ALL EXPENSES PAID
Series of 7 digital photos printed on nylon paper
58 cm X 68 cm (2002)
All Expenses Paid was a piece created in situ for the I Biennial Ceará América, in Fortaleza, Brasil. It is a response to the curatorial proposal outlined by Jan Hoet and Philippe Van Cauteren regarding the contradictions existing within the city of Fortaleza between the touristic coastal area – dominated by luxury hotels, expensive restaurants and brand-name boutiques – and the city’s inner neighborhoods, which are closely associated with the working classes, conflict and survival. All Expenses Paid attempted to position itself in the center of said dichotomy, and reverse or neutralize its polarity, by pointing to the equivalencies between tourism and the cultural consumerism generated by massive contemporary art exhibitions. For a period of 7 days, the artist exposed his skin to the sun. At the end of each day, he had a digital photograph taken of his thorax. The secuence of images presented at the Biennial documents this tanning process, and its austere esthetic resembles that of a scientific or medical investigation.