CARLOS GIUSTI/EL VOCERO
Earlier today, following its fourth biennial temporary parliament, the Queens Museum announced the winners of the Visible Award, which is given annually to socially engaged arts projects. (The Visible Award is a roving prize sponsored by Cittadellarte–Fondazione Pistoletto and the Zegna Foundation.) Following a selection by a jury comprised of arts experts and members of the public, Puerto Rico–based artists Luis Agosto-Leduc and Jesús ‘Bubu’ Negrón were given the $30,000 award.
Leduc and Negrón received the award for their work together, much of which has been done through their collective, Brigada Puerta De Tierra. The artists have helped bring members of the community together in an effort to preserve and celebrate the history of Puerto Rico’s Old San Juan neighborhood. Since the collective’s foundation, in 2015, the artists have negotiated with local government officials and helped the community acquire two abandoned buildings in the neighborhood, which will now be used by the collective for future events and work.
Matteo Lucchetti and Judith Wielander, the co-directors of the Visible project, an arts research platform responsible for creating the award, said in a statement that the artists’ work reflects “the potential of a community when it becomes a political constituency and strives against new and old colonizing subjects.”