AĂąo 0, NĂşm. 4 february -march- april 2011
magazine
LARrevista
Director Catalina Restrepo Leongómez catalina@livingartroom.com Art Director Jorge Carrera Necoechea jorge@livingartroom.com English Editor Daniel Vega serapiu@hotmail.com Spanish Editor Rocío García González editor@livingartroom.com Contributors Semíramis González Leonel García Gonzalo Ortega Adriana Salazar
Texts: Jaime Cerón Andrés Gaitán T. Guillermo Kahlo Cover: Utero, 2010 Francesca Dalla Benetta foto Gerardo Castillo www.lamarmotaazul.com Photographs: Courtesy of the artists Acknowledgements: Gonzalo Ortega Floria González Daniel Vega Arturo Medina
www.livingartroom.com
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EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL Celebrating
I am thrilled to think about the growth and experience that we -all members of Living Art Room- have earned from this. It is something we share each time we get together to make the portfolio update or develop new ideas. This issue we are presenting Saúl Sánchez’s portfolio, one of the first I ever produced when I started GALER_A in Colombia, and Tania Ximena, the first artist I met when I came to Mexico City three and a half years ago. It also features curator Gonzalo Ortega´s portfolio, another achievement that I celebrate with all my heart. He is not only a close person to this project, but also responsible for a lot of the good things that Living Art Room has to offer today. He has been an amazing advisor, someone from whom I learned a lot, and has become an unconditional friend along the way. I can only hope he gets the most out of his portfolio in return.
This is the first LARmagazine of 2011 and a very special one for us because, even if it´s only the fourth issue, we are celebrating five years of this project dedicated to promoting artists through online portfolios. The initiative began under the name GALER_A, but a year and a half ago it was renewed and reborn as Living Art Room. It is not easy to express how proud I am for what we all -artists, curators and collaboratorshave achieved. I would like to give special thanks to Jorge Carrera, who besides being a great artist, makes the work behind the scenes possible. I am excited just to think about what this platform is going to turn out in few more years, considering all that we have accomplished in this short time: a bilingual magazine, artists’ documentaries, virtual exhibitions and curator portfolios, among other things. Our initial hopes and ideas are now something real.
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Speaking about Gonzalo, this issue of LARmagazine has the privilege to publish an essay he wrote about migration, in which he introduces a project called Homeland by artist Raúl Cárdenas, and Proyect Japan, a similar initiative from artists Miho Hagino and Taro Zorrila. Along this subject, there´s also an article from our international collaborator Semíramis Gonzalez, in which she reviews projects -from different artiststhat stand out for their social awareness. Moreover, Rochelle Costi shows us Residencia, her latest project, which she presented at the Sao Paulo Biennale. Colombian artist Adriana Salazar shares her experience in Sao Paulo too, where she took part in a parallel exhibition, and gives us her opinion of what this international event represents.
We give a warm welcome to Leonel García, a well-known mexican musician who just got on the LARmagazine train, something we all love. He will write a regular column exploring the relationship between music and contemporary art, stuff like collaborations for album covers, video and installation in concerts, etc. He will tell us about artists that play music and musicians that are artists; something about the multidisciplinary scene we are living in. This time, Leo -as his friends call himintroduces us to a pair of albums he bought attracted by their covers, from two bands which interestingly became some of his personal favorites: Avi Buffalo and The Avett Brothers. I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover, but a record you certainly can!
I hope you enjoy reading and seeing this Issue 4 features seven new artist portfolios: issue as much as we -team and collaborafrom Colombia, Juan Carlos Delgado, tors- enjoyed making it. This number is a Daniel González and Carolina Rodríguez; celebration, a party, and you are all invited. from Mexico, Cynthia Araf, Carmen Mendoza and Isabel Rojas; and from Italy, Francesca Dalla Benetta, whose sculpture is Catalina Restrepo Leongómez featured on the cover. Directora de Living Art Room www.livingartroom.com 2
COLABORADORES
CONTRIBUTORS Gonzalo Ortega
Leonel García
Semíramis González
He began his career as a curator of the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil. During this period exhibitions with artists, as recognized as Miguel Ventura, Gustavo Artigas and Hector Zamora, among others, took place. He studied his master’s degree in Kunst im Kontext (art in context) at the Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany. Nowadays he is the Coordinator of the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte (University Museum of Sciences and Arts) MUCA Roma in Mexico City. Recently he successfully completed Residual, a public art project in Mexico City.
Leonel García or León Polar -his stage name-, is a renowned Mexican musician and composer. Ex-member of the duo Sin Bandera has won important awards, such as the Grammy, Latin Billboard, Lo Nuestro, MTV music awards, among many others. His music collection stands over 10,000 discs and he constantly travels to festivals in the United States and Latinamerica to meet new bands. With a strong folk influence, Leonel releases his latest album called TU which is now available.
Semíramis González was born in Asturias, Spain. She is an art critic and historian, specialized in European medieval art, Land Art and sustainable architecture. She combines her studies writing for catalogs, magazines and several galleries. Her interest in promoting art has led her to teach children in order to encourage new audiences
livingartroom.com/gonzalo_ortega
leonelgarcia.com
semiramisenbabilonia.blogspot.com
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CONTENIDO
CONTENTS ArticleP:04 Arte y compromiso Social SEMÍRAMIS GONZÁLEZ New Artist Portfolios P:17 Juan Carlos Delgado HUELLAS, DESTELLO, ENERGÍA Y RECUERDO SILENCIOSO by Andrés Gaitán T P:20 Cynthia Araf PHOTOGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAPHER by Guillermo Kahlo P:042 Carmen Mendoza FAMILY by LAR P:54 Daniel González HAND MADE by LAR P:68 Carolina Rodríguez NOTES ON DRAWING by Jaime Cerón P:78 Francesca Dalla Benetta UNCONVETIONAL BEAUTY by LAR P:88 Isabel Rojas SELF-PORTRAIT by LAR Opinion P:98 ON THE SAO PAULO BIENNIAL by Adriana Salazar Portfolio updates P:104 Saúl Sánchez P:120 Tania Ximena Music P:132 SINESTHESIA by Leonel García New curator portfolio P:138 Gonzalo Ortega Special P:142 HOMELAND by Gonzalo Ortega Project P:156 RESIDENCIA by Rochelle Costi
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ART AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT
ART AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT by Semíramis González Contemporary artistic expressions cannot omit their places of origin´s social problems. Despite producing works with apparent independence from these facts, the truth is these problems are essential to determine what is created and what is not.
alternatively develop a social work, usually in a less obvious way. Given the century we are living in, we cannot substract our day to day duty from what happens in the world; in the digital communications era, in which we easily have access to people on the other side of the world, social, political and economical conflicts have become universal, too, creating a cosmopolitan network that links us and makes us perceive and reflect on things we used to think about as far and aliens; the economic crisis, pollution, child abuse, war, natural disasters, drugs,
In some cases we find artists fully involved in social projects, allowing a direct interaction between the environment and the piece itself; in others, the artists denounce injustices through their works, trying to raise awareness in the spectator, to draw its attention; finally there are those who, aside from their artistic work,
Bordo Póniente, fotografías cortesía RESIUDAL
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genre-based violence… similar problems in geographically disparate places. It´s clear that an artist cannot ignore this, and in many cases, his involvement makes him a main character in change.
-for the festival specifically- made his piece Projection in Tijuana, where he presented images over Tijuana´s Cultural Center denouncing family violence and abuses suffered by these women, as well as the unfair work conditions seen in factories.
This article seeks to display all those interesting actions that involve a way of transforming the environment, to convert certain realities that seemed destined to fail, and thus achieving a real and effective change for a small part of the world, and for the whole of it at the same time: a small step for man but a giant leap to mankind.
This projection referred us to other works of his, like the Hiroshima Projection in 1999, where he showed the hands of survivors and new generations after the nuclear disaster over the Hiroshima River, telling their terrible experiences, and a backdrop as the Dome of the Atomic Bomb. Wodiczko’s works always have a clear intention of making the public aware, witness and part of what goes on around him, ignored most of the times.
KRISTOF WODICZKO (1943) A Polish artist who realizes actions with an important social sense, that for a limited time are put into work, registered through video and photography. His career has shed some light on illegal and abusive situations through great public projections over buildings, showing spectators another side of reality.
His projections show the hidden pain of society and manifest the need for a collective change, through conscience, from the whole community. TOROLAB
In the Festival inSITE in 2000, he openly denounced the conditions in which women of the Tijuana-San Diego region work. He
Torolab was born in 1995. It is a group of artists helmed by Raúl Cárdenas (1969), who are trying to transform Mexican 7
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society from a positive and dynamic view: transforming instead of denouncing. One of their most interesting projects is COMA/ Fasftood, where they bring to the public facts like 69% of the population is overweight in Mexico while there is a very high malnutrition rate, proof of the people’s damaged health. Against fast and junk food, so trendy these days, their proposal aims for slow food, less and less consumed, and is resolved to change eating habits through citizen conscience. http://torolab.org/
Besides this project, Torolab has recently taken place in a joint showing of Residual, where the topic of the exhibition was to show the waste and recycling problem, the increasing size of garbage and its possible reuse to stop degradation.
also work as employment agencies and meeting places for a real incorporation; they learn trades such as carpentry and electricity with professionals who help them.
www.torolab.org
The initiative began when the artist got involved with homeless children who were looking to learn a trade, with the objective of finding a job. The idea grew from there and became an interesting project that even helped some of the participants to abandon drugs, start working and change their lives completely.
METEORO Project promoted by Claudia FernĂĄndez (1965) with the intention to give new opportunities to the marginalized and endangered youth. Plastic artists, architects, psychologists, sociologists, among others, take part in Meteoro; together, they want to integrate these young folks through creativity, workshops that teach artistic creation and
The resulting works have been exhib8
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ited in different museums, as the Tamayo of Contemporary Art in Mexico, or even in far countries, like Poland. This purpose of change for marginalized people is suggestive, using artistic creation as a form of escape and a new chance to achieve a better life; art is a fundamental instrument for social change, and in Claudia Fernandez’s project, the social face of creation is captured.
needs of recycling, taking care of their surroundings, keeping natural resources and doing clean actions to maintain the landscape in proper conditions
LET´S SAVE CUATRO CIÉNAGAS
www.livingartroom.com/rodrigo_imaz www.livingartroom.com/alejandra_espana
http://www.concentrarte.org/concentrarte/ Salvemos_Cuatro_Cienegas.html
The initiative is integrated by different organizations as WWF, Carlos Slim Foundation and the project ConcentrArte (which seeks to educate children through art and creativity, works with hospitalized children and tries to create an environmental conscience). This program is based on recreational activities that show children the need to preserve the environment of Cuatro Ciénagas (a biosphere reserve) through changes in the use of water, reusing of remains and other ecological actions. For a better use of this initiative, adults have also been included, looking to show them the
Fotos Rodrigo Imaz y Daniel Romero
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TIME DIVISA loneliness experienced behind bars.
The project, born in 2005, was propelled by Mexican artist José Antonio Vega, who reflects about exclusion-inclusion and the value of time against the value of money.
A microcosm now turned to art, presented to the public who, from the outside, tries to get close to a usually ignored social reality.
His idea is based on 365 exchanges of time with convicts from the Santa Marta Acatitla Prison in Mexico City; the convicts ask for a series of actions that are to be realized by the artist and viceversa. This presents, in a way, a kind of freedom for the prisoners, who get access to the outer world by carrying out their part of the deal. In some cases we find prisoners who ask the artist to visit their families, or even look for their lost children. In exchange, José Antonio asks them for drawings on diverse subjects: other prisoners’ tattoos, traces from certain zones of the jail, etc.
Time Exchange 291 ( 2009)
PLATFORM 2
This interesting exchange plays with the appraisal of dignity and common service through a chain of favors, without money or corruption interfering with the project. As a result, the artist himself exhibits the resulting work from the convicts, who sometimes denounce certain situations in jail, such as cold food or the
This is a project made to begin a discussion on certain social matters. Through artistic workshops and activities, a conscience on these subjects wants to be created; among its actions we find a round table discussing the iconography of the environment’s degradation (what do we relate to climate change: 10
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melting of the poles, recyclable bags, Al Gore?), or a kind of dance in a group that quickly draws us apart from the speed and stress of today’s world.
different collectives is promoted, like a real and effective change for excluded social groups such as homeless children or senior citizens who avoid loneliness this way. Art combines with an active social reality that transforms and pushes for a positive change from both the participants and the artists.
Platform 2 randomly makes a series of acts, trying to start discussion and dialogue between today’s art and social commitment. www.janemarsching.com/platform2 FUNDACIÓN PAISAJE SOCIAL (Social Landscape Foundation) EThis interesting idea is promoted by artists Miho Hagino and Jorge Carrera, among others. It was created in 2009 with the objective of transforming the urban landscape through different interventions and actions, looking to improve the population’s quality of life through art and cultural activities.
http://paisajesocial.wordpress.com
The professionals that form this project organize workshops for children and elderly people, services for the community and a collective donation of books. With initiatives like this, the integration of 11
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www.livingartroom.com/marisol_maza
ANTIGUO DORMITORIO DE MONJAS (Old Nun Dormitory)
PROCESSION TO JOIN A CORN MAN
Parallel to her artistic works, Mexican artist Marisol Maza takes part in this interesting urban project. An ancient building known for its previous function as a “nun dormitory� accommodates, since a few years back, an authentic education and culture center. The degradation and deterioration in which the building was, together with the fact that there was no center with this features, propelled a group of artists to give a blow of fresh air to the place. Since then, they have organized film festivals, workshops, exhibitions, etc., helping the community to become part of the change. All the activities seek to involve the center with the people, making it a meeting place of culture and expansion. The barrio renews its most well-known face and its splendorous past through these artistic activities that draw interest from students, nearby workers and neighbors.
This interesting work by artist Alfadir Luna seeks the integration of different Mexican markets located in the same commercial road. Through a procession in which different parts of a doll are added (each market is one), there are parties with music, banners, dances, etc., bringing together merchants from different places to achieve a common solidarity and a transformation of the environment, coordinating in a joint and playful activity.
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NEL AMARO (1946) From his beginnings as an artist, Nel Amaro has dedicated himself to such different activities as poetry, performance and ready-mades, always with a critical and political background defending his homeland, Asturias in north Spain, from his artistic position. Nel Amaro has been involved with his land and its economic
situation, drawing special concern for the mining zones and its industrial conversion. He has also been involved in social matters, such as defending the workers and the unemployed. He has published many poetry books and actively taken part in artistic activities with performances
Read the complete interview with CatherineD’Ignazio/ kanarinka. about Plataform2 http://livingartroom.wordpress.com Read the complete interview with Jorge Carrera about his participation during the workshops of Fundación Social http://livingartroom.wordpress.com
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NEW ARTIST PORTFOLIOS
NEW ARTIST PORTFOLIOS
Carolina Rodríguez (Colombia) (Italy) Francesca Dalla Benetta Carmen Mendoza (Mexico) (Mexico) Isabel Rojas Cynthia Araf (Mexico) (Colombia) Juan Carlos Delgado Daniel González (Colombia)
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Versailles 1 & 2, 2008
JUAN CARLOS DELGADO
JUAN CARLOS DELGADO Marks, Flash, Energy and Quiet Remembrance by Andrés Gaitán T.
It was August 6th, and according to the marks left by the impact of light on the clocks throughout the city, it was 8:30 am. Arguably, it was any given day for people of Hiroshima, when lighting embraced them, (or perhaps overtook them?). When an infernal light took over everything, making the city the inside of a mushroom loaded with destructive energy. This lasted only a moment ... probably enough for the shadows of people and objects to get printed on the floor, walls and ceilings, on any surface that receive the blinding photo flash-light. Whatever happened within the fungus still in silent remembrance of those few people who were protected from that incandescent light. But, how to get protected from this light?
I have highlighted four key concepts that seem to me when I visited this exhibition of Juan Carlos Delgado: “Marks”, “Flash”, “Energy” and “Quiet Remembrance.” All of them begin to touch each other at different times while doing a bleak but poetic tour along the exhibition space. There are objects, furniture coated with phosphor paint to make them sensitive to the memory of the light that they radiate for a minute or two. Someone stands between light and a table
-or a chair or a bedside table or any of these mostly domestic items- stayed recorded as a phantasmal presence. Lights turn off, leaving in total darkness moments retained in the phosphorus-impregnated surfaces until they gradually begin to fade. These memories are loaded on the objects can be as fleeting as the ones we keep. As well, we could be said that these quiet remains are as desolate and disturbing as the emptiness that prompts these objects into the memory. 17
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Untitled, 2004
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Object No.9, 2001
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Could be taken into consideration the mirrors of the artist Anish Kapoor or the readings about Roland Barthe’s photographs, as references that Delgado underline for this installation. Because it’s true that there is some reflection and emptiness to Kapoor and there are undoubtedly a lot of memory and signal traces in a Barthes style. However, there is a permanence that hurts: how light affects our perception of things? Delgado make us notice that light that lets us see our surroundings, is more powerful and pervasive than we would think. That the brain constantly receives light beams and, in the same way that the phosphor-coated objects, capturing moments that are frozen, evoking meanings, associations and metaphors. Our daily walk is under sunlight; a sun that no one can look directly but visible in all the reflections that the brain captures of things that surround us. We cannot see the sun directly because its light would burn us forever, we should not see a light bulb turned on because it would leave us blind at moments untill the eye adapts to its environment light again. In this way we find the light as a source of vital energy, paradoxically capable of harm causing other invisible stimuli. Something that
invigorates us, can also make us sick, but would only do this if we dare ... if we look directly ... if for some reason, we get much closer to it. The Hiroshima bomb is merely a pretext for a beam of light which infuriated took thousands of human beings. It absorbed light in a vacuum of light in form of a beautiful mushroom. That emptiness and this absorbent glowing light are dangerous. Therefore, I look at Delgado’s work as an ambiguous relationship between the subtle, poetic and even fantastic, with memories that you do not want to revive for being so strong, unhealthy and full of death and pain. However, is inevitably to enter through these routes stored in memory. There are references to hospitals, cribs, nurseries, but in a world of shadows that reflect the same vitality that burden; an absence. The bodies that are part of the exhibition are those of the spectators who travel, but will only be fully visible in the look exchange that occurs at the time the lights go off and left the imprints of their shadows on the furniture. The Hiroshima bomb is merely a pretext for a 20
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light beam absorbed angered an entire city, as if the fungus had invested their lives in the light which contained a large mirror to become full of emptiness. It is possible that in this journey we are going into that kind of mirrors that absorb and announcing a parallel world we inhabit, full of strange marks, ghostly overwhelming silent light.
Untitled, 2001
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Untitled, 2008
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Untitled, 2002
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Untitled, 2002
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Portholes, 2010
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www.livingartroom.com/juancarlos_delgado
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CYNTHIA ARAF
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CYNTHIA ARAF
Photography and the Photographer Por Guillermo Kahlo
Photography has traditionally gone along two paths. In the first instance, it has been a kind of witness to facts throughout history, which has incessantly reaffirmed its origins and essence. No other means can match the credibility of photography. The other path has been to unlock the possibility of expression of the artist´s inner self. Once what exists in the world goes through the lens of the camera and - above all - is pervaded by the photographer´s sensitivity, it can transform itself to the point of becoming the reflection of the most personal experience; a mani-
festation of feelings relived in memory, of everything that is fleeting in time but not in Art. In the North American tradition during the photo session, this aspect of the art of photography is defined as equivalences. A parallel between the objects and the inner world. Cynthia´s work somewhat falls within this second aspect, and has, as is the case with any serious creator, its own definition. I also associate her work to the makings of the great women photographers. Tina Modotti could make 31
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the petal of a flower stir our emotions and trigger our imagination. In the same way, Cynthia approaches the small and the huge things, giving them a novel resolution through her work. Her inner world is inhabited and represented by the images of colossal buildings in the process of construction or by the tiniest details in everyday life objects. Weight, though in a metaphysical sense, is crucial in her work. Based on
this, she makes other values emerge: the immanence or the flow, stillness and movement. These are also the scopes of human existence. We need to set roots and to grow, be strong and permanent like a building, and we also need to flow and fly. Both things cause our fears and at the same time, give us inner peace and certainty.
construccion I, 2010 32
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construccion I, 2010
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construccion I, 2010
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construccion I, 2010
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Water, 2010
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Water, 2010
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Water, 2010
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www.livingartroom.com/cynthia_araf
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Animales del Bosque, 2009 Obra Realizada con el apoyo del FONCA con su Programa de Intercambio de residencias alejo, 2009
CARMEN MENDOZA
CARMEN MENDOZA Familia
up this work appear as a comment on the pressures around everyday life, marriage and family. The images theirselves–which have a very high quality- don´t have a narrative sense, but the spectator, with different hints and feelings, is able to appreciate and decipher them.
Although Carmen Mendoza`s work is majorly photographic, embroidery and drawings are also present. The themes explored have a lot to do with her family and the spaces that surround her. In her 2009 work Alejo, Carmen features herself and her parents in a series of portraits, a project that has shifted onto the editorial/art book field. The images are paired with embroidered texts that throw hints about what is going on in her family, like her mother´s thoughts on the decision of putting her marriage on standby after 38 years; her story is not an easy one, since she is going through a depressive episode in her life. The circumstances which brought
Carmen, obsessed with manual techniques and embroidery, has begun an overwhelming job: a frame by frame animation with drawings threaded by her –she is over the 80 mark right now, and will surely end up with a lot more- in which she dwells on the psychology of fear. There´s also a room installation in progress where she turns the 43
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furniture into monsters, recreating some of the strange images that come from a child´s imagination when the lights are out and they´re alone in their beds, wishing to be asleep. With this same fascination for fear and gloominess, she is creating a new series of nighttime images made up of trees illuminated by the city lights; a botanical study which, with a dark atmosphere, creates lonely landscapes capable of inspiring fear.
Violence is another theme related in some level with fear, but the visual treatment given to her series 550 km uses a different approach. The artist photographs certain areas of the Michoacán countryside –the state where she was born, an area that has been dramatically brutalized by drug cartels- where attacks have taken place and bodies have been found. The images are taken days after, when it seems like nothing happened, which brings a reflection on the traces covered by time.
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alejo, 2009
ALEJANDRA ESPAÑA
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alejo, 2009
CARMEN MENDOZA
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alejo, 2009
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alejo, 2009
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alejo, 2009
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alejo, 2009
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www.livingartroom.com/carmen_mendoza
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Bogotazo, 2007-2010
DANIEL GONZÁLEZ
DANIEL GONZÁLEZ hand made
Daniel Gonzáles is a young artist from Medellin, one of the most violence-striken cities throughout Colombia´s history. Through his drawings, made from powder, he speaks of the images of violence embedded in the collective memory of people who share the same historical, political and social context. The artist makes urban interventions; explosions of drawings in front of people; pieces over paper or cloths with emblematic images from photo archives that have appeared countless times and are immediately recognizable for those familiar with the context or who have experienced it firsthand. The Bogotazo, for example, or the taking of the Palacio de Justicia by M19, a guerrilla movement.
single perspective; he knows that the vision of a zona cafetera´s inhabitant is very different from a Magdalenian, or from someone from Bogotá. This reflection is clear in his latest project Hand Made, produced in collaboration with artist Beatríz Gutiérrez under the name Grupo en Blanco (Group in White). In the project, sketches of a government-seized heavy artillery armament were given to four families from different states (Ráquira, La Chamba, Caldas and El Cármen de Viboral). They were supposed to produce pottery with the forms of these ammunitions.
As explained by the artists, “Hand Made describes how war silently transforms the context, and how people, in their infiAn important aspect of Daniel´s work is nite ability to adapt, achieve transformathat he does not speak of violence from a tion, new abilities, knowledge, fill empty 55
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Bogotazo, 2007-2010
spaces and shortages to carry the loads imposed by the situation.� On one hand, the value of handmade work is highlighted by this people, who despite the violence around them carry on with their lives, war becoming a regular part of it. At the same time, it references the different perceptions on war of the inhabitants of these zones. Besides having a specific type of pottery
from their region, war has affected them in different areas, which has forced them to adapt to reality in their own different ways: some were left without a home because of the fumigation of illegal plantations, others for lack of tourism due to insecurity, and others because of displacements caused by seizure of lands or massacres.
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Bogotazo, 2007-2010
personas, 2008
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Hand Made ,2008
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Hand Made,2008
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Hand Made,2008
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Hand Made,2008
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Hand Made,2008
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Hand Made,2008
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Hand Made,2008
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www.livingartroom.com/daniel_gonzalez
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CAROLINA RODRIGUEZ
Wall Drawings,2004-2007
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CAROLINA RODRIGUEZ Notes on drawing by Jaime Cerón
Drawing is one of the few artistic labors practiced by almost every non-artist at some point in their lives. Even the logic of drawing is incorporated into different professional studies in which art is not necessarily the main focus. Artists currently working in the field of drawing have therefore redefined their conceptual scope and analyzed much more closely the cultural span of this practice.
affords a relaxed approach to the esthetic conventions of the Art World and allows for the identification and transformation of cultural references from other worlds. An analysis of her work must take into consideration its resemblance with the graphic morphology of children’s drawings, a fundamental touch originating in a certain characteristic disdain in the intention and intensity of its lines. When a child attempts to represent an event in the form of a drawing he or she works hard, with the greatest of effort and dedication leading to formal results we interpret (nearsightedly) as careless.
Carolina Rodriguez has assimilated drawing into these extended codes and her images therefore seem tied to a variety of cultural references. Her drawings are in no way limited to the conventional art world (or art history); rather they converse with a visual culture, more open and meaning- When an artist such as Carolina Rodriguez ful, that encompasses a variety of social offers us lines resembling those of children, and cultural areas. In this way, drawing her principles of configuration are obviously 69
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different and respond to different interests. Her drawings therefore denaturalize the idea of imitation in art and suggest a kind of cultural mimicry related perhaps to the ideas of Georges Bataille regarding the resemblance between children’s pictures
and primitive art (cave drawings especially) demonstrating that the games going on behind representation are linked to positive and negative pleasures. After all, it is impossible to create a drawing without destroying an empty space.
Waiting for perfection,2008
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Playing with me, Playing with me, 2001-2004
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¿Y sí así fuera?, 2007
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Reinas de belleza 2010
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Dibujos en el Muro,2004-2007
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Metalove,2010
FRANCESCA DALLA BENETTA
FRANCESCA DALLA BENETTA Unconventional beauty
Francesca Dalla Benetta is an Italian artist who currently lives and works in Mexico City. She arrived for job issues, when she was called as Make-up artists of Mel Gibson’s movie Apocalypto (2006), definitely one of this production highlights. The knowledge of techniques and materials that the artist has learned from her work in film industry has been crucial for her personal projects. Francesca’s two-dimensional work - drawing and painting-is truly impressive, though her sculptures are breathtaking because of the characterization work that the artist gives to each of them; even the most little detail is perfectly done.
and which refer or transmit sensations connected to what someone could call inner beauty. Subtly through her work, Francesca makes a report on the physical appearance of people and the cruelty that implies rejection because of a deformity, sickness or physical and mental condition that somehow define a person’s appearance . For example, Innocenza (2009), is one of the pieces in which the artist presents a bust of a character that looks like an alien, similar to the ones shown in science fiction movies. However, it is inspired by a child affected by Progeria. Recently, Francesca has been developing a draft intervention in public space. It consists on leaving some of her works in busy places and record people reactions. In a first experiment, she left one giant sculpture in a traffic island in Orizaba Street - in Colonia Roma, Mexico City.
Francesca proposes a consideration around what is called beautiful or ugly, concepts related to symmetry or deformity of bodies. Through her sculptures, she reproduces monstrous creatures with physical characteristics close to human anatomy 79
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Costume di pollo, 2010 FotoGerardo Castillo
On this occasion, she found that during six days that it remained there, the piece did not suffer any damage, which suggest a positive reaction of the public; also It got the attention of several people who found the facebook profile of the project searching on Internet. The most
interesting anecdote is that an unknown person defended the piece against the authorities of the local police department, who insisted on confiscate it. Although eventually they took away the piece, it could be retrieved by the timely help of this passing spectator. 80
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Madre,2010 81
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Gorde, 2010 FotoGerardo Castillo 82
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Metalove 2010 FotoGerardo Castillo 83
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Sin Título, 2010 FotoGerardo Castilloo
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ARGEL 2010 FotoGerardo Castillo
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Inncocenza, 2010
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Reverse deja vu, 2010
ISABEL ROJAS
ISABEL ROJAS Autorretrato
Isabel Rojas, is an artist recently graduated from the “Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado - La Esmeralda”, México. As part of her final evaluation in the Exhibition of graduates, the quality of her art piece stood out. It was a gigantic purple sculpture that seemed like an explosion, in which the spectator had the opportunity to stick in his head and look
through a subjective perspective. From that perspective you could see the reflection of the artist’s body (made of silicone) in the center of a room holding a mask. This piece is quite difficult to explain, such as the experience that derives from it, it is necessary to be there to completely understand it. By that installation, Isabel proposes an experience 89
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that can be compared to what the director Spike Jonze suggests in his movie Being John Malkovich, 1999.She approaches her restlessness of the recognition of the body in several pieces of her work. She elaborates pieces involving the physical aspects that establish us humans as unique and irreplaceable. Isabel is an introspective person and through her work she questions the physicality of the body as a container of the mind and thoughts. Beyond selfportraits, her images challenge the premise that if her body was not the one that she sees in the mirror, if that “case” changed, would she be still who she is? Because of that, her work is bound to the things that can’t be thoroughly explained, but are actually real, those things that cannot be perceived, but exist, as thoughts can be, as long as they don’t become actions; things that can’t be measured or even sensed. This same thing happens with feelings, fears or phobias. In other of her art pieces Isabel makes sculptures that recreate textures that she dislikes, even though she doesn’t know why, she can view this displeasure as a phobia; for example, a cat’s tongue or the intestines of cows: visually saturated surfaces in general 90
Reverse deja vu (escultura interior), 2010
Reverse deja vu (boceto), 2010
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Reverse deja vu, 2010
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Larva with holes in the holes, 2008
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Larva with rakes, 2008
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erie Texturas 2009 95
tres tristes tigres, 2010
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ADRIANA SALAZAR On the Sao Paulo biennial
www.livingartroom.com/adriana_salazar My first visit to Sao Paulo was two years ago, just when the controversial “Empty Biennial” was open to the public. Being my first time there, I spoke with some local artists to try to understand where this whole idea of emptying the exhibition space came from. The Biennial, as I understood, was a politically conditioned event, bound to power struggles and conflicts of interests. For those reasons, the Brazilians told me, the event was knee deep into a hurtful crisis, and what was shown in it was, far from being a curatorial project, the result of a crisis, an emptying that showed what had gone wrong at its core. 98
Although as a visitor I had some sense of deception, I really liked seeing the empty building. It was a chance to witness how big and solid Brazilian architecture is. There were two things worth seeing: the first one, a video screening at the entrance where one could watch many ironic pieces of video art, documentaries and video clips; the second one, Gabriel Sierra´s furniture. Upon visiting Sao Paulo a second time I had all this information in my head, and didn´t expect to find great works. I much rather wanted to see the way the problem had evolved as a mirror of a circumstance very unique to art.
Opinión I found something rather distant from the empty exhibit I had seen two years earlier. The three levels of the building were completely occupied with pieces, and the walkthrough proposed among them was interesting: a labyrinth composed of sharp angles, blind hallways and meeting panels where the visitors got lost. I cannot say the experience was pleasant or fun: It was hard to go through. A few minutes after wandering among artworks I lost the friends I was with and didn´t meet them until long after. I walked in circles on the second floor for a long time without finding a way out. I can say the disappointment of the first time was replaced by anguish and claustrophobia. I also thought the idea of making a “political” biennial was redundant and unnecessary.
I believe –as many people has thought and said in a lot of ways- that all art is political. The Biennial curator itself said it in an interview, that in the attempt to make or show politics, the pieces lose sense “with the same speed governments go up and down”. This was more than evident in Roberto Jacoby´s work, who during the Biennial supported Dilma Rousseff´s candidacy with demonstrations and propaganda. I´m not sure his gesture keeps the same strength now that Dilma is president. But before I sound like a bitter and negative spectator, I must say there were some important pieces of Brazilian art that I liked a lot, like the recreation of Ligia Pape´s Divisor, among 99
others. Again, I felt the most important thing was to see and feel the state of art in a place like Brazil. I was also fortunate enough to take part in a simultaneous exhibit in Sao Paulo, where I presented works I produced the previous year during an artistic residency -in the same city-. The themes had a lot to do with the human body and samba: I discovered the relationship between them and the way it has evolved since the slavery years. I produced a mobile where a pair of old shoes dance samba by themselves, activated by a motion sensor. It was important for this project to go back to its place of origin.
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Samba, 2010
ACTUALIZACIÓN PORTAFOLIOS
ACTUALIZACIÓN PORTAFOLIOS DE ARTISTA
Saúl Sánchez (Colombia) (México) Tania Ximena
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Regresivo- Progresivo, 2008 104
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SAÚL SÁNCHEZ By Catalina Restrepo
Saul Sánchez is a well-known artist from Colombia, mainly recognized because of his impressive and hiperrelistic paintings. He is very meticulous and perfectionist and masters painting techniques so he can transform it and persuade issues that goes more in the line of conceptualism. It is very common to find in his early works play-onwords and raise projects around concepts that he is interested in at the time. For example in “embotellamientos”, 2004, a Spanish word that means traffic jam and refers to be “bottled inside”. This series consist in bottle caps painted with images of cars in a traffic jam, a truck stuck on mud, or a bunch of taxi cabs blocking the street. Those images are perfectly done, hiperrealistic as its best, some of them still have drown the miniature grid and tiny traces made by the one-hair-brush are still perceptible. In most of his projects is common to find images that has to do with power; could be in royalty members, presidents, embassies and even with the art collector. In his series
called I-Real, 2004, he portraits royal personalities like the queen Elizabeth or Caroline of Monaco in surreal contexts, surrounded by sardines and icons that somehow represent the monarchy, pointing at the paradox that Real-Royal represent. In Colombia there is a matchbox brand called El Rey (The king) and another of his project consists in portrait all Colombian presidents in those matchboxes instead of the king that appears in the brand’s logo, suggesting that politics in this country are no distant from those archaic models of government. Saul has also developed projects which approach the same political and power related issues using different media like photography, objects and installation that bring us more than one interpretation level. His project called “You are Here”, 2007, started with a personal cogitation about political issues regarding to embassies and frontiers when we and his wife were applying for a USA visa (the hardest one to get for Colombian people).
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Relga de Tres, 2009
The project consists in a series of paintings where chimpanzees are making location signs such as here, there, around, on top of, under, etcetera; the first thing that humans learn to say in order to communicate and be aware of the place they exist in. There were also fiber glass “you are here” arrows (like the ones can be found in tour maps); a sign that evoke the places where you are, where you want to be and also the ones you will never be; not only physically but 106
mentally. There were also paintings of security revolving doors, those ones common found in embassies that strongly control who gets in and who goes out. Within this project and these apparently disperse images Saul creates a dialogue about existence, frontiers, time and frustration; taking this analysis to the deepest and external side of people at the same time. On one hand, he refers to geographical and political borders but also leads us to a
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(Fragment of the fabric) Relga de Tres, 2009
mental and spiritual connotation. This project evolve once he finally got to New York and took pictures of the “you are here” arrow placed in the streets of the city, and few months later he was able to do the same but in Paris.
institutions, curators, historians, spectators and collectors. The purpose of “Regla de Tres”, 2008 (Cross multiplication) was to be sold in segments according to the measures that each collector wanted to buy. The action took place in a gallery where there was a dinner an all the gust were collectors Now he is been working on projects that that had the option to buy a painting without refer to the current roll of painting in looking it first. contemporary art, where different persons participate such as gallery owners, artists, 107
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Relga de Tres, 2009
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(Fragment of the fabric) Relga de Tres, 2009
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(Fragments of the fabric) Relga de Tres, 2009
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You are Here Paris, 2007
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You are Here, 2007
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You are Here, 2007
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Embotellamientos, 2004 117
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Dislocaciones, 2002-2004
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Iba hacia allรก I, 2009
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TANIA XIMENA
Tania Ximena brings us to one of those cases where it’s difficult to define if it’s about drawing or painting. But wanting to classify every single thing is absurd when we submerge ourselves in the delicate plane of imagination and interpretation of nature to which she invites us. The sights in her paintings represent the genesis of the world and at the same time, the ephemeral presence of human being in it, like feet who break the same way dry dirt does where the ones in “Copa de Árbol” rest, of her
non-transitable space-series, 2006. It is impossible not to see the existential reflection that makes Tania Ximena so passionate about when reading her pieces’ titles, for example: “Go down to earth”, “Resurging”, “Intrusion”, “The night we inhabit”, etc. All seem hermetic and inaccessible concepts that reference to something else of our comprehending and involve, always and somehow, human participation in a context much bigger than him.
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Serie La sustancia de los finos รกtomos, 2009
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At night, the black dream in our eyes I, 2010
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Ojo de catacumba, 2008 126
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Der Spaziergang 2008 127
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Ficha The woods on fire, 2009 129
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The woods on fire, 2009 130
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SYNESTHESIA by Leonel García
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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF MY MECHANISM FOR ACQUIRING MUSICAL FORMATS
the supply was vast, but not as much as today. To keep up with music these days is a much more complex duty. Digital media opened the door to thousands of projects that no longer needed the giant record companies, which thus went into a dramatic crisis. Nowadays, the musical offer is weirdly huge.
I´ve been buying records for about 23 years. I started by saving my allowance to buy vinyls in Comercial Mexicana. That gave way to cassette tapes at the Cibeles market in Colonia Roma, until the then glorious and innovative arrival of the CDs, which we got in the huge Mercado de Discos just aside from Plaza Garibaldi, taking advantage of the special prices we found.
To go to record stores like Amoeba in L.A. or Waterloo in Austin is no more a carefully planned mission, but a surprising adventure, and it´s there that the visual side of records has reached a new importance, different and transcendent. One of the effects of this visual need –plus a never before seen creative need, possible because of the small but successful independent companies- is a direct growing relationship between visual artists and musicians.
The way I relate to records has changed in a lot of ways since then, not only because of the different formats that have come and gone, or having the chance to record some myself, but because of the change that happened in my mind after years of exposure to the object, the disc, the vinyl –which is back, by the way-, or to the images that appear on records acquired digitally.
BUYING MUSIC BY THE EYES
Visual art has a powerful voice that can summarize concepts and transmit emotions at a very fast speed, doing so with profoundness. This is why a lot of bands and musicians in the world have entrusted their colleague photographers, painters and graphic artists with the visual side of their
When I was a child I went into the stores with a clear idea and a decision made about what record was to be acquired; 133
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sonic works, understanding that upon the lack of massive media to promote, the first message received by the public becomes vital; so the images that adorn records have to be the most congruous and effective. Some of us regular record buyers have been trained –unconsciously, I believe- to make a reading of the covers, to try to detect that specific sound we are trying to take home, not to be forever lost in the endless maze of physic and virtual corridors that the music business has become.
correctly, they will have selected an image that looks like their music sounds, something that takes us to the intellectual and/ or emotional world the artists have created with their music. To open this section -where I will not speak of any album I have not listened thoroughly, or of one that has not caused strong feelings in me- I will tell you of a vinyl I bought in 2009, which I first came in contact with out of curiosity: the front cover showed an obscure painting of a woman accompanied by a human skull, a work seemingly from the past, classic. I then found out it belonged to an already esteemed band to me, The Avett Brothers. Produced by the famed Rick Rubin, I expected the band´s original sound to be altered, but it was not the case. The same country sound and nostalgia filled the room when I played the record on the turntable. Rick Rubin didn´t mess with their sound. He was sensible enough to go by the old saying “if it ain´t broke, don´t fix it”. Thanks Rubin, for only dedicating yourself to the beautiful details of a band that carries a very punk rock spirit, but one that never draws away from the plains, mountains and rivers, from the happy melancholy of the American country.
Sounds weird, but I believe it´s real. If any of you has ever felt that way before, you may be interested in the experiment that starts here, wanting to tell you about the musical works that have come to me by the eye, then turned into pleasant sonic experiences.
SYNESTHESIA
Synesthesia is the involuntary combination of senses in the perception process, which to some happens evidently and to many others in a more subtle manner. A musician who is about to place an image in his or her record is also choosing the prime carrier of a sensorial message that should reach a potential listener. That is why, when done 134
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By the way, the artwork was made by Scott Avett, a member of the band. Artists are becoming multidisciplinary and challenge all previous paradigms about creativity; it is becoming much more common to find musicians who paint, painters who act, and all of the possible combinations.
later was reaffirmed by the music. With obvious MGMT influences, or at least an interesting resemblance, the disc introduced me to a band I was surely to follow. With a little help from their singer and founder, their songs stayed in my head for a long time.
Going through the virtual stores any given night, I stumble upon lots of unusual names. Avi Buffalo is one of them. That´s how I begin my hunt for great bands and unique sounds, from the phonetics of the name, it´s energetic charge. Regarding Avi Buffalo´s name I had a hunch, the sort of inexplicable internal knowledge that draws us into something without any valid explanation.
The artwork was made by Rebecca Coleman, who also plays keyboards. Staring at the image I imagined the moment the members sat down and did the same, deciding to use it as their cover, probably after saying something like “that´s fucking sadly awesome”.
Maybe it was my inevitable attraction to animals, but I think in the end what made me want to listen –and later buy- the record was the image in the cover: seemingly a red human being fighting for his life with the sea, two more men by his side, while a mysterious red hand manipulated some strange energy strings around them while a ray of light -probably the sun´s- stroke the man in danger.
I´ll see you soon. Don´t forget to hear with your eyes.
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Scott Avett is the autor of this painting called: Jullianne In Vain, 2009. Oil on canvas To learn more about Avi Buffalo go to www.avibuffalomusic.com or check their label Sub Pop Records.
To check Scott Avett´s work go to www.scottavett.com. You can also check the Avett Brothers at www.avettnation.com, and start enjoying the future of country music. 136
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GONZALO ORTEGA Curator Portfolio
For a little over three years Gonzalo Ortega has been the coordinator of the MUCA Roma (University Museum of Science and Art). Since his arrival, this museum’s openings have exceeded attendance records and this place is one of the most loved and accepted in Mexico City, especially the colonia Roma. Since the beginning of his career, thanks to his vision, intelligence and hard work he has been able to conclude gigantic projects. When he was working at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil he curated emblematic exhibitions such as: Paracaidista by Héctor Zamora, Emergency Exit by Gustavo Artigas and PMS Dilemma by Miguel Ventura; projects that took several months and even years of paperwork and planning in order to accomplish them.
concluded Residual, artistic interventions in the city, which made the curator team with Paulina Cornejo. The effort brings together eight proposals for German and Mexican artists to develop public art projects, in order to raise awareness on waste management and garbage under the slogan “we are all part of the problem and we should all be part of the solution.” The project lasted three months and was undertaken with the strategic alliance between the UNAM and the Goethe Institute of Mexico.
Living Art Room is truly proud and happy to present his portfolio and to know that from now on, Gonzalo “officially” become part of this big family; not only we deeply value his career; but because he has been close to this project since its star. He always have giving us support and great advice and In September 2010, Gonzalo successfully we thank him for it. 139
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www.LivingArtRoom.com artists and curators porfolios Adriana Salazar, Antonio Ibarra, Carolina Rodríguez, Christophe Bouffil, Daniel González, Juan Carlos Delgado, Alejandra Baltazares, Alejandra España, Alfadir Luna, Carlos Pérez Bucio, Carmen Mendoza, Cynthia Araf, Diana María González, Eunice Adorno, Floria González, Francesca Dalla Benetta, Gonzalo Ortega, Isabel Rojas, Iván Villaseñor, Javier Areán, Javier Gutiérrez, Jiro Suzuki, Jorge Carrera, Juan Antonio Sánchez, Julio Pastor, Kanako Hayashi, Kerstin Erdmann, Lorena Moreno, Marisol Maza, Mar y Sol Rangel, Miho Hagino, Omar Rosales, Pablo Cotama, Raúl Cerrillo, Rochelle Costi, Rodrigo Imaz, Sayako Mizuta, Tania Ximena.
HOMELAND
HOMELAND
Human migration today as seen by contemporary artists by Gonzalo Ortega
“Migration is above all a creative activity, but it is also suffering” Vilém Flusser (1)
Raúl Cárdenas/ Torolab. Homeland, 2010 142
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Movement of tectonic plates, changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature, ocean and wind currents, even the planet´s trajectory as it orbits the sun, have always been a defining constant of the necessary conditions for life to be created or extinct on Earth. Millions of years of these kind of displacements have influenced the evolution of a large amount of species that, in a natural way, respond to this logic too by constantly, unendlessly and stubbornly migrating according to the seasons. It seems like if life itself could be defined by this need to be moving. A complex network of physical and chemical causes and effects generates the necessary conditions for the survival of animal and vegetal species. From the spreading of seeds that travel long distances with the wind to conquer new territories, to the thousands of kilometers traveled by whales, turtles, buffaloes and butterflies in search of better circumstances for eating and mating. These organisms have had to evolve so that they can endure gigantic travels. Even human beings began their existence as wandering creatures. Our ancestors had to walk the earth for millions of years in search for food, which allowed them to scatter all the way to the farthest corners of it. The unusual moment when they found the opportunity to improve their living conditions by settling on a place, controlling the reproduction and growth of plants and animals –contained in a determined area- motivated a dramatic turn in the destiny of the whole planet.
As dominant species, human beings have taken the right to manipulate the environment, affecting thousands of species by imposing its rules and way of life. But along the human settlings came conflicts and violence when certain -already established- groups had to defend their lands from others who came to take them. The history of man can be described as a series of attempts to appropriate unoccupied spaces –a situation that rarely has implied any conflicts- and by the seizure of territories belonging to others. The displaced not only have needed to find another place to live, but because of differences in ideology, politics, race and religion, have many times been victims of serious injustices. History registers terrible acts, like slavery and humiliations of every kind. The establishment of privileged classes, the exercise of power (political, economical and religious), the military control of certain groups, unequally distribution of resources, extortion and threats from influential people, etc., are only some of the aspects that have defined the fates of numerous people in disadvantage. All of this caused a new kind of displacement by massive human groups, very different from the one caused by the vital rhythm of the planet. Today´s concept of migration is very vast and requires a meticulous differentiation since, according to philosopher Vilém Flusser (Prague, 1920-1991), liberty in decision taking is essential, no matter if one chooses to be absent temporally or indefinitely. It is also basic to understand the
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terms “nation” or “homeland” to separate the different emotions human beings can go through when going away from their homes. Flusser refers to the german concept Heimat (2) to define the emotional and vital link between humans and their homeland; but he takes this notion further by arguing that the Heimat can be established far from the place of birth. This sounds believable coming from a jewish man born in old Czechoslovakia who was raised on German culture, and then migrated to Brazil. The intimate link through language of one with his environment isn´t (is not) representative either in Flusser´s figure, since long stays in different countries forced him to “repatriate” in at least four languages. This gave him the chance to differentiate the notion of “homeland” (Heimat) from one´s “dwelling” or “housing” (Wohnung). Flusser argues the impossibility of assimilating multiple elements related to the past of a person´s place of living by asking questions like: Is a Provençal peasant from Robion conscious of the stratified history of its homeland (where a late paleolithic, neolithic, lithurgic, Greek, Roman, Visigothic, Burgundian, Arabian, French, Provençal, Italian and French pasts converge) in the same sense a nomad Brazilian farmer experiments its “terra”, or a member of the Kibutz commune does his Israeli replacement?(3)
beheimatetes Wesen). Sedentary values –such as possession, work distribution and nationality- are not intrinsic to human beings, but are owed to the establishment of agriculture and cattle farming. But those who lack of these values –exiles, refugees, alien workers and even emigrated intellectuals and academicians- most of the times don´t see themselves as marginalized, but as free persons, holders of a dignified emancipated profile. Vientameses in California, Turks in Germany, Palestinians in the Persian Gulf States and Russian scientists in Harvard do not appear as victims who must be shown compassion and be helped to recover their homeland, but as role models to be followed. (4) More than happiness, being rooted to a place produces asphyxia. One is bound to his native land by invisible, hidden, unconscious strings that, when cut off or torn, cause suffering deep inside. Those who have to distance themselves from their homeland experience a kind of collapse of the universe. But when they find the chance to rethink the question: from “free from what? to free for what?”, then the suffering goes away.
I found myself another, and existed, Oh jubilation! Outside of those (…) As a man, did I knew myself? I was just getting born, and could not know who I was. Such was what I was missing to learn.
According to Flusser, it would be more accurate to say that the human being has always been one that inhabits a place (ein wohnendes Wesen), instead of one deeply rooted in its homeland (ein
André Gide. The immoralist. (5)
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Eunice Adorno Fraum Blaum, 2009 www.livingartroom.com/eunice_adorno 144
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looks everyday for an identity that may be impossible for them to find. These people live in a profound solitude.
In his writing Towards a philosophy of emigration (6), Flusser separates the emigrate from the refugee by explaining that the latter´s mind is prey of the contexts he had to abandon, because it has not freely taken the decision of leaving. He drags his homeland with him, remembering it with both love and resentment. Differently, the emigrant has transcended his previous condition and taken a choice. The refugee -locked inside his culture and traditions- negates himself to the new context; he does not give or take anything. A third figure, the immigrant, positions itself partially open before the new reality. The things that remind him why he left his previous residence are precisely those that he can best assimilate in his new context, and even actively influence. The commitment implied by this makes involving with the new residence easier.
Project Japan effectively highlights the feel of those who abandon their countries and mother cultures and must find a new sense for life in a faraway place. It also reveals another shade, one of the immigrated sons who must overtake an even more fractured identity between their parents´ and grandparents´ desire to keep traditions, and their clash with a new reality, one that is much more theirs. The text of the project, written by Hagino and Zorrilla, quotes Japanese-american sculptor Isamu Noguchi (Los Angeles 1904 – New York, 1988) who, because of being raised among two cultures, experienced firsthand the feeling of not belonging: Where is my place of peace? Where must I develop my passion and love? …having two countries, having grown in two ways… Or belonging to the whole world?
A country in the memories Artist Miho Hagino (Hokkaido, Japan, 1970) and architect and video artist Taro Zorrilla (Mexico City, 1980) are the authors of Project Japan, A country in the memories (2010), that consists of 111 interviews (to Japanese living in Mexico, Japanese descendants and Japanese living in Japan), reflecting upon the relationship of people with their country of birth, and about a conformation of identity based on the everyday. The final result of this investigation is a documentary and some black and white photographs of the interviewed. The emigrant figure plays a central role since, quoting the artists: People that are born in a bi-national cradle have a split from their origin. (…) the spirit forged among two different cultures
A folk without memory In the U.S., in the state of California there are two important migratory groups: Latinos and Asians. But there is a specific one that stands out for its dramatic history: the Iu Mien. Natives of a wide region between Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and China, the Iu Mien are a strange breed between farmers and nomads, an evident contradiction. Every certain number of years (ten, approximately) they must abandon their place of residence and choose another one, in order to comply with a shamanic 146
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Miho Hagino y Taro Zorrilla Proyecto Jap贸n, 2010
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They learned a different language and had a hard time adapting, which often introduced them to drugs and alcohol and, in the worst cases, they got involved with criminal gangs and ended up in jail or dead.
cycle. Their dialect is singular, since it is hardly understood by other groups of the region. Iu Mien do not have writing, so their traditions, stories and beliefs are passed on orally. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. turned to the Iu Mien´s language to encrypt messages. Defeated, they had to part, leaving behind their unprotected allies. The Iu Mien suffered years of humiliations thanks to this failed alliance, and were secluded in concentration camps in Thailand. Finally, in the nineteen eighties, the U.S. began to receive them, distributing groups in several cities of the west coast; the total rose to twenty thousand. The largest group –three thousand- established in Oakland, in the San Francisco Bay, where a complicated process of adaptation began, radical in every way. The roles of men and women were inevitably transformed when adapted to their new reality. Those who were distinguished men in their communities had now to become content working as a concierge or other similar jobs. This situation was seen by many of them as degrading. Besides this, U.S. laws forced them to monogamy, which dramatically altered their previous social roles.
Confronted with a situation as complex as the Iu Mien´s, artist Raúl Cárdenas (Mazatlán, Mexico, 1969) through his collective project Torolab (7) developed a project titled Homeland. This initiative documents the difficult transition of the Iu Mien´s from a rural life, to their arrival and adaptation to the U.S. The title refers to the notion of “homeland” experienced in a singular way by this group of nomads that establish somewhere and must instantly become citizens. Homeland explores the way ideas are formed and reformulated regarding the place where they belong. The experience of nomads, refugees, migrants, etc, allows Cárdenas and his colleagues to deeply explore everything that influences human beings to identify with this construct named home. Torolab´s approach to the Iu Mien looks to restore the sense of belonging to family and home, through the contact with culinary traditions. With help from the San Francisco Art Institute and East Bay Asian Youth Center students, the creation of a farm was possible, where the Iu Mien produce onions, mustard, coriander, pumpkin, tomatoes, red beans, among other vegetables, and also promotes healthy relationships between them. Cooking these foods helps them keep their traditions and culture, something that they would otherwise lose. The project included building a movable barn with a
Iu Mien women underwent a very positive transformation for a change, since before they didn´t take part in decisions, had no access to education, politics or religion. That is why many of them ended up following Christianity, with the only goal of having access to a sort of spiritual life. The sons also face different circumstances, now that they must move between two worlds. 148
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table and a balcony, a meeting place. The goal of this site is not only to help them remember their ancient stories, but to create new ones. This way, the farm becomes a space for pedagogical activations, an educational center, a cultural agency and a zone for social integration. The Iu Mien show some trouble for openly manifest their culture to the rest of the San Francisco community. But how could their millenary traditions be misinterpreted? An intergenerational fracture causes this. The children of the Iu Mien sometimes choose fast food over traditional dishes. It is probable that the disintegration of important parts of their identities and social structures has made them fall back. That is why the project focuses on specific elements of their customs, the creation of transitional strategies, and the translation of their values and contents. An essential part of the project were to follow the proceedings required by the state of California to obtain the licenses for the growth of organic food. But deep inside this was only a start, since the central idea was to motivate them to subsist in a dignified way, hand in hand with their customs. The project also seeks to help them integrate to their new context and get them involved in the economic and social life of the city. Homeland is a strategy to reinforce the identity of the Iu Mien in a frame of plural coexistence like the one Oakland has to offer; to create an active presence in North American society.
RaĂşl CĂĄrdenas/ Torolab. Homeland, 2010
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The Iu Mien Farm Tapes began using this system to record their stories. In their oral tradition, every character included in the narration gets a specific musical theme that acquires relevance beyond verbality. This sonic archive documents terrible stories, combined with data from recipes and a beautiful musical sense, which make this cassettes very complex, hybrid documents.
Centuries and centuries that come moaning in my veins Centuries that balance in my singing That agonize in my voice For my voice is only singing and can only go out singing The cradle of my tongue went into the emptiness Prior to time Huidobro, Vicente. Altazor. (8)
Lu Chieng, a woman who lived and gave birth to her first son in a concentration camp in Thailand, and four others in the U.S., became a cornerstone for Homeland. The double commitment to keep their traditions and understand the possibilities brought to her people by their new home have turned her into an example to be followed among her community. Lu is a legitimate social agent, and one of the main pieces of The Iu Mien Farm Tapes (9), a ramification inside the project, a sonic archive that compiles a great amount of experiences narrated by the women of this community while cooking.
As told before, the Iu Mien do not have a writing system; their alphabetization level is very low. According to Claude Lévi-Strauss (Brussels, Belgium 1908 – Paris, France 2009), writing diversifies the human being’s chance to keep his knowledge in a great way. Groups that have this instrument are in a position to resort to knowledge formulated in the past to reach their objectives faster, while groups without it are limited to the individual memories of their members, caught in a staggering history that always seem to be needing a notion of origin and a possibility to plan their future. (10)
Raúl Cárdenas remembers: “… suddenly Lu started singing, and after a while I found out that she was telling a description of that specific moment where we all were gathered. I found out then that her oral tradition rested on poetry and music, for creating collective memory archives”. The Iu Mien Farm Tapes is then an opportunity to register these stories, turning to cassette recorders used by them in the past to swap messages in a peculiar correspondence system. During the Iu Mien´s stay on concentration camps, women also
Raúl Cárdenas displays all the information from Homeland and The Iu Mien Farm Tapes in several modules –furniture- that have images, videos, audio recordings and any kind of information that puts into context their interaction with the community. This way, it makes possible for some important aspects and ingredients of the Iu Mien culture to remain, which would be hard to register only by writing.
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Raúl Cárdenas/ Torolab. Homeland, 2010 151
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Dominant culture vs multiculturality Many developed countries, especially the U.S., England, Germany, Spain and France, as well as some others from the European Union have become the destiny of millions of legal and illegal immigrants. Economic wealth of these nations is an attractive element that motivates many to abandon everything and try their lucks. But it is a possibility that gets harder every day, since migratory processes are becoming more and stricter, and frontiers are better watched, faced with the crossing of illegal persons. It is common to hear in the media about tactics to repel them, tactics that often ignore human rights and become excuses to commit crimes, sometimes even murders. The frontier between Mexico and the U.S.A. is a sad example of these activities. Europe itself was the stage of a massive expulsion of Romanians. Faced with the question: Why specifically expel Romanians from France and not other groups?, it is clear that this group is specially uncomfortable for its resistance to modify ways of living and traditions –wrongfully interpreted as barbaric or decaying-, and to adapt themselves to the local citizen model. In Germany, the Gastarbeiter or “host workers” –millions of Turks hired in the nineteen sixties to rebuild the country´s economy with an accessible workforce- carried the sentence to go back to their country in their assigned title. But after years, many of them already had a new life, and refused to leave. Their children, raised in the German
language, had lost their link to their native Turkey. The stay of this large group of foreigners had to be respected. To assume a stricter position against the situation would have been dangerous, remembering Germany´s recent history. Before such a stage, and as a sample of resistance to cultural hybridization, the term “dominant culture” (Leitkultur) was coined in the political world to try to stop the imminent change. The original notion of the term had nothing to do with this deviation; it was coined by Bassam Tibi (Damascus, 1944), a Sirian immigrant expert on political science, to define a group of western values such as democracy, laicism, clarification (Aufklärung) (11), human rights and civil society, and others related to cultural modernity (according to the ideas of philosopher Jürgen Habermas) like the priority of reason before religious expressions, democracy, pluralism and tolerance. The original sense of Leitkultur was biased and managed to encourage the “integration” of immigrants (talking about their homogenization). Dr. Norbert Lammert, politician of the Democratic Christian Union (CDU for its German abbreviation) and president of the German Parliament in 2005 said: “If a Europe of the diversity and national identities is to be preserved, as well as a collective identity, a leadership policy is needed, based on common values and convictions. A leadership policy in Europe necessarily relates to our common 152
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cultural roots, our history and religious traditions.” (12) It is a surprising argument for its naivety in trying to cancel the immigrants´ rights to keep their identity, and openly reveals itself as a posture against multiculturality, as if the transformation inertia generated by millions of Turkish people during the last decades in Germany could be contained. Artist Krzysztof Wodiczko (Warsaw, Poland, 1943) has also talked about the social degradation suffered by the host workers from Eastern Europe in developed countries of the European Union. In his installation presented in the Poland pavilion of the 53rd Art Biennale di Venezia, the main characters are people that provide an eternal cheap workforce, sacrificing their rights for a low budget and a marked social invisibility. Without the right for a voice or participation, they become anonymous silhouettes, service providers. Wodiczko achieved a very clear political message through a powerful project, aesthetically speaking at least.
The act of migration, against any circumstance requires courage, commitment and disposition to change. Nationalities are dissolved and destinies built. Moving is a bet against nothing, since unknown places have nothing to offer. What motivates the migrant is the imagination of something better, but what terrifies him is the uncertainty of his situation. Artist Bas Jan Ader (Winschoten, Netherlands 1942-1975) has become an emblem of the journey to the unkown, losing his life while realizing a project called In search of the miraculous. In 1975, he decided to embark on a small ship from the East Coast of the U.S. heading for Ireland, and disappeared on the sea. Some say that he anticipated a travel without return. His search for a “miraculous destiny” did not go further than a frustrated wish, torn and impossible, but basic for imagination. The existential need to believe there is a better place.
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Raúl Cárdenas/ Torolab. Homeland, 2010
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Quotes and footnotes (1) Flusser, Vilém. Von der Freiheit der Migranten. Wohnung beziehen in der Heimatlosigkeit. Europäische Verlagsanstalt. Germany, 2007. (p. 17). “... die Migration ist zwar eine schöpferische Tätigkeit, aber sie ist auch ein Leiden”. (2) There is no exact term to translate the german word heimat. The same happens with its English translation, where homeland is the word more frequently used. In English, Heimat may also mean “home” or “region. It is used often to describe a sensation of nostalgia. The root Heim, included in the term, in a way means “being at home”, or “familiar home”. (3) Ibídem (1). Wohnung beziehen in der Heimatlosigkeit. Europäische Verlagsanstalt. Germany, 2007. (p. 16). (4) Ibídem (1). Wohnung beziehen in der Heimatlosigkeit. Europäische Verlagsanstalt. Germany, 2007. (p. 16 - 17). (5) Gide, André (París, Francia, 1869 - 1951). El inmoralista. Editorial Argos, Barcelona, 1981. Translation by Julio Cortázar. (p.51) Ibídem (p.49) … I had believed to be reborn the same as before, and to soon add my present to my past; with the novelty of an unknown land I could mislead myself that way. Here, not anymore. Everything taught me what still amazed me: that i had changed. (6) Ibídem (1). Für eine Philosophie der Emigration. (p. 31 - 34). (7) Torolab is an artistic and interdisciplinary platform that aims to study specific contexts to develop life changing strategies for the people. Raúl Cárdenas has experienced a displacement, living for more tan 15 years in the frontier city Tijuana, and residing intermittently in San Diego and San Francisco, in the U.S. (8) Huidobro, Vicente (Santiago, Chile, 1893 - Cartagena, Chile, 1948). Altazor. Editorial Premia, Puebla, México. Ninth edition, 1992. (p.30). (9) Homeland and The Iu Mien Farm Tapes are created in collaboration between Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, Julio Cesar Morales, and the SFAI students Cal Volner, Erik Wilson and Tamiko Robinson. (10) Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Schrift und soziale und politische Strukturen. Texte zur Medientheorie. Hsg. Helmes, Günther / Köster, Werner. Stuttgart 2002. The autor mentions the neolitic, a development phase in humanity noted for its huge invention power when there was no writing. Precisely on that phase, agriculture and farming were discovered, as well as many other arts, such as the origins of architecture. During the long neolitic, knowledge was transmitted orally between generations. Differently, during the time between the invention of writing and the emergence of what we know as modern science, it can be said that knowledge flowed, more than it was generated. Lévi-Strauss also associates the emergence of writing with the hierarchization of classes, and totalitary regimes. Writing as a tool of domination. The autor suggests that the primary function of writing is to facilitate slavery. Other uses of it, such as intelectual and aesthetic manifestations, are supportive. (11) The term Aufklärung is associated to an european humanist movement (mainly in England, France and Germany) initiated on the 18th Century with the objective of clarifying any aspect of existence in the world, nature and religious beliefs, with the full possession of reasoning. This movement clearly implies the following of the discourses started during the Renaissance and the Martin Luther reforms in Germany on the 16th Century. There is no Spanish term that can correctly depict the german meaning of Aufklärung, so the Word illustration is frecuently used. But Aufklärung implies more of an “elucidating” of fundamental questions than the reference of a specific period of History. Philosopher Immanuel Kant is probably the most important exponent of this thought. (12) “Wenn ein Europa der Vielfalt nationale Identitäten bewahren und dennoch eine kollektive Identität entwickeln soll, braucht es eine politische Letidee, ein gemeinsames Fundament von Werten und Überzeugungen. Eine solche europäische Leitidee bezieht sich notwendigerweise auf gemeinsame kulturelle Wurzeln, auf die gemeinsame Geschichte, auf gemeinsame religiöse Traditionen”. Dr Norbert Lammert (CDU). (Newspaper Die Welt, December 13th, 2005).
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Resid锚ncia, 2010. Vista general de la exposici贸n Bienal de Sao Paulo 156
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ROCHELLE COSTI Residencia
‘Residencia’ is a series of photographs of non-determined-function actions, located between the artistic process and the everyday use of the space as a house. On one side, this is a testimony of someone who has stayed over there, living inside this modern architecture icon. But also, this project refers to a nonexistent exhibition that brings some vague memories. This project is the result of an experiment carried out on the campus of the São Paulo Biennial few days before museographers started to work on placing the art pieces. The use of exotic elements to the context, photographed from unconventional angles in devoted architectural spots, produces a feeling of speculation about the scale that sets doubts in relation to images creation process. The extensions of different sizes and irregular settings of the pieces on the wall accentuate this impression.
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ResidĂŞncia- escada lateral
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Residência- lagos
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Residência- reunião
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