Chat Travieso

Descripción del Artista

Artist Statement I create participatory and research-based art projects that seek to reinforce social bonds. I work closely with local residents, workers, community groups, and youth to design and build playful and visually striking projects that respond to everyday needs. Community engagement for me is not one meeting or workshop, it is constantly engaging people in conversation, making oneself known, listening and observing on a regular basis, and through this process, building trust and solidarity. This grassroots approach means that the work is not a precious object placed there by a faceless entity; rather, it belongs to the community in which it is made. This work considers ways cities can be more open and equitable specifically towards communities that have been systematically excluded from decision-making processes. A key consideration in my practice is creating projects that are sensitive to their specific contexts. My work isn’t about starting from scratch; it is about engaging people where they are and building off what’s already in a place, both physically and socially. It rethinks our surroundings as places that are endlessly adaptable and have the potential for multiple uses. ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... Bio Chat Travieso is a Brooklyn-based artist, designer, and educator. His public art works have been commissioned by or organized in collaboration with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Lower East Side Waterfront Alliance, The Architectural League of New York, Design Trust for Public Space, the NYC Department of Transportation, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco), the Elsewhere Museum, and the Cambridge Arts Council. He has worked as a teaching artist with the Center for Urban Pedagogy and Hester Street Collaborative. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Designboom, The Atlantic’s CityLab, and BOMB Magazine as well as the books Pop-Up City: City-making In a Fluid World (BIS Publishers, 2014) and Supernew Supergraphics (Unit Editions, 2014). His residencies include the New York Studio Residency Program, LMCC Process Space, and Smack Mellon Studio Program. His recent honors include a 2019 YoungArts Jorge M. Pérez Award, a Graham Foundation Research and Development Grant, a New York State Council in the Arts Independent Projects Grant, a 2015 USA YoungArts Fellowship in Architecture & Design, a 2015 Matthew J. Quinn Prize from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and a New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship as part of his Smack Mellon residency. He is a YoungArts winner in Visual Arts and a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Travieso attended the New World School of the Arts high school in Miami, FL. He received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an M.Arch from the Yale School of Architecture.