Liste 2014

Ana María Millán’s “Scanners” deals with some specific issues of the exploitation of gold in the Colombian Pacific region and the problem of the ownership of the land in this country. It refers to three cities in the southwest of Colombia: Popayán, Iscuandé and the port of Buenaventura related through their strong colonial past in relation to the path of gold. Scanners brings fragments of information and curiosities related to the daily life around these subjects.

Ana Roldán’s “Colección Especimenes De Un Nuevo Mundo” arises from living in a strict, rigorous country as Switzerland, where she began to be interested more and more in her roots as a Mexican and Latin American artist. She created several works that refer directly to Luis Barragán who was both, a key figure of Mexican Modern architecture and a religious spirit who never fully embraced the rigor of European Modernity.

In “Displacements” Roldán recalls Mexican schoolbooks where the story of how the “good Mexicans” were conquered by the “bad Spaniards” is told. Even though about 10% of today’s Mexicans are descended solely from Europeans while 80% are of mixed descent – the mestizos – the core and origin of Mexican culture is considered to be Indian. The artist refers to this pre-Columbian heritage in this series – not in a glorifying manner but as a kind of deconstruction.

Carolina Caycedo’s BE DAMNED is a research-based project that explores concepts of Flow and Containment, particularly looking at the interrelations between the planning and construction of large water dams/reservoirs, and mechanisms of social control. She focuses on three case studies: The currently under-construction hydro-electric dams of Quimbo and Hidroituango (Colombia), and Belo-Monte (Brasil).