USF Contemporary Art Museum exhibition explores term ‘Latinx’
The USF Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM), within the University of South Florida (Tampa) College of Design, Art & Performance, presents X Factor: Latinx Artists and the Reconquest of the Everyday. X Factor opens Friday, January 17 with an Artists Conversation and Opening Reception. The exhibition is on view from January 17 through March 8, 2025.
X Factor locates dynamic entry points into the ongoing discussion and expansion of the term Latinx through the work of 15 of America’s leading contemporary artists. The exhibition grounds a series of redefinitions of “Latinity” in the everyday lives of its creators, especially where artworks and creative processes reconquer novel meanings from hackneyed and conventional ideas of ethnicity, race, class, politics, representation, and the various histories of US migration.
Latinx is used as an inclusive, gender-neutral term for people of Latin American heritage and includes people of various races and languages with roots in more than 20 countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean. In recent years, the term has become especially important for individuals and communities that negotiate two, three, or more “intersecting identities”; additionally, it has helped generate ongoing conversations about representation, empowerment, queerness, genderfluidity, cultural consumption and access.
X Factor looks to historical, recent and commissioned works by key Latinx artists to engage, depict, and challenge the underlying complexities of these identities. An exhibition devoted to an artist-authored expansion of the cultural legacy of the Latin American diaspora, X Factor underscores a period of political and creative ferment in which fundamental redefinitions of both society and identity abound.
Exhibiting artists: Gabino A. Castelán, Gisela Colón, Danielle De Jesus, Lucia Hierro, Karlo Andrei Ibarra, Laura Perez Insua, José Lerma, Eddy A. López, Miguel Luciano, Narsiso Martinez, Angel Otero, Edison Peñafiel, Shizu Saldamando, Yiyo Tirado-Rivera and Rodrigo Valenzuela.
X Factor is curated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator at Large, and organized by USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa. X Factor is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
X FACTOR EXHIBITION EVENTS
Friday, January 17, 2025: ARTISTS CONVERSATION + OPENING RECEPTION
6pm – Artists Conversation
USF Theatre 2 (THR) – 3829 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL 33620
7-9pm – Opening Reception
USF Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) – 3821 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL 33620
Join us in USF Theatre 2 adjacent to the museum for a conversation with artists from X Factor including Gabino A. Castelán, Danielle De Jesús, Lucía Hierro, Yiyo Tirado-Rivera, and Rodrigo Valenzuela. Talk is moderated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator at Large.An opening reception follows the conversation until 9pm at USFCAM. For questions or more information send us a DM, an email at caminfo@usf.edu, or call (813) 974-4133. This event is free and open to all.
Friday, February 21, 2025: ARTISTS CONVERSATION + DESSERT RECEPTION
6pm – Artists Conversation
USF School of Music Barness Hall (MUS107) – 3755 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL 33620
7-8pm – Coffee + Dessert Reception
USF Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) – 3821 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL 33620
Join us in USF School of Music’s Barness Hall for a conversation with artists from X Factor. Talk is moderated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator at Large. A coffee and dessert reception follows the conversation until 8pm at USFCAM. For questions or more information send us a DM, an email at caminfo@usf.edu, or call (813) 974-4133. This event is free and open to all.
USF Contemporary Art Museum Visitor Info
Admission: Exhibitions are free and open to all.
Hours: Monday-Friday 10am-5pm; Thursday 10am-8pm; Saturday 1-4pm.
Closed: Sundays, and USF Holidays (January 20th for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday), and between exhibitions.
Contact: 813-974-4133; caminfo@usf.edu; ira.usf.edu/cam.
Address: 3821 USF Holly Drive, Tampa, FL 33620.
Parking: Visitor parking in lot 3B. USF parking permits required, and available at the pay station in the CAM parking lot. Payment is via the ParkMobile app (use zone 9302), or by Visa, MasterCard, or Discover.
