Zoe Leonard: Al río / To the River

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean premieres Al río / To the River, a large-scale photographic work by Zoe Leonard (b. 1961, New York), which takes the Rio Grande, as it is named in the United States, or Río Bravo, as it is named in Mexico, as its subject. Beginning in 2016, Leonard photographed along the 2,000 kilometres where the river is used to demarcate the boundary between the United Mexican States and the United States of America, following the waterway from the border cities of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico.

Epic in scale, Al río / To the River results from close observation of both the natural and built environments shaped by and surrounding the river, from desert and mountains to cities, towns and small villages where daily life unfolds in tandem with agriculture, commerce, industry, policing, and surveillance. Leonard’s photographs focus on the accumulation of infrastructure and other constructions built into and alongside the river to control the flow of water, the passage   of goods, and the movement of people: dams, levees, roads, irrigation canals, bridges, pipelines, fences and checkpoints. “The shifting nature of a river—which floods periodically, changes course and carves new channels—is at odds with the political task it is asked to perform,” says Leonard. 

Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication in two volumes entitled Al río / To the River
Editor: Tim Johnson
Contributors: C.J. Alvarez, Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Cecilia Ballí, Carolyn Boyd, Remijio “Primo” Carrasco, Alfredo Corchado, Yuri De la Rosa, Natalie Diaz, Dolores Dorantes, Darby English, Álvaro Enrigue, Catherine Facerias, Nadiah Rivera Fellah, Josh T Franco, Esther Gabara, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Angela Kocherga, Land Arts of the American West, Elisabeth Lebovici, Aimé Iglesias Lukin, José Rabasa, Cameron Rowland, Inocencio Lugo Ruiz, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Roberto Tejada, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Graphic design: Joseph Logan
Publishers: Mudam Luxembourg, Hatje Cantz
Languages: English, Spanish, French
Pages: 318 pages (vol. 1) + 232 pages (vol. 2)
Dimensions: 28 x 23 cm (landscape format)
Softcover with flaps, two volumes in a slipcase
Available at the Mudam Store and on mudamstore.com

Curators Suzanne Cotter and Christophe Gallois, assisted by Sarah Beaumont
Exhibition design Marcos Corrales Lantero
Collaboration The exhibition Zoe Leonard. Al río / To the River is organised in collaboration with the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris Musées.

Public programme
Zoe Leonard in conversation with Tim Johnson, Catherine Facerias and Elisabeth Lebovici
February 26, 2022, 11am, English
Book launch for Al río / To the River (Hatje Cantz, Mudam Luxembourg, 2022)

Lecture by Briony Fer (University College London) on the work of Zoe Leonard
May 4, 2022, 6:30pm, English

Symposium
Riverine Borders: On rivers and other border materialities
May 20, 2022, 10am–6pm, English
In collaboration with the UniGR-Center for Border Studies: University of Luxembourg (Geography and Spatial Planning), Universität des Saarlandes (North American Literary and Cultural Studies) and Universität Trier (Trier Center for American Studies)

Every Wednesday evening at Mudam Café
March 2–June 1, 2022 6–9pm
Broadcast of the Marfa Public Radio programme Dos Horas con Primo Carrasco (Marfa Public Radio)

The exhibition is also accompanied by a programme of films, workshops, and guided tours. Find the full programme and activities on mudam.com

Also on view 
Freigeister. Fragments of an art scene in Luxembourg and beyond through February 27, 2022
Nedko Solakov. A Cornered Solo Show #1 through April 18, 2022
25 years of the Mudam Collection through April 18, 2022
mirror mirror: cultural reflections in fashion through April 24, 2022
Isamu Noguchi / Danh Vo. a cloud and flowers through September 19, 2022
Martine Feipel & Jean Bechameil. Garden of Resistance through January 9, 2023

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean promotes creativity, visionary thinking, openness and cultural participation for all. Like Luxembourg, Mudam is situated in Europe with a vision to the world. Mudam is committed to a more inclusive, tolerant and environmentally and socially responsible world in which museums play a leading role in the transmission of our contemporary cultural heritage for future generations.

Our mission is to collect, conserve and present the most relevant contemporary art of our time and to make it accessible to a diverse public. Through its exhibitions, publications, and artistic and educational programmes, Mudam fosters research and dialogue while giving special attention to the changing nature of art and its production in the world.