness, David Kennedy Cutler, and Niki de Saint Phalle. Amorós was also invited to show at the 2011 Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.
Uros House, made of polyethylene, steel, metal and computer controlled LEDS, was inspired by structures built by the Uros Indians in Peru. The pre-Incan Uros, who live on forty-two self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca, build everything out of totora reeds, a sub species of the giant bulrush sedge. Ac- cording to Amorós, who was born and raised in Peru, the Uros House sculpture “will embody the beauty of sea foam, while maintaining the traditional technique and shape of the Uros islands houses. The structure will seemingly arise from the ground as if it were one with the earth.”
Grimanesa Amorós is an interdisciplinary artist with diverse interests in the fields of social history, scientific research and critical theory, which have greatly influenced her work. She often makes use of sculpture, video, and lighting to create works that illuminate our notions of personal identity and community. Amorós was born in Lima, Peru but lives and works in New York City.