Exchange Rate with Laura Rivera-Ayala

Exchange Rate with Laura Rivera-Ayala is a record of intercultural learning and reciprocity between Conarro, serving as a witness bringing an outsider’s gaze, and the curator of New Devotions, Puerto Rican native, Laura Rivera-Ayala. The artist and curator, long-time friends, texted back and forth for months as Rivera-Ayala was developing the New Devotions show, which naturally led to the artist intermittently asking questions about the show’s development and themes. Conarro cut-and-pasted the off-the-cuff text messages to create a ‘formal interview’, resulting in an intimate peek into the curator’s personal narrative as it relates to the themes of the show. The result provides an approachable and accessible entry point for the artist and other outsiders to better learn and understand the personal, place-based knowledge presented by the Puerto Rican artists in the show. As a four-channel, interactive audio installation, questions and answers overlap, loop, and repeat, imitating the nature of casual conversation and what it feels like to learn something new that you know nothing about.

Hyperallergic: The Complex Spiritualities of Syncretic Beliefs
New Devotions at The Clemente