LARrevista
General Director Catalina Restrepo Leong贸mez General coordinator and design Jorge Carrera Necoechea Photos: Courtesy from the artists Acknowledgements: Rochelle Costi Kerstin Erdmann Gonzalo Ortega Claudia Gareq 0
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
About promoting and global visualization
For me, an art promoter is one who knows artists, understands their proposals, indroduce and puts them in contact with other professionals (such as curators, gallerists, critics and theorists) and hope that future projects could emerge from these meetings. Over time I have realized that the work we have been doing in Living Art Room, lead us to define this structure as long as we develop tools for diffusion, improving the construction of contemporary art portfolios and identifying factors that can affect positive or negatively the general reading of the artist or curator’s work. Likewise we apply new ways for communication through social networks with which we can transcend and get people from around the world to know each artist’s work. I am excited to see that every month our webpage statistics
give us visits from countries like Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, UAE, among others. Since its conception, Living Art Room was established as a promoting platform for contemporary art that follows a different system in order to improve artists´ careers. This proposal is unique, and it is quite common that some people do not understand whether Living Art Room is a gallery, a magazine, or if it is just a website. Each of these projects is consequent with the original proposal, and they work as effective tools to encourage our idea about diffusion, promotion and management. LARgallery is a real and virtual space where pieces from the artists, presented 1
EDITORIAL
on the website, are exhibited. It is not a gallery in a traditional sense, now that the pattern we use is different; we do not have any exclusivity clauses, in fact, part of the aim is to invite other galleries to get in touch with the artists, and so they can exhibit and eventually decide to represent them. LARmagazine, is a tool that makes the reading of website contents easier and is worldwide distributed through a social network in which it is supported.
the objectives and approach of an artist´s proposal. In this occasion we give you Astromozaic by Jorge Carrera, recently launched at the MUCA Roma. I hope you enjoy LARmagazine’s second issue and your comments are more than welcome.
Speaking of LARmagazine, in this edition we present a new group of portfolios from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Japan and Germany. And finally, including the first curator portfolio; a project in which we have been working for months and now we are glad to share. We also incorporate a new section called Project, which presents
Catalina Restrepo Leongómez Director Living Art Room www.livingartroom.com
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS New Artist Portfolios P:06 Rochelle Costi THE HOUSE P:22 Miho Hagino
CHANGING THE ORDER OF THE FACTORS DOES CHANGE THE PRODUCT P:34 Adriana Salazar AUTÓMATAS Y MÁQUINAS MALEDUCADAS P:46 Rodrigo Imaz ENTRE CALAMARES Y CEFALEAS P:58 Eunice Adorno SUSPENDED IN TIME P:70 Raúl Cerrillo IMÁGENES QUE SE APODERAN DE LA MENTE Primer Portafolio de curador P:84 Kerstin Erdmann Actualización de portafolios P:90 Marisol Maza P:96 Diana María González Artículos P:102 Entrevista a Saúl Sánchez REGLA DE TRES por LivingArtRoom P:110 Residual CAMBIANDO HÁBITOS por Catalina Restrepo Proyecto P:120 Astromozaic JORGE CARRERA
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LARmagazine
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NEW ARTIST PORTFOLIOS
NEW ARTIST PORTFOLIOS
Rochelle Costi (Brazil) (Japan) Miho Hagino Rodrigo Imaz ( Mexico) (Colombia) Adriana Salazar Eunice Adorno (Mexico) (Mexico) RaĂşl Cerrillo
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ROCHELLE COSTI
The House, 1983/97
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ROCHELLE COSTI
ROCHELLE COSTI The House
Rochelle Costi is a Brazilian photographer considered one of the 100 most important Latin-American artists according to Exit publishing house, next to other great ones such as Cildo Meireles, Vik Muniz, Francis Alÿs, Carlos Amorales, Guillermo Kuitca, Doris Slacedo and Beatriz Gonzalez. Her work is about memory and remains in relation with spaces where people live. The “house” for Rochelle represents a place of belonging for human beings; it is the reflection of every person’s most intimate thing and a place in which personal experiences remain registered across time. These spaces -often full of evidences of entire lives, habits, tastes, relationships with others, etc.- are captured by Rochelle’s camera and revealed in diverse series. These following projects stand out: Rooms - Sao Paulo, 1998 – in which pictures of different persons’ bedrooms were taken-, and Moving, 1998-2000;
which are before-and- after photos of rooms that have changed their appearance due to different causes such as a divorce, a remodeling, or the arrival of a new family member. Rochelle Costi’s work, though mostly photographic, does not limit itself to a documentation of opposing situations. In several series she intervenes and manipulates space taking advantage of diverse elements to create different scenarios. Her project Excessive, 2009, is an example of this. These pictures consist of a model house where real-size objects were placed in its interior, these changing its perspective. Another example is Proprietary house, 1999; in this case, Costi constructed small houses (dogkennels-scale) that were located and photographed in emblematic places of Mexico City. 7
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Series: Moving (change of dwellers), birth, 2000
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Series: Moving (change of dwellers), separation, 2000
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Sao Paulo Biennial 12
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Rooms-Sao Paulo, 1998 15
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Series Desmedida (Excessive), sala de jantar, 2009
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ROCHELLE COSTI
Serie desmedida (Excessive), cabeĂ a, 2009
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Desvios, 2006
ROCHELLE COSTI
Propietary house, 1999
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ROCHELLE COSTI
www.livingartroom.com/rochelle_costi
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Blue Piano, 2005
MIHO HAGINO
MIHO HAGINO
Changing the order of the factors does change the product
Miho Hagino’s work is related to her personal perception about different cities and cultures in which she has been immersed. She was born in a village in Japan, very different form Tokyo’s pace of life; she has lived in the U.S. and Mexico City, a factor that has strongly influenced her artistic proposal. The themes that her pieces are about, show a critical point of view about human beings apart from their context, distant from real life and at the same time alienated by technology and immersed in a consumption society. During the construction of her portfolio, Miho described with her own words that after World War II, Japanese began a race against time and working became a hope for emerging after this catastrophe.
However, this scheme did not lead Japanese to happiness, instead, led to an overcrowding of people who only live to work, isolated from society and slaves of technology, media and mass production. Since this, tough we can see some Miho’s series like “Untitled, 2009”, in which the artist takes pictures of buildings in Tokyo; images that show millions of windows and sophisticated forms. At first sight, those compositions show impressive technological advances, but make people wonder about those millions of persons living or working within these tiny cubicles. An important asset in Miho Hagino’s work is her aim to break schemes and 23
MIHO HAGINO
patterns in order to make critical and poetical statements about how special the individuals are. This can be seen in one of her most poetic pieces “Blue Piano, 2005”, in which, Miho exchanged notes on the piano scales and then invited a well-known pianist to play recognizable pieces such as “Let it be” by The Beatles, or “Für Elise” by Beethoven. Through this performance, Miho shows the beauty that comes from changing the patterns, and alter what has already been provided to build new things.
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MIHO HAGINO
Rich nature, 2003-2009 25
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Untitled, 2009
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Untitled, 2009 27
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Untitled, 2009
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Untitled, 2009
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MIHO HAGINO
Dark Snow, 2010
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Dark Snow, 2010
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MIHO HAGINO
Dark Snow, 2010
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www.livingartroom.com/miho_hagino
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ADRIANA SALAZAR
Crying and consolation machines, 2007 34
ADRIANA SALAZAR
ADRIANA SALAZAR Robots and impolite machines
Adriana Salazar is one of Colombia’s most internationally positioned young artists. Her work deals with the problem of human actions, recreating their denaturalization through machines built and designed by her. Her kinetic sculptures perform actions that are strictly human, through a series of robotic mechanisms.
Salazar’s automats carry out basic tasks, such as tying a shoe’s shoelaces or threading a needle, and suggest the absurd idea of machines that are able to replace the human being in such practical issues. The actions by themselves lose their meaning in a non- anthropological context. This critical stance serves as a way of thinking 35
ADRIANA SALAZAR
Machine that tries to tie two shoelaces together, 2007
about technological advances nowadays, considering we live in a time when allegedly everything can be done through circuits and programs which, for example, allow us to turn the volume of the radio up and down, open and close the curtains of our homes, water plants, turn the lights on and off, etc. We are addressing a future –anticipated by cinema and science fiction comics-, in which everything is automatic.
Salazar’s work is humorous to a certain point, since her machines are built in a basic way compared to new technologies. The clumsiness with which they perform is intentional and their function does not point to any practical results. Each piece is a portrait of current societies, which consume useless products promising an easier way of life.
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ADRIANA SALAZAR
Smoking machine, 2003 This piece performs the action of smoking, and thus deals with human scales and gestures. It criticizes the necessity of smoking within a social context (the exhibition space), questioning at the same time the dynamics and habits of social interaction.
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ADRIANA SALAZAR
Guitarrist, 2007
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ADRIANA SALAZAR
Machine that tries to thread a needle, 2007
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ADRIANA SALAZAR
Cheerleaders, 2005
Daring machines, 2008 40
ADRIANA SALAZAR
Measure, 2006 41
Monument to the battle of La Puerta, 2005
ADRIANA SALAZAR
Impolite machines, 2004
fotografĂas: Paloma Villamil y Adriana Salazar 44
ADRIANA SALAZAR
www.livingartroom.com/adriana_salazar
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RODRIGO IMAZ
Cefalea, 2008 46
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RODRIGO IMAZ Squid and Cephalitis
In Rodrigo Imaz’s work is common to find a lot of animals, cephalopod, (octopuses and squids) over all, and also the jellyfish; for their characteristics they can disappear very rapidly or fade away, and at the same time to be ferocious predators. They also represent an entity that gets hold and grab other beings, sometimes these animals represent the cephalitis; migraine in other words, the pain that takeover our head and does not allow us to think, to be we ourselves. Thanks to physical characteristics of these animals, and using of them an analogies, Rodrigo uses these images as if they were codes that shape a direct language that allow us to deduce his thought in a poetical way.
With an impressive technical skill and surrealistic images in some cases, Rodrigo presents a series of graphical work that with time have became complemented with interventions in public spaces, sometimes in buildings in the middle of the street, and some others in the walls of a house that serves as gallery. Beyond a nature representation, the artist does a critical though on the current consumer societies and the forces that rule the world. It is a paradox of the power of the nature on the prefabricated world that has been build with industrialization and the technology.
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Project Octopus, Barrio del Carmen Valencia, 2008
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Too much dreaming for a bird, 2009 50
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Tentacular,2009 51
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kraken, 2009
Drop, 2009
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Tentacular explosion, 2009 53
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The shade of the shadow, 2008
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After the storm (2nd state (2âˆŤ estado), 2007
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www.livingartroom.com/rodrigo_imaz
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
EUNICE ADORNO Suspended in time
Through her work, Eunice Adorno manages to filtrate herself inside closed cultural groups and live with them for periods of time that allows her to realize some features or customs, that may be distant or unknown by many people. The artist has the charm to find these special details and portray them through her photographs.
For her latest project called Fraum Blaum, Eunice stayed at a Mennonite family house somewhere in Durango. In this particular series the artist was dedicated to photograph women inside this community. Although this series have a documentary bent, the images she presents have a major poetic sense. Far from being photojournalism, the artists was not looking for to capture images of what is already known about the Mennonites, or even take pictures of moments that are almost a cliché - like the cheese sale or people praying at church - on the contrary, Eunice sought situations where Mennonites girls were having fun, sharing with friends and jumping on a trampoline.
Eunice has a particular interest into people who preserve traditions or routines over the years; men and women that seem suspended in time for cultural reasons, tastes, or religious beliefs. Anyhow, they dress, act, work as same as they always have. This pursue for connecting with this type of people permeates Eunice’s work with melancholy, guide her to be able to accomplish impressive and powerful images. 59
EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
Fraum Blaum, 2009- 2010
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EUNICE ADORNO
www.livingartroom.com/eunice_adorno
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Somos Cosmos exhibition, 2010
RAÚL CERRILLO
RAÚL CERRILLO Painting takes over the mind
Describing Raul Cerrillo´s work is a difficult task. His paintings are the result of several days of inspiration in which he is locked in a room of 2 x 2 meters, absolutely full of tabloid pictures, magazine clippings, pamphlets, and advertisements. His approach to the canvas and painting as medium, after these intensive sessions of observation, is almost a ritual where the mystical and the unconscious get a hold of him. He obsessively creates increasingly large paintings, that invade his space and are integrated into his life. The quality that exists in each of his paintings is brilliant and his giant formats cause the viewer to feel immersed in them. In some sections of
his pieces you can identify detailed figures, alongside others that are caused by spills of enamel colors and shapes generated by the artist subsequently works on. The monkey figure is recurrent in is work, it is linked with an image that symbolizes the unconscious, the instinctual part of man that lies between manners and clothing, which takes over your thoughts and allows it to do things that could be considered mad unreason, eccentric, or manic. In this regard, the work of Raul is self-referential, it is precisely what happens to him when he’s in that trance where he produces his paintings 71
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Picnic, 2010
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Paisaje Azul, 2009
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Last Part, 2009
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Honey Bunny, 2009 75
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Camino al Cielo, 2009
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Playa Pelirosa, 2009 77
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CheeseWiz Day, 2010
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Luna de miel ,2010 79
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Flor de loto ,2010
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www.livingartroom.com/raul_cerrillo
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KERSTIN ERDMANN
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KERSTIN ERDMANN
KERSTIN ERDMANN First Curator Portfolio
Alemania-México 2008 at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil and a Tom Früchtl solo show during the International Fest of Contemporary Art (FIAC) NO ARTE 2009 in León, Guanajuato. In addition she has put together important exhibitions such as “Nan Goldin” in 2009, co-curated with Carlos Ashida and exhibited at Jesus Gallardo gallery in León, Guanajuato as well.
Kerstin Erdmann is an independent german curator based in Mexico City for several years, and now she works at international affairs for the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporaneo, MUAC. Her exhibitions are usually formed by several young artists from Mexican scene. However, their nationality has allowed her to create ties between Mexico and Germany For example, in 2008 she presented Hermandades escultóricas/Diálogo Estético 85
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Thanks to her organization, and the fact that she keeps records of all of her works, we have been able to conclude this first model portfolio that contains a very complete documentation of all the exhibitions that she has done, displaying room texts, press release, list of works and images of the exhibitions. In her portfolio visitors will find a section dedicated to her academic work where people can access to information such as: conferences, debates, forums among other things. Of course, there is also a publications category; here people can read all her published articles, essays and display a digital version of the catalogs that Kerstin has made.
list of pieces, montage design, and sometimes catalog production, among many other things. These folders full of massive information -beyond any desire of documentation for each one of the exhibitions- may be the reason which is rare, if not impossible, to find a curator portfolio. There are always cultural projects where professional services from curators are required. Sometimes these projects are planned between different countries and organizers do not personally know the possible-selected-curator’s work. There is no other choice but to be guided by references from others, fame, or a resume that only brings data about years and exhibition spaces, which does not speak much about the way of working or to constructing the exhibitions. This factor makes the choice not always be the
Building a curator portfolio is a major task of documentation and material compilation. Curators’ work involved many people and every project is composed by several processes, including texts drafting,
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Interior/Exterior, exhibition catalog
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right one, weakens the quality of the projects, while limiting the possibilities from other curators to propose and do things different, and refresh the global contemporary art scene.
already know or not her work, will have full access to all the instances that takes her to consolidate every single exhibition, every lecture, every step in her career.
It is important to have this type of Living Art Room appreciate your portfolio not only for the curator, but comments and suggestions. Send an email for people working in the arts me- to catalina@livingartroom.com dia. Thanks to this display of such detailed information, people all over the world who
www.livingartroom.com/kerstin_erdmann
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ACTUALIZACIÓN PORTAFOLIOS
ACTUALIZACIÓN PORTAFOLIOS DE ARTISTA
Marisol Maza (México) (México) Diana María González
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MARISOL MAZA
Mapas discordantes, 2009
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MARISOL MAZA
MARISOL MAZA
Through her work, Marisol Maza inquires about photographic features related to its power to wield people’s minds in different contexts as: magical, religious, and memory. Her work has a nostalgic character to it, a frequent theme is the memory though the photographic imagem it is important to note that each one of her series or projects has a different approach.
takes a tourist map from another city in another country (in this first case Granada, Spain) and overlap it to one of Coyoacan (a supposedly very-well known area for the artist because she works there and passes through it daily). The artist walks and follows the coordinates to reach points that are marked as touristic ones and take a picture in this particular place, traveling pictures kind of style. The purpose of this project is, in the words of the artist: “questioning the meaning of a known-place while I wonder about the role of travel- pictures (souvenirs) as an strong proof of having “known” a place”.
Although her work is mostly photography or photo-appropriation, on video she has also recorded the steps to cast a spell in order to keep the beloved one or another spell to forget. Currently, the artist presents a new project in which she 91
MARISOL MAZA
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Tu retratito lo traigo en mi cartera, 2004
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Piensa en mí, 2007
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www.livingartroom.com/marisol_maza
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DIANA MARÍA GONZÁLEZ
Contemplating men, 2006 96
DIANA MARÍA GONZÁLEZ
DIANA MARÍA GONZÁLEZ
Diana Maria Gonzalez was born in Mexico City. She is an artist who has drawn the attention of several curators and critics for her special dedication. Using film as the raw material is a distinctive of Diana Maria’s works. The great classics and every single image that is produced in films has been stocked in her mind, and from this obsession, she produces pieces ranging from installation, video and photography to educational projects involving the community. In some of her series she finds coincidences between different films of different directors, with which Diana Maria creates compositions that show a particular interest. For example, “contemplating men” 2006, Diana compiles various tables of movies where men are alone thinking in a peaceful attitude and watching a beautiful outdoor scenery.
Besides her individual work as an artist, Diana Maria works collectively with other artists a project called Nerivela. It is an editorial project presented last year in PS1 and consists of a series of publications that compiled texts written by artists -members of the collective- that they made from the appropriation of others written by famous artists form history of arts. At the same time the artist is involved in Rotario, a self-management project in which a group of artists monthly take up a collection in order to finance their own projects. At the same time they invite people to purchase a membership to support the artists, and the members would get an edition (one piece for every project of each artist) at the end of the year.
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rotatorio.org 98
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Document about the inhabitable, 2009 99
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From memory: The house, 2009
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www.livingartroom.com/dianamaria_gonzalez
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Regla de Tres, nueveochenta gallery, 2009
REGLA DE TRES (Cross-multiplication) Interview with Saul Sanchez by LAR
REGLA DE TRES
What is Regla de Tres? It Is a project in which a wrapped painting with the canvas inside out (hiding the painted side) is presented on a cutting table; then, the participation of a group of collectors is proposed to fragment the fabric, ordering to cut specific dimensions pieces out of it. The gallery where the piece is presented remains empty, indicating that the turning point of what is exhibited is the very action of the project.
How different was to present Regla de Tres in Mexico form how it was in Bogota? The experience is very similar. Despite being an artist little known in Mexico, the scroll-fragmentation-gesture works in both cases as a trigger on different aspects: values and meanings of artistic projects, specifically painting ones. Your work in México is not as known as it is in Colombia. Was there any preview of your previous series so Mexican collectors could see something about your work before buy a piece of cloth blind sighted? No, and this shows that in this project, collectors’ enthusiasm for ordering a cut change from one to another; is feed on their fantasies about what they would like to find on the other side of the canvas, and the possibility of participating in a game in which each buyers’ decision affects the sense of the whole work; even though it also influences their confidence to the gallerist. Were you afraid that the answer was not so positive? So, there was a high risk, don’t you think?
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REGLA DE TRES
Sure, the risk is constant in Regla de Tres. It represents a risk for the gallery in terms of inviting and convincing a group of collectors to buy something they do not know and also keep the gallery empty during the time of the exhibition; is a risk for the collector who decides to participate, without having clear expectations about the artistic and formal characteristic of the painting; and for the project, because the significance expansion range depends on the existence of some commercial trading.
What was the total extent of the fabric? and What was the measure of the smallest piece than anyone could buy? The total size was 170 cm wide by 1200 inches long, the minimum cut was 50 cm, and up to 150cms. Does the canvas contain a single image that occupied the entire space?
No, the painting contains various images from various sources; in the case, here in México, the image selection process was Were you worried at some point for any filtered through the concept of paranoia. collector negative reaction? One who might felt forced to buy a piece of a painting he had not seen? When a collector decides to order a cut knows that this decision is a factor that makes sense. It means that beyond the surprise factor - implicit to the action of unrolling the piece of canvas-, the collector must understand that this commercial trade is the vehicle of representation itself, is the trigger for the artistic sense and that he becomes a witness and producer of the piece. Although it is obvious that participating in this game can cause different reactions and different questions about it. 105
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Like any artistic project Regla de Tres can have several readings. One that is more connected with the action of several collectors sitting at a gala to buy something they cannot see until is cut, making a direct reflection on the art market. However, it also could be interpreted as an intention to bring the intangible value of contemporary painting, which it is not a piece appreciated for its aesthetic qualities and techniques, and becomes a channel for critical thought on something. Do any of these two is closer to what you stand since the beginning of this project? Actually, all of what you have mentioned. The project started as a comment to this attitude of insisting on keeping the fight between form and signification, and especially in the realistic or illusionistic pictorial practices in which proposals are viewed with suspicion. In this respect, Regla de Tres seeks to question the valuation and significance of the painting. On the other hand, I wanted to reverse the conventional processes of encounter between the audience and the work; in other words, the priority of display an idea exceeding the image; and finally, to questioning the pieces commercial-trade implicit in the role of the galleries.
Are you planning to resubmit this project in another country? I think it would be interesting to explore the occurrence of fragmentation in other countries and thus have different crossings and points for discussion about the problem that Regla de Tres inquires. We saw you at the last Zona Maco,(Mexico City art fair), presented by nueveochenta, the gallery that represents you. Do these pieces have anything to do with this project?
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REGLA DE TRES
Yes, it is a painting series that are closely linked to the project. They are rolls of canvas apparently displayed inside-out, hiding the painted part of the painting. The scroll is attached with masking tape strips. Those are painted. It means that those strips are actually “The Painting�.
many cases artistic production has a close relationship with their cultural heritage that provides meaningful elements, unique and universal at the same time. Regarding to Colombian art scene, I think as in Mexico and other Latin American countries, cultural exchange networks are becoming larger and more effective. We have And finally, how did you think about common interests, which raises a strong Mexico art scene in relation to Colombian possibility in the research, dissemination art scene? and socialization of our artistic production. Mexican contemporary art proposals deserve all the attention. I feel that in 108
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Bordo Pniente, Courtesy of RESIUDAL
RESIDUAL Changing Habits By Catalina Restrepo
RESIDUAL
Among several problems that Mexico City is facing now, bad waste-management is one of the most serious and we do not appreciate its full dimension because it is a huge monster that we have almost all-over us. The most upsetting thing is that it is a reflection of our mind as a society. Each trash-stack that someone left at the corner of a house is a portrait of neglect and lack of sensitivity from the community. Bordo Poniente (metropolitan landfill) is a monument to deficient education, lack of awareness and is preview to the future that waits for us unless we do something about it. The 15-meters-high and hundreds of acres covered by this, one of the world’s largest landfills, is the result of the quality of life that we have provided for ourselves. The twenty million people who inhabit this city have to find solutions to look up the situation. It is urgent to change the attitude and stop expecting the government to solve everything. It is time for us to be responsible for the damage that each of us have caused, and caused every day to the environment. There is no other way to make it, but to get informed and change our consumption habits in order to cause minimal impact to nature; so we can keep us away from a real catastrophe.
Gonzalo Ortega and Paulina Cornejo, curators of RESIDUAL, said in a press conference that it is important to offer from a contemporary art project a communication channel with the aim to generate awareness. They believe that because art transmits images, people receive and understand the seriousness of the problem more directly than it can be an educational campaign launched by the government. For this reason, two nongovernmental institution (Goethe Institute and UNAM-Mexico though the MUCA Roma), present RESIDUAL as an alternative to raise consciousness, thanks to projects developed by eight artists (four german and four mexican) in Mexico City. RESIDUAL consist in art projects for the public interests, this means they are projects in which each artist works directly with people and develop pieces in which final result will be tangible and become real by providing education in different areas of the city. In other words, its aim is to show and teach people about using currently existing tools so everyone will be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Each of the artists that participates in RESIDUAL have been invited because 114
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they have developed social inclusion kind of projects during their careers; pieces made by actions and interventions which have improved life quality for all those that were involved. Nor is it a coincidence that these two nations got together to create RESIDUAL. Mexico has the most alarming pollution statistics in the world and Germany on the contrary, is a country that
has better managed pollution and reverse deforestation process. RESIDUAL is a three-month-project in which people can get involved as much as they want in each of the eight interventions. Pia Lanzinger, with the support of Casa Vecina, tribute to all downtown sweepers and invites people to
Piece sketch Thomas Stricker 116
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recognize the important work they carry out. Each of these persons walk the streets of Zocalo cleaning it again and again, making in kilometers the same distance that exists in a track form México City to Tijuana. However, their labor goes completely unnoticed by most of the people. Another piece will take place at the terrace of the Museum El Estanquillo, the Institute of Waste, a project by Raúl Cárdenas/ Torolab, in which digital and book documentation about how wastes have been managed through the history in Mexico and the world will be presented. At the same time, this place will serve as a forum for politicians and experts, invited to discuss and inform about this subject. This is extremely important since most people pollute not out of evil but ignorance.
have. Beyond the scientific aspect of this project, there is a highlight which is a poetic nature that makes us thing on the strength of the earth and the power of nature. This project points to the paradox that is the earth that has to raise a defense mechanism to preserve itself from us (human beings), the most devastating plague of all. Heike Mutter & Ulrich Genth will get to Mexicans form what they like best: food. A fast-food cart becomes the perfect forum to discuss problems and seek solutions at the same time. Visitors will see that the only solution is to change certain habits and will have the opportunity to know and
Visitors will find projects that directly involve science as well, such as the Minerva Cuevas’s piece. Through this one, the artist presents a bacterium that consumes plastic. A huge discovery, because from now on plastic will degrade in just 35 years (not 400). Certainly a breakthrough that will save millions of species worldwide, especially in the seas where the majority of plastic bags end up destroying biodiversity and one primary natural resource we
Model of Eduardo Abaroa¥s piece 117
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use packaging that does not pollute (Nothing, 0%, nil) produced from fibers such as corn. These containers are identical in appearance and perform the same function as plastic and Styrofoam packaging, with the big difference that are 100% compostable. Eduardo Abaroa presents a Carnival of Waste; a parade were allegorical cars, inspired by different types of materials to be separated and recycled, traveled across the city helping people to have a visual reference from the materials that should not be mixed up.
Model of Tue Greenfort’s piece
consists in the creation of a giant compost container with the help of twenty neighbor families of Talteolco. The aim of this project is to supply fertile soil to all neighborhood gardens and improve directly Tue Greenfort proposes a lighthouse these people surroundings and strengthen that will be illuminated from Ciudad the sense of community and group work. Universitaria by processing organic waste to produce methane gas. With this light, Claudia Fernandez for her part, introduced the artist will show us the major source her piece in Santa Maria de la Ribera, of energy that is wasted day after day and an area that once was very pretty and shows us also the problem of not consum- now, metropolitan growth, neglect of its ing it. This gas comes out from landfills inhabitants and markets, have filled it and spread into the environment, having a with garbage, leaving behind the nice higher temperature than oxygen which neighborhood that it was decades ago. In warms the atmosphere and produces what the center of the plaza, the artist will we call global warming. Thomas Stricker construct a collection and recycling center show us a good way to take advantage of for different materials, this will surely help these same organic waste from our own people to understand the characteristics homes; and basically the artist’s project of the waste and do not mix things up if 118
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llustration urban gardens. Residual
they can be reused or could have a special treatment to avoid contamination. At the same time, this project will encourage the inhabitants of this area to recover their neighborhood and hopefully this working and keeping-the- area-clean impulse continues once RESIDUAL is finished.
invite people to work, to teach, to raise awareness and achieve visible results. Another aspect to commend is that RESIDUAL organizers and the artists that are part of it, share to the world an extensive research along with a complete documentation and is at everyone´s reach at www.residual.com.mx where there is a section called As you can see all the projects are so- “practices” in which visitors can learn more cially committed, not in a charity kind of about responsible ways to manage their way like giving everything done; they all own rubbish, waste and garbage. 119
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PROJECT Astromozaic By Jorge Carrera
Registro montaje metro Pino Suรกrez
www.livingartroom.com/jorge_carrera www.citoplasma.com.mx/astromozaic
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Register at MUCA Roma
Astromozaic is a project that aims to location map. With this information and the create virtual constellations trough internet color of the star (in relation to the age of starting from the exact location of different property) the constellations are formed. interventions across the streets. Initiating with a public call, people are invited to collaborate with the project indicating the participant’s residence. This place is marked with a star-shaped mosaic and geo-referenced in Internet through a
The project´s core is the website www.citoplasma.com.mx / mozaic, where people can find all the information. Another way to find it is by typing “astromozaic” in any Internet browser. 122
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Mosaic installation registrer at San Angel
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What is Astromozaic? Astromozaic is an art project, which objective is to intervene virtual public space that internet provides. How does it work? The project is divided into five parts: a. Call Public in general can register on the project’s website thanks to social networking and e-mail inviting. b. Actual intervention After entering the data, a confirmation email will be sent to the subscriber in order to receive back the address of the house where they would like to place a mosaic.
Google Maps tags
Mosaic’s color is directly related to how e. Final registration on the website The final stage of the project consist on old the intervened space is. upload all the information, images and files to the website (www.citoplasma.com.mx / c. Photographic record Pictures of the mosaics placed in different astromozaic). And also, all the information is also added areas of the city are taken to social networks around the project. d. Virtual Intervention Different points of real intervention are located on google maps by linking the different nodes with which “constellations” start to appear and this is one of the ultimate goals of this project. 124
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www.citoplasma.com.mx/mozaic 125