Humberto Vélez

Born 1965, Panama.
Lives in Manchester, UK.

Humberto Vélez sees himself as a nomad with a difference: one obsessed with the local. He is fascinated by the ways in which local communities define themselves and their boundaries; the ways in which we relate to the particular places in which we live and work; the ways in which people move in and out, cross borders, are welcomed or rejected. In Liverpool Vélez will operate at the traditional point of entry to and departure from the city: the Pier Head. Working with a group of young refugees and asylum seekers, he turns the spotlight onto the residents of Liverpool: how do we welcome new arrivals to the city? What are our prejudices about who ‘belongs’ and who doesn’t? Vélez brings art out of the gallery and onto the river that is Liverpool’s lifeblood, posing a challenge we can’t ignore.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2006 The Skyline, kite parade, Egilsstadir, North East Iceland
 
2005 Regata Cantata, in association with Artwayofthinking, parade and regatta, Venice, Italy
Artists United, hip hop dance football match, The Sharrow Festival, Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield, UK

2004 The Mancunian Way, Victoria Baths, Manchester, UK

2002 L’Avventura, St Peter’s Vauxhall, London, UK

2000 Instalaciones, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panama City, Panama


Selected Group Exhibitions

2005 VII Panama Biennial, Panama

2004 Central American Biennale
Shanghai Biennale
For the Time Being (A Promise of Progress)

2003 VIII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
FlyPitch, Brixton Market, London, UK
Multiple City, Panama City, Panama

2002 III Bienal Iberoamericana de Lima, Peru
Do It (Central American version), TeorEtica, San José, Costa Rica

2001 Periferic Biennial, Iasi, Romania
Intrusiones urbanas en el arte joven panameño, Centro Cultural Andrés Bello, Bogotá, Colombia


Further Reading

‘VIII Bienal de La Habana’, Artforum International (February 2004)

Gerardo Mosquera and Adrienne Samos (and other authors), Multiple City Panama, Urban Art and Global Cities: An Experiment in Context, Amsterdam: Kit Publishers, 2005

One Hundred Years of Art in Panama, 1903–2003, exh. cat., Panama City: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo

Cay Sophy Rabinowitz, ‘Seen Being Seen’, Parkett, 68 (2003)

Adrienne Samos, ‘ “God is Love, If There is Stuffed Fish”. A New Focus on Panamanian Art’, Atlantica, 31 (Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2001) 


http://www.bienalpanama.org

http://www.gasworks.org.uk/varts/hum_vel/