Intangible Sites (2016) is an immersive audiovisual installation in a mobile container unit that displays reflections through images and sounds previously collected from the participation of the immigrant community in the northern east area of New Mexico. The audio and visual elements inside the unit continually intermingle, further enveloping the audience into the immersive reflective environment.

Initiated with motivation to generate a conversation with the immigrant population located in the northern east area of New Mexico, Lionel Cruet and his studio partnered with individuals and organizations in this area to approach the community and produce this project. The inquiry started by a reflection on the personal experiences of being immigrants and how the natural environment becomes a metaphor for those reflections. As part of that process the community responded by submitting digital snapshot of that natural environments and landscapes that represent their reflections. Images images of desert, mountains in the distance, water sources, and paths, streets that show the traces of a journey. The digital images where paired with short voice recording and narrative stories that where later rendered inside the three-dimensional space of the container unit.

This project functions as a portal for reflections that responds to the people that inhabit this geographical area, and also he project has an overall look that is very particular of the southwest area. Nevertheless the intention of Lionel Cruet and his studio with this project is to offer a

mutual opportunity for the participants to express themselves, share their most intimate, sublime thoughts and experiences on how the natural environment and the landscape can be used to reflect on real situations such as immigration.

Bio: Lionel Cruet was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and received his Bachelor in Fine Arts from Escuela de Artes Plasticas en Puerto Rico and a Masters in Fine Arts from CUNY – The City College of New York. He was the recipient of the Juan Downey Audiovisual Award 2013 at the 11th Media Arts Biennale at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile. In 2015 I had a solo show, Lionel Cruet: In Between, Real and Digital with Bronx River Art Center in New York. Also his artwork was part of a group exhibition SuperReal: Alternative Realities in Photography and Video at El Museo del Barrio in New York, Colonial Comfort at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico and the Sound Art Fair at Sala de las Artes, Universidad de Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico among others. He participated of the AIM Program 2016 with The Bronx Museum of the Arts and his projects has been recently published by Made in Mind Magazine, designboom, Catálogodiseño Magazine. His work focuses in subjects of geopolitics, economy and technology, using digital printing processes, audiovisual material, performance, and installations.

Community partners:  Montserrat, Siena Sanderson, Nina Elder

Generously Sponsored by: PFLAG Taos