Ivan Argote brings roving public art project to Chicago streets

"DIGNIDAD is installed atop a flatbed truck and will travel around the city. It begins its maiden voyage in Humboldt Park, a neighbourhood that includes its 207-acre namesake park-with a lagoon, boat house and formal gardens designed by the landscape architect Jens Jensen. The neighbourhood is where the Fiestas Patronales Puertorriqueñas take place every year; it is also the site of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture."

"Argote began working on the commission two years ago, travelling to Chicago to meet with the Floating Museum and the project curator Carla Acevedo-Yates. Acevedo-Yates introduced Argote to the Latine communities in the city. Argote had visited Chicago before the Covid-19 pandemic and knew about the political history of Humboldt Park, in part from his upbringing."

"Beginning in the mid-1950s, Humboldt Park's main commercial corridor (Division Street) began developing into what is now the cultural heart of the Puerto Rican community (Paseo Boricua). The street is marked by two huge, red-and-blue steel flags that extend over the road at both ends of the business district."

"My sister is a congresswoman [in Colombia], and my parents worked as unionists. I learned about the militancy of Chicago, and I"

Iván Argote, a Paris-based artist and film-maker, presents DIGNIDAD, a mobile sculpture launching in Chicago on 12 June. Argote, born and raised in Bogotá, studied art in Colombia and at Beaux-Arts de Paris, and has lived in France for years. DIGNIDAD is organized by the Floating Museum for its Floating Monuments series and is installed atop a flatbed truck to travel around Chicago. The maiden voyage begins in Humboldt Park, a 207-acre park with a lagoon, boat house, and formal gardens designed by Jens Jensen. Humboldt Park is tied to Puerto Rican cultural life, including annual Fiestas Patronales Puertorriqueñas and the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. The project connects to the area’s political and community history through Argote’s prior knowledge and meetings with local organizers.

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