The Key exhibition view Overall view

La llave / la clave [The Key] is a project that evidences the links between album covers produced in Puerto Rico and New York between the 50s and 80s, and the visual culture and historical dynamics that informed them: music, videos, images of the world of art and advertising, syncretism and religion. The project’s inception was in 2006, and was formalized in 2011 as an artist talk. Currently, the project consists of an illustrated talk, an installation, a collection of LP records, a publication, a video, and music playlists.

In this iteration of La llave / la clave [The Key], carried out within the framework of the Taller Vivo [Live Workshop] program, the publication was reedited and an additional component will be developed: a recording studio as functional sculpture. In it, sound pieces will be developed in a radio program format, in which the artist and his guests will discuss music and its visual landscape. Along with the pieces that make up La llave / la clave, other works on paper complete the musical set of works in the exhibition.

La llave / la clave [The Key] is a non-academic investigation into the cultural imaginary that makes up a good part of the evolution of salsa as a musical genre and all that it has meant in Puerto Rico and diasporic populations in New York. In this way, Tony Cruz Pabon's research unfolds in many ways before a generous audience that is willing to enjoy it.