[-empyre-] Curatorial Dynamics

[Raul Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet <rfbalanquet@cartodigital.org>]

Dear Members, amigos de la lista;


When I was asked to bring issues relating to Arte Nuevo InteractivA
to this list, I was expecting to create an interdisciplinary
dialogue, rich as the one that was taking earlier in the month. So
far, the responses had been a few and in the last few days I have
begun to question the dynamics of the list.

I had been involved in electronic lists for a long time and
understand that there, as well as in the physical world, there is a
diverse population, interested in many issues and make presence
according to their personal interests. As I said before, for me
silence is also writing, therefore I can assume that what is been
writing here is an ambivalent discourse that had place the list in an
alert situation. If that is the case, power to all.

Years ago, when studying Latin American cinema at the university of
Iowa, I ran into an essay by Glauber Rocha where he described how the
European intellectuals favor Goddard's film over the his film "The
Seven Head" at the Venecia Festival. Up to the moment Goddard and
Rocha were good friends, -Rocha appeared in one of Goddard's film.
In his essay, our great cinematic master makes references to the way
in which Latin America knowledge and creative practices are always
seen by the west with the marks of its own ideological apparatus. The
late Edward Said, brilliantly in his book Orientalism, has described
this vision and shared with Rocha a critique on the way in which the
absences of knowledge about our cultural territories forces the
"exotic/primitive/underdeveloped interpretation" we usually get.

I bring this example because when Arte Nuevo InteractivA came to
life; I wanted to deconstruct the power dynamics established between
the big biennales and the art market in order to create a rupture
where the art and  the artists included in the event were not
pressured by the economic mechanism sustaining these biennales. In
the process, I had to committee the artists, the people and
institutions supporting the event and myself to structures of
knowledge and social interaction where fund raising became "resources
raising" and all the people involved, in one way or another;
contribute to the creation of the biennale.  If within the
phalocentric prism I am seen as the shaker of the event, in the
complex geometrical territories where we construct the success of the
project, many individuals are working at the same level I am.

For a long time, in Latin America, we have reconsidered the
production of knowledge and art within the context of
interdisciplinary relations. In many ways, we have come to term with
the need of an educational process encompassing and understanding
that interdisciplinary research and learning are the tool to continue
our grow as a multi-ethnic culture(s).

One night at the 03 biennale, eating at a Thai restaurant, I
confessed that I was tired of working for the event. Even though I
have been accused by some people of using Arte Nuevo InteractivA to
show case my work, the fact was that I couldn't finish my art on time
for that biennale because of the amount of work that required such an
enormous endeavor. Eduardo Navas, Gita Hashemi and Heidi Figueroa
came to my rescue and reassured me that it was important to continue
the work because of the kind of social cultural dynamics created by
the project. I was happy to have their support and in a lot of ways,
I am in debt to them for fueling my spirit when I was ready to quite.

The process hasn't been perfect. There are many connections that are
no longer working and I have realized that in our cultural spaces
there are clicks and networks working in similar fashion as the art
market and the big biennales. Exclusion also takes place in this part
of the world.

When some of the artists, critics and curators mentioned their
interests in coming to the biennale, I was frantic. There was not
money to find hotel rooms for the people and I was afraid that
Merida, with the image of such a great hospitality, would fail to
these artists. Nevertheless, that interdisciplinary approach and the
inputs of the artists, critics ad curators helped me to visualize an
interdisciplinary lab where the biennale could reach into many
corners of the city such as art centers, universities and art schools.

Today, with the great help of the deities, Orishas, gods, virgenes,
Santos and Aluxes, the Technological Metropolitan University agreed
to support the workshop of Fernando Orellana paying for his hotels
and meals. Our marketing team have found great discounts at one of
the hotel in downtown so the way in which the resources and the
knowledge will circulate in the city during the biennale demonstrate
that the work of Fernando won't stay in the closed door of an art
center, but will travel to an educational territory where he will
contribute to the production of interdisciplinary knowledge and the
support of the business community will be appreciated in other ways.

Perhaps as Said and Rocha have argued before, the written silence in
this list is a proof of the absence of knowledge about our cultural
production or an uncanny manifestation of the peripheral condition in
which some people still want to place our cultures. I want to believe
that the silence is a written code transgressing all territories,
empowering each of us as we find new ways of co-exist along the
cosmic energies.

Abrazotes to all,

Raul
--
Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet MFA
Curador Ejecutivo/ Arte Nuevo InteractivA
http://www.cartodigital.org/interactiva
interactiva@cartodigital.org