original press release:

kurimanzutto is pleased to announce DODGEM, the most recent project by Minerva Cuevas. in this occasion the gallery will open its doors in a local amusement park in Mexico City.

For this exhibition, Minerva Cuevas presents an intervention in an amusement park's bumper-carts ride -- a perfect context for Cuevas's commentary on recent energy geopolitics. This greed-driven battle characterized by a permanent war among the petrol companies (referred to ironically by the artist through the aimless bumping of electric cars) looking to control the international markets with the ultimate goal of private profit. These companies are ultimately the ones who dictate environmental policies and control the exploitation of natural resources.

Minerva Cuevas's work is characterized by public interventions, the use of media articulating campaigns that address economic and social processes, communications and biotechnology. Her work consists mainly of installation, video, photography, and advertising resources.

TERRORISM IS SCARIER THAN GLOBAL WARMING

"If environmental groups cost business money, then they're eco-terrorists." Dan Barry - Clearinghouse for Environmental Advocacy and Research.

"Of course, oil from the Middle East is a problem. Getting oil from unstable Persian Gulf leaves America less secure and yoked to unattractive regimes."

"In a big defeat for the Bush administration's national energy plan, the Democratic-led U.S. Senate on Thursday killed a White House proposal to let oil companies drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "  Tom Doggett, Reuters.

“President George W. Bush, a former Texas oilman, made drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge the centerpiece of his proposed U.S. energy policy. "At a time when oil and gas prices are rising, the Senate today missed an opportunity to lead America to greater energy independence," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. The administration also will fight for ANWR drilling to be included in any final version of an energy bill, Fleischer said.

[...] Options as drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge decrease security. If the refuge held economically recoverable oil, then delivering that oil by its only route, the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System, would undercut the anti-terrorist goals of the Defense Authorization Act. It would make the pipeline the fattest energy-terrorist target in the country -- akin to pinning a "Kick Me" sign on Uncle Sam's backside." Bill McKibben.

Environmentalists say Alaska oil would be far from secure: They point out that last month, a single drunken man managed to puncture the trans-Alaskan pipeline by firing a rifle at it, causing a 285,000-gallon oil spill. As for supply, the United States Geological Survey and the Union of Concerned Scientists, note that at peak production the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may yield only 500,000 barrels per day. The U.S. uses 19.45 million barrels of oil daily, according to the Department of Energy, or more than a quarter of global production.

The Bush administration, Exxon-Mobil and other energy companies successfully connived behind the scenes to oust climatologist Robert Watson from leadership of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nation's international scientific panel on climate change. Meanwhile, an extensive research survey published in March confirms that global warming is already affecting life on earth.

The project is open for view and participation during the regular opening hours of the Amusement Park.