Ernesto Oroza

.“Cuban-born artist Ernesto Oroza has always been interested in how people and culture assimilate and define objects and processes in unexpected ways. Presented by the Contemporary Arts Project (which commissions artists to develop site-specific work inspired by the glorious Vizcaya estate), this latest offering finds the artist attempting to "re-found" the property originally built by agricultural industrialist James Deering in 1916 by reinterpreting the ways in which it has been utilized and the elements that make it up. Starting from its beginnings as Deering's home to its present-day incarnation as a museum and public space, Oroza uses three mediums to communicate his premise: a video library, a book, and a map. The library features footage of Vizcaya's various tours, weddings, quinceañeras, and birthdays culled from YouTube, expanding on the idea of how the local community is continually re-appropriating the space. The book contains Oroza's personal reworkings, and the map (which everyone gets to take home) offers a selection of promenades, further building on the overlap between the public and the personal, which informs this unique take on the forces that shape our understanding of design and space. ” Casey Zap, Flavorpill