English translation

28tH edItIoN oF tHe coNcUrso de arte edUardo leÓN JIMeNes

artWorK catalogUe

ART AS A WAY TO MOVE FORWARD

Maria amalia léon President of the eduardo león Jimenes Foundation Head of centro león

The year 2020 will be remembered as one of the most difficult and challenging years in human history. The pandemic affected all areas — economy, society, culture, and artistic creation. It also affected the way we developed the 28th edition of our Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. This edition was carried under extraordinary circumstances, with the help of our hardworking team, who showed their commitment to Dominican art and cultural management. It wasn’t easy to encourage the artists and assist them with their projects when all the circumstances seemed to be against them. We had to adapt our methods to fit these uncertain times, relying mainly on remote work and reducing in-person meetings. Today, we can firmly say that Dominican art did not stop. By bestowing our trust in our curators and the artists selected for this edition, and with the support of many collaborators, we were able to bring this exhibition to a virtual audience — being the first of its kind in the country and maybe even the region. our temporary exhibition gallery was filled with shapes, colors, and textures. The artworks showcased offered a perspective on contemporary visual arts in the Dominican Republic: installations, performance, public interventions, artistic processes, and sound archives. Across the exhibition we can find a bit of everything, from traditional techniques such as wood engraving, to the use of digital platforms that give way to the discovery of alternative styles. We can also find artworks that question our reality, subtly intertwined with dyed fibers made of our native plants. These artworks also reflect tensions in our world: the creation of Dominican identities, gender perspectives, and an intimate and complex dive into our bodies and sexual orientations. More than ever, we have showcased pieces that, as part of their artistic approach, tackle social issues and engage with the audience. This time, it wasn’t only a matter of presenting these issues to the viewer, but instead, inviting them to find aesthetic answers or solutions by starting a dialogue with the artwork. This makes us – once again - reflect on the role of art in public places, and I believe these artworks will evoke whenever we speak of Dominican public art in the future. We can already witness this through the wide media presence of these artworks in urban spaces, the way they triggered our senses and the awareness that surged on subjects that would have otherwise gone unnoticed among the worldly noise, as Góngora would say. We want to thank the jury, Gabriela Rangel, Gerardo Mosquera, Raquel Paiewonsky and Sara Hermann, for their commitment, that went far beyond what was strictly asked of them professionally, offering moral and artistic support in the name of art and culture. our curatorial team, Alfonsina Martínez, Inmagela Abreu, Laura Bisonó Smith, Víctor Martínez, Winston Rodríguez and Yina Jiménez Suriel, thank you for your dedication in these challenging times, for responding quickly and for the constant follow-up. We also want to thank our loyal sponsor, Cervecería Nacional Dominicana, for ensuring this edition of the contest, so important for the Dominican arts. Now that it is over, we can look back at all the valuable things we’ve learned: we’ve been able to prove that resilience isn’t some abstract concept, it lives in every heart that refuses to give up when faced with adversity. Even in the darkest night, you can always shine a light. Now we see the path ahead of us, we apply these lessons, and we reorganize the future of our cultural mission.

SELECTION RULING

april 13th, 2020 Buenos Aires, Argentina; Madrid, Spain; Santiago and Santo Domingo; Dominican Republic. Between March 24th and April 13th, 2020, the jury of the 28th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, made up of Gabriela Rangel, Gerardo Mosquera, Raquel Paiewonsky and Sara Hermann, reviewed the projects of the artists that applied to this edition. As established in Chapter V, Article 7 in the regulations of the Contest, once the evaluation and deliberation process was over, the jury selected 20 artists or collectives. The jury considered that the work and techniques of these artists allowed them to address several contemporary issues through their style and within their Dominican context. They encouraged reflection on subjects such as the shape and malleability of memory, and our mnemonic attachment to the places we inhabit or pass through. on this note, some of the artists explored the links between the body and psychosocial places and the ways it inhabits the landscape.

Some artists focused on the idea of building or reviewing collective or intimate stories. They gathered the fragments of individual and ephemeral tales, in order to create an alternate memory. They also set out to dig into the blind spots of our history. Some participants tackled the issue of representation in the media through stereotypes, power structures, domination, and hierarchy — replicated in our society. others aimed to demonstrate the way our beliefs and social rules normalize the appearance, roles, and function of our bodies. They addressed issues such as the woman’s body and its place in tales about the Caribbean, black culture, gender roles and the importance to think with our body. other artists set out to change aesthetic patterns and perspectives, to establish a link between their use, their formality or informality, and their contexts. It is also important to highlight the projects that set out to re-examine the institution of art through education, interaction with communities and archive management. The jury considered that the public exhibition of these projects in the 28th Edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes could encourage reflection on these subjects and trigger critical thinking. They also considered that this is one of the objectives of the Contest: to enhance the role art plays when articulating social relations. Gabriela Rangel, Gerardo Mosquera, Raquel Paiewonsky, Sara Hermann

28 CONCURSO DE ARTE EDUARDO LEóN JIMENES AWARDS

June 1st, 2021 The jury of the 28th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes acknowledges the challenging times in which this edition took place: the dedication, perseverance, and tenacity of the artists; the team’s commitment at Centro León and the institutional determination, despite unfavorable conditions, to carry on with this event and to support the arts in this time of need. The exhibition of these artworks at the 28th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes promotes reflection on a wide variety of subjects, triggers critical thinking and enhances the role of art to articulate social relations. The jury unanimously decided to give out an editorial award, as well as 3 equal awards.

The editorial award, consisting of funds given to the artist for its editorial use, is given to an artwork that:

Creates a sort of hybrid memorabilia that portrays a forgotten side of history: an elusive indigenous identity and a colonial substitute that, throughout the centuries, has defined a particular aesthetic loaded with political and ideological issues. A detailed approach helped the artist address the objects not only through their appearance and symbolism, but also through their own cultural significance and their possible — and unexpected — links to other objects. This artwork defies practical and ideological racism in its use of common archetypes and confronts them through their unusual mixture. The use and combination of materials and symbols are a metaphor and a model for founding cultures and cultural clichés that perpetuate inequalities and binary poles. In a smart and playful way, the artist achieves an archeological syncretism that allows us to approach our nation’s history and identity conflicts, from a holistic and uniting perspective. By Julianny Ariza Vólquez: Atesoro.

An equal award was given to an artwork that:

Confirms that what is personal is public and political. A body of work that poetically and harmoniously combines important issues that create links between what is intimate and what is collective. This project, rigorously and delicately developed, brings to the present a micro-history that transcends the privacy of memory to expose a fragment of residential urbanism in Santo Domingo. The artist recovers, through forgotten family connections and abandoned emotions relating to missing places, some fragments of a material culture, proving a commitment to critical memory. Through sculptures that take the shape of imaginary animals, this piece shows us the healing power of crafts, encapsulated within the history of many communities. By Guadalupe Casasnovas: Fauna extinta del ensanche Piantini y Sitio arqueológico e histórico de la Calle 12 # 24.

An equal award was given to an artwork that:

Reflects on the fabrication of history, the racialization of certain tales, and the ideological identity of polarized sides in social conflicts. The final piece is visually suggestive through its mixture of fiction and history, truth, and ideology. We emphasize the decolonizing role of this piece and how it reveals the role of African slaves in the history of the Dominican Republic. This is extremely important because of Dominican Republic’s continuous effort to deny and conceal in a systematic manner the significative impact of Africa in its ethnic origins and its culture. The artist shows a precise and relevant conceptual approach to the primary source that triggered its narrative. Putting in motion a banished and oblique historical discourse to the official accounts that frame the artwork, results in an original discussion on the archives.

Through a flawless technique and detailed research, the artist manages not only to make us think about the gaps in our past, but also makes us reevaluate the corrupt and patronizing practices of our present. By José Morbán: Monte Grande/Paramnesia.

An equal award was given to an artwork that:

A multidisciplinary, complex project with semantic density. Giving life to the Mercedes Hotel is, nowadays, a subversive action, since it demonstrates how a patrimony at risk puts into play the emotional story of its surroundings. Through its semantics, featuring a living and breathing building, the piece also forces us to confront the preservation of our architectural legacy, and makes us reevaluate our currently restored patrimony which tends to favor form over content. It shows concern towards the urban spaces that hold a symbolic and psychological significance, associated with social and community life. The piece reveals a building that, in its current state of deterioration, suggests feelings of desolation, emptiness and melancholy, and is brought to life through visual effects that evoke its history and its social, economic and domestic changes, generating empathy in those who can relate to its surroundings. This activity not only caused unexpected reactions in its surroundings, but it also started a debate on historical patrimony and the access and the property of memory. The artist stirs up the idea of private spaces that lodge public memory and encourages the recognition of their collective nature. By Raúl Morilla: Agonía de la memoria.

Signed in Santiago, Dominican Republic, Madrid, Spain and New York, united States. Gerardo Mosquera Fernández, Gabriela Rangel, Raquel Paiewonsky, Sara Hermann

THE JURY’S VOICE

We spoke with the members of the jury of this 28th Edition of the Contest, and they shared their impressions on the contest and its legacy, considering this year the institution celebrates its 57th anniversary.

1. Regarding the heterogeneity in themes and styles, how do you take into consideration the works of those who participate?

Sara Hermann (SH): Any assessment made of this Contest, its participants and discourses must take into account what this year has meant for all of us. It is noteworthy how almost all the projects that were selected, within their scope and diversity, had an autobiographical component. So general approaches that perhaps at first addressed education, exclusion or mobility are indeed convincing, but deep inside they come from very personal and emotional concerns.

Gerardo Mosquera (GM): one of the things that caught my attention when reviewing the projects that entered the contest was not only the diversity of themes and styles, but the diversity of poetics and techniques. If the Dominican Republic is a country with only 10.6 million inhabitants, we would expect its artistic scene to be tight. Although probably all the participants know each other, this diversity is surprising, which proves there’s an open, well-informed scene, rich in their diversity and trajectories.

Gabriela Rangel (GR): These are works that, in general, take the pulse of broader issues in international contemporary art, while still setting their roots within the country’s popular culture and artistic scene.

Raquel Paiewonsky (RP): I feel the selected artists address, from different perspectives, issues that are relevant to our personal, social, historical, and political history, converging on a few thematic axes, but with very different approaches that allow us to see each experience as unique. Many artists have presented multidisciplinary proposals, searching for a meaning that goes beyond the pre-established categories or media common to this type of event.

2. What kind of impact or transcendence you think these works could have on the future of Dominican contemporary art?

SH: It is difficult to speak without the historical distance needed to elaborate on its possible impact. But I can assure you that the process of conceptualization, development and production of these pieces will leave a mark on the work of the artists and the curators who worked alongside them. GM: I don’t like being an art fortune teller because it is very difficult to be one in a field as dynamic and complex as the arts and, in general, culture. But I can say that the selected projects will result in impactful works. RP: When artists present powerful and sincere approaches, with research, sensitivity and the ability to change something within us, I think they have the possibility to transcend. And this Contest gives visibility to these processes. GR: Sadly, I can’t evaluate this since I’m not an expert in Dominican art history, but there are works that would indeed be valuable in any context.

3. What perks come with the jury who selects being the same as the one who chooses the winners? SH: Rather than perks, I’d say it brings coherence. It allows us to follow the artists as they develop their ideas, see the ways they have found to create them and their work process. Since the Contest’s rules

were modified to include projects and a program of curatorial assessment, they were thinking of this kind of results. The relationship between the artist and the institution, the curators and the jury, goes from being specific to becoming horizontal and long-lasting. GM: It allows for a deeper sense of familiarization with the projects and their development, which gives us a better knowledge of the pieces in order to select the winners. GR: I think it feeds the discussion that rises when making a selection of a wide universe of artworks and artists and guarantees a thorough assessment of the individual processes that arrived at the contest at a very initial phase. RP: The idea of competition within the arts is very complex in itself, since art isn’t only a result made behind closed doors. In a Contest like this, working alongside a curatorial team that could follow the projects’ development from start to finish and could create a dialogue about the production of the pieces is a process far more nourishing, that encourages a learning process, results and a horizontal relationship.

4. 2020 has been a transformative, challenging, and surprising year… Could you say the same about your experience with the artists, the contest and its process?

SH: Definitely, 2020 has set a new rhythm, a new sense of time. Without interrupting our work, we have had to find new ways to establish a dialogue and meet our tasks. The constant support of the artists has been fundamental, and it has been essentially a dialogued process. GM: The jury worked remotely during the pandemic, which was something that I was doing for the first time. The work was easier thanks to the excellent preparation at Centro León, which allowed us to review and discuss the projects perfectly. It was a positive experience. I think one of the lessons taken from this tragedy we went through is that the important of in-person communication has been overrated. There are many activities we can do remotely thanks to digital media, saving time, resources and helping the environment. of course, some activities need inperson interaction. GR: The debate for the selection was very special because we did it on zoom (it was the very first time I used this app), and the meetings between the jury weren’t made in-person as they were supposed. This happened exactly at the time the pandemic forced us to stay in our homes, countries and contexts. These unique, and I would say historic, work conditions, took our discussions towards reflections modulated by the pandemic. They were memorable meetings. RP: It has been a very special year despite all the things confinement entailed. I feel this time has given us the possibility to reflect on our planet, our socio-economical system and on our private space. This edition of the Contest took place in the midst of all these philosophical questions through a virtual platform. We have had to connect to each other in new ways, find ways to be creative in our work and rethink culture and the production of meaning from our islander perspective. I think there could be huge changes in the art world as a result of this experience.

5. Given its continuity and transcendence, what do you consider are the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes vital contributions to the region?

RP: Historically, our region has had very few support platforms for the creation and visibility of art. Having a project like this has allowed, over the years, not only to organize our history, but also to guarantee that new generations have an integral place to explore their own work and connect with the community. I believe that this institution has created a precedent for emerging projects for cultural and artistic development that we see in the Caribbean. SH: The Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes has historically become the main private support for visual arts in the Dominican Republic. Its impact on the career of the artists who have participated in it over the years is overwhelming. The Contest, and its collection as a result, is a sort of thermometer to measure the social, political, and economic circumstances of the country, as well as the path of its artistic production. GM: In Latin America, we have very good perfume, but it lacks fixative. Competitions, biennials, newspapers, and even institutions, are often short-lived. The mere continuity of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes is already an achievement. As well as its seriousness and professionalism. The Contest has become an important place to support and broadcast Dominican art, which, and this is very important, has proved to evolve alongside the changes and requirements of contemporary art and curatorship. The contest is a model in the continent and an example for art sponsorship that the private sector in countries with little state support for culture should follow. GR: This contest is an example of seriousness, commitment, and support for the local context. I believe, and I hope I am not mistaken, that this endeavor will continue to bear its fruits. Since the beginning of quarantine, the closure of borders, the suspension of flights and the implementation of strict social distancing measures, the discussion within the art world has turned towards a return to what is local, a model that this award has conducted over time.

ABOUT THE JURY

Gabriela Rangel. Artistic Director of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA).

Between 2005 and 2019 she was the director of Visual Arts and chief curator of the Americas Society in Nueva York. She earned a master’s degree in Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, Nueva York; a master’s degree in Media and Communication Studies at universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas; and studied film at the Escuela Internacional de Cine de San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Cuba. She worked at the Fundación Cinemateca Nacional and the Museo Alejandro otero in Caracas, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. She has curated and co-curated many modern art and contemporary art exhibitions, including artists such as Marta Minujín, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Gordon Matta-Clark, Arturo Herrera, Paula Trope and Alejandro Xul Solar. She has collaborated with magazines such as Art in America, Parkett and Art Nexus, and has written and written for art publications such as Abraham Cruzvillegas, Empty Lot (Tate, 2015), Marta Minujín: Minucodes (Americas Society, 2015), Javier Téllez/Vasco Araujo, Larger than Life (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2012), Arturo Herrera (Trasnocho Arte, 2009), A Principality of its Own (Americas Society-Harvard university Press, 2006), among others.

Gerardo Mosquera. Curator, critic, art historian and freelance writer, based in Havana, Madrid, and the world. He works as an advisor for the Rijksakademie van Beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and other international art centers. He is a professor at the master’s degree in Commissioning at the university of Navarra and the master’s degree in Photography at PhotoEspaña, Madrid. He co-founded the Havana Biennial (1984-1989), was a curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1995-2007) and artistic director of PhotoEspaña, Madrid (2011-2013). He has curated numerous biennials and international exhibitions, the most recents being: 21st Bienal de Arte Paiz, Guatemala 2018; 3rd Today’s Documents 2016, Beijing, and 4th San Juan Poli / Graphic Triennial 2015. He is currently working on the Guangzhou Image Triennial, which will open in March 2021, and is writing a novel. He is the author and editor of numerous texts and books on contemporary art and art theory, published in different countries and languages. His latest book, Art from Latin America (and other global pulses), has just been published under the label of Ediciones Cátedra, Madrid. He is a member of the advisory council of several international magazines. He has given lectures around the five continents. He received the Guggenheim Fellowship, New York, in 1990. Raquel Paiewonsky. Dominican artist who works mainly with painting, installation, photography and video. She has exhibited her work extensively at exhibitions and biennials in the united States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Among them, her participation in the 53rd edition of the Venice Biennale in 2009 and the 55th edition in 2013 with the quintapata collective stand out. She has been invited to the VIII, IX and XXI Biennials of Havana, Cuba; to the X Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador; the III Biennial of the End of the World in ushuaia, Argentina, and the Jamaica Biennial in 2017. In 2015 she received the support of the Davidoff Art Initiative for an artistic residency at the kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. In 2018 she had a retrospective exhibition at the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM) in the Canary Islands, Spain, where she also published a book that compiles the last decade of her work. She was awarded at the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes in 2006, 2008 and 2012, as well as in the XX and XXII National Biennial of Visual Arts of Santo Domingo. Raquel has been an active participant in the art scene of the Dominican Republic, and she has a particular interest in promoting spaces for dialogue and education within cultural platforms. She co-created the quintapata collective and with them she developed public art projects that linked art to different sectors of the population. She has given workshops, conferences and talks at national and international institutions. She is currently the director of the Fine Arts department at Chavón the School of Design.

Sara Hermann. She has a degree in Art History from the university of Havana, Cuba. Bachelor of Art History at the university of Havana, Havana, Cuba. (1991). Today, and since 2005, she works as Chief Curator at the Eduardo León Jimenes Cultural Center in Santiago, Dominican Republic. She directed the Museum of Modern Art in the Dominican Republic between 2000 and 2004. Sara co-founded Curando Caribe, a pedagogical and curatorial program of contemporary art established in 2014 by Centro León and the Cultural Center of Spain. In the curatorial field, she conceptualizes and curates exhibitions of contemporary artists working in the Caribbean, Central America, and Latin America in general. She conceptualizes and curates exhibitions by Caribbean and Latin American artists such as Especies y espacios, Raquel Paiewonsky. Lucy García Contemporary Art, Dominican Republic (2016); Placebos, Jorge Pineda, Cultural Center of Spain, Dominican Republic (2016); Land in Trance: Visual Strategies of the Recession. Museum of Modern Art, Dominican Republic (2012); Wifredo García: Peculiar obsessions. Centro León, Santiago, Dominican Republic (2009) (Co-curated with karenia Guillarón); Merengue, visual rythms, Centro León, Santiago, Dominican Republic; El Museo del Barrio, New York, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, united States (2005-2007); Heroic Dimensions: The Art of the 1960s in the Dominican Republic. Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2001). She has written extensively on Dominican,

Caribbean and Latin American art and taught and given lectures on these topics locally and internationally.

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Alfonsina Martínez. She studied graphic design at the Pontificia universidad Católica Madre y Maestra; Fine Arts and Illustration at Chavón the School of Design and has been part of the first edition of the Curando Caribe curator training program. Since 2015 she has been part of the research team at the Eduardo León Jimenes Collection of Visual Arts at Centro León and has collaborated in several curatorial and exhibition projects inside and outside the institution.

Inmagela Abreu. Social activist. General psychologist from the Pontificia universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, independent researcher of photographic, audiovisual and press archives of the LGBTq + community in the Dominican Republic and participant in the fourth version of the Curando Caribe program. Visual Arts and Exhibitions Assistant for exhibition projects since 2017. Curatorial assistant for the exhibitions Estudio Sonoro and 28 Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. Since the end of 2020, she has been an assistant to the research team at Centro León, participating in social history and visual arts research.

Víctor Martínez. He has a degree in Social Communication, with a minor in Audiovisual Production and Journalism, from the Pontificia universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. He has been part of research projects within the Center of Excellence for Research and Diffusion of Reading and Writing (CEDILE-PuCMM), at the 27th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes and as a member of the research team in visual arts of Centro León, in 2017. Together with the PuCMM Dean of Students, he coordinated the interdependent project called Relacionar (ser): a semiformal platform for dialogue, reflection and creation based on the reflections of writer Édouard Glissant. He is part of the Curando Caribe training network for art curators, managed by Centro León and the Cultural Center of Spain.

Winston Rodríguez. Showing an interest in history from an early age, he has a bachelor’s in education with a minor in Social Sciences at the Autonomous university of Santo Domingo, where he graduated in 2015. In 2016 he moved to Valencia, Spain, where he completed a master’s degree in Contemporary History at the university of Valencia. From there, he chose the Dominican labor movement of the 20th century as his line of research. Since 2019 he works as a researcher and curator at Centro León. He has participated as a speaker in some conferences on Dominican history of the 19th and 20th centuries. Yina Jiménez Suriel. Curator and researcher. She obtained her master’s degree in art history and visual culture with a focus on visual studies from the university of Valencia. She has collaborated in different institutions, including Casa Quién and the Museum of Modern Art in Medellín. Between 2018 and 2020 she was part of the curatorial team at Centro León. Together with the Puerto Rican artist Pablo Guardiola, she curated the exhibition one month after being known in that island for the kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger in collaboration with the Caribbean Art Initiative.

ANDREA OTTENWALDER

(Santo Domingo, 1995) Dominican visual artist. After finishing her formal art studies, she is selected for the 26th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. Her work has been showcased in art residences in South Corea and Puerto Rico. The most recent being La Práctica, at Beta-Local in Puerto Rico. Through an autobiographical perspective, her work examines themes such as memory, being a woman and self-identity. She uses fiction to approach her surroundings, and at the same time, distance herself from it.

Yo sé que lo que quieres es ser como tú eres. 2020

A towel, a common and intimate object, is placed in public as an element that reveals the vulnerable states of our being. Through this texture and through autobiographical images, Andrea explores her relationship with her body. The use of this highly personal object that covers and protects our vulnerabilities and our intimacy, conveys new ideas and interests, inviting the artist to explore and discover new aspects of her art. The piece, individual in its essence, seeks to make use of its potential collective value.

Why towels? unlike other fabrics, there’s a special relationship between the body and the towel. It covers our body, dries it, cleans, and protects it. We use it when we are born, after taking a bath, in public places such as pools or the beach, or when we don’t want to be physically exposed. Towels dry our sweat and other body fluids. They also shield us from uncomfortable surfaces, and sometimes protect us from the sun or the cold.

Why is this piece important to you? What does it

say about Andrea? This piece is important to me because it is just another way to channel and bring to life my ideas and interests. It has allowed me to explore them and discover new aspects of my work. In a sense, it is also a challenge, because I had never worked with this material nor this particular subject. I did a lot of things for the first time in this project. I feel it represents a before and an after for me, as an artist and as a person.

How do you place this piece in your artistic pro-

duction and what was the process towards it? My work is usually autobiographical and reflects my interests — this project is no exception. Its process was quite intuitive and introspective. I researched and wrote about issues I find to be relevant both for this project and for the personal process I am currently going through. I am drawn to intimate objects and spaces, and how they shape our everyday life. These objects reveal our effort to be accepted and to learn, triggered by the constant transformation of our surroundings — landscape, interpersonal relationships, memory, and body. It is the need of understanding life (and art) through its vital and unavoidable transitions.

How does art allow us to explore our own vulnerabi-

lities? In her book, The autobiography of my mother, Jamaica kincaid wrote: “My world then - silent, soft, and vegetable like in its vulnerability - was both a mystery to me and the source of much pleasure”. I’m an artist because I’m vulnerable. The essence of my work is to be able to recreate myself in it, as Lygia Clark said.

How do you think the audience will react to this

artwork? Due to its intimate and personal nature, because of the ideas it explores and the images it contains, I think the audience will act as voyeurs, and women might even play a double role: as voyeurs observing the piece, and seeing themselves through it, as if they were looking at themselves in a mirror or peeping through a keyhole.

What are you looking for? I am not looking to influence or dictate what the audience should take from this piece. That will depend on how they approach the artwork, which is already very subjective and has a different effect on everyone. But I would like them to somehow see themselves in it.

What does the future hold for Andrea? That is a complicated question during these uncertain times. I try to make the most out of the present, trying to live one day at a time. But if I had to think of the future, I see myself participating in more art residences and traveling around the world, discovering new places and spending time with people, growing and nurturing my sensibility as a person and as an artist.

AWELMY SOSA

(Santiago de los Caballeros, 1998) Born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, she has always shown an interest and sensibility towards the arts. At 11, she entered the Fine Arts School of Santiago, where she took classes for a year, before receiving private lessons on drawing and painting. During this time, she also took classes on drawing and composition as well as photography. She entered Chavón, the School of Design to study Fine Arts, graduating in 2019 with a Technical Degree in Applied Arts. Her work has been displayed at exhibitions in the Altos de Chavón Foundation, and those organized at the end of the year by them. She is currently working on personal projects in different fields of visual arts.

La puerta. 2020

In this piece, the artist explores concepts such as confinement and freedom. Through a performance, she aims to convey these feelings that are, at times, hidden within her. With this action she tries to open a door that comes with several locks and a handful of keys. once she finds the key, it falls to the floor. For some reason, at one point in her life, the artist was overwhelmed by the number of doors in her house. This experience prompted the necessity to tell her story of anguish and desperation.

What are you sharing through your work? When I work on a project, I like to explore what I feel. I try to share feelings such as sadness, confinement, freedom, emptiness. I have the need to express what I carry inside, to transform a certain emotion, thought or image into an entity that speaks for itself. The fact that an idea can potentially transcend is something that encourages me to continue creating, because I want to be present even when I am not physically there. Art is a way to achieve that.

What moves you to create? I first started making art in an empirical way. Later, through academia, I started to grow in knowledge, technique and personally. This led me create from a very particular perspective. I am moved by places, nature, the things inside me I need to let out. What I do derives from all of this. once I start to understand myself and accept my emotions and thoughts, I realize I do not need to silence them, but rather create something from them.

What do you want to communicate with your piece

The door? I would like to express a feeling of confinement — toying with the idea of feeling trapped in an open space. Depending on their personal experiences, each person will receive a different message from The door, and this is absolutely okay. If possible, I would like the viewer to hold onto that image of The door.

You address a difficult concept, freedom, what does

it mean to you? Freedom is being able to do things driven by my instinct of what I truly want to do, and not what we are told to do. It is doing the things that make you feel good.

How was the creation process? Although the essence of the idea remains, some aspects changed

along the process, which is good because it opened the door to new possibilities, I hadn’t contemplated at first.

What is the role of the viewer in The door? I would like the audience to ponder on questions they might have; I’d like them to share their experience through word of mouth; I’d like them to comment and engage, saying things that could be true or false; I’d like there to be discussion about this piece. I would also like the piece to live on in the minds of each viewer who saw it in person.

Where is your artistic process headed? I am currently developing a project titled Rasgos límites, in which I explore borderline personality disorder, from a personal perspective, using digital media such as photography, video and animation, to show the main characteristics of this mental condition: a feeling of emptiness, impulsivity and difficulty controlling emotions. My future projects will address this disorder.

What can you tell us about the curators’ assessment? I greatly appreciate the dialogue with the curators and how it opened a communication channel, allowing us to ask questions and discuss the project’s technique and concept. It also strengthened the artist’s self-assurance towards their piece. I must confess that surprised to know I had been selected in the Contest. Not because my project was not good enough, but because there was so much competition. Being part of this selection is taking down another door and climbing further up the ladder of life.

CHARLIE QUEZADA

(Santo Domingo, 1986) He studied Fine Arts and Illustration at Chavón, The School of Design, in the Dominican Republic. He completed his degree in Fine Arts at Parsons The New School, in New York, thanks to the international scholarships available through the affiliation of both institutions. His work has been displayed in many exhibitions and biennales in the Dominican Republic and in the united States. He has been showcased at the Cooper Square Hotel in New York, on Fabrica, the Italian catalogue, and on the publication Friends of the Artist (FoA). His work is part of the private collection and museum Casa Cortés in Puerto Rico. He currently lives and works in Santo Domingo. He is represented by Galería Lucy Garcia Arte Contemporáneo in the Dominican Republic and Praxis Gallery in New York.

All inclusive. 2020

Through this installation, the artist essentializes (in the best sense of the term) the confinement logic behind all-inclusive hotels, addressing the issue of cultural representation in places destined for tourists, the creation and manipulation of ethnic stereotypes for tourism and, above all, the structures of power, domination, and hierarchies. All of this is seen from the perspective of an alleged modernity, custom-made for the eyes of the tourists. The project arises from the contrast in modern architecture and the places built for tourism, as perceived by the artist, analyzing its subtext when nature is involved. By searching for places where different styles coexist, he connects architectonic tendencies speculating about the future landscape of the city — an alleged promise of innovation, manufactured with a foreign gaze, considering the constant urban changes and environmental instability.

Relying on painting as your main technique, what

have you focused on? I see everyday life as an essential step to understanding my creative process. With this in mind, traditional painting tropes such as interiors, still lives and landscapes, are reviewed through the feeling of alienation that rises from familiar context that is represented in organized compositions in tension between two elements: the spaces we create, and those that have been assigned to us by birth. Both are equally necessary to create an identity, and for the artistic creation itself.

And where does this lead you? Toward landscapes that aren’t necessarily monumental — landscapes that, through habit, build a relationship with whomever observes them, placing my perspective where nature and mankind meet. Lately, I have studied landscape by acknowledging its limits, trying to understand humanity’s tendencies throughout history to contain and control nature. This interest stems from my observation of local architecture, where modern buildings were commonly approached with a Caribbean quality.

How has your work evolved? I have simplified the style of my paintings, leaning towards abstraction and geometry. This new approach combines painting and installation to stir away from traditional forms of exhibition thus creating a three-dimensional dialogue. The evolution of my work is always linked to the way I question my surroundings, especially the places we inhabit.

You address an area that is probably the main source of income in the Country: tourism. You see it as a different reality? The fact that tourism generates a significant income doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy for our country. Part of our role as artists is to analyze our surroundings, and most of the time, this industry destroys more than it builds. From a cultural perspective, tourism perpetuates a racialized idea with social implications inherited from our colonial origins. They create places that are limited to for-

eigners, tailored to their needs, by taking advantage of our environmental and human resources. This industry is often protected: it’s worth noting that in the many places in the Caribbean where there is an important tourist industry, the community around them are low income. I’m not an expert on the subject nor can I offer any solutions, and I understand that addressing this through art is a way to address a much bigger problem. Nevertheless, I refuse to remain passive. I see my work as a document that expresses my views as a Dominican citizen, concerned about the sustainability of the landscape and architecture.

Have you thought about the audience and their role

towards the piece? Since this project is centered on architecture, I really wanted to stir away from the two-dimensional. To achieve this, it was necessary to build an area where people could walk through and interact with. The pieces are designed in such a way that they are brought to life by the audience as they walk past them, becoming something more than just inert pieces.

What are your expectations? It is important we understand the way tourist projects are developed, where the openness to locals is absolutely different than the purpose behind these places of leisure. My work is intended to encourage the “why” of these places, what and who do they serve. All the references in my work are based on existing places and architectural resources, so that the audience can relate to these shapes. I hope this relation makes them think of the places they walk through, and that they recognize themselves in them, for better and for worse.

What can you tell us about the work with the cu-

rators? It has been very useful. I learned how to be more self-demanding. I now feel my creative process is more leveled and I’m very pleased to be able to count on a curatorial support that cares about the result of the project, both conceptually and aesthetically. I am grateful for the available resources in research and the constant follow-up throughout the making of this project.

EL EDITOR CUIR Y JOHAN MIJAIL

El Editor Cuir (Santo Domingo, 1986) Johan Mijail (Santo Domingo, 1990) They are working collectively for the first time. They have focused their research and artistic process on the exploration of their own lives, their experiences with social differences fed by the collective imaginary, heteronormativity and cisgender narrations that conform the existence of Dominican society. In their own words: “we need to work together to bring awareness to (and maybe heal) our pain, and to what concerns us as racial, sexual and gender minority”.

Puentes. 2020

With this video, that could very well become a tool to reflect on non-binary identities, the artists build and draw attention to the historic memory of marginalized communities in our society, the queer community being one of them. They demonstrate their first approach to femininity through their mother figures; the bodies and their prosthesis; parties and reggaeton; as well as those everyday spaces that have shaped their identities. The art piece consists of a series of images that relate to their bodies and their context, represented by brief performances that describe the past and invite us to think about the future. An identity utopia based on the journey-travel through the flows of artisticity and the everyday.

How do you think your daily practice can grow with

this opportunity? That was precisely our mindset when we started working on this project. What can each of us bring to the table? What are our realities? We found that our differences could make this project more powerful, by addressing the concept of community striving for visibility and recognition of non-hegemonic bodies, other ways to generate images and discussion in contemporary art.

What is the basis behind Bridges? What message

are you hoping to send? We have been to be able to organize ourselves and ask for recognition, and to express the idea that bodies aren’t one, there is always a social body that penetrates it and gives it a political meaning.

Why did you choose the body as a window to the

world? The body isn’t nature. The body is a place where bio-political control takes place. We have chosen the body for this art piece because it is the personification of the political and aesthetic concept we have chosen to address through a heterosexual debate, suggesting a small contribution to the counter sexual and rebellious revolution, allowing us to broaden the country’s understanding of sexuality and gender. What do we know about cross-dressers’ bodies? What do we know about trans bodies? What do we know about black bodies? What do we know about gay bodies? What do we know about queer bodies?

How have you dealt with the delicate representation of these sensitive images you’re showing, so that they accomplish their goal? We have focused on our desire to tell our own stories, coming from a very intimate place and our closest affections, carefully crafting what we want to portray of ourselves.

Did the piece change during its process, or has it remained true to its initial concept? It has changed in terms of dimension, due to the complexity of us-

ing other bodies amidst a global humanitarian and sanitary crisis. But in general, we have kept the same standpoint of what we wanted to address.

What is the role of the audience? The role of the audience is important since our piece questions whomever sees it. We want the viewer to question its place among their own identity and ours. The audience will also be able to literally look at themselves inside the installation.

Do you see yourself working together again in the

future? We do. We see ourselves creating other projects. We are currently at a place where we want to encourage other activists and artists to work together, to demand our place and time.

What has been the role of the curatorial assessment

in your work? It has been very important throughout the process, and that closeness has been very interesting. Normally, in a contest, curators are only in charge of selecting the artists, they don’t really offer conceptual or logistical support, but in this case they have. This definitely strengthened our work by heightening our critical thinking.

ERNESTO RIVERA

(Santo Domingo, 1983) Dominican visual artist. He lives and works in Brooklyn, united States. He studied in Santo Domingo, Mexico City and New York. He was a finalist at the 27th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes with his installation Contra uno. He has worked for private collections and archives of Latin American art.

Ensayo. 2020

With the active participation of nine artists, Essay presents itself as a “thinking lab” that stems from the archives and the experiences of art projects. To question both, the artwork and art contests, taking apart categories and questioning definitions and practices within a local context. This process was conceived to evolve and reveal itself during its exhibition. The artist sees it as a quasi-sculpture, quasi-installation, quasi-performance, and quasi-archive, thus resulting in the attempt of a piece. This installation is an educational and interactive art project of an ephemeral and itinerant nature. It includes the archives and traces of meetings with other artists, with Rivera as its cultural mediator, editor and commissioner.

Tell us about your piece… This piece is an anti-piece, and it isn’t only mine. It has counted with the active participation of eight artists: Michelle Ricardo, Yéssica Montero, Fidel López, Leonor ortiz, Mónica Lapaz, Joaquín Cerdeiros and the Tiempo de zafra collective. Its title, Essay, is operational: the piece has served as a thinking lab and its presence in the gallery is a mere fragment of the archive of that experience. Essay tries to question the status of an artwork and addresses the “desire to make”, showing its intentions, its participants, and its process. Thus, it’s a translation, revision, staging and an archive, because while I was working on the project, I was interested in those things that are considered minor tasks or are expected to be invisible. The educational aspect of the project consists of questioning everything. The piece is a box/archive of documents that, with the help of the gallery keeper, reveals and transforms itself throughout the exhibition.

What was your research process? It’s hard for me to limit the research process to the contest. The origin of this piece comes from many experiences and has extended with each meeting with the artists I asked to collaborate on this project. The exhibition itself will be a moment of research. Essay is not the result of a series of steps, but rather a non-linear summary of the processes and creative influences that seek to formulate questions before dictating a message.

How has your project changed due to the pande-

mic? Since I live abroad, the project was, from the start, intended to be prepared from afar since I had already worked with archives of “mail art”. My intentions were more cultural than artistic — I wanted to evoke meetings that could lead to possibilities. Scarcity as a work resource is a concept I really like, so the current circumstances have only put to the test the ideas I had in my letter of intent. And everything that, at first, was meant to happen in-person changed to virtual mode. But Caribbean art has always been the result of acts of faith, and the uncommon thing would have been not to adapt, as a natural response to the circumstances.

So, has the initial idea changed? Some ideas never change, because they are the groundwork of the project: friendship, the singularities of speaking, the archives, the critical perspective, the learning processes, among others. We also have the official aspects of the piece that adapted themselves to the available resources, maybe because Essay also questions the magnificence with which we generally think of an artwork. I like to play with these preconceived notions because art, for me, is about stirring things up. That’s what separates it from decorative art, which sets things in place.

FRANZ CABA

(Santo Domingo, 1991) Architect, self-taught artist and tattoo artist living in the Dominican Republic. His work has been described as intimate, psychological and poetic. He has a degree in Architecture from the universidad Autónoma

de Santo Domingo (uASD) 2017. He has been working as a professional artist since his first exhibition in 2015. Since then, his work has been displayed at several collective exhibitions. He was awarded the first place at the Premio de Arte Contemporáneo Diario Libre in 2018, which served as an opportunity to deepen his explorations on the body, the mind and identity. He is currently working on his master’s degree in Visual Arts at uASD. He also works as a tattoo artist, designing and tattooing his own illustrations, which include his work’s recurring topics.

Campo de terror absoluto. 2020

A spiral path that offers the audience a journey through the virtual space of the psyche, alluding to the states of insanity. Translucent areas, interspersed by ink drawings, trigger internal and social dialogues between space and experience. Through its main figures and its context, the physical and visual aspects of this installation invites the viewer to autoreflection, to see themselves as individuals and as a community. It is a reaffirmation of Caba’s posture towards the social and emotional politics of existence.

How do you define your artistic vision? I see art as a work of intimacy and our condition as social beings. Vulnerability is, to me, a way to build empathy, experience and a sense of belonging. I use images of the body as the recipient and transmitter of sensory and emotional dialogues.

The framework of The naked knot is mental health

and our national reality, what led you to this? My main motivation comes from a personal and family experience with mental health. I wanted to explore how prejudice and taboos influence these conditions and have an impact on the way these people relate to themselves and others, stigmatized by their situation thus damaging their personal development.

How does your current piece Field of absolute ter-

ror relate to The naked knot? Field of absolute terror is a technical exploration of space, the user and drawings — it sums up a series of reflections and experiences. The naked knot explores physical and mental integrity.

Do you think art has helped bring awareness to the

country’s stigmas and prejudices? I think art has the power to reflect and raise awareness to individual and social realities in the Dominican Republic, by encouraging dialogue, interactions and reflection. But the scarcity, division and poor transmission of national artistic events slows down the growth of a diverse audience.

How relevant is the use of translucent fabric in this piece? What kind of experiences does it bring to

mind? The fabric in this piece is a metaphor of the dissolution of identity and the psyche’s virtual space. It is set up to emulate the spiral of madness. By overlaying the fabric, the piece becomes ghostly, which impacts the relation between the user, their surroundings, and their journey. The fabric in this piece is a reference to my grandfather’s compulsive act of unraveling and untying an imaginary piece of cloth, a symptom of his Alzheimer. This material also suggests the fabric of straitjackets and padded rooms in psychiatric wards.

Due to its structure, the audience plays a fundamen-

tal role in Field of absolute terror… Absolutely. The journey, from beginning to end, triggers a process of internal and social negotiations, between space and experience. The audience is the unconditional catalyst for the piece and its discourse.

About being selected for the Contest… It represents a recognition of my work. In a way, it validates my efforts and the ideas I’ve been developing throughout my work. It is a before and an after. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to raise awareness in important platform like this one.

GUADALUPE CASASNOVAS

(Chicago, uSA, 1960) Dominican architect and visual artist who studied at universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez ureña (uNPHu), Dominican Republic. She received a mention at the 26th edition of the Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales in 2011, first place at the contest Transforma Cemento en Arte in 2012, first place at the contest Centenario de la Alianza Francesa in 2014, honorary mention at the 3rd edition of the Concurso Internacional Tallas de Madera de Taiwan in 2014, and first place at the contest V Trienal Internacional Elit-tile in 2014. In 2016 she was selected for the 26th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. She was part of the international festivals PhotoEspaña in 2012 and 2017, and PhotoImagen in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. She belongs to the collectives Writing Space, f10, Pictoria Newhouse and Gq. In 2019 she participated in the 1st edition of the Bienal de Fotografía and Video at Centro de la Imagen, obtaining a Special Award in Video. She also participated in the course and exhibition Estudio Sonoro from the Programa de Formación Continua para Artistas at Centro León. Along with Victoria Thomen, she presented the photo-book and exhibition La Era Plasteozoica at the Book Fair in Madrid, 2019, at Cuesta Libros and at Centro León. She’s currently completing her Master’s in Visual Arts at the universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo and preparing her first exhibition of tridimensional pieces.

Fauna extinta del Ensanche Piantini. 2020

With this set of concrete sculptures, the artist brings back memories of her childhood and youth at Ensanche Piantini, when there still weren’t any streets, the cattle grazed freely, and the goats ate the flowers her mother had just planted. Today, 45 years later, it has become the center of the city. All the singlefamily houses of the quiet neighborhood have been demolished and replaced with tall buildings. For this storytelling exercise, Casasnovas has chosen as main characters the fauna in the area, such as centipedes and spiders. It is an allegory to ruin and detritus, evidence of what once existed.

Sitio arqueológicogico e histórico de la calle 12 # 24. 2020

The piece belongs to the series Microrrelatos. In it, the artist explores the memories of a family, individuals and a community, tied to a place that has vanished, which she rebuilds through images, memories, narrations and tales. A wall of memories brings back events that she would rather forget, but that are still affecting the family at its core. Through photographs and tales of a family member, happy memories shift to “extraordinary” versions of themselves. our memories, ever-changing, bind themselves to familiar places — in the case of Guadalupe, it’s her father’s house, constantly renovated, a safe place that has vanished and is now a memory. She wants the audience to relate to her tales, and look into their own stories, their own places, and ponder.

How would you define your artistic vision? I work with a variety of artistic expressions, seeking the one that best fits my ideas. I like to research and experiment with materials and new or unusual methods. My thoughts are prompted by several concerns: my family’s stories; my thoughts on bidimensional and tridimensional shapes and space; my social concerns, such as gender issues, the environment, urban chaos, education, etc. I also research Dominican photography and visual arts, and this research are somehow woven into my body of work.

You had already been selected for this Contest, how do you feel your work or interests have evolved?

Even though my thoughts and concerns remain the same, my search for new forms of expression and materials has changed the result of the new projects I presented for this edition of the contest. Research, experimentation, contact with other artists and visiting museums, cultural centers, cities, and other cultures have enhanced my creative actions.

Family has been a constant theme throughout your work, like a personal psychological exercise, why

is that? My parents emigrated to the united States when they were newlyweds, so my six siblings and I were born there, and grew up far from the rest of the family. Nevertheless, despite the distance, we kept a close relationship through letters, photos and regular visits. When my parents decided to come back, this relationship grew stronger and we spent our teenage years surrounded by our grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and close friends. Today, my siblings and I all live far from each other, and we all have our own families and engagements. But we always keep in touch. We do everything we can to meet in person, and even during the pandemic we were making plans for our next big family reunion, while we chat online. Even though we all have very different professions, we talk, celebrate and support each other through every triumph, event and obstacle as if they were our own.

What is the role of the audience in this piece? I think no artwork can exist without a spectator — even if that spectator is the author —, since they’re reacting to the final result and thus complete the creative process. With both projects, I want them to reflect upon their own experiences, family ties, and past and present places. The elements used in both projects are very familiar — anyone, wherever they come from, can recognize these elements: a stair, a column, a beam. They can also identify digital or analog family pictures, or seen a photo in its physical format, either on an ID, newspaper inserts, or labels on products.

What do you want the audience to remember from

the exhibition? I hope that after the audience walks through the gallery and see all the art pieces, other than reflect on their own experiences and react to certain artworks, they think about art, beauty, the purpose of art, museums, etc. I hope that, through my work, they reflect upon how we relate to public and private spaces, on destruction, transformation, evolution, society and family.

Where will your creative process lead you in the fu-

ture? I’m always experimenting with new materials and technologies. Sometimes there are successful experiments, but there are often failures. other times, they require more advanced technology and pricy materials that are difficult to obtain. I’m focused on finishing some mobile tridimensional pieces, working on a bidimensional project I started during lockdown and finishing a short film about gender violence and social isolation due to CoVID-19. I try not to think too much about long-term plans, but I must say that after my work for this Contest, I feel like I have more creative freedom.

What do you value about the curatorial assessment? I have always been keen on curatorial assessment. It really helps in strengthening creative and exhibition processes. It opens the door to dialogue. Their

questions and suggestions make us think about what we’re doing. They play the same role as text editors. In this case, they adjust and edit the artistic creations so they can really leave the desired impression on the audience.

What did it mean for you to be part of this selection for the 28th edition of the Concurso de Arte

Eduardo León Jimenes? It’s no secret that I admire and support all the activities of Centro León. I feel they’re an example for the Caribbean and the world. Having the opportunity to be part of this contest, along other selected artists, is the ambition of every contemporary artist. The financial support they offer us is a key motivation because these pieces couldn’t have been done otherwise.

JOHANNA CASTILLO

(Santo Domingo, 1995) Dominican artist that collaborates through installations and sculptures, virtual questions, bonds of affection, photography, textiles and alternative ideas on the culture of materials, on what’s local, on the human condition and the definition of safe spaces, as a response to her concerns and realities on human connections, social constructs, patriarchy, racism, globalization, colonization, the excesses of consumer society and the lack of control of new realities. She studied Fashion Design at Altos de Chavón (2015) and Parsons New School (2017), focusing on fabric as a contemplative element to create a community between the individual and the collective. Her work has been exhibited both in public and private spaces, in the country and abroad.

Y que el amorsh nos guíe. Amén. 2020

This installation, as well as the artist’s line of work, combines sculpture and textiles. It consists of six structures covered in fabric, accessories and other materials that represent the feminine expression of Dominican women, especially black women. By way of introspection, revising her autobiography and research, the artist offers her critical views on key elements of Dominican history and her life —gender and racism. This is all seen from a viewpoint that seeks to destroy the ideas, systems and structures imposed on artists through spaces, institutions, people, objects and textiles.

What is the importance of fabric in your work? The use of fabrics and iron allow me to extrapolate, contradict and play with non-linear realities inside the places inhabited by my body, mind and soul. I use them as tools to acknowledge the traumas I’ve accumulated throughout my life, due to the systems of exploitation and division (hetero-patriarchy, racism and its variations) that I encounter in my everyday life as a woman with an afro. The fabric with a nature-inspired pattern interweaves cycles, changes, vulnerabilities, time, care, affection, everyday life and movement. I see fabric as a living element in intimate and public places, an element that makes me company in my loneliness and in the way I relate to others. I also see it as an element that frees me from an imposed sense of identity. I see metal as an element with edges, shape, a sense of security, infliction, a false sense of protection. By combining both, I consider the creation of non-places, places of care, places to acknowledge trauma, places to heal. I give a different meaning to my memories (places, objects, fabrics, colors, sounds and shapes) where my outer existence cannot control my feelings and desires.

Tell us about this creative process… It has been a process of introspection where I guide the process and it in turn guides me. At first it required external tasks — such as online research, reading books, attending online conferences — which made me formulate questions that, through drawings and collages, resulted in the initial concept. Then, through private conversations, I discovered the theme: traumas/layers/shadows and how these shape us and force us to react rather than act with intention. This step prompted a soul-searching moment, where I travelled back in time to bring back memories, look over old photographs, documents, archives, where I uncovered links between recurrent patterns and shapes. I then allowed the process to guide me with the question “what can be more daily than my daily life?”. I recollected the emotional connections of those around me, spontaneous conversations, my own existence, and places through photographs, sounds, gathering recycled fabric, fragments and texts.

How do you bring together these realities, acquired

patterns and stigmas to fabric? I see fabric as an observer of intimacy and how it relates to the body, as a creator of ecosystems, as an element that experiences, sees and bears everything, as a weaver of reused fictions, as an element that is constantly moving, jumping, running, listening, feeling, sunbathing and breathing. I see fabric as an element that caresses our vulnerabilities and protects us. It allows me, through its deconstruction, to channel acquired patterns. I see fabric as a time machine, as a means of transportation, as a tool to connect the stories that live within me, and I see it as an excuse to find other ways to transform traumas, to heal and liberate learning methods, by being present with other people, places, elements and realities. If what I have learned has been through repetition/memorizing, I ask myself, what are other ways of learning/other ways of feeling/other ways of seeing?

How did you first consider your work to be? Like an interactive doorway where the audience could inter-

vene with elements that had been used to oppress and shape my identity. But the curators asked me a series of questions, and I reconsidered this interactive approach. Now I see it as a way to give a new meaning to the traumas caused by oppression, as a way to heal, to find new ways to understand selflove, loving those who surround me and myself, and loving the land we live on. Now I see this interactive approach as an intimate process, and I see the piece as a liberation movement for the oppressed, rather than the oppressor.

What was the final result? The piece has two timelines: the past, a series of iron pieces covered with fabric, where I recuperate, revise, and extrapolate elements of my personal history; and the present, a series of wooden pieces covered with fabric, where I start to record my existence as I experience it in relation to the place I live in, and in relation to others.

How has your creation helped you? It has helped me recognize myself, see myself, and question myself, writing myself love letters and forgiving myself. It has helped me understand that if I don’t know how my voice sounds when I speak up, then I can’t amplify the voices of others. I am thinking about the creation of a community, starting with an intimate and honest place, the ancestral community that lives within me, the community that surrounds me. I am thinking about the community I’d like to see.

JOIRI MINAYA

(New York, uSA, 1990) Dominican and American multidisciplinary artist whose work examines the body, race, gender and landscape. She has recently focused on throwing off balance the historical and contemporary representations of an imagined tropical identity. Minaya studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales of Santo Domingo (ENAV) (2009), at Chavón, the School of Design (2011) and Parsons the New School for Design (2013). She has attended residences such as Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Guttenberg Arts, Smack Mellon, AIM Bronx Museum, Mentoría NYFA para Artistas Inmigrantes, Red Bull House of Art, Lower East Side Printshop, Art omi and Vermont Studio Center. She has been awarded with subventions by Socrates Sculpture Park, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, and the Nancy Graves Foundation. Minaya’s work has been exhibited internationally, especially in the united States and the Caribbean. Her work is part of the Eduardo León Jimenes Collection of Visual Arts and the collection of the Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo.

Encubrimiento de la estatua de Cristóbal Colón en el Parque Colón. Santo Domingo, RD. 2020

As a continuance to the artist’s series of covered up monuments, subsequently came the figure of Christopher Columbus, at Parque Colón in Santo Domingo. The piece, with stories of colonization and its figurative images, is meticulously imbued in the artist’s style. Issues such as the body and its role in Caribbean fictions and the new meanings given to objects and elements to normalize otherness, are essential to understand the piece. The colorful and “tropical” pattern was designed with illustrations of historical and contemporary plants, scenes and texts, as the result of a decolonizing stand, and a research on local or native plants that have a “history of resistance”. With the piece, the artist addresses different issues, such as who has been asked to create an “official version”? Who chooses which monuments are built? What monuments deserve to be there, instead of symbols of colonization, domination, sexism, subjugation, racial exploitation and systemic, historical and continuous annihilation? What monuments should we overthrow, not only literally, but in our minds?

Has your work expanded throughout the years? Yes, in all directions — its themes, its materials. I started studying painting, drawing and sculpture at ENAV and Chavón. I then had the opportunity to study performance, video, installation and other contemporary formats at Parsons. This increased my artistic vocabulary and the number of visual tools I could use. Moving from Santo Domingo to New York also broadened my ideas and themes, and the concept of my work evolved, from being interested on gender constructs from a domestic perspective, to wanting to understand this construct and breaking it down, by thinking about it in more expansive terms, thinking about open spaces such as nature, landscape, in relation to other perspectives in a heterogenous society.

What is your intention with the piece Covering the statue of Christopher Columbus at Parque Colón, Santo Domingo, RD? This piece belongs to a series in which I set out to cover up other monuments in different locations. The series, in general, is a reevaluation of the fabrication of identity and the hierarchy in different places and contexts. Here in the Dominican Republic, I want to question the “hispanophilia” that permeates our society. Why, do we still have, 500 years later, so many statues located in central zones, honoring that colonizer? Why don’t we see an equal exaltation of the culture and the existence of our indigenous or African ancestry? Why is there male dominance when it comes to these monuments? And specially Anacaona, who was a symbol of resistance against colonization. And what does it mean for our contemporary society to be represented like this?

Why do we know so little about the resistance that took place in our island?

With this piece, you take responsibility in knowing that it could make some people angry, but many might feel represented, specially with all the decolonizing manifestations taking place around the

world… Well yes, I take responsibility with this piece and with any of my pieces. My job is not to please people with my work, but to start a conversation that could favor society’s evolution, leading to a reevaluation of outdated and archaic systems. Not everyone wants that. But, as you say, the world is changing, and today there are more decolonizing movements than ever.

Since this is a public intervention, what is the role

of the audience? The audience is a key element to this piece, since the goal is to start a conversation on questionable issues that are very common in our society — physically and literally —, like the statue of Christopher Columbus at the zona Colonial, and systemically and symbolically like the power structure of our country in terms of race and social class.

Where is your creative process headed? Towards acceptance and compassion around race, social class, access and other identity issues blocked by those in position of power.

What can you say about the curatorial assessment

during the 28th edition of the Contest? It was very rewarding to be able to talk and discuss my idea with such brilliant people, because this piece could be adapted to different circumstances and materials. The questions, approaches and suggestions made by the curators were essential for the piece to evolve the way it did.

Once again in the Contest, what does it mean to

you? It is very important to keep an artistic connection with the Dominican Republic, even though I live abroad. I really appreciate the fact that Centro León offered me this scenario to continue this dialogue. It is also a privilege to collaborate with one of the country’s institutions persists on promoting and preserving Dominican art.

JOSÉ MORBÁN

(Santo Domingo, 1987) Artist and graphic designer living and working in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He studied Fine Arts at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales and Chavón, The School of Design. He has been part of various collective exhibitions such as the 27th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, the 27th edition of the Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales de Santo Domingo, the Premio Internacional de Pinturas Focus Abengoa of Sevilla, One month after being known in the island, kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger of Basel. He was selected for the residence program Art omi in 2021. His work can be found in several private collections in the Dominican Republic and in the JP Morgan Chase collection in New York. He collaborates with onto, a publication managed by artists that documents the art scene in the Caribbean. Morbán’s work explores the historical memory and its photographic archives, politic power and privilege, through painting, drawing, engraving, installation and retrieved objects.

Monte Grande/Paramnesia. 2020

Following his latest work, José Morbán addresses the consequences in local newspapers of the Monte Grande uprising, the abolition of slavery and the impact it had on the independence movement of 1844. It is an invitation to re-examine aesthetic patterns, exposing the newspapers and historians in positions of power, that have distorted or concealed history as they pleased. It aims to find blind spots within our history. In the words of Morbán: “Those who write history serve current political interests, defining national identities and scarring future generations. This can easily erase the memory of those who lost, minorities, and those who don’t write”.

What is the basis of your artistic work? It is the result of a reflection on my condition as an islander. I use my memory: footage and objects that make up our history, and visual elements of my city, Santo Domingo. I address these elements, considering their emotional attributes and suggesting contemplation on the present, on what is imminent, what is quietly announced every day.

Where does the idea for Monte Grande/Paramnesia come from? It comes from my interest in historical memory and the fictions we create around people in the position of power. I came across the events of Monte Grande while reading an essay in El retorno de las yolas by Silvio Torres Saillant in which he offers a different perspective on Dominican identity. He sees the negro race as an essential part of our political history, often left out by other intellectuals. He mentions how a battalion of freed slaves, led by Esteban Pou and Santiago Basora, threatened to resist the separatist movement if they didn’t adopt an abolitionist position. Learning about this event spiked my curiosity to find more info to make a biography of those involved, specially Basora, who was the one who accomplished the consensus. Digging into newspapers of the 19th century and letters of political figures who were involved, I started to break down the texts and images to create documents that could create a new story of our independence and the events that followed. The piece isn’t necessarily chronological, I try to contextualize

the era, illustrate the few events and reimagine what happened afterwards.

Why did you choose engraving as a technique?

What is its meaning inside your line of work? In the mid-19th century, there were several newspapers printed by the National Press, under Santana’s government. Some of the copies I consulted included engravings. I feel the material and technique used to create an artwork have to come from the idea. By trying to create a piece from the 19th century, I felt I could work with the tools available then. The process can be considered unpractical today, but it is precisely that idea of going back to the origins that interests me.

What are you trying to convey to the viewer? I have no claim to what the audience should do, see or feel with my piece. I don’t know all the things it could convey. I see myself as a intermediary between the piece and the world. I don’t like delivering things that are ready for the viewer’s consumption. I believe each piece should spike curiosity, doubts, and everyone should have their own experience, not only with my piece, but with any artistic expression.

JUANA Y SI NO SU HERMANA

Lorena Espinoza Peña (Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1961) Mariajose García Franco (León, España, 1960) Isis Martínez Peña (Santo Domingo, 1961) Vilma Cabrera Pimentel (Santo Domingo, 1973) Created in 2018 by artists Lorena Espinoza, Isis Martínez, Mariajosé García and Vilma Cabrera, this collective addresses issues related to women, their experiences, struggles and concerns. A Latin American perspective of the world, but also a globalized one. They use a variety of contemporary methods to deliver their discoveries, specially through photography.

Letanías 2. 2020

Through a series of photographs of the artists in the collective, they ponder on the meaning and important role of faith in the life of many, especially in the Latin American culture. The collective “Juana si no su hermana” explains “we often put personal concerns such as travelling, buying a house or new clothes in the hands of a divine power”. The project addresses religious syncretism and magical-realism, very common in the Dominican Republic. They also explore the relationship between Dominicans and the sea, and how some worship nature. Through Letanías 2, they try to show the ways in which religion normalizes the appearance and functions of the body, reinforcing stereotypes set by the patriarchy. By placing these Virgins in daily contexts foreign to the places of worship established by religion institutions, they relate them to their contextual reality and contradict the idealization of the woman’s role as a mother and as a passive figure in the faith’s basic principles.

What defines you as a collective? We work on issues related to woman’s rights, based on our experiences, struggles and concerns.

What led you to work together? We share the same perspective on the issues we have addressed throughout our work, and we combined our experiences and our techniques, featuring the high-spirited aspect that can be found in the creative process.

What are you conveying through your piece Le-

tanías 2? our piece questions the “need” for faith in Latin American and, more particularly, Dominican culture. We ironized on beauty stereotypes of the virgin image. Thus, giving power to our “everyday Virgins”, making them the main characters and bringing them closer to us… almost like friends.

How did you approach this idea? Throughout the process we tried different things and developed the aesthetic and formal aspects of the piece. The concept remained the same, even though we dug deeper. The provocative and uncensored approach to our piece uses the bodies of its authors, turning them into ironic beings, separating them from the “norm”, which will cause a reaction among the viewers.

So, the audience has a part to play? The provoking nature of our piece shows that we don’t see the audience as mere viewers, but as individuals capable of changing their perspective on the woman’s role within culture. We hope that the piece puts a smile on their face and leaves them wanting “more”.

How has working together strengthen your expe-

rience? We have learned how to work together on our subjectivities and capabilities. Working as a collective has helped us look at things from the others’ perspectives, making the most out of our disagreements, managing debate and consensus.

What can you tell us about your selection for this

contest? We feel a great sense of pride for having been selected in what we consider to be the most important art event in our country. We have exhibited very few works as a collective, so a great satisfaction comes with this selection. We feel that being part of this Contest is a huge inspiration to keep on working.

JULIANNY ARIZA VóLQUEZ

(Santo Domingo, 1987) Visual artist whose work focuses on rethinking social patterns and ideologies of domesticity in their physical dimension through sculptures, installations and

paintings. She studied Plastic Arts at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales, Dominican Republic (2008) and Fine Arts & Illustration at Chavón, the School of Design (2010). Her work has been shown at several collective and individual exhibitions and she has taken part of the development of community art courses. She has been an artist in residence at künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral in Germany (2013) and at AS220 in the united States (2012). She was awarded at the 27th edition of the Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales in the Dominican Republic (2013), was part of the art fair Art Wunwood International Contemporary Art in the united States (2014) and co-created the editorial project of Dominican art, onto. Her work has been shown at Casa quien (2016) and Museo de Arte Moderno (2014) in the Dominican Republic, at CuNY Dominican Studies Institute and Atrium Gallery in the united States (2013), at Made in Balmoral Gallery in Germany (2013), and at the Galería Nacional de Bellas Artes in the Dominican Republic (2011), to mention a few.

Atesoro. 2020

In our insular and colonized surroundings, social impositions have set the aesthetic tendencies of architecture, objects and furniture, loaded with political, racial and religious ideologies. Through an ethnographic and archeological research, Julianny proposes a new narrative: she invites us to question what we consume, what surrounds us and what, for generations, we have been taught as “valid”.

What are your interests as an artist? I aim to give a new meaning to the social patterns we acquire from visual elements such as architecture, furniture and everyday objects that perpetuate a Eurocentric aesthetic of political, religious and gender power, reflected in our behavior and idea of domesticity. I want to propose new narratives and fictions so that we can see ourselves through our Afro-Caribbean realities and our displaced material culture. Through sculptures, installations, high relief and paintings, using fabric, thread, embroidery, recycled objects, wood, ceramic and oil painting.

Is Treasuring a personal search? It comes from my intention to offer a different perspective on social patterns and ideologies of domesticity in their material dimension, first by observing objects that inhabit the place I live in, and compiling them, in a need to protect and worship them. I couldn’t see myself in them, because of their metaphoric fabrication of sophistication and racial identity, and because of the Eurocentric background they carried. understanding that they are containers of a collective imaginary and that they affect the settings with which we want to define ourselves and be defined: how we act in public, while distancing ourselves from the vision of our originally social groups. I try to give them a new language and meaning by revising museum collections and build my own legacy of visual counter-narrative and reinstatement of what I do relate to.

Why did you choose to use pieces and fragments

of Dominican memory and culture? objects generate historical knowledge, they’re the evidence of a particular place, idiosyncrasy, displacement, and instances of assimilation and transculturation. When we make collections, both at home or in museums, we arrange a group of artifacts that relate to one another, tell a story, refer the viewer to certain historical and social fabrications, determine our collective imaginary, around a race and gender hierarchy that subordinate or hide other stories.

What can you tell us about the relation between the

viewer and the piece…? I am telling something with the piece, but the audience will build their own experience, they will give different meanings and will get different things out of it, resulting not only in answers, but also questions.

How does this piece fit in your overall work? It’s the start-point for the development of a body of work that focuses on physical memory. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and this creative process has brought me closer to it. By having to create this piece for the Contest, I’ve been given a push and the courage to continue developing these ideas.

Where is your work headed? I’m very interested in collective work within the artistic community, not only for pieces and exhibitions, but also for dialogues to actively address the weaknesses of our cultural context, through the publishing platform I co-manage. on the other hand, I’m leading towards creating a new body of work for future individual exhibitions and scheduled projects, that have been delayed due to CoVID-19.

How helpful was the curatorial assessment during your creative process? It’s one of my favorite aspects of the contest and the institution. It allowed me to have conversations about my work that would’ve been impossible in other circumstances. It was a way to get new perspectives on the subject and to explore new ways to address it. It was a significant complement to my research process and to the making of the piece, but also for my future artistic work.

LIZANIA CRUZ

(Santo Domingo, 1983) A Dominican participative artist, designer and curator, focused on the way migration affects the ways we live and our sense of belonging. Through re-

search, oral history and the audience’s participation, she creates projects that make use of a plural narrative of migration. Cruz has been an artist in residence and fellowship recipient at the Laundromar Project Create Change (2018-2019); Agora Collective Berlin (2018); Design Trust for Public Space (2018); Recess Session (2019); A.I.R. Gallery (2020-2021); BRIClab (2020-2021) and the Center for Books Arts (20202021). Her work has been exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center, BronxArtSpace, Project for Empty Space, ArtCenter South Florida, Jenkins Johnson Project Space, August Wilson Center, I Bienal de Diseño de Sharjah and untitled, Art Miami, among others. Furthermore, her pieces and installations have been at Hyperallergic, Fuse News, kqED Arts and the New York Times.

¡Se buscan testigos! 2020

A participative piece that asks the audience of Santiago de los Caballeros to witness a research on the Dominican racial imaginary, through photographs or testimonies that show how the country has tried to erase the trace of our African ancestry. The piece creates an archive based on the actions and stories of individuals and communities. Through social media, advertising cars, street posters and the classified section of local newspapers, the campaign was advertised, alluding to issues like race, colonization, gastronomy, popular phrases, the whitening process under Trujillo dictatorship, etc. Later, the piece was materialized through different means, using the audience to give their testimony. The Fondo Fradique Lizardo de Folklore Dominicano at Centro León is part of the project’s archive. The participants were able to share their own evidence through a website or by phone, which were both created specifically for this project. In the gallery, the piece portrays what happened — through objects, photos and videos.

What is vital to your work? My work relies on participation to create the pieces. That is why the audience is key. But historiography and oral history are also important, since they both tend to acknowledge the events that have been “erased” over time. usually my projects turn into publications/pamphlets and public installations and interventions that exist between the public space (the sidewalk, the street) and the private space (art institutions).

How has your work evolved since its beginnings?

Physically, I think it has evolved in the creation of objects as archives of participative actions. Also, my interest in historical archives has grown over time — trying to understand how we can reassess these archives or activate them today. Another main transformation has been my interest for public spaces. Nowadays, I always think about how my work can exist in the line that connects these two points, A: the public space, sidewalks, streets, parks; and B: the institution, the museum, the gallery.

What are you trying to convey with Witnesses

wanted!? Every time I learn something new about Santo Domingo’s history, I realize that what I’ve previously learned is pure fiction. With Witnesses wanted! I’d like to invite Dominicans to question how, what, and why we have learned some of our history’s facts, and not others. What facts have been erased, and why. Who has maintained the power over the written history we know about colonization, slavery, afro ancestry, our relations with Haiti… and how, unbeknownst to us, this is all archived in our bodies (consciously and unconsciously), our traditions and our lifestyle?

The racial issue in the Dominican Republic is imminent, what have you discovered through your

research? I have learned that although it is true our culture is mixed, it isn’t accurate to state that we are more Hispanic than black. on the contrary, our African ancestry is present in Dominicans’ everyday life: in our music, our food, our myths, our religion. Through my work I’ve understood that to dig deeper into the racial issue we first have to acknowledge that we are black. Blackness is archived in our bodies, and we have to create space to redefine what this means for each of us.

The audience is a co-creator of the piece… That’s right. I hope the audience will come to question the history that has been taught to us, what we usually take for granted, and a lot of things that often turn out to be myths.

Tell us about your experience with the curators… I value the curators’ knowledge of popular culture, history, and contemporary art. It has been very encouraging to receive their support for the concept of this piece. They have pushed me to explore the physical aspect of the concept and have guided me throughout the aspects of the piece that could have a bigger impact during the public interventions.

What has your selection in the 28th edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes meant to

you? At this point in my career, it is important to be part of the Dominican cultural conversation; it’s a huge opportunity, mainly because of the legacy of this contest. Many of the Dominican artists I admire have participated in it and are part of Centro León’s collection.

MC.KORNIN SALCEDO

(Santo Domingo, 1987) Dominican visual artist. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Francisco Soñé de La Vega and has taken courses at the Escuela de Diseño de Altos de Chavón, as well as seminars and courses on forms and expressions at other institutions. He’s an architect graduated from the universidad Católica Tecnológica del Cibao (uCATECI). He has explored different areas of visual arts using recycled material, and always focused on the protection of natural resources.

Mirar adentro. 2020

A study on the reality and various psychological conditions that affect human beings, through a sensorial analysis of people’s reactions when faced to certain images and sounds, creating abstract audiovisual landscapes to calm the symptoms of these conditions. In tune with the current state of the world, the artist to look inside, through some sort of perceptive trap, leading the viewer to recognize themselves. Looking inside is not only a matter of art, but also an attitude.

Human beings and their actions are central to your

work… Humans, by nature, are social beings. Most of their actions are motivated by a need to be, to belong, to fit inside a system, whether it be to feel safer and protected, or to develop their personality. These behaviors are closely linked to the way we see ourselves through others, how we feel in specific contexts and how they define our behavior. The complex and wide number of variables that are responsible for these stimulations, encourage me to create a piece that tries to modulate psychological states, working on the origin of every feeling, judgement and analysis that move us.

Through your piece you address the symptoms that pain us nowadays, such as anxiety, depression, stress and OCD, among others. How can we create a

way to calm these symptoms? In the last months we have witnessed many worldwide tragic events, and this has entailed psychological conditions that negatively affect the way our brains work. This project is a sensorial analysis of personal reactions to certain images, colors and sounds within a determined atmosphere and then, through samples and compiling information throughout interviews, work on this database to create these palliative spaces for each mental conditions.

How was your process? Enlightening. I like experimenting and, to tell you the truth, I find human behavior extremely interesting. It has also helped me acknowledge many mental conditions within myself I couldn’t understand. All this will lead me to continue exploring and experimenting with new resources and to dig deeper into this subject. Was your work affected by the pandemic? It has acquired more meaning, since the current circumstances result in more people being affected by some mental condition. on the other hand, the work method changed due to schedule limitations and the difficulty to acquire the necessary human and material resources.

What mark will this piece leave on your career? The making of this piece requires dedication, effort and sacrifice — it can’t be done without passion. Nevertheless, the most important part of it has been the power of experimentation, which has allowed me to widen my knowledge in different areas and has enhanced my work.

What do you see yourself doing in the future? I like the idea of seeing art as a way to create a palliative effect on the viewer, so that they have the ability to decontextualize it and modulate their mental state. I think I’ll keep exploring these mental conditions and developing my work, exploring other mediums.

MELISSA LLAMO

(Santiago de los Caballeros, 1995) Graduated from Social Communication with a minor in Audiovisual Production at the Pontificia universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PuCMM) in 2017. That same year she was part of the Programa de Formación Continua para Artistas at Centro León. She has been part of several collective exhibitions in the country, where she has been able to showcase her work. In 2019 she won third place at the Contest Ilustrando la Desigualdad, organized by oxfam RD. She also took part in the exhibition organized by the same institution in February 2020, at Taller Silvano Lora in Santo Domingo. In 2018, Bonilla was one of the artists selected for the contest Paseo de las Américas, organized by Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, and her short film, Luz Opaca, was selected at the Dominican Film Festival in New York.

Hoy mi cuerpo desapareció. 2020

Through illustrations, the artist portrays the attitudes and relations between people and places, the relation between her own body and the way it inhabits the landscape. The artist addresses unsettling notions in the relations within a community that moves from one place to another, exploring the impact of public transportation and how she relates to it. She seeks to transform her thoughts through a metaphoric language that allows a universal understanding of these feelings and emotions. All this is analyzed through codes that take part of certain types of situations that involve common actions, emotions and expressions within their context.

What are you looking for through your art? My pieces stem from an inner force: trying to understand and relate to emotional processes that create an individual reality where shapes and spaces fall into the subjective nature of the perception that shapes our everyday experiences. I’m looking for a way to visually express how my feelings shape my experiences throughout the city, the way I approach people, and I’m trying to understand where these feelings come from. Within that same inner vision, I analyze issues that come up due to the traditions and the cultural heritage that have shaped my thoughts and actions and have become a collective identity that is then processed by individual inner traumas.

How has it transcended? The most significant change has been to be open to my existence through a philosophical approach that has transformed the way I approach art. I have then been trying to discover my identity, which is linked to my analyzing of my daily environments and knowing their historical and cultural background. That way, I was able to establish a connection with the structure of my feelings, and this defined my style in digital illustration, where I have visually expressed concepts and issues that come to mind.

What are you trying to convey with your piece To-

day my body disappeared? It’s the same question that I had when I first started this idea: How does my body feel in connection to public transportation? I want to raise awareness on the bodies and how they have to adapt to the unsafe spaces of public transportation. These bodies are pointed out by others as guilty for not fitting into a broken system. I want to raise awareness on these experiences from a critical perspective to identify the way the system’s dominant ideas have created discriminations between us, where norms have been established on what “shapes” are “acceptable”, forgetting the fact that the problem is really the fact that public spaces are not conceived to truly reflect the diversity of people who live in the city, nor take charge of the safety they need.

Your experiences in public transportation are the main characters of this story. Has it been cathartic for you to conceptualize and develop this piece?

The piece really was a way to acknowledge tact and the uncomfortable situations I’ve experienced while using public transportation. So, I think that more than a catharsis, it was a way to address uncomfortable truths that have been normalized and that put at risk the life of those of us who use these means of transportation, which are equally unsafe for those who drive them.

It will have a special connection with the audience…

I think the audience will see their own experiences using public transportation, expanding the perspectives of the experiences I’m showing them and finding their own way to interact with the piece.

Once they leave the gallery, what do you expect

from them? I want them to ask themselves why we have normalized a transportation system where the rules of transit are broken. I want them to imagine all the stories that exist within that space and time.

Where is your artistic process leading you? When I analyze my artistic process and look ahead, I think about exploring the waters I’ve been venturing in for a long time. What I’m saying is, I’m looking for questions that open doors to realities I couldn’t see before and immerse myself in the perspectives that make up these situations. I’m specifically open to understanding daily experiences I hadn’t previously paid attention to because I saw them as “normal”. This has also led me to wanting to try different mediums that could help me present my ideas by remaining faithful to the way I felt them.

How do you consider the role of the assigned cura-

tors? I truly value their assessment. From the beginning, I have learned so much, and they have played an important role in the enhancement of the piece, and in my growth as an artist.

What does the 28 Concurso de Arte Eduardo León

Jimenes mean to you? When I was little, I always saw and heard things about this contest, and whenever I had the chance to see the works of the artists I was fascinated. So being part of this Contest is a dream come true, because it means a lot as an artist to showcase my work at a place where I have been inspired and encouraged by so many great Dominican artists. It is also a huge encouragement to believe in my vision as an artist and to continue developing my abilities.

MILENA DE MILENA

(La Romana, 1995) Dominican artist. She studied Image and Sound at the Facultad de Diseño y urbanismo (FADu), at universidad de Buenos Aires (uBA) and Film at Escuela de Diseño Altos de Chavón. During her studies, trying to look for peace, she ventured back into the world of textiles, honoring her childhood, where she discovered flat weave and macramé. A feminist and environmentalist, she’s currently working with a combination of analog and digital media. Through her art and her different passions, she tries to show the importance of healing wounds and traumas, reconciling with ourselves and the world around us. She sees art as therapy.

Plexo timbí. 2020

Through an exploration of the colors and pigments the island has to offer, the artist turns threads into tapestry or fabrics, intending to create a critical map of the Dominican Republic. In this piece, the use of Dominican materials and pigments shows an interest for what is local, establishing connections, valuing to Dominican flora, and attempting a reunion between herself and her childhood. It is interesting to witness the use of non-traditional materials to create a tapestry that alludes to concepts of reusability, transformation and connections, inviting the audience to find links between consumerism, formality and informality, and context.

What has been important for your evolution as

an artist? The number of mediums I’ve found to express myself, and naturally the maturity we get from life, are the two elements that have evolved the most within my art. Maturity comes with feeling confident about our choices and allowing us to express ourselves with less fear. Learning to accept myself has been a significative part of my process as an artist. Deep inside, I always tried to remain faithful to my truth when I was creating. And I was definitely able to strengthen this idea throughout the years, by understanding and accepting myself. My personal evolution has allowed me to find new ways to be faithful to my reality and by extension, to my art.

What are you looking for with your piece Plexo

timbí? I am trying to resignify Dominican flora. Transforming thread into tapestry. The analysis of the pigmentation process. A detailed work, with a before, now and after in constant evolution. Personally, I find it fascinating to discover the colors offered by the island. The magical process of being surprised by the results. Finding myself with a color palette very different from the idea of tropical Caribbean resorts. A palette that doesn’t allude to a meaningless pursuit of happiness. A wake-up call to stop and think about our surroundings, about what our island is trying to tell us through its colors and its shapes.

Have you found anything during the research pro-

cess? I didn’t find a lot of accessible, complete or updated information on Dominican flora and agriculture. With this lack of information about our island, I feel the urge for a detailed catalogue of the endemic flora of our island. A catalogue and documentation that could be easily accessed. A project like this could help us better understand where we’re standing. understanding where we are gives us independence, a sense of belonging to something valuable. What is your intention with this piece? Speaking purely about the piece itself, my intention was to create a critical map of the Dominican Republic, using the colors the island produces itself. Weaving allows me to interweave both the shapes and the colors of Dominican geography. I want to decode geographic elements of the Dominican Republic and capture them on the fabric, so that the symbolic representation of Dominican geography can be found within its pigments.

Why did you choose these elements? Weaving for me is a therapeutic form of art, it’s like meditation. The thread gives a new meaning to the element from which the pigment was extracted. Weaving is a technique that allows me to interweave ideas, shapes, thickness and other elements that aim at a geographic representation, transforming the elements at play, giving them a new meaning.

You share a view of the world as if it were a huge fabric in which all things are indiscriminately united…

Exactly. When you respect all things, you can create solid structures such as fabric. That is why I see the world, and all it contains, as a big structure that works, delicately.

RAÚL MORILLA

(La Vega, 1972) Graduated from the Escuela de Bellas Artes Francisco Soñé (La Vega, Dominican Republic). Studied architecture at universidad Tecnológica de Santiago (uTESA). He completed his art studies through various courses at Altos de Chavón, La Escuela de Diseño, as well as in Santo Domingo and Cuba. He has a bachelor’s in art history. Since 2003, he teaches drawing, design and visual expressions at universidad Tecnológica Católica del Cibao (uCATECI). His works can be seen at different museums and institutions such as Museo de Arte Moderno, Centro León, Museo Cándido Bidó and universidad uCATECI, in the Dominican Republic.

Agonía de la memoria. 2020

An exploration on the importance of historical and social memory, a critical acknowledgment of the need to preserve the nation’s patrimony. The Hotel Mercedes, a key building of Santiago, has been forgotten, like many other buildings. With this approach, the artist reactivates the collective memory of the city through memories and conversations and sees how they could be tied to specific places. The piece creates an emotional link filled with longing; it highlights the need to pay special attention to the architectonic memory of our historic centers and to keep alive certain elements that give meaning to the community through the reactivation of memories. It tries to weave new connections in the existing relation between space, time and memory.

What are the recurring elements of your artistic

work? observing and expressing the realities and tensions around interpersonal relations. Human beings and their existential conflicts. The body as a container, as a recipient clogged with memories, feelings and cognitive processes that affect our connection to the world. The relationships we keep with the environment. I always ask myself questions: asking questions is crucial.

Is there any special reason why you selected the

Hotel Mercedes? It’s an iconic building in Santiago de los Caballeros. Back in the days, it became the most important hotel in the country, and was declared National Patrimony in 1991, due to its historical and architectonical value. Because of what I intended with this project, and my interest in collective memory, the building was perfect since it was a witness of Santiago’s social life throughout our national history. As an architect, I have always been fascinated by this building. There’s a personal and emotional bond that precedes this project.

How does this project fit into the rest of your work?

It is a continuity of my artistic work — the body, memory and space, have always been an important part of my work, and they’re at the heart of this piece.

How can the audience interact with your piece?

Formally, the piece is a video-installation placed in public, and any passer-by can give meaning to the mise-en-scène just by looking at it. This connection is vital for the piece to function — the audience permeates the piece, and the piece belongs to them.

What is your intension with Agony of memory? I want it to serve as an encouragement to our patrimonial and identity values, activating the conscience and the actions of the people.

Where is your artistic process leading you? This type of project, related to the memory of certain places, leads the way in my creative process. I also want to keep exploring the possibilities of artworks at a major scale, far from the traditional formats I have worked with. I’m more and more seduced by the idea of the city as a huge canvas waiting to be worked on.

SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE

Anonymous collective created in 2019 by four members of different areas in design and the arts. This hybrid knowledge anticipates the way they address their efforts and projects together. Since its creation, they’ve developed proposals for cultural management, corporate images, editorial illustration and audiovisual content. Their field of work is also multiple, working both in and outside the country.

Nueva Escuela de Arte. 2020

A work of rhetorical para-fiction on the role of education and institution in the Dominican art system. A provocative fiction on the current state of art schools in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. Contemplating an organized blueprint for an educational utopia, the collective reveals the dystopian condition of art schools in our country and the atomization of different artistic communities in the Caribbean, that have been disconnected throughout the last decades.

What defines you as a collective? We design sensorial experiences that challenge conventions. We’re passionate about singularities and cultural insurrection by way of simple and risky creations.

What moved you to work together for this project?

We thought the Contest was an opportunity to work together on an issue that concerns us. We had started exploring the state of art education in the Dominican Republic in previous projects, considering the experiences of our own academic trajectory. In this sense, participating in this contest was a way to test our sense of belonging towards the issue. We also saw it as a challenge because it made us work and deepen our intentions and visions on the issue.

With your piece, New Art School, what are you

trying to convey? Through the possibilities of fiction, we wanted to offer an alternative. We think art is a tool of open exploration and not a platform to convey a message. We decided to create an experience that could have different meanings. We think our country needs to question its institutions and cultural programs, because it’s an issue that isn’t limited to the initial learning experiences — it affects all artistic expressions in the country and their connections to the cultural region we belong to.

You speak of an educational utopia; do you think it

could actually come true? Yes, what we’re lacking is will power and commitment. Teaching and learning are experiences that transcend the limits of a building, a group of people or a company. We need the will power and commitment of the community.

Has the initial concept changed during its execu-

tion? Reality changes, and so our project does too. We have remained faithful to the original concept of crafting a fiction that could create a dialogue with a changing reality. So, all the changes in the creative process are part of the project as much as the final result.

Does your audience have a role towards your piece?

The audience completes the piece with their personal interpretations of the sonic experience.

What do you want to communicate to them? our piece doesn’t exist within the limits of the exhibition gallery. That’s the advantage of our proposal, because just as our project lives outside the gallery on a free website, the proposal of an art school is conceived as a learning experience that isn’t conditioned by the limits of a building, and it isn’t an artwork with only one meaning. If the audience has to take something from their experience, it’s curiosity and questions on the state of art education in our island.

How has working as a team enhanced you? Suspicious Package is a multidisciplinary collective, but above all, we’re a group of friends with a wide variety of interests and a passion for ambitious projects. By working together, we’ve been able to know each other better and enjoy a new dimension of our friendship. Each member brings their own experiences and perspective on things. It has been very interesting to see the idea of a school affect the way we have worked together on this project, learning and re-learning from one another.

TOMÁS PICHARDO

(Santo Domingo, 1987) A Dominican artist that uses different mediums to tell his stories. He started studying at Altos de Chavón Fine Arts and Digital Design, to then finish his degree at Parsons New York where he developed his craft as an animator. After several years of experience in animation both in New York and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tomás is accepted at the prestigious center for design Fábrica, in Italy and finishes his studies at Pictoplasma academy in Berlin. His artistic work has been shows at the Bienal Nacional, Casa Quién and Centro de la Imagen, and outside the country in collective and individual exhibitions in Lisbon, Milan, Mexico, France, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Iceland and New York, among others.

Asterisco. 2020

An autobiographical piece that blends the styles the artist has developed throughout his career. An audiovisual collage where key moments of his life collide, interwoven with feelings and moments that cannot be described with words or shapes, but that come together to give a new meaning and direction to what they contain. using several techniques and formats that range from stop motion, digital animation, sounds and 16mm film, skillfully mixed throughout the piece, the artist also uses wood and card-box figures, turning the whole into an installation. With the intention to bring the viewer closer to his life stories.

Do you remember your beginnings? When I was little, my mom introduced me to the world of drawing because I used to break my toys by playing and pulling them apart. She understood that this could be a cheaper way for me to play. Those packs of paper, in time, became my whole world, my toys. In the beginning they were copies of what I knew or what I saw, and then they became more complex. I created my own realities, my own “little figures”. This became my way to understand and approach the world. It was difficult for me to make friends and relate to people my age. It was very difficult for me to express my feelings, so I could let them out this way. In time, I learned to relate to others by way of my artwork. That’s how my work evolved.

What are you trying to convey today with your

work? I tell stories. Through my animation, I express what I feel inside. In the last years, some pretty big things have happened in my family. In time, I have accumulated all sorts of mixed feelings. The way I used to heal my feelings and take them out of my system fell short. So, my work is a tool to talk about these feelings, letting them out and talking to them.

How has your artistic work changed throughout the

years? The mediums I use have changed with time. I started working with abstract feelings that alluded to a specific time, but the dimensions weren’t that important. Then I started to play with video and animation. That led me to explore different kinds of materials. Today I blend all these phases.

Precisely, with your piece Asterisco, you do an autobiographical approach to your artistic develop-

ment over time. What are you trying to convey? I want to show a bit of who I am, without having to use words. It’s difficult for me to approach people and tell them what I feel. Through my work I feel I can flow more easily, and that’s why I wanted to make this piece to talk about me, which is different than what I normally do.

Once you finished your piece, were you able to re-

cognize and accept yourself? At this stage of the project, I can say I have. But in the end, it depends on how the audience interacts with the piece.

What is the role of the audience towards your

piece? In a way, they’re a key element. I see it as a dialogue between the different elements and the audience. By people seeing, walking by or sit and discover elements of the piece, they’re being part of the dialogue. once they leave the gallery, I hope they met someone.

Where is your work leading you? I’m hopefully moving towards film, but there are other paths I’ve discovered in the last years.

What can you tell us about the curatorial assessment? I feel that in my case it was an essential part

of my creative process. If Asterisco is a dialogue between me and the audience, then I think it’s important to think about how the piece is perceived — what is or isn’t understood.

What did your selection in this Contest mean to

you? I’ve been sending pieces or proposals for more than 10 years, and this is the first time I’ve been selected. That means so much to me because I have a high regard for this contest. Also, the group that was selected contains artists I truly admire. It’s amazing to me to be showcased alongside them.

YOEL BORDAS

(Santo Domingo, 1980) Dominican visual artist. He studied Fine Arts and Illustration at Chavón, The School of Design (20012003) and Advertisement at uNAPEC (1998-2001). Winner of the Premio Colleción Patricia Phelps de Cisneros at the XXIV Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes (2012) and part of the selection for the 27th edition of the Bienal del Museo de Arte Moderno de Santo Domingo (2013). Among his individual exhibitions we can find Medidas profilácticas at Estudio Elesiete, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2014); Plan de Retiro, at Alert Art Galería, Punta Cana, República Dominicana (2012) and Psiquis, at Galería Funglode, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana (2009). He has also been part of several collective exhibitions Cuestión de actitud, at ASR Contemporáneo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and the group exhibition organized by Estudio Abierto — uRRA, for his artistic residency at Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tela de juicio. 2020

Through a series of three pieces, the artist explores the male body from an intimate perspective, questioning the roles of masculinity and hegemonic culture, through the use of painting in Neo-classical styles, giving a new meaning to man’s power and dominance through a new narrative. To achieve this, Yoel plays with postures that allude to paintings by French artist Jacques Louis-David, giving a new meaning to masculinity. A personal exercise that relates to his existence as a non-represented man, using symbols seldom explored, under-represented or ill-interpreted. An exercise in questioning roles through painting. Reflection through medium.

Where does your interest to explore masculinity

come from? Masculinity and political dominance are both very present in my work and they’re linked, even though they’re both represented very differently. This time I wanted to focus on the individual and not on the situation. I used a much more personal perspective on power issues, the codes we use, the socio-political and economic difficulties that are directly linked to the way we see non-hegemonic men, different masculinities. We do suffer by expressing these kinds of sensibilities.

What kind of possibilities did you find by using

painting on this piece? The representation of hegemonic men became a symbol in Neo-classical painting, when this art was both an influence and a product of its time. I go back to those origins that helped spread the idea of stoicism, power, dominance and, as a counterpart, the young, soft or homosexual man — a binary interpretation of masculinity. I do a sort of homage to that iconic medium by changing its narrative and adapting it to our time. I also find it curious how today’s popular culture is a direct consequence of those representations, and I find it absurd that we still value the same virtues that were needed to conquer other countries, translated today to the business world and contemporary success. We forget that mentalities evolve, that the human psyche can recognize these values as ruins of the past that haven’t crumbled yet because they cling to life through these power structures and pop culture narratives, often negating the actual reality.

What is the connection between your work and your

surroundings? It couldn’t be more relevant. I live in a hegemonic culture, in a culture that values power over intelligence — and sometimes doesn’t even see them as different. Audacity is recognized, but not necessarily through good and ethical practices, nor by being open to new ideas. We see how non-hegemonic forms of expression are automatically discarded — those that don’t portray men of a privileged class —, which makes everyone else pursue an aspirational idea perpetually sold to us through a rusty media: the same old story, worn down, that denies the physical, emotional, inter-related and identitary reality.

The role of the audience in your piece… It’s one of reflection by facing an image that is loaded with truth, but also an ironic reference to art history. Maybe they’ll try to discard it at first because it’s unusual to see this kind of representation of men without thinking about homosexuality or a loser, when really, it’s not a representation of vulnerability, but an invasion of men in the territory of women, in the intimacy they seldom show us.

It’s your second time in the Contest… It means so much to me, but to put it shortly, this space that fosters reflection has allowed me to deepen my work and learn more about other artists — it has allowed me to value local art, and to further understand it and feel part of this big artistic family. We’re not competitors, it’s simply a collection of interesting proposals that I cannot’ wait to see, feel, understand, read and touch.

CONTEMPORARY ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS AND PRACTICES Leandro A. Sánchez The Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, a groundbreaking and visionary symbol both in the country and in the region, has explored, since its beginnings, how to be a catalyst for new, risky, and transcendental art.

As if it were an anecdote, we cannot dig into the trajectory of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes without noticing its constant flexibility and innovation. That is why it comes as no surprise that, since its first edition in 1964 until today, it has become one of the main private art contests in Latin America. A thriving and prevailing project, with a clear vision and capacity to transform itself alongside society and, therefore, alongside Dominican visual arts. During its over five decades of existence, the Contest has aimed to promote creativity, Dominican cultural values, its creators, and social reality, thus reflecting its time. Before its current edition, 27 contests, 196 awarded artists and 186 artworks sum up its legacy, which has been of vital importance to create the Eduardo León Jimenes Collection of Visual Arts, which has also shown, over time, a special interest in contemporary issues, fostering the new art movements of the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean, and all Latin America. We find a platform that, even if not unique, is the proof of determination, effort, innovation and resilience, specially in this 28th edition, which has joined a great amount of effort from everyone involved in its making in the midst of a worldwide sanitary crisis caused by CoVID-19. Thus, being one of the oldest private biennials in the region, with over half a century of history, this hasn’t been left to fate.

Fundamental Actor

Dominican contemporary art history is closely linked to the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, considering the determination of its creators to start this journey in the midst of a political and social crisis, and a distressing panorama: the 60’s. Nevertheless, this event involved a profound act of resistance, which is a term associated today to contemporary art, as a response of self-commitment. Since then and forever, this initiative has offered a quarry of good moves (and bad ones, like in any process of evolution), novelties and a constant desire to sip on fresh water, nourish, grow, blossom. Furthermore, what makes this contest a thermometer to measure the times we live in? Since its beginnings, the contest has evolved alongside the transformations and dynamics of the arts. It is important to note that, as a response to the needs of the arts, the Contest changed its structure in 2010 to promote the participation of artists through dossiers that contained the proposals of finished pieces and projects in development and calling for works of all kinds — providing the selected projects with a curatorial assessment and giving out three equal awards and special mentions without necessarily considering the techniques or mediums used. This shows our commitment to what goes beyond traditional biennial galleries in the arts, holding accountable our engagement to the present and future national art — seeing education as a priority, as well as building a collective meaning in order to think about our country differently through art and culture. Each edition has brought a huge number of participants to this multidisciplinary event, highlighting women creators, and building a network of Dominican art. It is, in summary, a gesture to diversity, where emergent or consolidated artists redefine, together, through their particular journeys, today’s world.

A place for exchange

other than being an event that takes place every two years, and beyond the works that discuss a particular issue, the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes aims to encourage an artistic dialogue where different perspectives and territories come into play, following or breaking the rules, going beyond what is stipulated or established. It is known for being an opportunity to question issues that, despite the abandonment of political cultures in the Dominican Republic, finds a place here where they can find a home. What’s interesting about this platform is that this dialogue is made through art, receiving not only finished artworks but projects that, if selected, are followed by a curatorial team until completion. This short period allows an infinite exchange of ideas that improve not only the institution, but the artists and the audience. For this, we organize open dialogues where the artists discuss their creative process, analyzing their own style, which is a part of the contest’s essential educational program, which then has a positive impact on other creators and the audience. This is why the contest has an influence on the creative process of Dominican art. Throughout the years, this experience strengthens the possibility to have another perspective on how we understand the world. That is its value as a geographic and aesthetic place in time, triggering reflection, taking into account concepts that relate to our present. Through the work of artists, the jury and the curators, artistic styles have evolved in the current Dominican landscape, and they haven’t stopped fighting and resisting against a single meaning of preconceived notions. The contest has contained revolutionary, overwhelming or inconceivable ideas that, over time, have been proven right.

Action area

With this edition, the Contest has expanded its impact zone including the areas of Curatorship, Crit-

ics and Research, Mobility and The Caribbean. Four areas through which it reinforces its commitment to current contemporary practices. They have different goals, working together towards a same end: to reinforce its legacy. How is it achieved? By putting together a program to promote the research on visual arts in our country; by supporting the education of emerging curators and, by placing art in public places around Santiago de los Caballeros, home of Centro León and of our exhibitions since 2003.

An indelible legacy

Historically, it has been confirmed that, without citizen resistance movements towards certain social issues, society would not have achieved significant changes worldwide. And we could say the same about art because, seen as an activity that involves change, the community is not always in the ideal conditions to assume what it brings with it. However, this has not been an impediment for the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes consciously offer proposals that could be labeled as being “ahead of their time”, thus transforming itself into a place where plural perspectives, participation, and community find a place; bringing with it, from the hand of the artists, new styles that relate to the outside through other latitudes, thus enriching our country’s cultural life. This in turn proves that the contest has not turned its back on current reality — it has changed in shape and contents, becoming a source of support and a indissoluble reference for Dominican art in the international scene, through different symbolic and unique proposals. In addition, in this regard, it should be noted that, in one way or another, the Eduardo León Jimenes Collection of Visual Arts is a diasporic reflection, since it fosters Dominican artists residing abroad who, through their life experiences, nourish each exhibition and build bridges, as a springboard to dissolve geographical, historical and social barriers. Through traditional styles such as painting, drawing, sculpture and photography, and contemporary ones such as performance, video art and installations, the contemporary collection compiled by this Contest undoubtedly portrays the scope and implications of contemporary Dominican art. From now on, the road ahead is not easy to decipher, like everything in life. But considering that, in recent years, the entries received prove the need to find new ways of making art, far from the established canons, it is undeniable that this contest will continue to grow, adding new elements, discourses, themes and symbols, offering new perspectives, as we’ve been doing it since 1964, when this iconic event took place for the first time, thanks to Mr. Eduardo León Asensio’s initiative. The years of this Contest have elapsed vertiginously, if we think that there have been multiple and simultaneous stories of the development of the artist-public duo. It would be too ambitious to gloss over its peak moments, because fifty-seven years is a very extensive time. It suffices to remember that the very first figures in our art history, especially contemporary ones, have honored the contest’s history with their contributions. The 28th edition of the Contest places its bets once again on change, on creating new ideas through the experiences of the mostly young artists who, considering their potential viewers, have worked tenaciously and deeply on personal topics, but subtly or voraciously unite us as a community, through a very heterogeneous set of practices that reform ideas, giving as much or more importance to intellectual work and social capital, as to the artistic object. Approaches of a timely sociological load that reaffirm the power relations that revolve around connection between art and society.

On the present and the future

Three actors of the institutional art system reflect on the future of the Contest, considering its current reality. “The flexibility and adaptability of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes are characteristics that have allowed its structure to fluently and intelligently converse with the constant redefinition of the way art portrays the time in which it is made. A challenging dialogue, both for the artists who assume it, and for our community. A dialogue that invites the viewer to feel and therefore think about the world from other perspectives. A place where we walk on the edge of the horizon.”

Jorge Pineda, visual artist

“In 2010, the organizers of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes decided to evolve and respond to the changing dynamics that the contemporary art scene was experiencing in the Dominican Republic. For that 23rd edition of the contest, curator Gabriel Pérez Barreiro, artist Jorge Pineda and I were invited to witness and make substantial changes in contest’s format. That seems so far away now, and at the same time so uncertain. The current CoVID-19 crisis has created a new need to reflect on our professional fields. our proposal back then was a watershed, but depending on the future that lies ahead, it is time to review our tasks, premises and practices. Form and content.

one of the answers to many of our fears has been moving to virtual platforms. But I think this moment deserves more than a mere adaptation of technological options. If we fail to critically reflect on the core of this ecological and health crisis that we have caused as a global society, and the impact it will have on our surroundings, it will be impossible for us to decide which new paths to take. I am skeptic about limiting ourselves to accept, without question, the banner of the new normal.

I believe that what is truly important for this project is to consider, once again, its transformation. We have to flow in order to transcend ourselves. Before worrying about the permanence of an award, we have to seriously commit to the task of thinking about the actions that a project like this will undertake during the dilemmas caused by this extreme situation that we currently face as a society”.

Rosina Cazali, independent art critic and curator

“The Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes is defined, among other things, by its commitment to Dominican art, professionalism, its methods and its capacity for renewal. In this sense, we dare to say that over more than five decades, these attributes have become its brand. The ability to renew the Contest is key in these current times. The new conditions imposed by social distancing are a challenge for the interaction between the general public and the most prestigious contemporary visual arts event in the country. In this regard, we are convinced that this condition, far from being an obstacle, will promote new possibilities and experiences for the audience’s encounter with art; a kind of mediation between virtual and physical reality that facilitates its connection with the audience, who waits for this appointment every two years”.

Paula Gómez Jorge, art historian and independent curator

THE SOCIO-POLITICAL STRENGTH OF ART José Miguel Font

It is undeniable that we can’t separate art and humanity. In his book Sapiens: From animals to gods, Yuval Noah Harari addresses the way sapiens’ ability to communicate, based on fiction, allows collaboration at a larger scale, and with this ability he subdues other species. This fiction is the power that makes us gods (in the sense of being creators) through its different manifestations: religions, empires, nations, etc. And it is precisely this ability that leads them to represent the real world in caves, proving art has been closely related to their evolutionary development. This dissociation between art and humanity is what throughout history has served as anthropological evidence for the study of civilizations. In the Dominican Republic it has not been different. Throughout extensive local collections, we can see how this has been a reflection of our turbulent past on a political, social and economic level. Between the mid-19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the themes addressed by Dominican artists allude to historical scenes, still life and portraits in a naturalist, neoclassical and romantic style. In those early years, our European roots were still very present until, in the first third of the 20th century, migrations caused by wars and Nazism brought new actors who influenced us with modern trends and styles, which at the same time were nourished by Dominican daily life. In May 1930, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship began, and he would centralize around himself all the political, economic and social power which meant that, although the country is institutionalized during this period, all Dominican actions were subject to Trujillo’s politics. During this period, by way of an “ethnic cleansing” and to modify the international appreciation of the country and his mandate, after the massacre of Haitians in 1937, Trujillo led the entry of Spanish and Jewish exiles to the country. Among them, prominent artists and teachers would be inserted into the country’s cultural scene, leaving a great legacy. Manolo Pascual, José Gausachs, Antonio Prats Ventós, Joseph Fulop, Mounia L. André and José Vela zanetti, George Hausdorf, among others, brought modern styles to national art. We can see this in pieces like Sinfonía del Mar Caribe (1966) by Prats Ventós; untitled (1958) by Vela zanetti; and Marchantes (1945-1950) by George Hausdorf. The sixties are scarred by several events: the death of Trujillo, the short period of democracy after the election of Juan Bosch and his subsequent overthrow a few months later. These create a tortuous political landscape that unleashes a civil war and our country’s second armed invasion by the united States of America. Dominican art movements played a militant role, actively participating in demonstrations and political propaganda with posters, pamphlets, and billboards... Between 1961 and 1966, we had a total of eight, which fostered an ideological struggle between the left and the right, demanding liberties and social justice. In the 1966 elections, Joaquín Balaguer was elected president, and remained in power until 1978, a period scarred by intense political repression rejected by the artists of his time through what is known in the art world as social realism.

The start of a great path

In the midst of this highly politicized environment, the first Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes was convened in 1964, with the intention to make Dominican artists visible abroad, evidenced in the election of John Baur, who at that time was the Associate Director at the Whitney Museum of American Art, as a member of the jury. But the political environment, unhappy art world, and with the fear that the volatility and corruption of the local landscape would be repeated on the art scene, the contest went on hiatus between 1972 and 1981. During the 12 years of Balaguer’s presidency, frustration and pessimism took over society, evidenced in a press release in January 27, 1967, where the president himself expresses: “What we want to offer the country, by inviting all the country’s living forces to commit themselves to a vast national reconstruction, is not the attractive prospect of a period of wealth and

prosperity, but rather a way to struggle and overcome pessimism”1… Anecdotal words, since his rise to power through fraudulent elections and the actions of paramilitary groups are the cause for the hopelessness felt during those times. When looking at pieces like Paul Giudicelli’s, Brujo disguised as a bird (1964); Workers’ Lunch (1964), by Leopoldo Pérez; Study of a child with a toy (1964), by José Cestero; Fish vendor (1967), by Elsa Núñez, or Espantajo (1969), by Ramón oviedo, and contrasting them with works such as that of Cándido Bidó, The visit of the birds (1981); Ícaro (1983) by Amable Sterling, or From Earth to Time I (1987), by Genaro Phillips, we have to ask ourselves: were they reflecting this reality? In this atmosphere of repression, many artists willingly exiled themselves abroad. And at this point, it is worth highlighting the press release from El Nacional, following the murder of orlando Martínez: “... Just last week orlando had published an article in which he recommended President Joaquín Balaguer to leave office if he could not be respected by his subordinates. The publication alluded to the frustrated return of painter Silvano Lora, leader of the Dominican Communist Party”2. This alludes to an active political participation of national artists of the time, which encourages a new art and the use of new media. In the words of art historian and curator, Sara Hermann: “Graphic art booms and gains recognition. If it was linked to its easy reproduction and its formal strength within the national social movements of the sixties, in the hands of artists such as Frank Almánzar, Silvano Lora, Ramón oviedo, Rosa Tavárez, Asdrúbal Domínguez and Carlos Sangiovanni it acquires a new presence in the field of national arts. It is here where much of the cultural production will be linked to social and identity agendas, and this effort to have alternative media and more pertinent discourses is also shaping the imaginary of a nation different from the one seen in artistic productions of the first half of the 20th century”3 . With the election in 1978 of Antonio Guzmán Fernández as President of the Dominican Republic, a new wind blow. Artists who had remained in exile return to the country and brought back a new perspective. His government is known for the depoliticization of the Armed Forces and the Police who, as we have indicated, were turned into forces of repression during Balaguer’s twelve years. However, in 1979, hurricane David destroyed urban and rural areas, and entails an economic crisis which paves the way for Balaguer’s return to power in April 1984. This period is known for its massive wave of migrations, an increment tourism and a consolidation of

1 Adriano Miguel Tejada. 100 Años de Historia. 1999. P. 141. 2 Adriano Miguel Tejada. 100 Años de Historia. 1999. P. 157. 3 Sara Hermann. «El arte tiene un presente». Trenzando una historia en curso: Arte dominicano contemporáneo en el contexto del Caribe. 2014. P. 78. the art market, as expressed by Jeannette Miller and María ugarte: “The holdings are polarized, some have more and others less, which encourages the incipient increment of migratory movement towards the united States within lower social classes. on the other hand, there’s an increment in the entry of Haitian workers due to the political and economic situation in their country: all these factors contribute to changes in the cultural reality of the Dominican Republic. The 80’s are known for the consolidation of a strong art market. Dimensions, techniques, and themes are the factors that raise or lower the artworks’ value. Painting takes advantage over other disciplines”4. These events will give way to pieces such as Raúl Recio’s, Ella (2000); by Genaro Reyes (Cayuco), undocumented (2000); and Como sardinas en lata (1998), by José Sejo, among others. This is an important time for art in the Dominican Republic. The Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes resumes, Chavón School of Design in La Romana opens, and the Art Nouveau Center in Santo Domingo opens its doors. At a time where galleries prioritized marketable works, the Art Nouveau Center and the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes emerged as places in which artists could express themselves outside the traditional canons. As examples of the wide range of styles and the exploration of new means of expression we have Carlos Santos with his work Concreción (1987); The ghost of the monument (1986), by Johnny Bonelly; The officiant of mysteries (1990), by Tony Capellán and Portrait of an unknown (1990), by Jorge Pineda. The year 1996 fractures the political dominance of Joaquín Balaguer. The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) controls the government, with a brief hiatus between the years 2000 and 2004 presided by the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD); In this context, government institutions are deteriorating, and this results in, among other things, the postponement of the 2018 National Visual Arts Biennial, which had already received artworks. In February 2020, due to failed municipal elections in the midst of constant complaints about the government’s fraud and atrocious impunity, the citizens — which included the artistic community — held massive protests in the Plaza de la Bandera in front of the Central Electoral Board. This happened amidst the threat of the CoVID-19 pandemic, which weeks later would cause the country’s complete closure, where the artistic community would play an important role with virtual activities and exhibitions.

Unexplored paths

At the start of the new millennium, the art market still prioritized commercial themes. on this matter, Alexis Márquez and Víctor Martínez say that “the distance

taken from aesthetically pleasing and marketable themes that characterized the end of the century would continue during the first decade. This marked the awakening of conceptual art within the Contest. Works that explored multiple senses and featured a polysemy found a home. Materials replaced colors, textures worked alongside symbolism and titles became a paradoxical element with a strong semantic load that gave way to an instant conversation with the audience”5. In the year 2000, for its 18th edition, the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes, constantly trying to be a platform for the expression, needs and questioning of Dominican art, opens up to new artistic expressions such as engraving, photography, ceramics and installation. The second decade of the 2000’s will show a boom of consumerism and the mass use of digital media, including social networks. Many authors compare this period to orwell’s 1984, where he portrays a world living under a totalitarian regime that controls everything through instruments, he calls telescreens; The control over the population is such that there is a ministry in charge of manipulating and altering the news and historical facts, called the Ministry of Truth. Reading his words, he seems to be describing smartphones, and the ministry would be the fake news that reach us daily, or the minutes of hatred orwell’s imagined totalitarian government allows the people as a way to escape or as catharsis. Following our comparison, these would be the posts we make on Twitter or Facebook. Even though artists are better informed nowadays on global news, and feel more connected, it is undeniable our lives are exposed. So today, art explores what’s intimate and biographical or what’s universal, it explores new materials, new themes addressing unsolved issues within our society such as racial struggles, sexism, and everything that entails. As god-like creator of our realities, Dominican artists face great challenges in an increasingly informed and universal local environment.

Bibliography:

HARARI, Yuval Noah. Sapiens. De animales a dioses: Una breve historia de la humanidad. Editorial Debate. Spain 2014. HERMANN, Sara. “El arte tiene un presente”. Trenzando una historia en curso. Arte dominicano contemporáneo en el contexto del Caribe. Amigo del Hogar, Centro León. Dominican Republic. 2014. TEJEDA. Adriano Miguel. 100 Años de Historia. Editora Hoy, C. x A. Dominican Republic. 1999. MÁRquEz, Alexis Brunilda - MARTÍNEz, Víctor.

5 Alexis Brunilda Márquez - Víctor Martínez Álvarez. Crónica y reflejo del arte dominicano 1964-2016. Catálogo de obras, Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. 2019. P. 22. “Crónica y reflejo del arte dominicano 1964-2016”. Catálogo de obras Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. 2019.

Catálogo de Obras, Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes. 26th Edition. 2016.

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TESTIMONIES, PROVOCATIONS, AND CONNECTIONS The Educational and Mediation Program at the 28th Edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes Christian Fernández Mirón

I am often asked what mediation is, and what it is for. Just as often, I see people walk into an art space, raise their eyebrows, turn around, and walk out. To understand that the languages of culture are not universal is to commit to contemporaneity. In this way, mediating can be understood as accompanying, offering our audience different approaches (dialogic, sensory, common, or unusual) to help close the gap that so often separates and damages our relationship with current or potential visitors. Being open to mediation allows cultural institutions to become more accessible to all people, regardless of their background or knowledge. The pedagogical and mediation program of the 28th Edition of the Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes started with this premise, following the wake of the Arts Integration Methodology (MIA) conceived by Dr. María Amalia León and her File Cards to discuss and expanding it with a familiar language, different media and references familiar to their audience. As a specialist in art and education, one of the greatest things I have learned is listening. As a foreigner – Spanish and white –, it was essential for me to understand the context before making a proposal, starting from the valuable work that was being done at Centro León. I was also inspired by the powerful selection of works on Caribbean identity and race. Voices that need to be heard and that could be amplified by this mediation. The pandemic forced us to avoid touching and to explore the possibilities of the digital medium. The ex-

hibition itself, closed to the public for several weeks due to confinement, made us make the most of the virtual visit, where you can freely browse the exhibition galleries, zoom in on the artworks and access a more expansive content. We take advantage of virtuality to work not only with text, but to work with sound, image, video and hyperlinks that connect the inside and the outside of the exhibition. Based on conversations with the artists, we designed three types of materials: testimonies, provocations and links. The testimonies are short audios (alongside texts, to make them accessible to everyone) where we hear the voice of each artist sharing some hints about their work. Provocations are questions or calls to action that seek to trigger reflections within three types of audiences: children, teenagers and families. The links lead to additional material that broadens the perspective of the piece in question: whether it is an extract of its creation process, its author’s social networks where life and work intermingle, or audiovisual material that offers new connections... with the twenty very different pieces, we were able to experiment with formats and possibilities, always honoring (and at the same time questioning, as critical thinking teaches us) the original discourse of each piece. This collaboration would not have been possible without the invaluable help of Joel Butler, the curatorial team of the 28th Edition, and the team at Centro León. It has been a pleasure and a learning experience, as I hope it will be for every visitor who walks through the doors or screen to widen their perspectives.