USER GUIDE BACK TO LIBRARY TAP ANYWHERE TO ACTIVATE NAVIGATION BAR
BACK BUTTON TABLE OF CONTENTS ADD TO FAVORITES SHARE BUTTON BIRD’S EYE VIEW
SWIPE LEFT AND RIGHT TO CHANGE ARTICLES
PAUSE / PLAY AUDIO
SWIPE UP AND DOWN TO MOVE INSIDE AN ARTICLE
PLAY VIDEO / AUDIO
NAVIGATION BAR
ZOOM IN ARTWORK DETAIL
ZOOM OUT ARTWORK DETAIL
UNDERLINE ENLARGE IMAGE
SHRINK IMAGE
SLIDESHOW PREVIOUS / NEXT IMAGE
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
LINKS TO URL OR MAIL
ENGLISH/ ESPAÑOL
MULTIPLE ACTIONS BUTTONS
ROTATE TABLET
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
Bjørn Melhus, 2015. Specially produced for LARMAGAZINE.018
DIRECTOR / ADVERTISING Catalina Restrepo Leongómez catalina@lar-magazine.com EDITOR / TRANSLATOR Daniel Vega serapiu@hotmail.com ART DIRECTOR / DIGITAL PRODUCTION Judith Memun judith@lar-magazine.com EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Valeria Castro info@lar-magazine.com WRITER AT LARGE Emireth Herrera emi.heva@ gmail.com. Contributors Stefan Heidenreich, Eugenio Echeverría, Helena Fernández Cavada, Federico Jordan, Daniel Vega, Homero V. Campos. Aknowledgments Gonzalo Ortega, Roberto Pulido, Bjørn Melhus, Marie-Jose Sondeijker, Victor Rodríguez, Jorge Carrera, Dra Cipatli Ayuso, Dr Juan Carlos Sánchez, Dr Luis Fernando Castillo, Sonia Becce, Kalfayan Galleries. Photography & Video Courtesy of the artists, Wellcome Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA, Matadero Madrid. FOUNDERS Catalina Restrepo Leongómez & Judith Memun.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
EDITORIAL
LEER EN ESPAÑOL
Censorship vs. Opportunism I would like to begin by saying we are happy because this issue represents a before and after in the history of LARMAGAZINE, and in the history of contemporary art magazines too, probably, since it’s the first time we see a cover that moves and speaks. I admit that one of my dreams from many years back has been to show the work of one of my favorite artists: Bjørn Melhus. And as a crowning touch, renowned German researcher and historian Stefan Heidenreich shares with us one of the best texts I’ve read about this great and famous artist. This issue is dedicated to analyzing the least explored sides of censorship, a subject we had in mind for several months, and that couldn’t be more appropriate after recent world events. Just like feminism or socialism, censorship is one of those big and heavy subjects that never seem to have even a little crack where any small critique could filter without being politically incorrect. There are cases where censorship is the stepping stone for unparalleled opportunism. As frivolous and strange it may seem, it sometimes is the best thing that can happen for some artists, since some days in jail gives them the renown (and maybe even the money) that they wouldn’t have achieved with many years of work, making apparitions or collaborations with pop, rap or heavy metal celebrities. Latin America provided a clear example of the debate generated towards censorship vs. opportunism, with the fire that raised between two sides about the case of Tania Bruguera; some think the artist has been censored for being Cuban, woman and beautiful, and others think she used an opportunistic formula by tackling a decisive subject and making an apparently incendiary action to grab the media’s attention. Also, the terrorist attack to the Charlie Hebdo offices raised an SCROLL FOR of MORE important debate around freedom speech and censorship. Some say freedom was limited and argue so from history and
1/1
EDITORIAL
BACK TO ENGLISH
Censura vs. Oportunismo Quiero empezar diciendo que estamos felices porque esta edición en especial representa un antes y un después en la historia de LARMAGAZINE, y probablemente también en la historia de las revistas de arte contemporáneo, pues es la primera vez que vemos una portada que se mueve y habla. Les confieso que ha sido un sueño para mí desde hace muchos años presentar el trabajo de uno de mis artistas favoritos: Bjørn Melhus. Y como cereza en el pastel, el reconocido investigador e historiador alemán Stefan Heidenreich nos comparte uno de los mejores textos que he leído sobre la obra de este gran y reconocido artista. Esta edición está dedicada a analizar aspectos poco explorados sobre la censura, un tema que teníamos pensado desde hace ya varios meses, y que después de los últimos acontecimientos mundiales no puede ser más oportuno tocar. Así como el feminismo o el socialismo, la censura es uno de esos temas grandes y pesados que parecen no dejar ni una grieta por donde se pudiera filtrar una pequeña crítica sin caer en lo políticamente incorrecto. Hay casos donde la censura da pie a un oportunismo sin igual. Por frívolo y extraño que parezca, se convierte en lo mejor que le puede pasar a algunos artistas, pues unos días en la cárcel les da el reconocimiento (y tal vez el dinero) que no hubieran conseguido en muchos años de trabajo, haciendo apariciones y colaboraciones con celebridades de la música pop, rap o heavy metal. En Latinoamérica se desató un ejemplo muy claro del debate que se genera en torno a censura vs. oportunismo, con el fuego que se encendió entre dos bandos sobre el caso de Tania Bruguera; algunos piensan que la artista ha sido censurada por ser cubana, mujer y bella, y por otra parte, otros que piensan que se aplicó una fórmula oportunista que consistió en abordar un tema álgido y hacer alguna acción aparenteLEER mente incendiaria para DESLIZA acapararPARA la atención mediática.
1/1
CONTENTS TAP ARROWS TO GO
Editorial Censorship vs. Opportunism
Article Santiago Cirugeda: The Network
Article
Tissue for Creating a Social
Beyond Control. Freedom and
Architecture by Emireth Herrera
Authority in the Work of Bjørn Melhus by Stefan Heidenreich
Recommended The Institute of Sexology
Article On How Censorship Became Tradition. A Conversation with Helena Fernández Cavada by Eugenio Echeverría
Artist Portfolios Bjørn Melhus Maurycy Gomulicki Hrair Sarkissian by Catalina Restrepo Graciela Guerrero
Wellcome Collection London, England Islamic Art Now Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA Los Angeles, USA Guerrilla Girls 1985-2015, 30 Años de Activismo Feminista Matadero Madrid Madrid, España
Special Guest Felix D’Eon
Carlos Pérez Bucio Mounir Fatmi
Music A Man in Shadows. Bob Dylan
Interview
by Daniel Vega
Mounir Fatmi by Catalina Restrepo VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
LARMAGAZINE
FOLLOW US @larmagazine
LARMAGAZINE is free. If you like it you can still help us
THIS CONTENT REQUIRES AN INTERNET CONNECTION
www.arteBA.org BLOG
FLICKR
VIMEO
LEER EN ESPAﾃ前L
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/16
If we understand censorship as the “ruling or judgment made or given about a work or text,” or “note, correction or reproval of something,” according to the Royal Academy of Spanish Language, we will understand that we all practice it, be it conscious or unconsciously, more or less strategically, more or less convincingly, but we all do. Unscrupulous rulers that steal from the civil society are cousins of those of us that organize the monthly accounting in order to reduce fiscal impact, and we in turn are brothers of those that ask for a quote and make a transaction “with no taxes.” You can believe or not in the tax revenue system and its impact on public investments, but if you receive any subsidy for electricity, sewer service, social security, or better yet, a scholarship, you are implicitly accepting all it implies, that is: to pay taxes. If you receive but do not contribute… we all steal according to our possibilities, leaning on more or less convincing excuses. It would be hard to say that one keeps an impeccable conduct.
"...WE ALL PRACTICE IT, BE IT CONSCIOUS OR UNCONSCIOUSLY, MORE OR LESS STRATEGICALLY, MORE OR LESS CONVINCINGLY, BUT WE ALL DO".
Censorship exists under the same logic and is practiced with a simple gesture. A funny face, a subtle smile, a misleading look, are enough to make our interlocutor understand that his opinion, his posture, his discourse is not approved. Those who exercise it repeatedly over a same colleague, mate, friend or couple, end up generating a certain shyness in the interlocutor’s way of expressing himself; and finally, if they act persistently, it’s complete disarming. We are all executioners, we are all victims. If we understand censorship as the “ruling or judgment made of or about a work or text,” or “note, correction, reproval of something,” according to the Royal Academy of Spanish Language, and applied to the artistic system, censorship is produced in lectures, round tables, interviews, private meetings; or in a simple chat, beer in hand, at the exhibition room. It is also exercised through ideological impositions from texts, essays, curatorial projects, editorial lines, etc. This article is itself an exercise of censorship against those who exercise censorship; all of us, potentially. To defend our own ideology usually implies disapproving the divergent point of
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/16
EUGENIO ECHEVERRÍA: We can start talking in a very general sense. What presence does censorship has in our context? How does it emerge or not in comparison to other societies, other contexts How can one identify the censorship processes when they are not explicitly politic From the late th Century to today in eastern countries, supposedly democratic governments know they can allow some dissidence; they know that if they allow for a bit of difference in opinions they will be generally regarded as apparently democratic States. They have also identified that allowing a difference in opinion presents an escape valve that paradoxically facilitates the imposition of certain compromised politics. But of course, there are also many areas, for example journalism in México, where censorship takes the name of disappearances; a dissenting opinion is paid with one’s life. In a less raw sense, for example in Spain, censorship operates from an ideological divulgation policy that is gradually installed on individuals and society alike, and it is society that definitely states what can be said or not, and up to which point. HELENA FERNANDEZ CAVADA: Yes, that’s many types of censorship working at the same time, from different angles, and that’s what turns the censorship processes into something quite complex to pin down. I think we would have to scrutinize where they happen, where they impact and what they imply. For example, now that you’re talking about Spain: the central government practices a kind of political censorship about the lecture made about the Civil War, with a manipulation parting from the Law of Historical Memory. EE: It’s true there is some censorship from the central government towards the reading made about certain historical eras and the critical thought around them so they are not reviewed. As long as they’re not revised there cannot be an assurance about how many of those dynamics are still being generated. And the result is that, even if it comes from a very different place, the ideological well of Francoism has still affected many policies from the Partido Popular’s government during the last decades. HFC: Yes, and there is still a blockade on historical memory from all media. Five years ago, when the Encyclopedia of the Royal Academy of History was published, it asserted that Franco’s govern-
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
4/15
“SAY WHAT YOU SAY PLAINLY, AND THEN TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT." AI WEIWEI
SANTIAGO CIRUGEDA: THE NETWORK TISSUE FOR CREATING A SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE
LEER EN ESPAﾃ前L
BY Emireth Herrera DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
BY Emireth Herrera
To me, it is inevitable to think about urban interventions without thinking about the architectural studio Urban Recipes, whose negotiation strategies carry with them a deep significance not only because of the action, but due to the collateral effect it exerts in an urban level and in society’s collective imagination. Santiago Cirugeda Parejo is the name of a Sevillian architect who founded this studio which, without pretensions of belonging to the architectural or art mainstream, seems to move in that precise narrow line where both disciplines develop, so much for its practices as for its subversive discourse. Urban Recipes includes essential ingredients like complicity and collaborative work, where the success of the strategies resides in the citizens asserting their duties and rights. Maybe the flavor of the projects is alegality, frame where Santiago has become an expert in analyzing laws in order to apply them, and even to reassess them. For the architect, “there are situations where the public demand of a well-organized critical mass is more effective than a completely large and expensive legal proceeding” ( ). This is the posture of a citizen, not an architect, with a great social commitment that draws attention in Spain and all the world. In México and Colombia, his interventions have been appropriated by the people who establish a direct contact with him in the first place; their purpose is to set out a situation for then assuming the role of citizens aware of the contexts, laws and the huge need for organization. Collective work turns them into agents willing to occupy a space and make urban interventions. The people’s participation during the project’s process and execution is essential.
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
www.border.com.mx
RECOMMENDED GUERRILLA GIRLS 1985-2015, 30 Aﾃ前S DE ACTIVISMO FEMINISTA Matadero Madrid. Espaﾃｱa. January to April 2015
ﾂｩ Guerrilla Girls. Courtesy www.guerrillagirls.com
www.mataderomadrid.org/guerrilla-girls
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/6
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
4/6
www.museoamparo.com
compra aquĂ
“A lot of times, we censor ourselves before the censor even gets there." Spike Lee
LEER EN ESPAﾃ前L
Text previously published by West www.westdenhaag.nl in January 2015.
BEYOND CONTROL Freedom and Authority in the Work of Bjﾃｸrn Melhus by Stefan Heidenreich
Credits
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/5
"...the rhetoric of freedom is not really about It might seem contradictory that the country with the strongest being affection for liberal values and personal freefree." dom at the same time has the world’s highest incarceration rate. In , out of one million S inhabitants more than seven thousand were imprisoned. Just to compare, in The Netherlands the number would be , almost ten times less. This leads to the conclusion that in some liberal societies freedom is either unequally distributed, or the rhetoric of freedom is not really about being free, but something else. Or both. In his book The Illusion of Free markets’, the Chicago law Professor Bernard Harcourt claims that a very special type of freedom fits well with a repressive prison system. Both are the two sides of the same coin. Harcourt points to the parallel rise of the incarceration rate and neoliberal ideology, the astounding growth of the American prison population from to —a period marked by the ascendance of market rationality and what has been called neoliberalism.’ At the fundament of this accordance sits the stern belief in the absolute freedom of markets, and the tacit realization that these markets only function when highly regulated. Here is where liberal rhetoric meets repressive ideology of law and order. The idea of a self-regulated market is preposterous. It would be like a competitive sport event without a referee: it would not work, nor has it ever worked.’ The TAP TO SEE FOOTNOTES
rise of the prison industry is nothing else than a capitalist conversion of the regulation of markets applied to society as a whole. According to the liberal views it is the only field where the state still has a legitimate function. These carceral developments have been facilitated by —not caused by, but made possible by— the rationality of neoliberal penalty; by, on the one hand the assumption of government legitimacy and competence in the penal arena and, on the other hand, the presumption that the government should not play a role elsewhere.’ The free market dogma not only supplies the ideological fundaments, but also indicates the final cause. As the market proves to be the place where unequal income distribution is generated, leaves anamply increasing 4. As it Piketty has demonstrated: Thomas part of the population impoverished, criminalCapital in the ized, and eventuallyPiketty: incarcerated. Without baTwenty-First Century, sic equality the struggle for freedom necessarily Cambridge:violence, Harvard because yields a state of heightened niversity Pressprivilege 4. of the without regulation liberal values stronger. If no other means are available they will be secured with brut force. In an unequal society freedom always boils down to the supremacy of the stronger, the survival of the fittest, or under capitalist conditions, the power of the wealthy. Precisely for this reason, Jean-Jacques Rousseau closely links freedom with equality, because liberty cannot survive without it.’ He does not refer explicitly to an absolute equality, but to legal guarantees of relatively equal rights to ensure, that, as to power, it should fall short of any violence and never be exercised except by virtue of station or the law.’ What Rousseau may not have foreseen is the repressive potential of law and law enforcement. The legal system itself —be it through an extensive prison industry, or other forms of repressive social arrangements— becomes complicit
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/5
whether the division of control and discipline really matches the transition of our times. There is an interesting correspondence between the work of Bjørn Melhus and the question raised by Deleuze. Coincidentally, both cover approximately the same time span and touch upon the same issues. The videos of Melhus have always focused on the role of the individual, its mode of self-creation, the techniques and forces of control he or she is exposed to as well as the disciplinary environment. Deleuze emphasizes a series of clear binary oppositions in his dichotomy of the disciplinary versus the control. His analysis goes beyond a mere interpretation of Foucault’s terms, as given mostly in the early work Discipline and Punish’ , towards a re-evaluation of his concepts in the light of situation in . The technical progress requires a reconsideration of repression and its consequences on the individual. Technology functions as a background for an understanding, and at the same time it sets the formal structure of the underlying dichotomy between discipline and control. Deleuze looks at the effects of technology from three points of orientation, the constitution of the human being, the institutional environment, and the media (or information machines, as he calls it). Whilst the regime of the disciplinary operates with enclosure focuses on production and energy and to generate workers, whereas control regimes make do with surveillance, relying on marketing and information and centres on the indebted consumer. In disciplinary societies you were always starting all over again (as you went from school to the barracks, from the bar-
racks to the factory), while in control societies you never finish anything—business, training, and military service being coexisting metastable states of a single modulation, a sort of universal transmutation.’ The relation to technologies plays a central role in Deleuze’s approach, but remains superficial at the same time. There are these information machines. They will do something to humans. We cannot really tell, how exactly they will interfere. The machines appear in an ambivalent way. They control us, but they are also controlled by us. We’re stuck in a double bind. You control me, and I control you. Looking at the opposition of discipline and control from a technological side, there are always manifest developments in machines that prefigure the construction of the self as much as the constitution of society. In a rough overview we may define three stages of technologies: of energy, of information, and of
"There are these information machines. They will do something else, which something remains to be named properly. For now, it to humans." is called digital or network. Both terms refer to past technological innovations, and occasionally made to sound more futuristic by the prefix post—added, as in in post-
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
4/5
:
ai a e o ia org
ARTIST PORTFOLIOS
Bjørn Melhus Germany
Maurycy Gomulicki Poland
Hrair Sarkissian Syria
Mounir Fatmi Morocco
Graciela Guerrero Ecuador
Carlos Pérez Bucio México
Bjørn Melhus
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
The Theory of Freedom (fragment), 2015
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/16
Bjørn Melhus
The Theory of Freedom, 3 Channel Video Installation, Kunsthal Rotterdam, 2015
The Theory of Freedom (video stills), 3 Channel Video Installation, 2015
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
3/16
Bjørn Melhus
SWIPE TO SEE MORE IMAGES
Bjørn Melhus Headshots, 1991-2014 5/16
Bjørn Melhus
Deadly Storms, 2008
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
9/16
Bjørn Melhus
THIS CONTENT REQUIRES AN INTERNET CONNECTION
The Oral Thing, 2001
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
14/16
Maurycy Gomulicki
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
Bestia, 2013-14 / Vipers Gold Edition, 2014 / Viper #3, 2012
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/15
Maurycy Gomulicki About Totem, 2012
Sobre Totem, 2012
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
The Totem, 2012 4/15
Maurycy Gomulicki
SWIPE TO SE MORE IMAGES
TAP IMAGES
El Iksir, 2014
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
5/15
Maurycy Gomulicki Fantom (Phantom), 2011 Installation over Lublin Castle facade, Open City, Lublin PL. Curator: Monika Szewczyk This time I would like to present my recent pink ghost invocation: Phantom — installation over the facade of the Lublin Castle. Soon after I was invited to work in Lublin I knew I wanted to do a light & jolly project there; perhaps because I went there in late November, when the world goes into mourning, possibly due to the shadow of Majdanek remaining deeply fixed in my head. The history of the very castle isn’t pink either: it served as a prison for 123 years (1831–1954) —gallons of blood & tears flushed its cobblestones. Yet there is something inevitably funny and grotesque in its anthropomorphic facade. Although the Italian architects are responsible for its design, I sense some Mauritanian influence also. My work often consists in focusing points of attention. This piece can be considered almost a ready-made. I could see a face there, its beige eyes were just asking for light. They are the mirrors of the soul, as we all know. So I decided to wake up the giant; owl, demon —you name it. I could make it blue or green but I went pink for obvious reasons. I believe it has proven pretty efficient. DESLIZA PARA LEER EN ESPAÑOL
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
Phantom, 2011 7/15
Maurycy Gomulicki
TAP IMAGES
Minimal Fetish, 2011
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
10/15
Carlos Pérez Bucio
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
Younger Than Jesus, 2011
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/12
Carlos Pérez Bucio
Give Me a Round of Applause, Bitch, 2012
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/12
Carlos Pérez Bucio
Crazy Cat People, 2013
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
5/12
Carlos Pérez Bucio
TAP IMAGES TO ENLARGE OR SHRINK
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
Crazy Cat People, 2014 6/12
Ugly World, 2009
Carlos Pérez Bucio
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
9/12
Graciela Guerrero
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
El beso, 2013
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/10
Graciela Guerrero
THIS CONTENT REQUIRES AN INTERNET CONNECTION
Tres Gracias, 2013
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
3/10
Graciela Guerrero About Extra! Extra!, 2009-10
Sobre ยกExtra! ยกExtra!, 2009-10
ยกExtra!, 2009-10 TAP IMAGES DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READยกExtra! THE ENTIRE ISSUE
4/10
Graciela Guerrero
Inventario de Cristos (1901–2006), 2008
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
9/10
Hrair Sarkissian
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
Homesick, 2014
Hrair Sarkissian by Catalina Restrepo Leongómez
LEER EN ESPAÑOL
“In Syria, censorship is present in our daily life, and I believe that at some point we became friends with it. Once you know how to deal with it you start to maneuver what you want to say in your work, what you want to say to the public, or newspapers.” Thus, with these lines, began my dialogue with Hrair Sarkissian, one of the most prominent Syrian artists and an exceptional photographer. Talking about censorship is very complex when you consider the meaning of that word in every country or region. Every culture has its codes and at the same time, its ways of breaking or preserving them. Hrair says that in Syria prohibitions are established in terms of politics and religion, so artists use symbols or signs that may only be interpreted by those that know them. He lives in London since and from there he has been able to tackle issues that in Syria could be even dangerous to talk about; that’s why his work has not been exhibited there, except for a series of nudes, which are not related to religion or politics, but are still very risky; even when the photographed bodies were males, from the back and with no sexual connotation whatsoever. SCROLL DOWN
Thanks to Kalfayan Galleries On the other hand, liberty as described by Hrair can be DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE compared with the power of hanging your thoughts on the wall,
1/8
Hrair Sarkissian About Homesick, 2014
Sobre Homesick, 2014
Homesick, 2014
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/8
Hrair Sarkissian About Istory, 2011
Sobre Istory, 2011
Istory, 2011
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
5/8
In Between, 2007
Hrair Sarkissian
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
7/8
Mounir Fatmi
BACK TO MENU
PULL TAB
History is Not Mine, 2013-14. Courtesy of ADN Galeria Barcelona
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/12
Mounir Fatmi
History is Not Mine, 2013. Courtesy of ADN Galeria Barcelona
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/12
Mounir Fatmi
History is Not Mine (video stills), 2013. Courtesy of ADN Galeria Barcelona
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
3/12
Mounir Fatmi
Who is Joseph Anton, started in 2012. Courtesy of ADN Galeria Barcelona and Keitelman Gallery Bruxelles
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
7/12
Interview with Mounir Fatmi
LEER EN ESPAÑOL
by Catalina Restrepo Leongómez
Catalina Restrepo: One of your manifests states: “In my exile, I made myself some glasses so that I could see.” How and when did that exile take place? Did you establish in France imme iatel a er lea in oro o Mounir Fatmi: The exile began for me since my childhood. I already felt exiled in Morocco. I knew that the only solution for me was to leave, to find other areas of freedom and creation. I settled early in Italy, where I took courses of nudes and engravings at the free school of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. But I voluntarily exiled to France in . It was not easy to be part of this French company already saturated by the presence of North African immigrants, African, and the latest arriving from Eastern countries. That is why I said the exile should become my glasses, my prism to look at and analyze the new situation. I also spent more than two years in Amsterdam, at the Rjksakademie; DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/5
there, the situation was also very different, but I had more experience of being part of a culture different than mine, even though I often remained very unsociable. CR: ou li e bet een aris an an ier an the US espe iall post anha an is a territor that our or re ol es aroun t is lear that e er re ion or ountr has its a o un erstan in assimilatin an oe istin ith its o n ensorship limits o e er these three re ions ha e er ra i all i erent isions amon them ran e ith its e treme right wing so ree to sa politi all in orre t stu mostl in terms o ra ial on i ts an immi ration a ra ate ith the re ent terrorist a a s to harlie eb o the “ e suis harlie mo ement an the lobal ebate on ree om o spee h that ensue oro o on the other si e espite bein the rabi state ith the most open poli ies is still an rabi state an is at the same time onsi ere an ri an state hi h ma es it pre onser ati e in both ronts an lastl the US a in the a o ree om espe iall in terms o spee h a relati e one sin e it is so e essi el sur eille o o ou mo e amon these isions o is our posture to ar s them Do ou i enti ith an o them MF: I agree, you correctly introduced the issues raised in each of these regions. You know, for the French public and art world, I am considered a Moroccan artist, Maghrebi, Arabic, and sometimes Muslim. In the United States I am considered a French, Parisian or European artist, and at home, in Morocco, I am often seen as a foreigner artist. It is often said, “you know Mounir, you cannot show everything here, it is not Paris.” So it is my call to negotiate my own freedom of expression. That being said, I was censored several times, even in France. But, returning to your question, no, I do not define myself in any culture. I consider myself an immigrant worker, I travel and work where I am invited. I am currently installing my personal exhibition ermanent iles at Mamco Geneva. In the museum, I am the artist who manages a team of assistants, but outside I become the immigrant who needs to show his valid papers at any identity check. But more important than all this is to continue the fight for freedom —especially freedom of expression— where one lives.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/5
“FASCISM SEES ITS SALVATION IN GIVING THESE MASSES NOT THEIR RIGHT, BUT INSTEAD A CHANCE TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES." WALTER BENJAMIN
RECOMMENDED THE INSTITUTE OF SEXOLOGY. UNDRESS YOUR MIND WELLCOME COLLECTION LONDON, ENGLAND NOVEMBER 2014 TO SEPTEMBER 2015
Credits
THIS CONTENT REQUIRES AN INTERNET CONNECTION
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
1/1
“FREEDOM IS ALWAYS, AND EXCLUSIVELY, FREEDOM FOR THE ONE WHO THINKS DIFFERENTLY." ROSA LUXEMBURG
CONTEMPORARY ART OF THE MIDDLE EAST
ISLAMIC ART NOW:
RECOMMENDED LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART LACMA LOS ANGELES, USA. OPENS FEBRUARY 2015
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE
Shirin Neshat, Speechless, 1996. © Shirin Neshat. Courtesy Gallery,THE NewENTIRE York and ISSUE Brussels IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE Gladstone PLAY TO READ
1/6
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
3/6
Mitra Tabrizian, Tehran 2006, 2006 © Mitra Tabrizian
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
4/6
Abdullah Al Saab, Technology Killed Reality, Series Boundaries, 2013 © Djinane AlSuwayeh
ADVERTISE WITH US info@lar-magazine.com
LARMAGAZINE
SPECIAL GUEST
LEER EN ESPAﾃ前L
Felix D'Eon www.felixdeon.com
DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/7
Statment extracts from the artist’s website.
He is enraptured by various art-historical styles, such as Edwardian fashion and children's book illustration, golden-era American comics, and Japanese Edo printmaking. In his work, he attempts to make the illusion of antiquity complete, using antique papers and careful research as to costume, set, and style. His goal is perfect verisimilitude. He subverts their "wholesome" image and harnesses their style to a vision of gay love and sensibility.
SWIPE TO SE MORE IMAGES
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/7
D'Eon treats vintage illustrative styles as a rhetorical strategy, using their language of romance, economic power, and aesthetic sensibility as a tool with which to tell stories of historically oppressed and marginalized queer communities.
TAP IMAGES DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
4/7
TAP IMAGES TO ENLARGE OR SHRINK
VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
5/7
“IF YOU ARE CREATIVE, YOU MUST BE DISSIDENT." NAWAL EL SAADAWI
A MANA MAN SHADOWS IN SHADOWS
LEER EN ESPAﾃ前L
BY DANIEL VEGA
bob dylan ShadowS in the night 2015 DOWNLOAD LARMAGAZINE IN THE iPAD APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY TO READ THE ENTIRE ISSUE
1/3
“WITH ALL THESE SONGS YOU HAVE TO STUDY THE LYRICS. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT EVERY ONE OF THESE SONGS AND BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY WITH THEM IN A MEANINGFUL WAY. YOU CAN HARDLY SING THESE SONGS UNLESS YOU’RE IN THEM. IF YOU WANT TO FAKE IT, GO AHEAD. FAKE IT IF YOU WANT. BUT I’M NOT THAT KIND OF SINGER." BOB DYLAN, 2015 When the news got out about Bob Dylan’s most recent work, a cover album of classic American songs made popular by Frank Sinatra, some thought the mystery tramp was playing another of his ironic jokes. Throughout his career, Dylan’s steps have looked for the less obvious road, what many have related to a certain arrogance. Never one for been labeled, deciphered or defined, he’s an artist that very few times seems unguarded, and prefers to be at the vanguard; Shadows In The Night, produced by himself oldstyle at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles —where Sinatra put his greatest songs to tape— is one of those few occasions, and the result is as relevant as piercing. With his band, consisting of two guitars, pedal steel guitar, bass and percussions —with brass instrumentation providing some ambient touches—, Bob Dylan reinterprets classics that have been recorded countless times by artists like Johnny Cash, Sting, Lady Gaga, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan and Paul McCartney, among many others. Particularly, the artist mentions —in the only interview granted to promote the album, to the oriented AARP Magazine— Willie Nelson’s Stardust ( ) as a source of inspiration for Shadows In The Night. The instrumentation, by his tour band, creates a simple, ethereal sound that nuances the songs with an overtly dreamlike nostal-
gia. Donny Herron’s pedal steel guitar contributions weave an elegant, subtle tapestry, creating innovative arrangements for these songs that, Dylan says, “Sinatra would be proud of.” Ballads such as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “That Lucky Old Sun” could easily be the soundtrack for a romantic film from the s, or one of Disney’s animated classics. Ironically, Dylan’s songs have always been shrouded in a fog of mystery; his vague, surrealistic images made him an almost inaccessible artist for the mass audiences. Despite being one of the most iconic and prolific musical figures of the th century, who in received a special citation from the jury of the Pulitzer Prize for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power,” today few people are aware of his discography beyond “Like A Rolling Stone” or “Blowin’ In The Wind.” Throughout the numbers in Shadows In The Night, belonging to the Great American Songbook, an aloof artist as Dylan seems to open up his old, scraped soul. And although this is not the first time he dedicates himself to the music of others —his first, self-titled album from was almost completely made up of standards, and he’s dedicated other records to classic folk numbers— Shadows In The Night particularly brings to mind —if not in
"SINATRA WOULD BE PROUD OF" VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.LAR-MAGAZINE.COM
2/3
“CENSORSHIP IS ADVERTISING PAID BY THE GOVERNMENT." FEDERICO FELLINI
HANGMAN
ESP
A_ _ _ _ _ _ Q W E A Z
S
R
T
Y
U
D F
G H
X C V
B
I J
N M
O P K
L
Illustration by Federico Jordan. Developed by Homero V. Campos
Tap the letters to guess the name of the artist. You have 7 opportunities to do it before you hang them.
subscribe Snobbism. Comunication in Arts No016 路 nov dec 2014
LARMAGAZINE is free. If you like it you can still help us