Exhibition Opening Celebration: “Firelei Báez”

Event Details

Join us for the opening celebration of a new, traveling exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center, “Firelei Báez,” organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. This exhibition is the first North American survey dedicated to the richly layered work of Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Dominican Republic). Over the past 20 years, she has made work that explores the multilayered legacy of colonial histories and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and beyond.

“My works are propositions, meant to create alternate pasts and potential futures, questioning history and culture in order to provide a space for reassessing the present.” — Firelei Báez

Bring family and friends to celebrate with us and be the first to view the art! Enjoy live music from DJ Lizz of Latino Events Entertainment LLC. Dine on complimentary summer bites and seasonal dessert from Taste! to Go. Cash bar with beer, wine, and hibiscus margaritas available for purchase.

Free; registration not required. This event will be documented with photography.

Firelei Báez (Dominican, born 1981)
“A Drexcyen chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways),” 2019
Two paintings, hand-painted wooden frame, perforated tarp, printed mesh, handmade paper over found objects, plants, and books
Courtesy the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, ​San Francisco
Image courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth, New York. Photo by Phoebe d’Heurle. © Firelei Báez

Support for this exhibition is provided by:

“Firelei Báez” is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and Eva Respini, Deputy Director and Director of Curatorial Programs, Vancouver Art Gallery (former Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston), with Tessa Bachi Haas, Assistant Curator. The presentation of “Firelei Báez” at the Des Moines Art Center has been coordinated by Associate Curator Elizabeth Gollnick.

Major support for “Firelei Báez” is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

This project is supported in part by Karen and Brian Conway, David and Jocelyne DeNunzio, Mathieu O. Gaulin, The Kotzubei-Beckmann Family Philanthropic Fund, Lise and Jeffrey Wilks, and an anonymous donor.

Additional support for the presentation of this exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center is provided by the Harriet S. and J. Locke Macomber Art Center Fund, Iowa Tourism Office and Iowa Arts Council, both a part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, and Laurie Wolf and Jeff Freude.