Pedro Reyes: Ad Usum / To Be Used

Pedro Reyes is a Mexico City-based artist, architect, and cultural agent who uses collective imagination to turn social problems into opportunities for change. His art enables productive diversions of otherwise destructive forces, and his second volume, Ad Usum: To Be Used, is an apparatus for multiplying the possibilities when art becomes a resource for the common good.

Format: Hardback
Length: 520 pages
Publication date: 02 April 2018
Publisher: Harvard University, The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

Pedro Reyes, an artist, architect, and cultural agent based in Mexico City, has been transforming existing social challenges into opportunities for tangible change through collective imagination for over a decade. By dismantling failed models and repurposing them with space for projecting alternatives, Reyes' art enables productive diversions of otherwise destructive forces.

Ad Usum: To Be Used, the second volume in the series Focus on Latin American Art and Agency, is dedicated to contemporary cultural agents, a term that Reyes himself defines as "changing our individual habits has no degree of effectiveness" as "progress is only significant if you start to multiply by 10, by 100, by 1,000." Rather than merely showcasing his work, this collection of images, interviews, and critical essays serves as a tool for expanding the possibilities when art becomes a resource for the common good.

This full-color illustrated survey of Reyes' projects features critical essays by José Luis Falconi, Robin Greeley, Johan Hartle, Adam Kleinman, and Doris Sommer, as well as interviews between the artist and renowned thinkers such as Lauren Berlant, Michael Hardt, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Antanas Mockus.

Through his multidisciplinary approach, Reyes challenges the boundaries between art, architecture, and society, creating spaces that encourage dialogue, reflection, and action. His projects range from urban interventions to public installations, and they often address issues of inequality, social exclusion, and environmental degradation.

Reyes' art is characterized by its ability to engage people on a personal and collective level, fostering a sense of empathy and understanding. By challenging dominant narratives and promoting alternative perspectives, he encourages viewers to question the status quo and explore new possibilities for a better future.

Ad Usum: To Be Used is a testament to Reyes' unwavering commitment to using art as a catalyst for social change. It showcases his remarkable ability to transform challenges into opportunities, and it provides a valuable resource for artists, policymakers, and anyone interested in exploring the power of collective imagination to create a more inclusive and sustainable world.

Weight: 1454g
Dimension: 182 x 255 x 39 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674025158