English
DIARY OF A PANDEMIC. BY MAGNUM PHOTOGRAPHERS
The COVID-19 outbreak has seen most Magnum photographers restricted in their movements. As part of an ongoing photographer-led initiative, Magnum photographers are sharing information, updates, and new work made in these strange and difficult times. Over coming weeks, they’ll be featuring edits of these images, selected by project leader Peter van Agtmael, alongside personal notes and reflections from Magnum photographers on how they are experiencing the unfolding situation.
AMIDST THE PANDEMIC, PABLO HELGUERA SINGS FOR YOU
«If you want to send a free singing telegram to someone you care about, please email us at grandcentral@fullerton.edu. I can sing romantic opera, zarzuela, Hollywood classics, Broadway Tunes, Mexican folk songs, lullabies and Neapolitan songs. As I told the LA Times, I am not Enrico Caruso, but I am free, and I am alive (and happy to be so). If you feel sad or lonely at home or want to cheer someone you love, contact us and we will deliver -promise! (and it is free).» -Pablo Helguera
ELENA DEL RIVERO’S HEALING FEMINISM
The towels, which are larger than human-scale, take their initial design inspiration from the traditional French Torchon aesthetic but soon become testaments to the artist’s hand, kitchen and home as the canvases bear not only acrylic paint but also stains of wine, turmeric, rust and bleach and are subjected to hand-scrubbing in the artist’s tub. As writer and curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill writes of del Rivero’s process in the exhibition text, “the performative act of metaphorically cleaning, while also creating and integrating chance into the process of painting, both celebrates and exorcises women’s history in the kitchen.”
COLLECTING IN TIMES OF CRISIS
It is probable that artists whose works you already collect temporarily stop working and exhibiting as usual. They might be actively involved in the protest, join cabildos, or fulfill other civic duties. Everyone will have to reorganize their life according to the new, difficult situation, losing jobs and therefore finding less time for art. This is not a break in their practice, but a momentary hiatus or an interesting turning point. Given the economic precarity of many artists and the fragility of the local art scene, collectors can be a corrective to the downturns.
ARCHAEOLOGIES OF THE SELFIE
“Suddenly, unexpectedly, the utmost narcissistic practice of image-making turned out to be the most effective way to reach others, offering testimony, breaching distance, overcoming reclusion and ultimately showing our resilient, living community, as it faces and triumphs over the dread of global illness. No one could have known either that in a matter of weeks the world would confront the pandemic of COVID-19 at a planetary scale, turning the meaning of selfies upside down, from head to toe,”
DANIEL LIND-RAMOS: STORAGE OF MEMORY
Lind-Ramos has always told powerful stories through his works of art. It’s no wonder as oral, culinary, musical and visual storytelling are part of his Afro-descendent history and fundamental to his philosophy of being. As evident in the seven pieces exhibited here, Lind-Ramos’ sculptures have a powerful spirit-like presence portraying strength, potency, and depth. Each piece conveys a very particular story through the careful selection and use of materials.
AGAINST, AGAIN: ART UNDER ATTACK IN BRAZIL
The exhibition «Against, Again: Art Under Attack in Brazil» addresses the present transnational wave of authoritarianism by featuring a number of art practices that have responded to oppression in Brazil. Since the rise of a conservative political movement in the last few years that resulted in the election of a far-right president in 2018, threats and attacks against politicians, activists, intellectuals and artists have skyrocketed.
Eugenio Espinoza:good Blue Day
The Piero Atchugarry Gallery presented «Good Blue Day», a solo exhibition of new work by Venezuelan conceptual artist Eugenio Espinoza, including sculpture, painting, installation and performance. Espinoza began his career by subverting our understanding of the Modernist grid, and is celebrated for his radical works that reacted to the dominant movements of geometric abstraction and Kinetic art in Venezuela in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Paz Errázuriz: Próceres [National Heroes]
‘Próceres [National Heroes]’ is a newly printed series (2018) that Paz Errázuriz originally took in 1983. Taken in a government run warehouse in Chile, ‘Próceres [National Heroes]’ captures the last evidence of toppled Chilean statues. These monuments had been violently dismantled and damaged during the height of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1974–1990). This exhibition at Cecilia Brunson Projects in London is the first public showing of this series.
Seismic Movements.dhaka Art Summit 2020
Convening a critical mass of artists, thinkers and participants, the Dhaka Art Summit 2020 reconsiders (art) histories, movement, borders and fault lines. Its fifth edition, Seismic Movements, takes place February 7-15 at the Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, expanding its geographic and temporal scope and looking at movements generated from energy released from pressure -geologically, socially, politically, climatically. Thus, the Summit is not just an exhibition, it is a movement. And is neither a biennale. Although it takes place every two years, this format is simply for organisational and logistical purposes.