Laberinto: Conciencia spiritual (Labyrinth: Spiritual Consciousness) , a solo exhibition by Diógenes Ballester (Playa de Ponce, Ponce, PR, 1956), is made up of a group of installations and woodcuts representative of the artist’s long career. The exhibition invites visitors on an immersive journey where art, spirituality, and the decolonial philosophy of Arteology converge. Curated by specialist Neyda Martínez, director of the Media Graduate Program at Parsons, New York, and daughter of the Puerto Rican diaspora in Chicago, it will also present themes such as identity, memory, migration, and Indigenous and Afro ancestry through drawing, sculpture, painting, and digital media.
Among the highlighted works are the print History of Collective Memory, first presented at the National Museum in Kraków and now part of its permanent collection; his masterpiece, Memory of Nature: Rhythm of Life; as well as the installations Free Registry; Doña Milla’s Treasure, The Lament of the Earth; and Globalization, Post-Industrialism, and Syncretism, which expand the dialogue on ritual, the environment, and global exchanges. A series of sculptural objects, some of them interactive, and woodcuts will also be included.
Laberinto: Conciencia espiritual will feature an educational program of lectures and conversations with notable personalities, as well as a series of guided tours led by the artist and other specialists. The exhibition brings together works that are culminating explorations in Ballester’s career. Anchored in the concept and practice of Arteology, Laberinto: Conciencia espiritual is the synthesis of a philosophy that has guided the praxis of this great artist for more than forty years, shaping every dimension of his work.