Nicolás Dumit Estévez: I Swam with a Mermaid

Estévez begins with a PowerPoint presentation on the noteworthy characteristics of Speedos, which leads him into a narration of an encounter with an underwater creature at a Caribbean beach resort. He recounts an unexpected face-to face meeting with a being that feeds on fresh algae and boasts an iridescent tail dotted with pearly scales. The audience is gradually submerged and witnesses Estévez's trials as a tourist stranded in the warm waters of the tropics, running the risk of missing a buffet dinner at the Hibiscus Lounge back at the hotel.

The presentation, which references Zora Neale Hurston's experiences as described in Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica, includes drawings and photographs documenting this pseudo-anthropological account.

Nicolás Dumit Estévez treads an elusive path that manifests itself performatively or through experiences where the quotidian and art overlap. He has exhibited and performed extensively in the U.S. as well as internationally at venues such as Madrid Abierto/ARCO, The IX Havana Biennial, PERFORMA 05 and 07, IDENSITAT, Prague Quadrennial, The Pontevedra Biennial, The Queens Museum of Art, MoMA, Printed Matter, P.S. 122, Hemispheric Institute of Performance Art and Politics, Princeton University, Rutgers University, The Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, The MacDowell Colony, Provisions Library, El Museo del Barrio, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, The Center for Book Arts, Longwood Art Gallery/BCA, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Franklin Furnace, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, among others. He has attended residencies at MoMA/P.S.1, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony. He has received grants from Art Matters, Lambent Foundation, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Printed Matter, and Puffin Foundation. Estévez holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; and an MA from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is currently curating an exhibition from El Museo del Barrio's permanent collection. Publications include Pleased to Meet You: Life as Material for Art and Vice Versa (editor) and For Art's Sake. Born in Santiago de los Treinta Caballeros, Dominican Republic, Estévez was baptized as a Bronxite—a citizen of the Bronx—in 2011.

Estévez is the current resident in the School of Art's Visiting Artist Program. University Galleries is partnering with the program to host lectures, performances, and exhibitions by the 2014 Visiting Artists.