Adapt or Die

In White Sands, creatures endure an unforgiving, arid climate and must “adapt or die” in order to survive. In a new solo show at Open Forum in Berlin, Luis Miguel Bendaña reflects on forced acclimatization, on what it means to accommodate, within oneself and one’s life, changes that are out of one’s control.

Luis Miguel’s polyester knits are dipped in latex, administering a new texture — a hardening — that is in fact a destruction of the soft, pliable, and ultimately vulnerable, in favor of preservation. Deviating from the naïve, tragic porousness of Luis Miguel’s earlier work, Adapt or Die evokes instead the claustrophobic feeling of being submerged in the baptismal waters of change. Thus, Luis Miguel posits regeneration as rebirth — a forced sacrament that is harsh and unforgiving yet inevitable and ultimately redemptive. We all go under in the end. As part of the ritual of being alive, we adapt or die.

Valgerður Þoroddsdóttir

Luis Miguel Bendaña (b. 1988) lives and works in New York, NY. Recent exhibitions include Seventeen Gallery, London; Allen & Eldridge, New York; X Bienal de Nicaragua, Managua; Eric Hussenot, Paris; and the Chicago Cultural Center. He is co-director at Queer Thoughts, NY.