'VISÃO DO PARAÍSO: PENSAMENTO SELVAGEM' A PROPOSAL CURATED BY JULIETA GONZALEZ AND PABLO LEON DE LA BARRA FOR ARTRIO, RIO DE JANEIRO

VISÃO DO PARAÍSO: PENSAMENTO SELVAGEM

a proposal curated by Julieta Gonzalez and Pablo Leon de la Barra for ArtRio

ERIKA VERZUTTI, Dino Tropical and Dino Pot, 2012
Galeria Fortes Vilaça


Dino Tropical and Dino Pot welcoming the visitors to quilombo paradise


ERIKA VERZUTTI
Dino Pot, 2012
Concreto
150 x 45 x 45 cm
Galeria Fortes Vilaça


ERIKA VERZUTTI

Dino Tropical, 2012
Concreto e bronze
240 x 15 x 30 cm
Galeria Fortes Vilaça




MANUELA RIBADENEIRA
El arte de navegar (navigation instruments), 2011
Bronze

25 x 8 cm
Casa Triângulo

MANUELA RIBADENEIRA, Horizon Mirror, 2012, Vidro, espelho e latão
and El arte de navegar, 2011, Bronze
, 25 x 8 cm
Casa Triângulo




LOTHAR BAUMGARTEN
Sinnlicher Marmor, 1969 and Fauna-Flora, 1970
C. Prints
64.6 x 82.4 cm
Marian Goodman Gallery



XIMENA GARRIDO-LECCA
Tropismos, 2013
Madeira, metal, concreto, luz motorizada
Dimensões variáveis
Garúa Galería


JOÃO MODÉ
Para o silêncio das plantas [projeto], 2011/2012
Guache sobre papel
29 x 42 cm
A Gentil Carioca





THOMAS GLASSFORD
Gota Verde, 2008
Placas de melamina, verniz, vidro, osso, latão e ferragem
Dimensões variáveis
Sicardi Gallery






ADRIANA MINOLITI
Selva, 2012
Acrílico sobre tela
380 x 180 cm
Daniel Abate Galería



SERGIO VEGA
Modernismo Chamánico, 2013
Fotografias e esculturas por Sergio Vega
KaBe Gallery










SERGIO VEGA
Modernismo Chamánico (Brasilia Cathedral as an LP), 2013
Fotografias e esculturas por Sergio Vega
KaBe Gallery

EDUARDO KAC
Pornograms, 1980
Fotografia 49 x 73 cm
Ink jet sobre papel Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta.
Auto-publicado, impresso em 2010
DocumentArt Gallery






EDUARDO KAC, Porno Poem, 1980


EDUARDO KAC, Manifesto de Arte Pornô, 1982



EDUARDO KAC
Movimento de Arte Pornô, 1982
Intervenção, Praia de Ipanema
P&B, som, 5min
16mm para vídeo
DocumentArt Gallery






DANIEL STEEGMANN MANGRANÉ
Mask, 2012
Folha de ouro sobre folhas diversas
Medidas variáveis
Mendes Wood Gallery




GILDA MANTILLA E RAIMOND CHAVES
Sem Título (Iquitos Metallic Building and Rickshaws), 2012
Vídeo escultura, técnica mista
Dimensões variáveis
Revolver Galería



JUAN ARAUJO
Casa de Vidro 14, 2012
ALI, 2011/2012
Tableau 1, 2011-2012
Óleo sobre madeira
Galeria Luisa Strina

RICARDO ALCAIDE
Intrusion nº7 (Lina Bo Bardi), 2013, 120 x 80 cm
Intrusion nº11 e nº12 (Gio Ponti), 2013, 60 x 40 cm
Tinta acrílica em impressão Inkjet, papel de algodão
Galeria Baró

JEAN-PASCAL FLAVIEN
Sliding World, 2005
Moravec Cut, 2004
House + Stero, 2004
Houses
Esculturas e Lápis vermelho em papel
Catherine Bastide Gallery

JOÃO MODÉ

Vanish,  2005

mosquito repellent spirals hanging sculpture

A Gentil Carioca

THOMAS GLASSFORD
Jungala, 2011
Alumínio adonizado, acrílico, tubo polivinil
Dimensões variáveis
Sicardi Gallery






the office for the gallerists, where they could sell the art from their artists in the jungle



THOMAS GLASSFORD
Fuente Doble, 1990
Cabaça, ferragens de metal
30 x 23 x 33 cm
Sicardi Gallery



LAERCIO REDONDO
Paisagem Impressa , 2013
77 bancos com silkscreen sobre plywood
77 livros indicados por colaboradores do projeto
231 x 363 cm
Courtesy of the artist


LAERCIO REDONDO, landscape library, stools and books






HÉLIO MELO
Sem título (Amazonic Paintings), 1990s
Nanquim e pigmentos naturais
Galeria Pilar

CARLA ZACCAGNINI
Museu das Vistas (2004-on going)
Galeria Vermelho
For Museu das Vistas, a police sketch artist makes a landscape drawings based on the verbal descriptions made by the visitor, the visitor in exchange keeps the original drawing, the museum stays with the carbon copy.






landscapes drawn as part of Carla Zaccagnini's Museu das Vistas


and some visitors having lunch in the Museu das Vistas table






MELANIE SMITH
Xilitla paintings, 2010
Nara Roesler Gallery



MELANIE SMITH
Xilitla: Dismantled 1, 2010
Vídeo transferido de 35mm
24'40"
Nara Roesler Gallery

SOPHIE NYS
Coconut ammulets
2013
Emmanuel Hervé Gallery



PEDRO BARATERIO
Conversa, 
2013

3 sorrisos, 
2013

Tinta da china sobre tela de linho
110 x 150 cm
Galeria Filomena Soares




PEDRO BARATERIO
Planos para a Construção do Paraíso 2010-2013
Lápis de grafite em carvalho revestidos a tinta dourada
Dimensões variáveis
Galeria Filomena Soares


PEDRO BARATERIO
Planos para a des-Construção do Paraíso 2010-2013
Lápis de grafite em carvalho revestidos a tinta dourada
Dimensões variáveis
Galeria Filomena Soares

and preliminary drawings by Pablo Leon de la Barra


(portuguese)
VISÃO DO PARAÍSO: PENSAMENTO SELVAGEM

a proposal curated by Julieta Gonzalez and Pablo Leon de la Barra
Assim como nos nossos projetos anteriores, nos quais revisitamos os pilares dos temas “tropicais” abordados que falam sobre as especificidades locais do rio de Janeiro e do Brasil, o projeto deste ano é voltado para a irresistível presença da natureza no discurso modernista tropical e após. A natureza é parte integrante do pensamento utópico na América Latina, a partir dos temas edênicos que guiam a exploração e conquista do Novo Mundo até a resistência apresentada pela natureza para processos de modernização que ocorrem na região. Do mesmo modo, a natureza tem estado presente nas imaginações artísticas e arquiteturais de nosso continente, assim como nos artistas que viajaram e visitaram a região através de sua história. As obras proporcionam a reflexão contínua sobre os conflitos, contradições e tensões que afloram no momento em que a “civilização” é implantada no mundo natural.

Através da livre inspiração a partir de várias referências – como Moita, criada no ano passado por OPAVIVARÁ; Jardin d’Hiver [Um jardim de inverno], de Marcel Broodthaers; a mostra singular da exibição de Lina Bo Bardi, além de filmes que captam o poder da natureza e das florestas tropicais, tais como os de Luis Buñuel La mort en ce jardin [A Morte Neste Jardim], de 1956, Aguirre e Fitzcarraldo, de Werner Herzog, Apocalypse Now, de Francis Ford Coppola, baseado no romance Heart of darkness [O Coração das Trevas], de Joseph Conrad, cuja representação da selva na função de catalisadora traz o que há de melhor e de pior nos protagonistas do filme – sugerimos a criação de um jardim com o intuito de exibir as obras. Todos os artistas na seleção lidam com visões do paraíso e utopia intermediada pela natureza, tendo o cenário como uma construção ideológica e as intenções implícitas em sua construção.

(english)
VISION OF PARADISE: THE SAVAGE MIND

a proposal curated by Julieta Gonzalez and Pablo Leon de la Barra
As with our previous projects in which we have revisited the underpinnings of the “tropical” addressing themes that speak to the local specificities of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, this year’s project addresses the overwhelming presence of nature in tropical modernist discourse and after. Nature is an integral part of utopian thinking in Latin America, from the edenic motifs that guided the exploration and conquest of the New World to the resistance posed by nature to the modernizing processes that took place in the region. Nature has likewise been present in the artistic and architectural imaginations of our continent and those of the artists who have travelled and visited the region throughout its history; their works provide a continued reflection on the conflicts, contradictions, and tensions that arise when civilization is implanted in the natural world.

Taking free inspiration from several references - last year’s Moita created by OPAVIVARÁ, Marcel Broodthaers’ Jardin d’hiver, Lina Bo Bardi’s singular exhibition displays, and films that have captured the power of nature and the tropical forest such as Luis Buñuel’s La Mort en ce Jardin 1956, Werner Herzog’s Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness) where the jungle acts as a catalyst to bring out the best and worst in the film’s protagonists – we propose to create a garden in which to display the works. The artists in the selection all deal with visions of paradise and utopia mediated by nature, with landscape as an ideological construct, and the agendas implied in its construction.

Participating Artists and Galleries
Adriana Minoliti, Daniel Abate Galería, Buenos Aires
Carla Zaccagnini,Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo
Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Mendes Wood Dm, Sao Paulo
Eduardo Kac, Document Art Gallery, Buenos Aires
Erika Verzutti, Galeria Fortes Vilaça, Sao Paulo
Helio Melo, Galeria Pilar, Sao Paulo
Jean Pascal Flavien, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Brussels
João Modé, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro
Juan Araujo, Galeria Luisa Strina, Sao Paulo
Laercio Redondo, courtesy of the artist
Lothar Baumgarten, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Manuela Ribadeneira, Casa Triângulo, Sao Paulo
Melanie Smith, Galeria Nara Roesler, Sao Paulo
Pedro Barateiro, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisboa
Raimond Chaves & Gilda Mantilla, Revolver Galeria, Lima
Ricardo Alcaide, Baró Galeria, Sao Paulo
Sergio Vega, Kabe Contemporary, Miami
Sophie Nys, Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Bruselles
Thomas Glassford, Sicardi Gallery, Houston
Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Garúa Galería, Lima

http://www.artrio.art.br/

'CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGES FROM CENTRO AMERICA' A NEW BIBLE ON CENTRAL AMERICAN ART EDITED BY LUISA FUENTES GUAZA, OUT NOW

'Contemporary languages from Centro América' edited by Luisa Fuentes Guaza, published by Turner

Introduction by Luisa Fuentes Guaza

NuMu, Guatemala

Ciudad Multiple, Panama

Interview with Adrienne Samos, Panama

exhibition curated by Emiliano Valdes, Nicaragua

Fiesta Eclectica de las Artes, El Salvador

Hybrid Art Projects (aka La Tunca Palace), El Salvador

Simon Vega, El Salvador

Adan Vallecillo, Honduras

Tun, Guatemala

Byron Marmol over Botero at El Encuentro Cheverista in Medellin

Kamin exhibition in Guatemala

Irvin Morazan, El Salvador

Maniana exhibition curated by Beatriz Lopez in Guatemala

and text by Rosina Cazali

Contemporary languages from Centro América
Introduction text by
Luisa Fuentes Guaza. Spain.

This investigation aims at becoming an instrument for reflection and identification of part of the artistic production from Central America From a perspective of curatorial honesty, I would like to highlight that this investigation is both determined and limited by a series of clearly defined discursive lines, which at the same time have generated a confined space that is also inevitably imprinted with my own subjective approach. My hope is that this proposal will be amply discussed.

Everything began with Nosotros, Los Otros[1], an event that took place in Guatemala City in 2011. Proyectos Ultravioleta gave me the wonderful opportunity to take part in a discussion, along with Stefan Benchoam, Emiliano Valdés, Yasmin Hage and the attending public, about possible strategies to identify contemporary practices free of constrictive geopolitical features. This experience sparked in me a keen interest to investigate contemporary practices and languages linked to visual arts developed in Centro América.

As mentioned above, the “operational space” used as the focus for this investigation is limited by the following discursive lines:

1 Identification of porous site-time specific productions in direct dialog with the context in which they are inserted: they activate mechanisms of direct engagement with the space that supports them. The site-time specific approach facilitates the international mobility of artists based in Central America: platforms for artistic experimentation and exhibition of new contemporary practices such as Espira La Espora (Nicaragua), Diablo Rosso (Panama), Des Pacio (Costa Rica), Proyectos Ultravioleta (Guatemala), Kamin (Guatemala), The Fire Theory (El Salvador) and Tacón (Honduras) maintain flexible structures that are permeable to the new mobility flows.

2 Identification of languages and practices that operate in a space of “trans-comfort”: whose inconvenience forces the creator, or the curator, to implement new lines of investigation.

3  Identification of languages whose processes are marked by the outsourcing of the nodes of production and by the opening to new forms of artistic socialization: which, morphology-wise, generate new forms of association characterized by sophisticated linguistic and communicative aptitudes (Symposium: Strategic bridges between art and new audiences: Panama and Honduras).

4 Identification of practices aimed to articulate a conceptual transversal frontier-territory: based on the “arty-endosymbiosis”[2] principle as a space that reclaims the links of reciprocity, the re-socialization of independent work and the multiplication of nodes within associative networks.

From this enclosed space of evaluation, the present investigation develops a series of hypothesis that intend to foster a breeding ground for potential dialectic controversies.

First hypothesis: new mini paradigms for the elaboration of historical-artistic discourses.
We see how historical narratives and discourses build on fertile meetings between cultural agents with potential for mobility. These exchanges accumulate knowledge capital and facilitate the transmission of new practices through non-institutionalized channels, outside the sphere of superstructures. As Cuban artist Tania Bruguera[3] points out: “something that’s usually left aside are the furtive and sensitive encounters that occur when you travel to a different country and you have five beers with someone and then lunch and you engage in a conversation that can change your life as an artist.” The

The motto “discussion as an enriching argument” of Costa Rican platform TEOR/éTica (1999), along with Artefactoría in Nicaragua (1990-2002) or Fundación Colloquia in Guatemala (1998) promoted a new model of artistic legitimization based on the accumulation of knowledge by means of exchange and dialog.

Second hypothesis: overcoming of the “subordinate peripheral region” denomination.
This is a political-artistic time in which the label subordinate peripheral region has been subverted, a topic discussed in Temas Centrales, the 1st Regional Symposium on Curatorial practices and Possibilities celebrated in 2001. It is part of a process to deactivate a patronage-based vertical system which perpetuates the continuity of hegemonic powers that exist thanks to disadvantaged dependent communities. The overcoming of the so-called subordinate peripheral region announces the break with secondary dependence schemes characteristic of the 20th century.

Third hypothesis: the inability to elaborate an identity confined to a geopolitical space as opposed to the possibility to articulate a plural platform for critical discussion.
Internalization, the advent of the Internet, the on-going development of new formulas under the parameters of hyper-connectivity and crossed fertilization. The emergence of new forms of individuation along with the development of new processes of action on our environment[4] inhibit the elaboration of an identity linked to a territory and facilitate the emergence of a new practical regime of contemporary languages.

The scope of this investigation aims, on the one hand, towards the activation of a plural critical device[5] built with a plurality of voices and experiences by a group of active cultural agents, artists and curators. This device is linked to the different artistic scenes in Central America. On the other hand, it aims towards the identification of certain areas of activity in which formal and conceptual concerns converge.

a) New citizenship: Public Space as a parliament:
The re-appropriation of public space is a significant constant theme in part of the contemporary languages generated from Central America. We have identified a persistent concern for finding new forms of interaction with the urban fabric. Unlike private space, public space offers, as a non-restricted location, the possibility to carry out tests, micro-political actions that enable the experimentation with new democratic instruments. A clear example of this kind of proposals is ciudad MULTIPLE city[6] (2003), a project that combined contemporary local and international practices carried out in the urban space of Panama City. New parliamentary formulas that operate in the legitimacy of the space for artistic research, with the aim of serving as the catalyst for relation models.

b) From Tlamatinime to Catarata: geometry for beginners.
Recovering the simplicity of geometry as a universal language was one of the main activities of the Tlamatinime (Mesoamerican wise men). This investigation has come across productions such as the exhibition Catarata (2012) by Federico Herrero, that vindicate part of the Mesoamerican constructive imaginary with the aim to define similarities between the non-perceptible—the quantum dimension—and the laws ruling our more immediate reality.

c) Defusing Utopias: De-activating postmodernity.
For most Central American societies, the 20th century was marked by periods of political instability and intense systemic violence[7], with the exception of Costa Rica, which during those years enjoyed a healthy democratic system. These periods have caused cracks in the ideologies that have tried to establish idiosyncrasies whose aim was to foster social, political and economic improvements.

This section focuses on the analysis of contemporary practices investigating the disrupting mechanisms of utopias that have generated a discontinuous program in the architectural, political, social and cultural development of Central America.

d) Economy of friendship.
Affective bonds have become a major resource for articulating artistic communities that generate new spaces–for instance, the International Meeting (cheverista) in Medellin (2011) and Des Pacio’s residency program in Costa Rica—that are neither strictly private nor completely open, based on participatory dynamics and with features of “individuation” processes.

e) Liquid Identity: figuring out the polyhedron.
The search for an identity to build oneself in a globalized context—as the last resort to retain a sense of belonging—in which artistic processes must avoid the “homogenization” resulting from a hetero-referenced reality (a concern expressed in Raúl Quintanilla’s installation GloBANANAlizacion)[8] becomes a complex, multi-faceted and liquid task similar to a volcanic crust that hardens and melts again, constantly reshaping[9].

f) Acupuncture on the artistic tissue as an opening device.
This area of activity identifies part of the sediments that are essential to contextualize the evolution and opening process of contemporary languages from Central America since the late 1990s. Outstanding examples of this are the visit of the curator of the 49th Venice Biennial Harald Szeeman; the new coordinates of art from the Isthmus that curators Rolando Castellón and Virginia Perez-Ratton established in the exhibition Mesótica II: Centroamérica. Re-generación (1996)[10] and the opening efforts of Luis Gonzalez Palma and Moses Barrios in Galeria Imaginaria and Artefactoría in Managua are indisputable pieces in the development of visual languages in Central America.

[1] Nosotros, los otros (2011). Proyectos Ultravioleta. Guatemala City
[2] An endosymbiont is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism.
[3] Interview with Tania Bruguera. December 2012
[4] Estética de la Emergencia (Adriana Hidalgo, 2011). Laddaga, Reinaldo.
[5] TACÓN, Nómadas, EAT/Escuela Experimental de las Artes, Espira La Espora, RAPACES, Proyecto CABRA–Centro América/Brasil, Hybridart Projects and Casa Alegre.
[6] ciudad MÚLTIPLE city, 2003 curated by Gerardo Mosquera and Adrienne Samos.
[7] VPCR: Vídeo Políticas de Construcción y Reacción, (2012) curated by The Fire Theory, related to Kency Cornejo’s doctoral research The visual disobedient. Geopolitic experimental art. Central America.
[8] GloBANANAlización. Raúl Quintanilla.
[9] “Liquid modernity” is a concept coined by Zygmunt Bauman.
[10] Mesótica II: Centroamérica. Re-generación, (1996). Exhibition dedicated to Gerardo Mosquera. 

*****

press release
CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGES FROM CENTRO AMÉRICA

A detailed cartography of what is taking place in the Central American art scene, and more specifically in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, where art is currently undergoing a great period of effervescence and exponential growth, having major international ramifications.

Containing more than 170 entries for curators, artists and spaces, as well as a selection of approximately 90 projects, along with interviews of the main cultural role-players who are now active in the Central American scene.

Luisa Fuentes Guaza is an independent curator from Madrid. She specializes in contemporary Latin American art. She was a member of the 2012 selection committee of the CIFO scholarships program and worked in collaboration with ARTESUR. She is the author of USTEDES. NOSOTROS/ Jóvenes Artistas Iberoamericanos (YOU. US/ Young Ibero-American Artists, Barcelona, Indexbook, 2010). At present, she works as a guest curator for La Casa Encendida as part of the program En Casa 2013, dedicated to emerging international artists.

Edited: Luisa Fuentes Gaza
Pages: 530
Format : 6,6 x 8,4 in
Images: 250
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 978-84-15832-63-8
Spanish/English
Retail Price: 28 euros 

www.turnerlibros.com