Nelesi Rodriguez

Guatemala Después: Rethinking the Past, Reimagining the Now

Exhibition On View: April 9–April 29, 2015

Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, The New School

Opening: April 9, 5:30–8:30 p.m

On April 9 the exhibition Guatemala Después opens at Aronson Gallery with a curator’s tour and a public reception, followed by a panel discussion with the artists Regina José Galindo and Beatriz Cortez as well as with the curators Pablo José Ramirez de León and Emiliano Valdes.

Guatemala Después is a collaborative curatorial project between The New School and Ciudad de la Imaginación that showcases artistic practices that reclaim suspended histories, resurface invisible injustices, and engage in dialogues that relocate our imagination of the present. The exhibition features 12 artist collaboratives and includes such artists as Regina José Galindo, Jessica Kairé, Daniel Hernández-Salazar, and Benvenuto Chavajay, among other artists, activists and academics.

Program for Exhibit Opening on April 9th:

5:30pm: Curator’s Tour by Pablo José Ramírez and Nitin Sawhney, Aronson Gallery, 66 Fifth Ave at 13th St., New York

6pm: Public Reception with wine at Aronson Gallery, co-sponsored by the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center

7pm: Panel Discussion – Guatemala Después: Rethinking the Past, Reimagining the Now

John L. Tishman Auditorium, University Center, 63 Fifth Avenue, New York

A panel discussion on the role of contemporary art and curatorial practices in rethinking historical memory and resurfacing invisible justices in the context of Guatemala today. Renowned Guatemalan performance artist Regina José Galindo will be joined by artist-scholar Beatriz Cortéz in conversation with curators Pablo José Ramírez and Emiliano Valdes. The panel will be moderated by Radhika Subramaniam and live streamed.

Guatemala Después is presented by the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, The School of Media Studies, The New School for Public Engagement and Ciudad de la Imaginación (Quetzaltenango, Guatemala).

Stay tuned for other public events related to this exhibition in April: http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/currentExhibitions.aspx?id=107403

Yasmin Hage

Yasmin Hage (Guatemala, 1976) lives and works in Guatemala. She took part in projects such as Octubre Azul, Colloquia, Landings, Image Factory Art Foundation, Contexto (Cinismo, Milenio, Libertad), Lo que hay es lo que hay (DSII), Días Mejores, 2003 (Rosina Cazali), V Bienal del Caribe 2004, 16 Bienal de Arte Paiz 2006 (Nelson Herrera Ysla), “Esbozo para la creación de una sociedad del futuro” 2007, (Laboratorio Curatorial 060) con el proyecto en sitio aldea modelo, pequeña historia,1984, “CulturvaVersusCultura” (Marivi Véliz), “Habitart” y “Campo y Ciudad” (Emiliano Valdés), Ciudad de la Imaginación (Pablo Ramírez), 17 Bienal de Paiz 2010 (José Roca), 8va Bienal Centroamericana (2010), Ultravioleta (bla.bla.bla), The Street Files 2011 (Bienal del Museo del Barrio en Nueva York) y Geopoéticas, Bienal de Mercosur 2011 (José Roca), La Ruleta, Diablo Rosso (Me asusta pero me gusta), Serie Revisiones 2012 (Excéntrico, E. Valdés), Lenguajes Contemporáneos desde Centroamérica (2013, editorial Turner) y Todos tenemos derecho a ser honestos en Espacio Mínimo, Madrid, 2014 (Luisa Fuentes Guaza), la 19 BAP, Transvisible (Cecilia Fajardo Hill). Her work is shown in the collection of the Blanton Museum – Austin, Texas, the Ortiz Gurdián Foundation – León, Nicaragua, Le Plateau – Paris, France, Empresarios por el arte – San José, Costa Rica, Colección APT – México, Colección Quinto-Lojo Guatemala and Colección John Gody, Guatemala.

Statement Yasmin Hage:
“I have a strong relation to drawing which during time slowly transplanted to other forms of art. Through drawing and through the act of representation I acquired a sense of rigorousness, of working on relations, of considering the plane of an art work as a small universe, form and overflow at the same time. Still, my recent work has changed and I now use notions of interchange, orality and negotiation to reconstruct my work with more porous and elastic structures; in some circumstances site specifics and/or in galleries, combining traditional and conceptual languages depending on a new materialization, how it reconfigures after the act, after the document, after the anecdote.”

Visit her project for Guatemala Después, “El olvido que no sabe que es olvido”.

ESP

Yasmin Hage (Guatemala, 1976) vive y trabaja desde Guatemala. Ha sido parte de proyectos como Octubre Azul, Colloquia, Landings, Image Factory Art Foundation, Contexto (Cinismo, Milenio, Libertad), Lo que hay es lo que hay (DSII), Días Mejores, 2003 (Rosina Cazali), V Bienal del Caribe 2004, 16 Bienal de Arte Paiz 2006 (Nelson Herrera Ysla), “Esbozo para la creación de una sociedad del futuro” 2007, (Laboratorio Curatorial 060) con el proyecto en sitio aldea modelo, pequeña historia,1984, “CulturvaVersusCultura” (Marivi Véliz), “Habitart” y “Campo y Ciudad” (Emiliano Valdés), Ciudad de la Imaginación (Pablo Ramírez), 17 Bienal de Paiz 2010 (José Roca), 8va Bienal Centroamericana (2010), Ultravioleta (bla.bla.bla), The Street Files 2011 (Bienal del Museo del Barrio en Nueva York) y Geopoéticas, Bienal de Mercosur 2011 (José Roca), La Ruleta, Diablo Rosso (Me asusta pero me gusta), Serie Revisiones 2012 (Excéntrico, E. Valdés), Lenguajes Contemporáneos desde Centroamérica (2013, editorial Turner) y Todos tenemos derecho a ser honestos en Espacio Mínimo, Madrid, 2014 (Luisa Fuentes Guaza), la 19 BAP, Transvisible (Cecilia Fajardo Hill). Está en las colecciones del Museo Blanton – Austin Texas, Fundación Ortiz Gurdián – León Nicaragua, Le Plateau – París Francia, Empresarios por el arte – San José Costa Rica, Colección APT – México, Colección Quinto-Lojo Guatemala y Colección John Gody, Guatemala. www.serierevisiones.com/yasminhage

Statement Yasmin Hage:
“Tengo una fuerte relación con el dibujo que con el tiempo ha ido trasplantándose hacia otras formas a partir del arte. El sentido de rigor, de ejercer relaciones, de considerar el plano de la obra como un pequeño universo a la vez contenido y desbordado, lo he adquirido del dibujo y del acto de la representación, sin embargo mi trabajo más reciente ha ido migrando y he utilizado el intercambio, la oralidad y la negociación para reconstituir mi obra con estructuras más porosas y elásticas, en circunstancias sitio específicas y/o de sala, combinando lenguajes tradicionales y conceptuales en función de la nueva materialización, y cómo vuelve a reconfigurarse después del hecho, después del documento, después de la anécdota.”

Visita su proyecto en Guatemala Después, “El olvido que no sabe que es olvido”.

CELEBRATING CONTEMPORARY GUATEMALAN ART: CONVERSATIONS WITH ARTISTS & CURATORS

Friday, March 6, 2015, 6:30–9:30pm
The New School, Theresa Lang Community Center
55 West 13th Street (2nd floor)FREE and open to the public; food and drinks will be served.
Follow the live stream here.

In recent years Guatemalan artistic production has been extremely powerful, with an emergence of both critical and whimsical artistic practices responding to the violence, repression and historical memory of the previous decades in Guatemala, but also its unique sense of contemporaneity, indigeneity and radical urban imagination. Contemporary Guatemalan artists such as Regina José Galindo, Benvenuto Chavajay, Jorge de León and many others are recognized widely not only in the context of Central/Latin America, but receive much acclaim on the world stage, while contemporary urban art spaces like NuMu and Proyectos Ultravioleta are notable for their inventive curatorial practices and creative public engagement.

This unique event showcases the exciting energy around contemporary artistic and curatorial practices emerging in Guatemala today. It features artists including Jessica Kairé, Terike Haapoja, and Jaime Permuth, who will present recent projects conducted in Guatemala; curators Anabella Acevedo and Pablo José Ramírez (joining remotely from Guatemala); and Prof. Nitin Sawhney from The New School Media Studies program. Sawhney, Acevedo and Ramirez are co-organizing the exhibition initiative Guatemala Después which will open this April (on view April 9-29) at The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons/The New School and at Ciudad de la Imaginación in Guatemala this June, featuring the work of over 40 Guatemalan and US-based artists.

Please see the recently launched Kickstarter Campaign for Guatemala Después to learn more and contribute to this exciting new project.

The conversation will be moderated by María Del Carmen Carrión, ICI’s Director of Public Programs & Research, followed by an informal mixer with Guatemalan food and drinks, and a performance by Guatemalan musician Isabel Ruano.

This event is organized in collaboration with the Independent Curators International (ICI) and Ciudad de la Imaginación as well as The School of Media Studies, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC), and Vera List Center for Art and Politics; it is co-sponsored by the University Student Senate (USS) at The New School.

SPEAKER BIOS:

TERIKE HAAPOJA

Terike Haapoja is a Finnish visual artist. With a specific focus in encounters with nature, death and other species, Haapoja’s work investigates the existential and political boundaries of our world. Haapoja’s work raises questions about the existential basis radical otherness provide for being, and about how different structures of exclusion and discrimination function as foundations for identity and culture. Haapoja approaches the previously mentioned themes by building up large projects, often realized in the forms of installations, related publications and participatory acts. Haapoja contributes regularly to Finnish and international art publications. She was the editor of mustekala.info issue ”After the Animal” (2013), co-editor of special issue ”Animal” of Esitys-journal (2013) and co-editor of the Finnish Bioart Society’s publication Field_Notes: From Landscape to Laboratory (2013). Haapoja represented Finland in the Venice Biennale in 2013 with a solo show in the Nordic Pavilion.

JESSICA KAIRE

Jessica Kairé is a Guatemalan multi-disciplinary artist and educator living in Brooklyn, New York. She is also the co-founder and co-director of Nuevo Museo de Arte Contemporáneo-NuMu-Guatemala.

JAIME PERMUTH

Jaime Permuth is a Guatemalan photographer living and working in New York City. In 2014, he was awarded with a Smithsonian Institution Artist Fellowship and was also nominated for a 2014 USA Artists Fellowship. In 2013, his first monograph Yonkeroswas published by La Fabrica Editorial (Madrid). Also, in 2013 he was nominated for the Prix Pictet and awarded an NFA Fellowship from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures. His photographs have been shown at several venues in New York, NY, including: The Museum of Modern Art, The Queens Museum of Art, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Museum of the City of New York, The Jewish Museum, El Museo del Barrio, and The Brooklyn Museum of Art. He has also exhibited internationally at the Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno in Guatemala, Ryugaheon Gallery (Korea) Casa del Lago in Mexico City, and the Israeli Parliament. Permuth is a Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts, where he teaches in the Master of Professional Studies in Digital Photography program curating and hosting their i3 Lecture Series.

ANABELLA ACEVEDO

Anabella Acevedo is Executive Director of Ciudad de la Imaginación. She is an independent academic; she has resided and worked in Quetzaltenango since 2005. She holds an undergraduate degree in Literature and Philosophy from the Rafael Landívar University. She obtained her Master’s in Latin American Literature in 1989 and a doctorate in Latin American Literature from the University of Georgia in 1994. She was the Director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program in Guatemala, form 2001 to 2013, when she worked at the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica (CIRMA). She has co-curated several exhibits, such as Estados de Excepción (States of Exception) in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. In 2001 she was the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation research grant for the project “Marginalidades, transgresiones y negociaciones. La violencia en Guatemala a través de las prácticas culturales de los jóvenes.” Acevedo curated the XVII and XIX Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala (2012 & 2014). In 2013 she formed part of a research team for the “The curvature of time, Art and Women.” She has published several essays about literature and Guatemalan Art.

PABLO JOSÉ RAMÍREZ

Pablo José Ramírez is a curator, political theorist and art writer based in Guatemala. He is the founder and director of the Contemporary Art & Political Theory Simposium,Absurdo. Between 2011 and 2014 he was the Executive Director and Curator at Ciudad de la Imaginación and continues to work there as the Associate Curator. He was co-curator of the XIX Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala. He has received several grants including The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros 2012 CIMAM Travel grant. He is co-founder and member of the editorial comittee of Gimnasia, an online site for critical theory of arts and culture in Central America. His most recent curatorial projects are: Estados de Excepción (States of Exception) in Guatemala and Ecuador and La caricia vulgar de la caida (The vulgar caress of the fall) at the Spanish Cultural Center of Guatemala. He is currently co-curating Guatemala Despuesa project produced by the New School in New York and is also curating an exhibition with Remco De Blaaij that will open at CCA Glasgow in November 2014.

NITIN SAWHNEY

Nitin Sawhney, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the New School. His research, teaching and creative practice engages the critical role of technology, civic media, and artistic interventions in contested spaces. Nitin previously taught at the MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) and conducted research at the MIT Media Lab. He examines social movements and crisis contexts, though forms of creative urban tactics, participatory research, performance and documentary film. He is the co-curator of the Guatemala Después exhibitions to be held in New York and Guatemala in 2015. He previously co-curated the participatory exhibition #SearchUnderOccupy at the New School to showcase creative responses to the Occupy Movement in New York City in 2012. Nitin is currently completing a documentary film, Zona Intervenida, focusing on genocide, memory and body through site-specific performance interventions and documentary film in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

On Food, Migration, and Social Justice: An interview with Jessica Kairé

Last December we had a delightful conversation with Jessica Kairé at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York City. We talked about her collaboration with social scientist Daniel Perera, the purpose of their artistic proposal, and her personal motivations behind it. Here’s a brief video recording of the discussion:

Jessica Kairé and Daniel Perera have been friends for a long time, but this is the first time they are finally collaborating on a project.

Can you hear me? is an artistic intervention that uses everyday culture to challenge contemporary reality. The piece, initially developed by Kairé, will develop further in this iteration from Perera’s experience working in anthropology and political science, by nurturing distinct conversations among selected participants in the US and Guatemala over dinner, while promoting tolerance and dialogue among their publics.

For more information, visit:
NuMu, contemporary arts initiative co-founded by Jessica Kairé in Guatemala: http://elnuevomuseo.org

An investigation on Food, Migration, and Identity conducted by Zina Alam, a graduate student at The New School, and inspired by Jessica’s work: https://artmediaconflict.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/zina-food-memory-home/

ESP

El pasado mes de diciembre tuvimos una maravillosa conversación con Jessica Kairé en la librería-café de Housing Works en NYC. Allí conversamos sobre su colaboración con el científico social Daniel Perera, sobre el propósito de su propuesta artística y sobre sus motivaciones detrás de ella. Acá les dejamos una corta grabación de nuestra discusión:

Jessica Kairé y Daniel Perera han sido amigos por muchos años, pero ésta es la primera vez que colaboran en un proyecto.

Can you hear me? es una intervención artística que utiliza elementos de la cotidianidad para cuestionar la realidad contemporánea. La pieza, desarrollada inicialmente por Kairé, será desarrollada en mayor profundidad en esta vez, en la que la experiencia de Perera en antropología y ciencias políticas nutrirá las distintas conversaciones que se llevarán a cabo durante cenas entre participantes de Guatemala y los Estados Unidos, promoviendo así la tolerancia y el diálogo en el público.

Para más información, visita:

NuMu, iniciativa de arte contemporáneo co-fundada por Jessica Kairé en Guatemala: http://elnuevomuseo.org

Una investigación sobre Comida, Migración e Identidad, e inspirada en el trabajo de Jessica, llevada a cabo por Zina Alam, estudiante de la Maestría de Media Studies en The New School: https://artmediaconflict.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/zina-food-memory-home/

Interview with Curator Pablo José Ramírez

Pablo José Ramírez is a curator, political theorist, and arts writer based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and currently serves as an Associate Curator for Ciudad de la Imaginación. Pablo is also one of the co-curators of the Guatemala Después project. He was in New York City last week to attend the College Art Association’s 103rd Annual Conference (CCA), participating in a panel on “Contemporary Art in Central America and its Diaspora“.

On February 11th, 2015, Pablo visited the “Curatorial Design and Media Practices” course at The New School, and gave a talk on “Radical Indigenous Contemporary Art”. The course, taught by Prof. Nitin Sawhney, is designed to engage graduate students in Media Studies and Design with the production of the Guatemala Después exhibition and programming.

We seized the opportunity to speak with Pablo about his thoughts on the emergence of Guatemala Después, how it supports Guatemalan artists, and its long-term impact in Guatemala and abroad. Watch the interview to learn more:

The interview was filmed and edited by Livia Santos on Friday, February 13th, 2015 at The New School’s Sheila Johnson Design Center (SJDC), which is also the site of the upcoming Guatemala Después exhibition in April.

More about Pablo’s curatorial work: http://www.pablojoseramirez.com

ESP

La semana pasada Pablo José Ramírez, uno de los curadores involucrados en Guatemala Después, visitó Nueva York con el propósito de participar en la 103ª Conferencia Anual del College American Association como panelista en una discusión sobre “Arte Contemporáneo de Centroamérica y su Diáspora”.

Mientras estuvo acá, también dio una charla sobre “Arte Indígena Contemporáneo Radical” en nuestra clase Diseño Curatorial y Prácticas Mediales. Nosotros aprovechamos la oportunidad para entrevistarlo sobre su visión acerca del proyecto Guatemala Después.

Pablo José Ramírez es un curador, teórico político y escritor de arte con base en Guatemala. Entre 2011 y 2014 se desempeñó como Director Ejecutivo y Curador de Ciudad de la Imaginación, y actualmente continúa colaborando con la organización como Curador Asociado. Tuvo la oportunidad de co-curar la 19 Bienal de Arte Paiz en Guatemala, junto a Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Rosina Cazali y Anabella Acevedo. Es el fundador del Simposio de Arte Contemporáneo y Teoría Política, Absurdo. Ha recibido distintos reconocimientos por su trabajo, incluyendo la 2012 CIMAM Beca de Viaje de la Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Sus proyectos curatoriales más recientes son: Estados de Excepción, en Guatemala y Ecuador, La caricia vulgar de la caída en el Centro Cultural Español de Guatemala, y Muxu’s, en Ciudad de la Imaginación. Actualmente, Pablo forma parte del equipo de Guatemala Después.

Si quieres conocer más sobre Pablo, visita: http://www.pablojoseramirez.com