The Other Middle America

Looking at a map, Central America appears as a link connecting the massive North and South American continents. Sandwiched between Honduras and Costa Rica, at the center of this connective tissue, is Nicaragua. Like many places situated between such large and often opposing forces, its history contains many narratives of conflict and migration. To investigate these contentious histories, New Jersey-based artist Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga has created 'Fallout,' a project that uses the web to redirect the grand narratives of Nicaragua through the identities of historical figures and the site's visitors. Personal recollections augment, disrupt, and coexist with stories of socialist revolutions and US interventions. The internet-based work will also inform a new installation by the artist at Momenta Art, in Brooklyn, from 9 December through 23 January. The physical manifestation of the project, titled 'Fallout: What's Left,' will feature specially-commissioned propaganda posters, a new video game, a mini FM radio station, and free voice-over-internet phone calls for migrants separated from their families during the holidays. Viva la historias colectivas! - Ryan Griffis