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25/6/2009

Don't Stare at the Sun

Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu - CoCA, Torun

Artists: Mauricio Alejo (MEX/USA), Juan Carlos Alom (CUB), María Fernanda Cardoso (COL/AUS), Clemencia Echeverri (COL), Regina José Galindo (GTM), Teresa Margolles (MEX), Ana Mendieta (CUB/USA), Ernesto Neto (BRA), Javier Téllez (VEN/USA)

Curated by: Agnieszka Pindera, Joanna Zielińska

Our bodies have a remarkable ability to immortalize transitory places and objects in the form of images. Hans Belting says that the collective cultural memory that provides us with images is also retained in the institutional memory of archives. An art collection is one such archive - "a place outside of time". The exhibition DON'T STARE AT THE SUN Works from the Daros Latinamerica Collection comprises video works, objects and installations by Latin American artists.

Key ideas for an understanding of the exhibition are oblivion (repressed experience) and memory, on which the artists draw in their tales of desire, of sensual perception of the world, of a "longing body", experiences frequently too difficult to be expressed - hidden in simple instincts, traditions and pre-Columbian rites, and also of events in the social and political histories of the places they come from. Another departure point is the body defined as the place where memory dwells. Jacques Lacan writes: (...) I speak through my body without realizing this. I always say more than I think I do.

People turn their eyes away from the sun, and Georges Bataille writes: the erection and the sun scandalize, in the same way as the cadaver and the darkness of cellars. Human eyes tolerate neither sun, coitus, cadavers, nor obscurity, but with different reactions. The phrase "don't stare at the sun" in the title of the exhibition refers directly to sensual cognition, traumatic at times, a dangerous flouting of taboos, touching upon painful areas.

Daros Latinamerica is the largest collection of contemporary Latin American art in Europe, currently comprised of over 1,000 works by some 100 artists. The collection covers the entire range of contemporary media and materials including sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs, as well as videos, installations and sound pieces. While the collection focuses on art created during the past 20 years, key works of the 1960s and 70s are also included. Daros Latinamerica's aim is to develop an ever more complex network of relations and encourage a variety of approaches to the collected works, and thus contribute to a broader understanding of Latin American art today. The institution is committed to fostering an ongoing exchange among artists and with the public.

Artists:

Mauricio Alejo
Born in Mexico in 1969, he's currently living and working in New York. Alejo studied at the Universidad Intercontinental in Mexico and at The NY University (USA). Scholar of the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes . His works were presented at the VII, VIII and IX Biennale of Fotography in Mexico, as well as at the ARCO 06 exhibition at the Ramis Barquet Gallery in Madrid (2006), the Art Basel in Miami (2005), or at the Mexican Contemporary Photography exhibition at Lee Ka-Sing Gallery in Toronto (2002). As a photographer and video director, he concentrates on situations in which ordinary object is placed in symbolic and sculptural surrounding, retaining, however, its primordial function. Creating certain atmosphere of nostalgia, the artist emphasizes that the better world is rather possible in one's imagination then in everyday life.

Juan Carlos Alom
Born in 1964 in Havana, Cuba. He works in experimental photography, film and video. Alom studied linguistics at the Institute of International Journalism in Havana and completed a photography course in Fototeca de Cuba. His works draw upon magic, rituals or practices of Afro-Cuban religions. Alom employs realistic means of expression to create a mystic and religious aura, enriching his works with references to ethnic as well as ethical problems of Cuban society, showing them in a personal and poetic manner. The themes taken up by the artist do not belong to issues traditionally represented in Cuban documentary photography. Alom balances on the boundary between commonly accepted rules for image perception and an extremely personal vision of the world.

Maria Fernanda Cardoso
Born in Columbia in 1963. She lives and works in Sidney, Australia. Installation artist famous for using unconventional materials in her works. She draws inspiration from the animal world and natural materials. She studied sculpture at the Yale University in New Haven and architecture at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. Cardoso is also a lecturer at the California Institute for the Arts in Los Angeles and the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá. Apart from making installations, Cardoso runs her own circus – a flea circus, where she trains the insects and makes decorations herself. In this way she combines a natural world with an artificial and fictitious one. She applies the same rules to her sculptures and installations placed in gallery spaces. Cardoso made an installation of 36,000 artificial lilies Modern Starts for the Museum of Modern Art in New York on the occasion of the new millennium.

Clemencia Echeverri
Born in 1950 in Caldas, Columbia. She lives and works in Bogotá. A video and installation artist as well as a photographer. She studied at the Chelsea College of Art and the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, Columbia. In her work, Echeverri is concerned with such human experiences as pain, loneliness and violence. The artist looks for new, often controversial themes, realizing that choosing alternative means of expression involves rejection of the “convenient” ones.

Regina José Galindo
Born in 1974 in Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala. A performance and body artist as well as a poetess. Her work draws upon everyday life in Guatemala, including disaster and social injustice. Violence, hunger and poverty are the main themes of her actions recorded on video tapes. The 2003 performance ¿Quién Puede Borrar las Huellas? (Who Can Erase the Traces?) counts among the most spectacular ones. The artist walked all the way from the main court to the National Palace leaving bloody traces as she dipped her feet in a basin filled with human blood. In this way Galindo protested against the presidential candidacy of José Efraín Ríos Montt. Violence towards women is also an important issue in her works. In one of her most famous actions, she underwent the illegal procedure of hymen reconstruction. She received the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennial in 2005.

Teresa Margolles
Born in 1963 in Culiacán, Mexico, where she lives and works. Her work revolves around the questions of the body, death, memory and magical rituals. She studied art at the Dirección de Fomento a la Cultura Regional del Estado de Sinaloa (DIFOCUR). She received a diploma in forensic medicine at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Together with Arturo Ángulo Gallardo, Juan Luis García Zavaleta and Carlos López Orozco, she founded the SEMEFO group devoted to forensic medical research in 1990. Teresa Margolles is the only member of the group publicly displaying her works. She keeps working within the same scope of themes where Mexico City remains the main inspiration. She is interested in individual death in the context of social and political conditioning. She represents Mexico at the Venice Biennial 2009.

Ana Mendieta
Born in 1948 in Havana, Cuba, died in 1985 in New York, USA. Her works created space for a dialogue between landscape and her own body which became her artistic medium. In the 1960s, twelve years old, she emigrated to the United States without her parents. After traumatic events she returned to Cuba in 1980. She established contact with local artistic circles, familiarizing herself with rich Afro-Cuban tradition. She became the connection between Cuban and North American art. Mendieta’s work belongs to the feminist cult of female body – a repository of personal and social values. She also emphasized the role of the female body as a source of life and a symbol of sexuality from time immemorial. In 1985, she fell to death from a window. She produced eight films, recorded many events and performances, created installations, drawings and sculptures.

Ernesto Neto
Born in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he lives and works. One of the best-known Brazilian artists. He creates spectacular sculptures and installations. Initially, he used geometric forms in his works, suggesting inspiration coming from Russian constructivism or American minimalism. He was also fascinated with Brazilian neoconcretism, mostly Lygia Clark’s work. In the late 1950s and the early 1960s he rejected the dominant trend of geometric abstraction and began creating organic sculptures made of textiles. Neto decided to made “living objects” and to combine them with architecture into one body. His works tend to be gigantic and can be entered. Ernesto Neto’s works were displayed at the Venice Biennial in 2001 amongst others.

Javier Téllez
Born in 1969 in Palencia, Venezuela. He lives and works in New York. A video and installation artist. In his films, documentary themes are often combined with fictional stories. Téllez’s parents were psychiatrists, which determined his scope of interest and the range of themes in his work. The focus of his work is on mental illness as well as on borderline behaviour and the way people react in extreme situation. He combines social and political issues with such questions as religion or cultural and national identity. Téllez admits that this gives him the possibility to “show the outsiders to make them the insiders”. Art is for him a way to comment on cultural taboos. Téllez’s works were exhibited at Kwangju Biennial in Korea (2000), MercoSur Biennial in Mexico (1997) and at P.S.1's International Studio Program (1994) amongst others.

DAROS LATINAMERICA COLLECTION
Daros Latinamerica is the largest collection of contemporary Latin American art in Europe, currently comprising over 1,000 works by some 100 artists. The collection covers the entire range of contemporary media and materials and includes sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs, as well as videos, installations and sound pieces. While the collection focuses on art created during the past 20 years, key works of the 1960s and 1970s are also included. Daros Latinamerica is committed to fostering an ongoing exchange among artists and with the public. The aim is to develop an ever more complex network of relations and encourage a variety of approaches to the collected works, and thus contribute to a broader understanding of Latin American art today. With its permanent residence in Zurich’s Löwenbräu-Areal, the Daros Exhibitions space regularly presents shows of art from both collections: the Daros Collection, focusing on international art, mainly from North America, created over the past fifty years, and the Daros Latinamerica Collection. In 2010 Daros Latinamerica will expand its operations beyond Zurich when it inaugurates a new art center in Rio de Janeiro at the nineteenth-century orphanage in the city’s Botafogo district. In addition to mounting exhibitions, it will also feature a “mediatheque” and provide venues for a wide variety of events, as well as a sophisticated art education programme.

Image: Ernesto Neto, Humanoides, 2001, Daros Latinamerica, courtesy of the CoCA in Torun

EVENTS ACCOMPANYING THE Don't stare at the sun EXHIBITION:

25 June, 6 PM
Lecture on the work by Lygia Clark (by Kamila Wielebska)
Presentation of Romeo Gongora's I AM THE OTHER project
The artist revisited and revised Lygia Clark's Estruturacao do Self by performing a series of experimental actions, for which he used tactics of appropriation, derivation, and reinterpretation. Dealing with the local context, he has produced in-situ objects, involving inhabitants of the city in these "therapy" sessions.

STUDIO+KITCHEN/new place to hang around
Located on the ground floor, STUDIO+KITCHEN is a multifunctional workshop room dedicated to creative leisure time, offering space for discussions, music events and artistic actions. The first site-specific project of that type in Poland, serves as CoCA's community space and a display of contemporary design by Tomek Rygalik Studio.

26 June – 3 July
Section of latinamerican movies, entitled Don't stare at the sun during International TOFFIFEST Film Festival

September
Lecture on the work of Paulo Freire
Presentation of David Lamelas movies (including a meeting with the artist)

Press&Media Relations:
Dominik Pokornowski tel +48 566109723 email dominik.pokornowski@csw.torun.pl

Opening: 26th June, 7 PM

Centre of Contemporary Art 'Znaki Czasu' in Torun
87-100 Torun Waly gen. Sikorskiego 13 Poland
Opening hours
Tuesday 10:00 - 18:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 18:00
Thurdsay 10:00 - 18:00
Friday 10:00 - 20:00
Saturday 10:00 - 20:00
Sunday 10:00 - 18:00
Monday closed

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