Friday 29 May 2009

'EL TRABAJO ENOBLECE PERO LA NOBLEZA NO TRABAJA' CURATED BY MICHELE FAGUET AT CCE, GUYATEMALA


Judy Werthein This Functional Family [Esta familia funcional]


“Work Ennobles but the Nobility does not Work
curated by Michèle Faguet
May 21- June 15. 2009
Centro Cultural de España / Guatemala
Vía 5, 1-23 zona 4, 4º Norte, Ciudad de Guatemala, 01004


Work Ennobles but the Nobility does not Work—

In a discussion about Asunción, a short film about a rebellious domestic employee that he produced with Carlos Mayolo in 1975, Luis Ospina stated that it had been their intention to create paranoia, as ‘domestic employees represent a class enemy under the very same roof.’ And yet this ‘enemy’ is an integral member of the family she serves and cares for and is simultaneously appreciated and exploited, loved and pitied. She, in turn, will inevitably reciprocate in this unhealthy, co-dependent relationship by developing strong emotional ties to her employers and their children while inevitably resentful of their class privilege and the social hierarchy that has relegated her to its lowest rung. Even within her own social class, the female domestic employee is more often than not a tragic figure – a single mother who must neglect her own children in pursuit of a better life for them, particularly for the daughters she hopes will not end up like her.

The saying ‘work ennobles’ (el trabajo ennoblece) has a complex etymology: although sometimes associated with popular resistance and revolutionary politics, this aphorism can also be tied to the teachings of the Catholic Church and even to the Third Reich, with its Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labor Service), the function of which was to combat unemployment in Nazi Germany under the motto ‘Arbeit ardelt.’ A related phrase, “Arbeit macht frei” (Work Brings Freedom) was posted at the entrances to numerous concentration camps during WWII. And then there is the Dutch witticism that goes like this: “’Arbeid adelt, maar adel arbeidt niet’ (Work ennobles but the nobility does not work), which is curious given that Holland is not a country one would generally associate with class conflict despite its status as an independent monarchy. (In fact, many artists, curators, and institutions in Latin America and other developing regions have benefitted from the generosity of this monarchy exercised through grants endowed by the Prince Claus Fund.)

The idea for this exhibition derived from a simple, but significant chance encounter between two very different works: Asunción, which I happened to be writing about at the time that I received images of Regina Galindo’s Angelina (2002), a work that is well known to a local public in Guatemala. Once I’d decided upon curating an exhibition with works dealing with the figure of the female domestic employee, I didn’t have to look very far to find additional works from a very diverse group of artists and filmmakers. In Judi Werthein’s This Functional Family (Familia (dis)functional), 2007 - a mock documentary about the Sonneveld House in Rotterdam – the aristocratic Sonneveld family is portrayed by black actors and possible descendants of colonial subjects upon whose exploitation the Sonneveld family’s wealth was based, while their domestic employees are played by two white, middle class young women. Phil Collin’s soy mi madre, 2008 is an exquisitely made telenovela, shot on location in Mexico City with several leading television stars and loosely based on Jean Genet’s The Maids, 1947. The film was conceived while Collins was pursuing an artist residence in Aspen, Colorado and responds to the presence of a massive workforce of domestic laborers from Mexico serving affluent families in the United States. Monica Ruzansky’s photographic series “Dicen que los perros se parecen sus dueños” (They Say that Dogs Resemble their Owners) consists of portraits of female domestic employees walking their employers’ dogs, usually expensive purebreds that typically function to assuage the racial anxieties of wealthy, ‘aristocratic’ Latin American families. Finally, Sebastian Silva’s La Nana (The Maid), 2008 – a film that won several awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival – is a subtle portrayal of the complicated emotional dynamics that exist between a long time domestic employee and the well-intentioned family that employs her.
Michèle Faguet

Thursday 21 May 2009/ 7pm
Exhibition opening

Friday 22 May/ 5pm
Conversation between Emiliano Valdés (Visual Arts Director CCE/G) and Michèle Faguet

Saturday 23 May/ 6pm
Screening of feature film La Nana
Directed by Sebastián Silva, Chile, 2008. 98 min.

*****

El trabajo ennoblece pero la nobleza no trabaja
Curada por Michèle Faguet
Artistas: Regina Galindo (Guatemala), Judi Werthein (Venezuela), Mónica Ruzansky (México), Luis Ospina / Carlos Mayolo (Colombia) y Phil Collins (Reino Unido).
Centro Cultural de España en Guatemala
Del 21 de mayo al 14 de junio

En una discusión en torno a Asunción, un cortometraje sobre una rebelde empleada doméstica que produjo junto a Carlos Mayolo en 1975, Luis Ospina afirmaba que, al hacerlo, tenía la intención de crear paranoia, ya que “las empleadas domésticas representan una clase enemiga durmiendo bajo el mismo techo.” Y este “enemigo” es un miembro integral de la familia: ella sirve y cuida, siendo simultáneamente apreciada y explotada, querida y compadecida. Ella, a su vez, será inevitablemente recíproca en esta relación malsana y codependiente, desarrollando fuertes vínculos emocionales con sus patrones y sus niños mientras, sin duda, estará resentida por esos privilegios de clase y por una jerarquía social que la ha relegado al último peldaño. Incluso dentro de su misma clase social, la empleada doméstica es, la mayoría de las veces, una figura trágica: una mujer soltera que debe descuidar a sus propios hijos para buscarles un mejor futuro, en particular a sus hijas, de las que espera que no terminen como ella.

El dicho “el trabajo ennoblece” tiene una compleja etimología; aunque algunas veces ha sido asociado a la resistencia política popular y la política revolucionaria, este aforismo puede enlazarse con las enseñanzas de la Iglesia Católica, e incluso con el Reichsarbeitsdienst del Tercer Reich, cuya función era combatir el desempleo en la Alemania nazi bajo el lema Arbeit ardelt (el trabajo ennoblece). Una frase relacionada con aquella, Arbeit macht frei (el trabajo libera) estaba inscrita en la entrada de numerosos campos de concentración durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.Hay, incluso, una frase holandesa que afirma que “el trabajo ennoblece, pero la nobleza no trabaja” (Arbeid adelt, maar adel arbeidt niet), resultando curiosa en un país como Holanda, al que generalmente no asociamos con conflictos de clase, a pesar de su condición de monarquía independiente. (Muchos artistas, curadores e instituciones en América Latina y otras regiones en desarrollo se han beneficiado de la generosidad de esta monarquía ejercida a través de las becas concedidas por la Fundación Príncipe Claus).

La idea de esta exhibición parte de un muy simple pero significativo encuentro fortuito entre dos obras muy diferentes: Asunción, sobre la que estaba escribiendo cuando recibí imágenes de Angelina (2002), de Regina Galindo, un trabajo bien conocido por el público local en Guatemala. Una vez me hube decidido a curar una exhibición de trabajos en torno a la figura de la empleada doméstica, no tuve que mirar muy lejos para encontrar otras piezas de un grupo muy diverso de artistas y cineastas, como Familia (dis)funcional, de Judi Werthein (2007), un falso documental sobre la Casa Sonneveld en Rotterdam (la aristocrática familia Sonneveld es representada por actores negros, posibles descendientes de súbditos coloniales sobre quienes recayó la explotación con la que los Sonneveld construyeron su riqueza; mientras sus empleadas domésticas eran interpretadas por dos jóvenes mujeres blancas de clase media).

Soy mi madre, de Phil Collins (2008) es una telenovela lejanamente basada en Las criadas, de Jean Genet (1947), exquisitamente producida, grabada en Ciudad de México con la participación de muchas grandes estrellas de telenovelas. La película fue concebida mientras Collins desarrollaba una residencia artística en Aspen, Colorado, y responde a la presencia de una enorme fuerza laboral de trabajadores domésticos mexicanos que sirven a familias ricas en los Estados Unidos. La serie de fotografías Dicen que los perros se parecen a sus dueños (2008), de Mónica Ruzansky, consiste en retratos de empleadas domésticas sacando a pasear los perros de sus patrones, usualmente caros ejemplares de raza, cuya típica función es aliviar las ansiedades raciales de las familias de la rica “aristocracia” latinoamericana. Finalmente, La nana, de Sebastián Silva (2008), es una película que ganó varios premios en el Festival de Sundance 2009 un sutil retrato de la compleja dinámica emocional que existe entre una empleada doméstica de mucho tiempo y la bienintencionada familia para la que trabaja.

Michèle Faguet
Curadora

Thursday 14 May 2009

VANGELIS VLAHOS AND YORGOS SAPOUNTZIS NOMINATED FOR THE DESTE PRIZE

DESTE Prize 2009
Museum of Cycladic Art
14th May – 30th September 2009


The DESTE Prize was established in 1999 and is awarded every two years to a Greek artist living in Greece or abroad. The Prize aims to showcase the work of a new and emerging generation of artists and it is an integral part of the Foundation’s policy for supporting and promoting contemporary art in Greece.

The six shortlisted artists for the DESTE Prize 2009 – Athanasios Argianas, Eirene Efstathiou, Haris Epaminonda, Rallou Panagiotou, Yorgos Sapountzis and Vangelis Vlachos – will show their work in an exhibition that is to be presented this year in the spaces of the Museum of Cycladic Art and is scheduled to run from 14th March until 30th September 2009. This collaboration between the DESTE Foundation and the Museum of Cycladic Art is part of the latter’s “Young Views” program, which aims at launching a dialogue with a younger generation, at keeping the public up to date with the latest developments in contemporary cultural production and at ensuring the dynamic presence of a space for the exchange of ideas.

An international jury of five will select and announce the winner of this year’s DESTE Prize on 14th September 2009. The Prize is accompanied by a grant of €10.000.

http://www.deste.gr/

Monday 11 May 2009

'EL NOA NOA' IN BOGOTA, COLOMBIA!


exterior of the old Andina Factory



entrance to Noa Noa!


sign with music, video and performance programme!





view of el Noa Noa



Colombian Rimax brand red chairs and tables, the best in the market


Daniela Romo video as part of the video programme selected by El Perro y la Calandria.
video programme also includes videos by: Los Super Elegantes, Tetine, Dani Umpi, avaf, Rick Castro...


golden curtain and hanging lights


Sexual rights posters borrowed from El Perro y la Calandria



homage to Felix Gonzalez Torres (Felix re-tropicalized)


golden curtains


'Si hay Chicha' sign and tropical Dan Flavin



Chicha Bar


Katy Hernandez seving chicha behind the bar


Cesar Ariza drinking chicha


artist Miguel Angel Rojas and Colombian ex-president Cesar Gaviria


sociologist Armando Silva and friend


artist Santiago Leal


Esteban Arboleda with lightbulb in mouth


Alcuadrado gallerist Gloria Saldarriaga


Colombian grand dame of art, Maria Angelica Medina


Juan Carlos on the platform


Edgar declaiming poetry


spontaneous performers on platform


curators Beatriz Lopez and Katy Hernandez


Three generations: Beatriz Lopez, Lola and Beatriz Elena

EL NOA NOA ‘un lugar de ambiente’ by Pablo Leon de la Barra with music and/or videos by Los Super Elegantes, Tetine, Dani Umpi, avaf, Rick Castro, Beatriz Lopez ‘B-Lo’, Adriana Lara/Lasser Moderna, Silverio, Esther Planas and a selection of classic pop videos in spanish from the 70s and 80s by ‘El Perro y La Calandria’ http://www.bogotagay.com/cantina

A TropiPopPolitical space inspired by ‘El Noa Noa’ the mythical and now disappeared seventies club/bar of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua immortalized by singer Juan Gabriel in his song and movie ‘El Noa Noa’.

El Noa Noa exists in the tensions created by the social control and escapism offered by music, drink, pop and party culture but also in its potential of social transformation and liberation.

With surprise live acts, a special appearance by Maria Angelica Medina, and ‘chicha’* to drink at the bar!

‘El Noa Noa’ is part of the Exhibition ‘No Mas Chicha’ curated by La Central (Beatriz Lopez and Katy Hernandez) http://www.lacentral.com.co/ for Alcuadrado http://www.alcuadrado-art.com/ at the now closed Andina Brewery. The factory an emblem of modernity - associated with progress and confidence in production – presents itself as the scenario to think about the end of the great discourses giving way to multiple and persol interpretations of the contemporary phenomena. In the 1940’s ‘No Mas Chicha!’ was the slogan used by the big breweries advertisement apparatus to stop the homemade production of ‘chicha’ and promote the regular consumption of beer. Along these lines the exhibition suggests a reflection upon the consequences of the modernization process.

*Chicha: name given to several varieties of alcoholic drink created from the fermentation of non-distilled corn and other cereals in the Americas. Chicha is a drink consumed in the American Continent since pre-european times.

‘No Mas Chicha’
Antigua Cervecería Andina
Calle 22b#31-43 Bogotá - Colombia
Opening: Saturday May 9, 2009 12pm to 4pm

Exhibition open from May 10 to 24, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Thursday 7 May 2009

'NO MAS CHICHA', CURATED BY LA CENTRAL OPENS IN BOGOTA THIS SATURDAY!




Galeria Alcuadrado and La Central present:
NO MAS CHICHA!

projects by:
•Maria José Arjona
•Jaime Ávila
•Pablo León de la Barra
•Miguel Ángel Rojas
•Regina Silveira

Antigua Cervecería Andina
Calle 22b#31-43 Bogotá - Colombia
Inauguración: sábado 9 de mayo 12pm a 4pm

Del 10-24 de mayo
10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (todos los días)

Monday 4 May 2009

CAROLINA CAYCEDO AND ADRIANA LARA AT 'YOUNGER THAN JESUS' AT THE NEW MUSEUM




Carolina Caycedo's Banners



Adriana Lara's Dali lip/sofa, Friedberg chair/hand and cigarette
U.A.O./wau/ 2009: Lip-shaped sofa, Handshaped chair & cigarrette pillow, which is alternated in between the sofa and the chair.


Carolina Caycedo and daughter Una slipping over Adriana Lara's Banana.
Adriana Lara, Installation (banana skin), 2008
A new banana skin is placed anywhere in the exhibition space every day by one of the security guards, exhibition space caretaker, gallerist, curator or collector after he’s eaten the banana.

http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/411/the_generationalyounger_than_jesus


http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/04/banana-peel-as-art-adriana-laras-installation-at-the-new-museums-the-generational-younger-than-jesus-show-food-art/

Sunday 3 May 2009

'EPPUR SI MUOVE (AND YET IT MOVES)' OPENS AT FONDAZIONE RE REBAUDENGO

Eppur si muove [And yet it moves]
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
8 May - 21 June, 2009

Opening on Friday 8 May at Palazzo Re Rebaudengo in Guarene (Piedmont), the exhibition comprises works by Rosa Barba, Emanuele Becheri, Eva Cenghiaro, Rä di Martino, Patrizio Di Massimo, Caterina Nelli, Giulia Piscitelli, Moira Ricci, Davide Savorani and Elisa Strinna.

Eppur si muove [And yet it moves] is curated by Inti Guerrero (Colombia/the Netherlands), Julia Kläring (Austria) and Pieternel Vermoortel (Belgium/UK), fellows of the third edition of the Curatorial Residency of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, coordinated by Ilaria Bonacossa (Italy).


Le Mepris (1963) Jean-Luc Godard

*
In Le Mépris (1963), French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard sets silent movie director Fritz Lang on the roof-terrace of the modernist Villa Malaparte in Capri shooting The Odyssey. The final shot pictures Odysseus facing endless waters as an invitation for the viewer to project his/her own narratives upon the void between past and present.

*
In 1908, on the Mediterranean island of Capri, the exiled Russian writer Aleksei Maksimovich - better known as Maxim Gorky - was planning his Capri School. Far from the epicentre and ideals of Lenin’s Bolshevism, the School saw myth and religion fulfilling a central role in the revolution. It was then, during the summer of the following year, that eight Russian workers arrived to take part as students in Gorky’s peculiar utopia.

*
At the SISMOS center of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Rome, Italian artist Elisa Strinna found a seismographic recording of the Messina earthquake of 1908. This scientific data collected during the movement of faulting tectonic plates in the Mediterranean, is an excerpt from a registration of one hundred years of Natural History. Through a musical translation, Strinna recalls the archival strata.

*
The true method for making things present is to place them in our space (and not us in theirs). That is why only anecdotes have the power to move us. (Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, conceived in 1927 - unfinished).

It seems as though when artists deal with data, documents or moments from collective or personal histories, their ways of relaying them, acting upon them or even modifying them, are close to Benjamin’s aforementioned potential of the anecdote and its retreat from messianic historicism. In this exhibition the anecdote does not depend on the viewer’s empathy with the story told, but allows the event to be seen through diverse temporalities.


Opening: 8 May, 15.00
Contact Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo for info for transport from Turin and Milan
info@fondsrr.org | t + 39 0113797600

8 May- 21 June, 2009
Palazzo Re Rebaudengo - Piazza del Municipio, Guarene d'Alba, Italy

Friday 1 May 2009

ESCAPING INFLUENZA IN ACAPULCO


Pablo, Vanesa and Pip in the office


Zelika and David in the office


Cheverista Office


David and Vanesa preparing Pisco Sours in the bar


dinner commune!