Join us for the opening of Kukuu in Santa Fe on Friday, January 23, 5:30-7pm.

Marcel Pinas (b. 1971, Pelgrimkondre, Suriname) is an internationally recognized visual artist who uses art as a medium to call attention to the Maroon cultures of Suriname and to create platforms for the continued preservation and development of this culture. His work is included in SITElines.2014: Unsettled Landscapes as an offisite project, entitled Kukuu/Kitchen, 2014.

Kukuu/Kitchen is monumental public sculpture sited in Moengo made in collaboration with students from that town. Its structure is inspired by the practical yet aesthetic sculptural form used to store kitchen supplies and utensils in Maroon homes. Pinas has used the form as an inspiration for his own sculptures, and is currently working with young people in Moengo to create large-scale Kukuu. The students are filling the shelves with different households items new and used, including plates, spoons, tea kettles, etc., to create an assemblage.

Beginning in Fall 2014, Pinas and students from his community will collaborate with students in Santa Fe to create another monumental sculpture for SITE Santa Fe. Both of these constructed kitchens will comprise made, found, and bought materials connected to each place and to global trade routes. Across cultural boundaries, Pinas weaves together the practices of procuring, transforming, and consequently owning familiar objects.

The construction of Pinas’s monumental public sculpture Kukuu in Moengo, Suriname will be replicated but within the context of the community of Santa Fe. The exhibition at SITE will involve a number of collaborating school partners, whose students will work to create their own Kukuu in SITE’s SITElab space. Participating schools and education programs include: Wood Gormley Elementary, SFUAD Capital High School, NMSA, Adelante, the Transitional Education Program and the Youth Development Program.