Buenos días Santiago - an exhibition as expedition is part of a series of projects which we carry out with our Latin American colleagues with the support of our main partner Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Foundation for Culture. In November 2003, we devised and developed the exhibition of Swiss contemporary art Buenos días Buenos Aires at the Museo de arte moderno in Buenos Aires and edited a catalogue on this exhibition. Last Autumn, for the eleventh edition of Geneva's Biennale of the Moving Image, we took part in a series of events on video creation in Argentina, Chili and Uruguay . We also presented in our venue an exhibition on the Argentinian artist Sebastian Diaz Morales. After our exhibition in Buenos Aires, much appreciated by all the people involved, we were asked by Pro Helvetia to devise other contamporary art projects in Latin America. After a short exploratory trip, we decided to work in Santiago de Chile, more precisely with the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), an institution whose activities we felt most in tune with. Meeting its director Francisco Brugnoli was a powerful incentive for us to carry out this project. We rapidly decided that we should call upon artists from different countries, in order to give the project an international dimension.
arrival
in Santiago, 01.12.2005 We asked ourselves : why should we devise and carry out an exhibition of contemporary art at the other end of the world, namely in Santiago de Chile ? And what kind of project would be original, significant and rewarding to artists living in both Europe and Latin America, as well as to Santiago's artistic scene and the Chilean public ? To answer these questions, we took into account the fact that artists used to travelling abroad are often frustrated by this experience, mainly due to a lack of time and involvement in the given context. We also wanted to develop and enhance what we had initiated in Buenos Aires, namely to encourage the artists to come along and work on the spot, instead of just sending their exhibits. Moreover, our experience in Buenos Aires had shown that the public was particularly responsive to works that suggested a link, especially a cultural one, with the Argentinian context. Working on the spot, producing a work specific to the local cultural context and the implication of the artists therefore appeared to us as fundamental features for the relevancy of the project.
first
day in the MAC, 01.12.2005 As we looked upon this exhibition as an expedition, we selected the artists for their ability to work in a flexible way, to devise a project from a distance and carry it out on the spot - or to adapt an existing work - and for their general interest in the notions of elsewhere, nomadism or cultural crossbreeding. Since our fist contact with each artist, we therefore talked about the importance of the journey, the stay, the flexibility to the circumstances, the creation of works on the spot and the community spirit that should animate the project. We also insisted upon the potentially changing character of the project until the very day of the vernissage. The 14 artists who will take part in the project come from 10 different countries, with a core of Swiss artists. We also involved a certain number of artists related to Hispanic culture, including a Chilean artist, in order to encourage discussions and exchanges on the spot. After our exhibition-expidition, we will prepare a publication with two original contributions : a portfolio of photographies by Marianne Müller - one of the artists involved in our exhibition - and a text by the art historian Florence Grivel, who works for the Radio Suisse Romande (Swiss French Radio) and will also take part in the journey. Both contributions will attempt to give an account of this human and artistic experience, to which the exhibition will give, hopefully, an intense and stimulating dimension. Jean-Paul Felley & Olivier Kaeser Buenos
días Santiago - an exhibition as expedicion
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