ISLAA
Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths
On Now:
Sep 7, 2024 → Jan 25, 2025
09.07.24 → 01.25.25
ARTISTS
Luis Fernando Benedit
CURATORS
Laura Hakel
Bernardo Mosqueira
Olivia Casa

The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) is proud to present Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths. This exhibition explores a pivotal period of work by the visionary Argentine artist Luis Fernando Benedit (1937–2011), highlighting his undeniable contributions to the international development of Conceptualism and Systems art. As the first large-scale exhibition of this groundbreaking artist in New York since his debut at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1972, Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths features more than forty works that have never before been exhibited in the United States, including paintings and Plexiglas bioart habitats. These works reflect Benedit’s radical, prescient exploration of ecology and systems of control in the context of the vibrant avant-gardes and harsh sociopolitical changes caused by the violent dictatorships in Argentina.

Throughout his career, Benedit had a profound impact on the international art world, including through his participation in the Buenos Aires–based Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAYC) and his notable installation Biotrón (Biotron, 1970) at the 35th Venice Biennale. In 1972, MoMA presented the artist’s living sculpture Fitotrón (Phytotron)—a functional greenhouse for hydroponic cultivation—in the solo show Projects: Luis Fernando Benedit, marking the first time a Latin American artist was exhibited at the museum’s Project Gallery. Responding to a context of increasing social surveillance and administration of life, Benedit’s blend of ecology, art, and cybernetics raises questions about communication, control, and where the natural and artificial worlds overlap. 

At ISLAA, the artist’s vivid oil and acrylic paintings lead visitors into the show, followed by his habitats for living animals and insects, alongside vast archival material, including drawings and documentation of the works’ original presentations. The exhibition also features Laberinto invisible (Invisible Labyrinth, 1971), an interactive installation of mirrors, lights, and an alarm, which was a milestone work in Benedit’s oeuvre and a formative contribution to Conceptualism. The piece represents Benedit’s groundbreaking investigations into cybernetics and the imperceptible systems of control determining daily life.

Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths presents many of the artist’s works from the ISLAA collection for the first time, championing a Latin American artist whose legacy deserves greater visibility and recognition. ISLAA’s mission prioritizes preserving and highlighting the legacies of underrepresented artists to wider audiences, including creating greater global access to the Luis Fernando Benedit collection in the ISLAA Library and Archives. On view from September 7, 2024 to January 25, 2025 in ISLAA’s ground-level gallery, the show invites the public to step into Benedit’s experimental, influential world-building Systems art. 

Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths is cocurated by Laura Hakel, ISLAA curatorial fellow at the New Museum and curator of the collection and artistic projects at Fundación Ama Amoedo; Bernardo Mosqueira, ISLAA chief curator; and Olivia Casa, ISLAA curator and exhibition program manager. 

EXHIBITION WORKS

Luis Fernando Benedit, Coronel vacío y ciego (Empty and Blind Coronel), 1968

Luis Fernando Benedit, La tercera mujer (The Third Woman), 1966

Luis Fernando Benedit, La tercera mujer (The Third Woman), 1966

Luis Fernando Benedit, Hábitat para caracoles (Habitat for Snails), 1970

Luis Fernando Benedit, Evaporador de Sachs (Sachs Evaporator), 1972

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view: Luis Fernando Benedit: Invisible Labyrinths, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2024. Photo: Sebastian Bach

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Luis Fernando Benedit

Luis Fernando Benedit (Buenos Aires, 1937–2011) was an Argentine artist, architect, designer, and innovator of biological sculpture and systems art, who worked across sculpture, painting, and drawing. He was a key participant in the Buenos Aires–based art institution Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAYC) and a founding member of the Grupo de Arte y Cibernética Buenos Aires and the conceptual art collective Grupo de los Trece. In 1963, Benedit graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a degree in architecture and simultaneously developed a self-taught practice in painting. At this time, Benedit started producing figurative paintings inspired by Art Brut, Informalism, and New Figuration. His later paintings of the mid- to late 1960s reflect his interest in biomorphic forms and living organisms as well as the influence of cartoons and Pop art. Following his first collaborations with CAYC, Benedit explored the relationship between cybernetics and living organisms within natural and artificial environments, shifting from paintings to interactive works. Benedit exhibited the first work in what is known as his series of “habitats,” small architectural  structures made from clear acrylic and Plexiglas used for housing live plants and animals, in 1968 at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. He produced habitats at various scales incorporating different natural elements throughout the 1970s. These works included Biotrón (1971), an aluminum and plexiglass structure for bees that was presented in the 35th Venice Biennale, and Phytotron (1972), a hydroponic environment for plants that was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Benedit’s work has been the subject of exhibitions at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art (1980); the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires (1996); MALBA Costantini Collection – Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (2009); and the Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection, Buenos Aires (2014), among others. 

ABOUT THE CURATORS
Laura Hakel

Laura Hakel a curator, writer, and researcher. She is currently the ISLAA curatorial fellow at the New Museum, New York, and curator of the collection and artistic projects at the Fundación Ama Amoedo, Uruguay. Previously, she was curator at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she curated exhibitions and special projects such as Gabriel Chaile: Patricia (2017), Mercedes Azpilicueta: Body Birds (2018), Flavia Da Rin. Who’s That Girl? (2019), and Andrés Aizicovich. Contacto (2019). She frequently contributes to publications, including Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere (2024), Latin American Artists (2023), and Prime: Art's Next Generation (2022). She has a BA in art history from the University of  Buenos Aires and an MA in curatorial studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.

Bernardo Mosqueira

Bernardo Mosqueira is Chief Curator at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA). He is also the founder and artistic director of Solar dos Abacaxis, an institution for experimentation in art, education, and social transformation in Rio de Janeiro, and since 2011, he has directed Premio FOCO ArtRio, a national award for emerging artists. Previously, Mosqueira was the ISLAA Curatorial Fellow at the New Museum, organized the performance festival Venus Terra, and worked as a curator at Galeria de Arte Ibeu. He has been curating exhibitions, editing books, teaching, and contributing texts to art publications since 2010; was awarded the Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi in 2017; and cofounded Fundo Colaborativo, the first emergency fund for artists in Brazil, in 2020. His recent exhibitions include Miriam Inez da Silva at the Museu da República, Brasília (2021); Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro: Eclipse at the Hessel Museum of Art in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2021); and Daniel Lie: Unnamed Entities at the New Museum, New York (2022).

Olivia Casa

Olivia Casa is a curator and writer, whose work focuses on art of the Americas from 1960 to the present. She is currently Curator and Exhibition Program Manager at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA). She has previously worked on and contributed to publications and exhibitions at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, the Jewish Museum, the Walther Collection, the New Museum, and ISLAA, among other institutions.

The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) supports the study and visibility of Latin American art.
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The Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) supports the study and visibility of Latin American art.

Tue–Sat: 12–6 PM Sun–Mon: Closed
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