Exposicion Noviembre 1985 (La Reina)

En Noviembre 1985, Josefina Jacquin hace una reflexión sobre una serie de eventos de grandes magnitudes ocurridos en Colombia. En esta obra, Josefina no sólo se refiere a una cronología noticiosa, también hace alusión a ciertos asuntos políticos y sociales que dejaron huella en Colombia, su país.

Los personajes, colores y técnica de serigrafía han sido cuidadosamente seleccionados para esta exposición. La estética de Noviembre 1985 está inspirada en el arte Pop de Andy Warhol, y al igual que Warhol, diseña las imágenes en un fondo de brillante colorido. Josefina, también utiliza la repetición para crear collages de diferentes personajes, pero no escoge a miembros del jet set de los ochenta, sino que retrata gente de una realidad descarnada.

La artista escoge la imagen de la Toma del Palacio de Justicia en Bogotá como punto de partida para producir el más iconográfico de los trabajos. En lugar de escoger fotos de celebridades de Hollywood, ella traza la imagen de su propio hermano Alfonso Jacquin Gutiérrez, quién participó en la toma del Palacio. Esta obra es una catarsis y a la vez un homenaje a Alfonso quien continua desaparecido.

Del plano personal, Josefina pasa al espacio político diseñando retratos de figuras asociadas con este evento como el infame Pablo Escobar, y el otrora presidente Belisario Betancur. Además reutiliza la imagen de la toma del Palacio de Justicia, y crea un Tríptico que usa el amarillo, azul, y rojo de la bandera colombiana haciéndo un comentario al honor de los símbolos patrios.

En Señorita Colombia 1985, Josefina se inspira en la obra de Warhol, Princesa Carolina de Monáco, 1983. El soleado fondo amarillo, el maquillaje y las joyas plateadas hacen eco de una cualidad Warholeana. En contraste, el retrato Señorita Colombia 1985 aligera la temática de esta exposición y la imagen nos recuerda el papel que las mujeres juegan como objetos de deseo y las cortinas de humo que representan, los concursos de belleza, para distraer a los colombianos de la realidad.

Omayra de Armero es un ex-voto dedicado a un trágico evento, es una oración a la agonía de Omayra quien fue una de las victimas de la tragedia de la avalancha del volcán Arenas que borró del mapa al pueblo de Armero. Josefina crea una plegaria pictórica a la memoria de una niña inocente cuya muerte fue captada por los medios informativos pero que no pudo ser salvada.

La obra Noviembre 1985 es para Josefina una memoria personal, y ella quiere compartir esta parte de la historia de su país, para que no se vuelva a repetir. Esta historia no es exclusiva de Colombia, también resuena en otros países latinoaméricanos. Josefina propone un lenguaje accesible utilizando el arte Pop, el resultado de esta exposición es una retrospectiva, en donde la artista desea reflexionar sobre el dolor, la pérdida y el pasado.

Artists in Collaboration with Proyecto X

Ana Labastida Blanca Amezkua Paz de la Calzada Maria Adela Diaz Rachel Hoffman Josefina Jacquin Camilla Newhagen Jessica Lagunas Marya Kazoun Olivia Song Park Patricia Tinajero Cristina Velazquez O Zhang

November 1985 Exhibition

In November 1985, Josefina Jacquin makes reference to a complex series of events that occurred in her native Colombia. In this body of work, she not only refers to a chronology of news but also points to a number of socio-political issues.

The characters, colors and silkscreen technique have been carefully chosen to produce this exhibition. November 1985 aesthetics is inspired in the work of Pop artist Andy Warhol. Like Warhol, Jacquin isolates images in a brightly colored background. She also utilizes repetition as a technique to create a collage of different subjects. Unlike Warhol, Jacquin does not choose jet setters from the eighties era but portrays people belonging to a stark reality.

Jacquin manipulates the image of the Take of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá as point of departure to produce the most iconographic of works. Instead of choosing images of Hollywood celebrities, Jacquin depicts the image of her own brother Alfonso Jacquin Gutierrez, one of the participants in the take of the Palace of Justice. This work has a cathartic feeling in nature and it is a poignant homage to Alfonso at once.

From the personal realm, Jacquin takes a leap into the political arena by depicting portraits of public figures associated with this event, the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar and former president Belisario Betancur. By recycling the image of Take of the Palace, Jacquin creates a Triptych forming the yellow, blue and red colors of the Colombian flag. This is a comment to the country as motherland.

In Miss Colombia 1985, Jacquin inspires herself in Warhol’s work Princess Caroline of Monaco, 1983. The sunny, yellow background, the blue eye shadow and the silver jewels make a visual resonance of Warholean quality. By juxtaposing the image of Miss Colombia, Jacquin lightens up thematically this exhibition. This image also reminds us of the role women continue to play as objects of desire and how beauty pageants serve as a distraction to harsher realities.

Omayra de Armero is a touching depiction of a tragic event. This is a votive work to Omayra’s agony due to the Mt. Arenas volcanic eruption. Jacquin makes a pictorial prayer to the memory of an innocent child whose untimely demise captured the media’s attention.

November 1985 is Jacquin’s personal memoir. With this work, she wants to share history so it does not repeat itself. This is a history that is not exclusive to Colombia but it also resonates with other Latin American countries. By using Pop Art, she makes this story palatable. Looking back, the artist wants to come to terms with pain, loss and the past.

Future Landscapes Designed by Women

Photo: Maria Adela Díaz
Review
Curated by Patricia Rodriguez, the Solo Mujeres 2009 exhibit is another milestone in the tradition of women artists shows at Mission Cultural Center. This year’s exhibition titled Future Landscapes Designed by Women is an eclectic show with gender issues at its crux.

Solo Mujeres, a haven for Latina/Chicana artists, exhibits since the late 80’s. The demographic composition of artists represents the multi-ethnic population of San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. This exhibition includes sculpture, painting, works on paper, video and installation.

In her video-performance Territorio Invisible, María Adela Díaz covers herself with white paint alluding to the body, and the dichotomy between presence and absence. Anais Ye’s painting Mao wearing red lipstick has a puzzled look as if wondering what is going on in China today. Ye questions China’s embracing of Western values and politics.

A day in the office by Michelle Waters is a humorous rendition of animals looking at humans in a zoo’s den. Waters creates a reversal of roles, and she also alludes to environmental issues. Pink Bits by Marsha Shaw is a 50’s replica of her mother’s living room. Serving as a backdrop, pink wallpaper shows images of eggbeaters, vibrators, and whiskers. Defining public and private space, this piece reclaims female sexuality. Like Díaz, Shaw addresses body image issues.

Inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ writing, Universos, an installation by Isabel Barbuzza, deconstructs language using discarded copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Pages create organic forms reminding us of floral shapes. Here, Barbuzza alludes to knowledge obsolescence of labyrinthine proportions.

Future Landscapes Designed by Women comes together as a women show with a non-thematic approach which includes an array of issues: gender environment, literature, and politics. Solo Mujeres characterizes itself as a show with strong women work, but it is weaken by the politics of inclusion under the emergent art rubric. Yet, this current show it is subject to multiple interpretations as to what future landscapes might mean.

Cecilia Nuín
Independent curator

Dolls, Sex, and Other Toys: Works by Camilla Newhagen

Olga & Lorraine by Camilla Newhagen
Camilla Newhagen creates playful, sculptural forms incarnating the female body. Sitting on chairs or laying unobtrusively around the artist’s studio, the dolls display a body language that evoke a sense of abandonment arousing in the viewer a fascinating feeling. The erotic nature of Newhagen figures not only demonstrate an incisive understanding of woman as a sexual being, but it also expresses that these artworks do not conform to a canon of desire.

Breasts, buttocks, and limbs give shape to a distorted female anatomy. By using lingerie, Newhagen creates carefully hand sewn pieces. Brassieres, bustiers, corsets, and girdles match the most artificial flesh color slips. According to the artist,.” Lingerie is like gift wrapping. Such garments cover a woman’s body to present herself as an object of desire --like a gift. By stuffing the slips, she adds volume to the dolls creating suppleness and translucency. Thighs and legs achieve the effect of fatty tissue and spongy cellulite. Striking, red stitches on white fabric refer to blood and scars.

Materials inform Newhagen’s process. Satin, silk, and antique lingerie appeals to the material’s tactile quality. She thinks as a sculptor incorporating forms as she handles the material. One can follow the way the artist works by observing her embroidered name claiming ownership, --or in her use of tags to create the work’s name. By sewing, Newhagen feels that she understand the female body because she has done the ground work --the domestic work. This points home, a domestic setting conceived as an intimate enclosure where women work.

In La Belle, a headless doll with a beige corset, Newhagen placed black fur coming out of a hairy crotch. This decorative, faux fur alludes to society’s preoccupation and phobia with hair. She portrays the doll in such naturalistic way making it appear mysterious. Appendages like a stump become a headless torso. An elongated limb ending in a red hoof imbues the piece with a sense of vulnerability. The hoof stands for a deformed foot pointing to anthropomorphic characteristics, but is also alludes to a dehumanizing feeling. The arms clasped behind her back indicate a position of submission. These convoluted shapes are reminiscent of La Poupee a work by Hans Bellmer.

Also headless, Feline exhibits a crotch that is a continuation of its torso. It is as if the crotch represents the woman’s absent head. The doll symmetrical proportions, a narrow waist and generous bosom, conform to anatomical measurements of what is perceived sexually attractive. The left breast exhibits a rosy nipple which is at once a prescription for desire and procreation. According to Newhagen,“Feline represents a prostitute,” and she adds,”Her fragmented body alludes to rape, and abortions.” It is as if Feline stands as a repository of lust, violence and death. This point to an ambivalence between desire and contempt a prostitute might awaken in her john.

Wearing beige slips, Olga & Lorraine’s are two dolls joint at the abdomen. Headless, and limb-less, the fat one with a pointy neck shaped like an elephant’s tusk supports the slim one. Appearing to float in space, the slim doll wears red lace running along her sole underarm. Olga & Lorraine allude to the yo-yo effect of weight change some women experience to reach an idealize figure. Both figures are one and the same, yet separate entities. This points to an internal conflict women endure in the realm of perception regarding their own bodies.

Unlike Bellmer’s work, Newhagen’s pieces are not objects of desire. They are not instances to please the male gaze. If Bellmer built dismembered pieces like La Poupee as an object of desire, Newhagen constructs her works to challenge, and question the rapes, abortions, and violence perpetrated against our own humanity. Newhagen also works on memory as a way of remembering things that have been forgotten. In this manner, she forms a link between past and present. For the artist, time is of essence as she travels back and forth between her manipulation of the material and her interpretation of the body. Newhagen’s work is beyond desire, and sexuality, and it demonstrates how pleasure is not divorced from pain and sex cannot be separated from death.

Aesthetics of Real Nature

Paz de la Calzada's Fake
Taking the site of Blacklock Nature Conservancy as a backdrop, Cristina Ferrández creates El Viaje Infinito (The Endless Voyage). By presenting a photographic series, Ferrández, develops an exercise of vanishing images of the body immersed in nature. In these images, she alludes to the transformation of corporeality. Through the process of dematerialization, she explores different psychic levels of human nature.

Created at an artist in residence program in Millay Colony, Fake is Paz de la Calzada's most recent production. Inspired by nature, de la Calzada shaped objects based on natural elements like leaves and plants. Made of fabric, Fake is an investigation between nature and artifact. In Fake, de la Calzada examines the dialect between real and false. In a search of what is perceived as real, de la Calzada question what is genuine. Here, the artist inquires which object is more real the artwork itself or the object in which the piece was inspired from.

Terrazul

Photo: Guillermo A López

Olivia Song Park’s White Lies

Upon entering, white strings falling from the ceiling divide the gallery space. Like cords of a musical instrument, these resonate with the in vogue expression, no strings attached -- defining fleeting liaisons in today’s society. The exhibition White Lies by Olivia Song Park closed last night at Mina Dresden gallery.

Park Song makes tiny circles of perforated punch holders, Q-tip swabs, and strings, the works in White Lies create a subdued atmosphere that is a play of white on white. The white cube with a floor covered with butcher paper, and the small white pieces required an effort from the viewer to be appreciated. White is the color par excellence used in today’s contemporary art. The color white not only refers to purity, but it also alludes to issues of race.

Illuminated from behind, Hole is a round object formed by dozens of swabs sticks, creates a honeycomb-like structure. Song Park utilizes swabs not only to retouch her make up, but she also uses them as material for her art practice. The swabs allude to repetitive motions and every day actions. These activities become a ritual, and they also refer to domesticity, the body, and beauty.

A cutout paper of rectangular shape recreates concentric irregular forms at the center. Superimpossed sheets of paper create a ladder effect. The jagged lines, and pointy corners become an exercise of geometrical proportions. Recalling landscapes of earth’s crust formations, this work imitates shapes found in nature.

White Lies is an exercise on language. According to the artist, the exhibition's name is a play on words. Initially, this project stemmed from the artist trying to explore the meaning of the phrase “white lies” and its seemingly harmless meaning. In contrast, according to Song Park, a red lie in Korea means a blatant lie -impossible to mistake for a truth.

Song Park’s preoccupation leads her to the making of her craft in an attempt to arrest the inexorable passing of time. Song Park’s quality of work lies between the obsessive and the painstainking. Honeycomb shapes, landscape forms are figures inspired in geometry and nature.

By far, this is the most succesful show at Mina Dresden not only because of the sensitive quality of the pieces, but also by the care given to the presentation of the works.

Cecilia Nuín
curator

Cell Stemming by Blanka Amezkua

Organic patterns, and repetitive forms are evident in Blanca Amezcua’s mixed media work. Amezcua’s obsessiveness is apparent in objects like Fluffy Anemone an oval shape with hairy like shapes. These hairy elements recall filaments of botanical parts. The surface is filled with multicolor flowers, and stuffed toys of multiple shapes. Vibrant colors range from reds, and blues, to multiple shades of pink.

Another work, Kinetico is an embroidery made on fabric with a crochet, yellow frame refers to kinesthetic practice. Circles of various sizes sewn in blues, oranges, and reds form groupings of cells. Mirroring organic forms from the natural world, they recall cell stemming of espora like molecules with white spaces in between mitochondria fluids.

Iko, a cell division, is a breakdown of forms. An embroidery and crochet with a brown frame and spherical, red, pink, orange shapes depict viscera like figures recalling internal organs. An up side down torso of a female image, these abstract, womb like vesicles allude to vestigial forms.

La Lluvia by Josefina Jacquin

A commemorative piece, La Lluvia (Rain), 1992 created by Colombian artist Josefina Jacquin Bates addresses issues of resistance of Native American cultures in Latin America. This work is framed by the phrase 500 years of resistance, (500 anos de resistencia) around the edges with five small skulls interspersed in between. In the foreground are three female figures. Two of the figures with headdresses and green and purple necklaces are wearing strings around their hips. The middle figure has her eyes covered by hair on her face. The faces have an impassive expression and their eyes project a vacuous look. Elements like the necklaces, and strings along with their nudity connote that these are women belong to an Amazonian tribe. Their black, longhaired figures with brown colored skin contrast against the yellowish background. A sense of three dimensionally is achieved by the jagged lines contouring the surface of their bodies.. The hands are clasped across the abdomen and chest. The yellow background is covered with little skulls and tiny bones. These floating shapes enhance the idea of falling rain giving texture to the background. The title La Lluvia (The Rain) is a pun on the innumerable deaths of indigenist people in the last five hundred years. The sad look of these women’s faces with the rain of skulls falling on them comments on the decimated indigenist population. A vast majority of the native people during the Conquest died of contagious diseases. The natives had no resistance to diseases brought by the Spaniards. Women are the keepers of culture in indigenist societies. They are the story tellers in oral tradition and the ones that pass along knowledge.

Fabricated by Paz de la Calzada

The EnvironMENTAL Paradigm

María Adela Díaz
Blossom
Video Performance
Still, photo: Miguel Morales
2008

Talking green is in. The matter at hand is discerning whether we are talking about the environment or the color of money. Words such as sustainability have become cliché. Corporate media has seized an ecological issue and commercialized it for a profit. The EnvironMENTAL Paradigm exhibition explores models of expression in contemporary environmental art. The works in this exhibit include installation, photography, sculpture, and video performance.

Environmental art takes us back to Land Art’s movement of the late 1960's. From using a bulldozer to build the Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson, to embalming a shark in a fish tank by Damien Hirst in the1990’s, both artists utilized environmental elements as a medium for art’s sake.*

The question still remains as to what constitutes environmental art in the twenty first-century. How do artists tackle ecological art when we seem oblivious to the urgency of ecological implosion. Flora and fauna species are at the brink of extinction. Natural resources have become so tainted that these are endangering our own existence.

What kind of an environmental model is there to follow? The direction environmental art has taken is one of concern for ecological issues. Unlike the above artists, in this show, the artists’ approach is one of responsibility for the kind of materials that they use. This distinction allows artists to create inspiring works; not only because the materials serve as a medium, but they are also the end in itself.

Kin Li: Light sinks into the earth and is veiled nonetheless it shines forth. I Ching, 36 by Ana Labastida presents a light box with an image of a green, maple leaf in front a car in a Mexico’s City freeway. By juxtaposing the hovering leaf against the car, she calls attention to the contradiction between the use energy and the production of smog. Also, the leaf serves a symbol of hope to a city where one breathes an asphyxiating vapor. To name her piece, Labastida inspired herself in the I-Ching, or Books of Changes to reminds us that change is inevitable.

Blossom is a video performance created by Maria Adela Díaz. Dressed in yellow, she springs herself up from a trampoline in the middle of a flowering, wild radish field. Yellow, wild radish is an invasive species growing along Californian roads. This playful exercise is no child’s play. Díaz immerses herself into a serious act drawing attention to humans to be proactive towards the environment.

Artist Julie Poitras Santos in collaboration with marine scientist Jessica Muhlin, and photographer Pauline Angione created in suspension / a poetry of chance. To gather data on marine flora, numbered oranges are dispersed to study currents’ movement in the coast of Maine. Fluctuating between art and science, this interdisciplinary approach helps us appreciate nature in a deeper manner.

Jessica Resmond’s Grass Billboards show digital images of green lawns from Dolores Park on billboards in San Francisco. By displaying grass on advertisement boards, Resmond conflates ideas about green and urban context while subverting the use of corporate space. In a symbolic way, she cultivates land in urbanized sites.

In Fabricated, a work of spotty antlers, Paz de la Calzada made an artwork that can be interpreted as tree branches. In this manner, the artist contrasts aspects of nature and culture. By placing this work at a juncture between animal and botanical realm, de la Calzada alludes to the interdependence between fauna and flora.

Spilt Milk by Patricia Tinajero is a sculpture made of recycled milk cartons, and bamboo sticks. Using a quilt, and collage technique, she layers material to create a sculpture resembling a camera over a tripod. Like Labastida, Tinajero refers to transformation by painting a butterfly on its surface. By reusing materials that otherwise would end up in a landfill, she also comments on environmental activism.

In Greener Pastures, Hrafnhildur Sigurðardóttir depicts a cluster of islands forming an archipelago. Like Tinajero, Sigurðardóttir utilizes fabric as a recycled material. By stacking up pieces of clothing to shape forms, the artist juxtaposes images of idyllic islands against green algae. Sigurðardóttir refers to an environmental problem that arises from polluted waters surrounding these islands. This is a result from the impact of mass tourism.

Crónica del Naufragio (Chronicle of a Shipwreck), a film by Cristina Ferrández, presents a group of eight women building a boat’s frame on the foggy beach of Quebrantos, in Asturias, Spain. With the ocean as a backdrop, the film is a metaphor to the demise of our own existence. By using the allegory of a sinking ship, Ferrández alludes to our diluvial fate. This meditative piece is also a reference to global warming.

The works presented in The EnvironMENTAL Paradigm exhibit bring a sense of hope with the artists’ approach to art making. As innovators artists take the lead on creating art concerned with ideas pertaining to their milieu. Artists make a contribution playing a role as ecological activists. Concerned with ecological issues, they appeal to us to take a stance as active participants in conservation. They urge us to avoid actions that are in detriment of a nature we depend upon -- in an effort to save ourselves from annihilation. Artists, scientists, and the public just need to put their mind to it.

Kun Li by Ana Labastida

Ana Labastida
Kun LI:: Light sinks into the earth and is veiled, nonetheless it shines forth. I Ching 36
Photography, Light box
2002


Kun Li by Ana Labastida is a highlight from The Environmental Paradigm exhibition. Read essay above.

Adopt a Tropical Tree

"Joyous is the slightly sensitive tree..." (Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet).

Last Friday, June 27th the students at Gabriela Mistral School in Nicaragua celebrated the Day of Tree with the initiative Adopt a Tropical Tree Project. In homage to Prof. Hulda Zelaya, this reforestation project is planted by the students of the school Centro Educativo Público Gabriela Mistral with the help of Prof. Ana Teresa Urbina.

Tropical hardwood trees transform water into vapor helping to create clouds which reflect solar light and in turn diminish global warming.This process happens at a greater level in the tropics more than any other latitude.

Photo: Ana Teresa Urbina

In conversation with Virginia Pérez-Ratton and Tamara Díaz Bringas

Virginia Pérez-Ratton and Tamara Díaz Bringas are the co-curators of Doubtful Strait, an international art event, in San José, Costa Rica in 2007.

Cecilia Nuín: Would you please explain the exhibition’s title Doubtful Strait?

Tamara Díaz Bringas: The title came from the misunderstanding of the Spaniards looking for the route to the Indies, and it also refers to Central America as a doubtful strait which they never found. Then, the inter-oceanic channel issue has been weighting in our history. An episode has to do with the exhibition Noticias del Filibustero (News of the Filibuster), and currently with the issue of the widening of the channel. Also, we were interested in the title’s metaphorical sense as a point of connection to art from different generations and sensibilities, and to artists, architects, and anthropologists from all over the world. We linked the idea of Central America connecting as an isthmus. We wanted to pose a doubt of a more conected contemporary world, but at the same time exist more borders, more surveillance --more control.

CN: The inter-oceanic channel is an interesting perspective.

Virginia Pérez-Ratton: The channel fulfilled the Conquistadors’ expectations. Finally, it became man-made.

CN: I would like you to talk about how this group of exhibitions was curated.

VPR: Tamara and I worked together the whole exhibition. We had historic references framing the exhibit. On the one hand, we have two monographic exhibits. We decided to have Juan Downey’s retrospective, a Chilean artist who was unknown in Costa Rica, in spite of being internationally renown, and Margarita Azurdia, a Guatemalan. She worked in a way that anticipated history. Four exhibitions were articulated with the idea of Limites (Limits) as an axis across the whole exhibit. Even-though, we deal with filibusterism, the urban, and exchange. Everything is marked by a type of limit or no limit.

TDB: This is a space for the artists from Central America to be in dialogue with the local audience. We also thought of the idea of limit in art as a way of thinking, limits like insanity, fear, political, and institutional. This would resonate with a very flexible format in shows like Tráficos (Traffic) which deals limits negotiated in public space. It is about interventions in public spaces, and working with specific communities. Then, Rutas Intangibles (Intangible Routes) enters in dialogue, through drawings, with spatial limit.

CN: By the way of Limits, how can one connect the works Corresponding Lines by Liliana Porter, and Esrnesto Salmeron’s Ellos no son pobres?1

VPR: Something which characterizes Liliana Porter’s work is a constant questioning of the different levels of reality. The material level, the representation of a thing in a photograph, a print, or a drawing, through the object, and her imagination. This is to summarize her practice which is very complex. She also works on the idea of returning. In this case is the return home and to safety which many times is impossible or virtual. In Ernesto’s case, his work also deals with different levels of reality, because we see a video with children happily bathing in a river. Their reality is shouting, and pure joy in a pond in a tropical river. However, that is why is called They are not poor, wealth is in another place. A level that is not material wealth which to many people means that they are poor because they do not have a swim suit, and they are bathing there, and not in a pool. These are different levels of reality depending one’s point of view. Obviously, we make these connections based on the work presented. We did not know when we invited Liliana and Ernesto which works they were going to propose, but we had the intuition that they could work together. Similarly, the work Untitled by Shilpa Gupta speaks of the impossibility of dividing the sky --poetic, and nostalgic at once. Maybe, the only total thing in the world is the sky, which is impossible to divide in two, as is impossible to divide the joy of those children in two things. Part of the intention we had, especially, with Rutas and Limites was to work against the grain. Certain tendencies exist today to work with extremely mediated images which reflect media esthetics-- something that is visually aggressive. We wanted to work in a subtle way where the viewer has to concentrate in the pieces to be able to apprehend them deeply --this demands thought and reflection.

CN: What were you looking for when curating an event such as is Doubtful Strait?

TDB: It has to do with the city of San José becoming the art capital in Iberoamérica, and the initial support that Hivos2 gave to the project. These events have a responsibility with their places, and look for visibility. More than fifty artists came from everywhere, even-though, many did not need to be here to mount their pieces, it was important that they exchanged with each other to create a meeting space --a node.

VPR: I think, we wanted to transcend our own limits. Sometimes, Tamara and I have made exhibitions abroad like the Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador. This exhibition searched to strengthen our infrastructure. What is known at the international level about Costa Rica is TEOR/éTica, and El Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, and I think that for the participating museums, it was a test to their capacities and spaces which are uneven, but things worked out fine. When one compares it with similar events in other places whether in Shanghai, the United States, or even Brazil, one sees errors and positive outcomes. So, I feel that we are nor better, nor worse than any event of this magnitude anywhere in the world.

CN: What does William Walker’s image means in the exhibit News of the Filibuster?

VPR: In 1855, in the struggle between liberals and conservatives in Nicaragua, the liberals brought William Walker as a mercenary to help them with the conflict. Walker was a Southern general, and a lawyer who spoke several languages. He had the Manifest Destiny as his mission. In reality, Walker’s intention was not to help Nicaraguans, but he was interested in bringing the slavery system to Central America. The Manifest Destiny is a thing the United States have internalized that they are the guides of the world. They are the ones who bring the plans of peace and democracy. Still, today this is absolutely evident with George Bush’s declarations who pretends to be the spiritual guide and an example of democracy. In the Manifest Destiny, it is considered that some people have no capacity to govern themselves. Walker believed that he had to come here to fix things. Then, a military campaign left from Costa Rica ending with Walker’s defeat, his exile, and finally he was executed by a firing squad in Honduras in 1957. The campaign in 1856 was important because it happened in a tumultuous time in history during a cholera epidemic, without a very structured army, and in the background were Cornelius Vanderbilt’s interests, and the route of the Transito3. We wanted with News of the Filibuster to call attention to the complexity of this historic enterprise, and bring it to the present for people to talk about filibusterism, and to reflect on the ways of domination, and intervention that exists today.

CN: With Pan-American ideals as a backdrop how did you extend ties to Latin America?

TDB: In News from the Filibuster for example, Carlos Motta’s work, SOA: Histories in Black and White was a newspaper with the history of US interventions in Latin America.

VPR: The ties are made with the Latin American artists present in all the exhibits. For example, a Central American, and a Chilean head the monographic exhibits. Except, in News from the Filibuster which focuses in Central America, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. The backyard that has suffered the most primal filibusterism. An event that includes a great number of artists, and spaces, and that is not a center of power like Sao Paulo, nor is Havana which has been changing the configuration of the biennial. Definitively, it has marked a new space. Central America has been a sort of no place. A thing kind of disappeared, and little by little, it has taken more space.

CN: It seems that Central America has been put in the map with Doubtful Strait.

VPR: Doubtful Strait has been the culmination of a previous work in an area where circuits have been permeated, and at the same time it has created something original in relation to other regions. For example, MERCOSUR has its biennial, but it does not have the unity that Central America has because the latter is in constant dialogue. Perhaps, it is because MERCOSUR is overpowered by Brazil’s strong presence. This would happen to us if it was Mexico; because it would take a bigger space. Central America has more or less equal countries. It has a colonial past, and it was one whole religious, military, political, and economic region. This gives it a different identity than the Antilles which being islands and having five languages do not have a strong communication. Since the 90’s, Central America is becoming unified.

CN: Could we talk some more about TEOR/éTica?

VPR: TEOR/éTica was founded in 1999 after I left my five year post as director of the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, I focused in the area of though production, and in exhibitions of small format. It has grown slowly, and I have been lucky in having a professional team committed with the identity of the project. So, I think that the most important thing that TEOR/éTica has it is the team’s strength. People call us “Los Teoréticos” because, really, whomever becomes a Teorético is a certain kind of person. Some of our objectives have been to investigate, promote, and disseminate the work of Central America and The Caribbean. To begin with we wanted to generate critical thought. Basically, we continue in the same path, on the one hand, we have the exhibitions, publications, seminars, workshops, events, and support to the artists. On the other, the library is open everyday and it has free access, and the center of documentation serves as a resource to many curators who research our archives.

CN: You mentioned a group of Nicaraguans that worked in this project.

TDB: The project is called Canal Central developed by Catalonian artist Antoni Abad. He worked with a group of 22 Nicaraguan immigrants. Each received a cellular phone with an integrated camera. They created their own stories which they posted in the Web. As second phase they promoted the channel in the web site www.zexe.net. Here you find various themes: housing, documents, tradition, and mixed families. They created a character called tico-nica which represents the off-springs already born here. So, they have a mean of unmediated communication without being seen as criminals, or the poor immigrant who is filing for social security. And the beauty is, that the project activated a sense of community. Probably, after four months that the project lasts, supported by Doubtful Strait, they will keep working because they have the web site, the program, the contacts, and they are super stimulated. It had a real effect.

About the curators
Virginia Pérez-Ratton is an artist, curator, and cultural worker. She was the first director of the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo in Costa Rica. She is the founder and director of TEOR/éTica since 1999, an institution for the study and dissemination of Central American art. She curated several international biennials, and was a member of the jury for the Venice Biennial in 2001. She received the Principe Claus Award in 2002. In 1998, she published Centroamerica y el Caribe: a History in Black and White along with her curatorship for the Sao Paulo biennial.

Tamara Díaz Bringas is an art historian. She graduated from Havana University, and she has an MA in Arts from the University of Costa Rica. She is adjunct curator of TEOR/éTica since 1999, and is coodinator and editor for the Doubtful Strait project. She is an art critic for La Nación newspaper in San José, and she wrote a book about Costa Rican art called En el Trazo de las Constelaciones. She has made multiple curatorships in TEOR/éTica and other venues. She is co-curator with Virginia Pérez-Ratton of Iconofagia, a regional project for the Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador in 2004.

1 trans. They are not poor

2 Hivos, a Dutch organization, is the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with developing countries.

3 At the time, the major route between New York City and San Francisco ran through southern Nicaragua. The Accessory Transit Company [was] controlled by Wall Street tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. (Wikipedia),

This interview was published by Futuro magazin in March 2008

Virginia Pérez-Ratton y Tamara Díaz Bringas hablan sobre Estrecho Dudoso

En conversación con Cecilia Nuín.

Virginia Pérez-Ratton y Tamara Díaz Bringas son las co-curadoras de Estrecho Dudoso, un evento de arte internacional que se dio en San José, Costa Rica en el 2007.

Cecilia Nuín: Ahondando en Estrecho Dudoso ¿De cuál estrecho se habla?

Tamara Díaz Bringas: El título salió del mal entendido de los españoles buscando la ruta hacia las Indias y estudios que hicieron sobre Centroamérica como un estrecho dudoso y que nunca lo encontraron. Luego está lo del canal inter-oceánico que ha estado pesando en la historia de Centroamérica. Uno de los episodios tenía que ver con la exposición Noticias del filibustero, y en la actualidad el tema de la ampliación del canal. Nos interesaba la idea del título en un sentido metafórico, de ser un punto de conexión del arte, de sensibilidades y generaciones distintas, e incluir artistas, arquitectos y también antropólogos de todas partes del mundo. De una Centroamérica que se conecta como istmo, y por otra parte replantear una duda desde la región, dudar de que el mundo contemporáneo está tan conectado, pero a la vez hay fronteras con más dispositivos de seguridad, más vigilancia, y más control.

CN: Eso del canal inter-oceánico tiene una perspectiva interesante.

Virginia Pérez-Ratton: El canal vino a llenar las expectativas de los conquistadores. Finalmente, el estrecho de agua fue hecho por el hombre.

CN: Me gustaría que hablaran de como está formada esta gran muestra.

VPR: Tamara y yo trabajamos en conjunto toda la muestra. Por un lado, hay dos exposiciones monográficas. Estábamos de acuerdo en tener dos referencias históricas que enmarcaran la exposición. Entonces decidimos hacer una retróspectiva de Juan Downey, un artista chileno que en Costa Rica era absolutamente desconocido, a pesar de que internacionalmente tiene un gran renombre, y Margarita Azurdia que es guatemalteca. Ella ha trabajado de una manera que anticipa la historia. Y luego cuatro exposiciones de grupo articuladas con significado. La idea de Límites se armó como el eje principal que atraviesa la exposición, a pesar que se habla de filibusterismo, de lo urbano y de trueque, y siempre marcado por un tipo de límite o de no límite.

TDB: Pensábamos también que fuera un espacio para que la gente de Centroamérica estuviese en diálogo con interlocutores locales. La idea del límite en el arte como un modo de pensar, tanto como la cordura, la locura, el miedo, o los límites institucionales y políticos. Esto podía dialogar con un formato flexible con otras muestras como Tráficos que trata de como se negocian esos límites en el espacio público. Sobre todo se trata de intervenciones en espacios, talleres, o con comunidades especificas y luego esta Rutas Intangibles que a través del dibujo estaba dialogando desde otro sentido del límite.

CN: A propósito de Límites ¿Cómo se vinculan las obras Corresponding Lines de Liliana Porter y Ellos no son pobres de Ernesto Salmerón?

VPR: Hay algo en Liliana Porter que caracteriza su obra, y es un constante cuestionamiento de los diferentes niveles de la realidad. El nivel material, la representación de esa cosa en una foto, un grabado, o un dibujo, mediante el objeto, y la imaginación. Eso para resumir una obra que es muy compleja. Y también ella trabaja sobre la idea de volver a algún lugar. En este caso es el regreso al hogar, y a la seguridad que muchas veces es imposible o virtual. Y en el caso de Ernesto también habla de diferentes niveles de realidad, porque lo que estamos viendo es un video de unos niños que se están bañando felizmente. Su realidad es la gritadera y el disfrute de una poza en un río tropical. Por eso se llama Ellos nos son pobres, hay otro nivel que no es la riqueza material que para muchísima gente la pobreza es por que los niños no tienen vestido de baño y se están bañando allí y no en una piscina. Son diferentes niveles de realidad que se perciben según el punto de vista. Obviamente, son conexiones que uno hace a partir de la aparición de la obra. No sabíamos cuando invitamos a Liliana, y a Ernesto, que obras nos iban a proponer, pero había la intuición de que eran dos artistas que podían funcionar juntos. Es lo mismo que por ejemplo, la obra Sin Titulo de Shilpa Gupta que habla de la imposibilidad de dividir el cielo, muy poética, y a la vez nostálgica, talvez lo único total que hay en el mundo es el cielo, que es imposible dividirlo en dos, como es imposible dividir el disfrute de esos niños en dos cosas. Parte de la intención que tenía sobre todo Rutas y Límites era de trabajar a contracorriente. Hay ciertas tendencias actuales de trabajar con obras que son extremadamente mediáticas que entran dentro de la estética de los medios de comunicación, y de lo muy agresivo visualmente. Y queríamos trabajar cosas sutiles donde el espectador tiene que insertarse en las obras para poderlas captar profundamente. Eso exige pensamiento y reflexión.

CN:¿Qué se pretende al montar un evento como es Estrecho Dudoso?

TDB: Tiene que ver con San José como capital iberoamericana de la cultura y al impulso inicial que Hivos estimuló con su aporte. Estas operaciones buscan visibilidad o un intercambio efectivo. Por eso vinieron más de cincuenta artistas, y aunque muchos de ellos no hubieran necesitado venir a montar su obra, era importante que intercambiaran y crear un espacio de encuentro --un nodo.

VPR: Creo que era trascender nuestros propios límites. De vez en cuando Tamara y yo hemos hecho exposiciones como la Bienal de Cuenca en Ecuador. Esta exposición buscaba potenciar la infraestructura que tenemos, porque internacionalmente lo que se conoce de Costa Rica es TEOR/éTica y el Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo. Funcionó relativamente bien, sobretodo cuando uno lo compara con eventos en lugares como Shangai, o en Africa, no solo a nivel de vías de desarrollo, pero también a nivel del mundo desarrollado. Muchas veces uno va a una bienal en Europa, Estados Unidos, e incluso Brasil y ve una serie de fallas, así como una serie de aciertos. Entonces, no estamos ni mejor, ni peor, que ningún evento de esta magnitud en otro lugar.

CN: ¿Qué significa la imagen de William Walker en Noticias del filibustero?

VPR: En 1855, en las luchas entre liberales y conservadores en Nicaragua, los liberales traen a William Walker como mercenario. Walker era un general surista, abogado que hablaba varias lenguas. El tenía el Destino Manifiesto como su misión. En realidad la intención de Walker era ampliar el sistema esclavista hacia Centroamérica. El Destino Manifiesto es algo que los Estados Unidos han tenido metido que ellos son los guías del mundo. Ellos son los que llevan los destinos de paz y de democracia. Todavía hoy es evidente con las declaraciones de George Bush, que el pretende ser el guía espiritual, y el ejemplo de la democracia. En el Destino Manifiesto se considera que hay gente que no tiene la capacidad para auto manejarse. Y eso era lo que creía Walker, y tuvo que venir a arreglar las cosas. Entonces, hubo una campaña militar que salió de Costa Rica que culminó con la derrota de Walker, el posterior exilio, y finalmente fué fusilado en Honduras en 1957. La campaña de 1856 se llevó a cabo en un momento duro en la historia centroamericana, durante una epidemia del cólera, con ejércitos poco estructurados y matizada por una serie de intereses de Cornelius Vanderbilt, y la ruta del Tránsito. Lo que queríamos con Noticias del filibustero era llamar la atención sobre la complejidad de esa gesta histórica, y traerlo al presente para que la gente hablara sobre el filibusterismo actual y que reflexionara las formas que existen de dominación e intervención.

CN:¿Cómo se atan con el panamericanismo esos vínculos hacia Latinoamérica?

TDB: En Noticias del filibustero, SOA: Historias en Blanco y Negro de Carlos Motta es un periódico con las intervenciones norteamericanas en Latinoamérica.

VPR. Tenemos una centroamericana y un chileno en las exposiciones monográficas. En cada exposición, excepto en Noticias del filibustero que esta más concentrado en la región formada por Centroamérica, Colombia, Cuba, México, Puerto Rico, y Venezuela. El backyard que ha sido presa del filibusterismo más primario. De pronto hay un evento que incluye una cantidad de artistas, y sedes y que no es en un centro de poder como Sao Paulo, ni es tampoco La Habana que ha sido el epicentro de Latinoamérica. Centroamérica ha sido una especie de no lugar. Una cosa como desaparecida y poco a poco ha ido tomado más espacio.

CN: Parece que Centroamérica se ha puesto en el mapa con Estrecho Dudoso.

VPR: Estrecho Dudoso es la culminación de un trabajo previo de la región, y al mismo tiempo se ha creado algo original. Por ejemplo, el MERCOSUR tiene su bienal, pero no tiene la cohesión que tiene Centroamérica ya que hay un constante diálogo. Talvez porque MERCOSUR esta teñido con la presencia de Brasil que es una potencia. Es lo que nos pasaría a nosotros si fuera México ya que tomaría un espacio muy grande. Centroamérica son países más o menos equivalentes. Hay un pasado colonial, y fue una sola región política, militar, económica y religiosa. Y hace que tenga una identidad diferente, que Las Antillas que por ser islas y tener cinco idiomas no hay una comunicación fuerte. Centroamérica desde mediados de los años 90 viene confibrandose.

CN: ¿Podríamos ampliar un poco sobre TEOR/éTica?

VPR: TEOR/éTica surgió en 1999 después que yo estuve como directora del Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo por cinco años. Me planteé concentrarme en la generación de pensamiento, y también en exposiciones de pequeño formato. Se ha ido construyendo poco a poco y he tenido la suerte de contar con un equipo profesional, comprometido con la vocación y la identidad del proyecto. Entonces, creo que lo más importante que tiene TEOR/éTica es la solidez de equipo. La gente nos llaman “Los Teoréticos” porque el que se convierte en Teorético es un tipo de persona. Ciertos objetivos eran investigar, promover y difundir la obra de Centroamérica y del Caribe. Eso como un principio, pero también generar un pensamiento critico. Básicamente, hemos continuado en la misma articulación, por un lado las exposiciones, las publicaciones, apoyo a los artistas, seminarios, talleres, y eventos. La biblioteca esta abierta todos los días y es de acceso libre, y el centro de documentación que le ha servido a muchos curadores para consultar nuestros archivos.

CN: Tú has mencionado un grupo nicaragüense que ha trabajo en este proyecto.

TDB: El proyecto se llama Canal Central que desarrolló el artista catalán, Antoni Abad. La decisión fué que trabajara con inmigrantes nicaragüenses. A cada uno se le proporcionó un teléfono celular con cámara integrada. Ellos construyen sus propias historias que cuentan en la Red. Una segunda fase fué promocionar este canal en la página www.zexe.net y allí tú encuentras temas de viviendas, papeles, tradiciones, y familias mixtas, y crearon un carácter tico-nica, que son los hijos que ya son nacidos aquí. Ellos tienen un medio de comunicación, sin mediación, sin que se les vea como el delincuente, o el inmigrante pobre que llena la caja de seguro social. Y lo lindo ha sido que esto activó una comunidad. Probablemente, después de Estrecho Dudoso, ellos seguirán funcionando ya que tienen la página, la programación, el contacto y están súper estimulados. Tuvo un efecto real.

Sobre las curadoras de Estrecho Dudoso

Virginia Pérez-Ratton es artista, curadora y gestora cultural. Primera directora del Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo de Costa Rica, fundadora de TEOR/éTica, que dirige desde 1999 para el estudio y difusión del arte regional centroamericano. Ha sido curadora para varias bienales internacionales, miembro de Jurado de la Bienal de Venecia y Premio del Príncipe Claus para la cultura y el desarrollo en el 2002. En 1998 publicó un volumen llamado “Centroamérica y el Caribe, una historia en blanco y negro”, con motivo de su curaduría regional para la bienal de Sao Paulo.

Tamara Díaz Bringas es historiadora de arte, graduada de la universidad de la Habana, y tiene una maestría en artes de la Universidad de Costa Rica. Curadora adjunta de TEOR/éTica desde 1999, es la coordinadora editorial del proyecto. Ha sido critica de arte del diario La Nación en San José y ha escrito un libro sobre arte costarricense llamado “ En el trazo de las constelaciones”. Ha realizado múltiples curadurías tanto en TEOR/éTica como en el Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo y otras sedes. Co-curadora con Virginia Pérez-Ratton de Iconofagia, un proyecto regional para la bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador, 2004

Blue Rhapsody

Timeless Miami Beach

The ocean surf
turquoise water
a rainbow shining
in the horizon

Spray falling
on the sable beach
enveloping
cool water

Palm trees
swaying at the
compass
of the wind

The warm sun
casting
of shadows
east

The waves
hitting
again and again
rough pebbles

White bird
fishing
the crisp air
albatross

El oleaje
en el litoral

In conversation with Marya Kazoun

● How was it for you growing up in Beirut?

It was great except for the war part- maybe not after all. It helped me become what I am now. Experiencing raw fear, giving value to things you would normally take for granted, like the feeling of security, going to school safely, having drinking water and electricity.

● How did you become an artist?

I think there was this need to say something. Words are too direct sometimes… I was more interested in the emotion that an object, a thing, or a person’s behavior could convey…

● How different is for a Lebanese-Canadian woman to become an artist?

When I was young, I have to say I had a relatively open and very modern upbringing. My mom is a chemist, but she doesn’t work, she stopped when the war started in 1975 then she had to look after us, and my dad is a pharmacist and owns a pharmacy. I was expected to become a pharmacist like him- I went to French Protestant school there where I studied French, Arabic, and English and Bible every Thursday although my family is muslim. My parents wanted me to study and know about and of everything-
We had to flee the war several times. Our first move was to Switzerland and the second was to Canada where my family decided to emigrate and stay they there. I think that seeing and experiencing lots of different things made me want to say and do a lot of things and being what I am with a rich baggage made it easier for me, I have a big baggage. I have a lot to say. I believe my background helped a lot in the shape, expression and form of my artwork.

● What made you become a performance artist?

You’re asking me about performance?
Shhhht!!!
I consider myself a novice in the field.
I reflected a lot on that topic. It made a lot of things clearer…
I had organized a photo shoot for an installation I had just ‘finished’. I had made an outfit but wasn’t quite sure why I had done it, what was it purpose? I was wearing it and got in one of the pictures of the installation to show the scale of my work. When I got my slides back and looked carefully at them, it suddenly hit me, it all made sense to see myself in the works…

● In the 51st Biennale di Venezia’s catalogue you talk about the need to inhabit your work. Why is that?

I felt that the work needed me to support it, to help it sustain itself. I first started with embodying the works, becoming part of them, having a similar external shell, in a way to be like them, to be ‘their equal’. I had something more, I was alive and moving I sometimes became the protagonist of the situation to balance their weaknesses. Sometimes there is no story. Sometimes the story/ script comes after the object is made. Sometimes the script comes first and than it gets elaborated and becomes clearer while working on the piece. There’s a lot of theater influence in my performances.

● What is your process when using materials?

I try to let them guide me and tell me what they could become. I ask them, they show me.

● How does identity plays a role in works like Self-portrait for example?

In this work there was a big reflection on self-image, the mirror and questioning my identity. The perception I had of myself.
Who was I? I’m not sure I am a human being. I had no say in the form or presence of myself on this earth. This work is what I am, really.

● Luggage is a fascinating work of yours. What do carry in it?

Different things in the different pouches, I carry my background, my past, memories, we are all travelers and we carry a lot around….

● Many of your works are direct references to body parts like fat, hair, organs and skin. What is this compulsion in deconstructing the body?

It is more a kind of fascination examining things closely- Body parts and organs are very fragile, if you think of it. If any thing gets damaged, it’s handicapping. I perform operations on them to heal them. Sometimes dark little secrets hide in them so stitching them up is a kind of way to protect, hide and burry them.

●Have you set limits when using your body in the performative act?

Not really I just listen to what the piece needs.

● Scatological concerns surface in your series of photographs called Daily Shit. What prompted you into creating such body of work and why?

I first started by taking images of my stool when I started seeing it. I had never really looked at it. When I moved to NYC the toilets were all shallow. I started experimenting with the kind of food I was eating and what kind of shape and color my body was able to make… It’s a kind of guilty pleasure taking all these photographs. Sometimes mixed with some guilt and shame. I slowly started comfortable showing it. I was almost proud of it. I was able to give it an interesting shape and colour… I all the shit of life, I indulged in retaining that I was showing the world.

● As an artist who has participated in the 51st Biennale di Venezia, what is your advise to an emerging artist?

Be as authentic and real as possible in art making and work hard, I guess…

Please, talk about the art scene situation back home in Lebanon.
I think the art scene in the Middle East is developing very fast, very conceptual, but I feel that it is still more directed towards a more documentary type of work. There’s a lot of direct video and photography works.

This conversation was first published in Futuro Magazine in March 2007

Rachel Hoffman's Vagina Dentata Performance

Rachel Hoffman's Vagina Dentata Performance takes place in a sandy area of Dolores Park in San Francisco. As part of the show Intimate Bodies Public Spaces, Hoffman enacts interventions outside the gallery space. By literally placing her body in public sight, she contrives issues of presence and perception. Clad in a pink and golden custome, with a stuffed oval shape representing the vagina dentata, Hoffman challenges sexual cliches and some our innermost fears- our own sexuality.