Artist's immigrant performance axed

The tide turned on the artist Carlos Rigau’s scheduled performance at Untitled, The Dance of the Designer Refugee, when the fair’s organisers cancelled it yesterday just hours before it was set to take place. The Miami-born artist had planned to sail a homemade raft onto the beach as part of the Brooklyn gallery Helper’s outdoor project series. Rigau, whose relatives immigrated from Cuba by raft, received a stern email on behalf of the fair founder Jeff Lawson forbidding him from carrying out the performance. Rigau says he is “disappointed”, but that “it’s actually a good thing for the work. It was going to be a re-enactment of this illegal thing, and then it actually became illegal.” A spokesman for Untitled told The Art Newspaper: “We were concerned about the safety of the people on the beach and the performers. We didn’t want to endanger anyone.” Rigau says he plans to make a new work that takes the decision into account—hopefully in time for the fair.