NEW YORK, NY.- The Hispanic Society Museum & Library – the primary institution dedicated to the preservation, study, understanding, exhibition and enjoyment of art and cultures of Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries and communities – and the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, have unveiled Marta Chilindron’s Orange Cube 48, installed on the HSM&L’s Lower Terrace in New York City under the direction of Orlando Hernandez-Ying, a curatorial associate at the HSM&L who serves as the in-house curator of this project.

Chilindron, an Argentinean- born, New York-based contemporary artist, is the 2023 winner of the HSM&L and NoMAA’s open call for artists to create a summer outdoor installation on the Audubon Terrace (Broadway between 155th and 156th streets).

Orange Cube 48 is a folding immersive sculpture made of 66 square panels, measuring 48 x 48 in. (122 x 122 cm.), of translucent 3/8 in. twin-wall polycarbonate, a lightweight material, hinged together like an accordion - that when folded closed, forms a perfect cube. The work transforms a space into a maze that one can enter and walk through, becoming a piece of folding architecture. It is an interactive sculpture that is also an environment, inviting the public to become part of the sculpture - surrounded and contained - as they navigate through it.

“My focus has always been on questioning the accuracy of our perception, our interpretation of reality,” says Marta Chilindron. “I try to capture the flux state of the world by making works that have no fixed shape. At first glance Orange Cube looks nothing like its title, but it suggests to the viewer to fold it with their minds-eye into a cube, as you would a puzzle. Although I can control the shape of the piece I may also be surrounded and contained within its structure, therefore creating an ambiguous experience of control and submission. This ambiguity its central to my work.”

Marta Chilindron was born in Argentina in 1951, raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, and has lived in New York since 1969, currently residing in Upper Manhattan. In 2024, Shifting Planes, her large 3-part sculpture for the International Airport Houston will be installed. In 2022, Rice University mounted her Parallel Greens at the Jones School of Business. Her Houston Mobius, 2019 was the first public temporary sculpture commissioned by the University of Houston.

“We are very excited to welcome Marta Chilindron’s work to the neighborhood, serving as an inspiring, public art piece in the heart of the community where she resides,” says Guillaume Kientz, Director & CEO of the Hispanic Society Museum & Library. “Chilindron is the first winner of our open call for a summer outdoor installation on our terrace. In partnership with NoMAA, we intend to continue this open call each Summer, providing a platform for local, up-and-coming artists to exhibit and share their works. We are humbled and proud to have a piece of Marta’s work here at the museum.”

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library is the primary institution and reference library dedicated solely to the preservation, study, understanding, exhibition and enjoyment of art and cultures of Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries and communities. Located in Upper Manhattan in the dynamic Washington Heights neighborhood, the institution has, since its inception, remained free of charge, providing unrivaled access to the most extensive collection of Hispanic art and literature outside of Spain and Latin America. 

The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance is a non-profit arts service organization whose mission is to cultivate, support and promote the works of artists and arts organizations in northern Manhattan.

Marta Chilindron

Marta Chilindron was born in Argentina in 1951, raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, and has lived in New York since 1969.

In 2024, Shifting Planes, her large 3-part sculpture for the International Airport Houston will be installed. In 2022, Rice University mounted her Parallel Greens at the Jones School of Business. Her Houston Mobius, 2019 was the first public temporary sculpture commissioned by the University of Houston.