John Jay College of Criminal Justice is proud to present the exhibition “búsquame en el torbellino: stand up next to a mountain” by artist William Cordova from April 2nd to May 27th, 2011 in the 6th Floor President’s Gallery. This event is sponsored by the Department of Art & Music who invites you to celebrate the exhibition with an opening reception on Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

Forty-two years prior, on April 2nd 1969 in a pre-dawn raid, New York police officers arrested 15 Blacks and Latinos, subsequent arrests followed pursuant to an indictment of twenty one members of the Black Panther Party known as The Panther 21. Charged with conspiracy to commit acts of “terrorism”, the subsequent trial was the longest and most expensive criminal case in New York State history. On May 13, 1971 after deliberating for only 45 minutes the jury acquitted all 21 members. Although the Black Panthers won the case, the party’s finances were depleted and their public image demonized by mainstream media. This series of events effectively neutralized their political and social efficacy in New York City including free children’s breakfast programs and clinics for the poor, as well as safeguarding their communities from ongoing crime.

“búsquame en el torbellino: stand up next to a mountain” presents a historical, yet contemporary account of those events through an amalgamation of the Cordova’s research and his established installation, drawing and collage techniques. These items will allow viewers to construct a multidimensional overview of these past events and bridge them with current situations like the recent Liberty City 7 case (Miami, FL) and the ongoing San Francisco 8 case (San Francisco, CAL). This form of translation through the vehicle of art, make Cordova’s exhibition timely and suitable for the ways in which history deserves constant engagement.

William Cordova is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Lima, Peru. He earned his MFA from Yale University in 2004 and his BFA from The Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. Cordova’s solo exhibitions include laberintos, Sikkema Jenkins & Co, More than Bilingual, Fleming Museum, Burlington, VA (2009), and P’alante, Arndt & Partner, Berlin, Germany (2006). Cordova has participated in group exhibitions at Ps1/MOMA, NY, the Menil Collection, Houston, TX and in the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of Art, NY and the San Juan Triennial, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has participated in numerous artist residencies including Artpace, San Antonio, TX, The Core Program, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and The Studio Museum in Harlem AIR program, NY.

The 6th Floor President’s Gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday 8am – 5pm. For more information about the exhibition please call 212.237.8329 or email [email protected]

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.