Voluspa Jarpa: Altered Views

Curated by Agustín Pérez Rubio 

The Ministry of Culture, Art and Heritage of Chile is delighted to announce Voluspa Jarpa as the sole artist representation at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. Her Altered Views project is an invitation to reflect on racism, male dominance, economic interests and different hegemonic ways of colonialism. The Chilean pavilion, under the curatorship of the Spanish curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, is the result of an alliance with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (through Dirac and Prochile), in partnership with Antenna Foundation. 

Consuelo Valdés, Minister of Culture feels that “choosing Voluspa Jarpa gives value to the involvement of female artists in renowned events such as the Venice Biennale. Furthermore, she represents the post 90’s artists generation who have created a strong collection of images in the visual development of our country. We believe Voluspa is an artist who has wide international projection and, furthermore, has the backup of Agustín Pérez Rubio’s experience as an internationally renowned curator. We are certain that this will be a milestone in national participations,” added Minister Valdés.

The artist shall show Altered Views, an unprecedented research project that works as a cross-reference between various instances of European history from the 17th to the 20th century, full of social manifestations, ethnographic searches and dominant powers, attempting to restore the conquered awe of the coloniser. This historical narrative, centred in Europe, transformed all other cultural stories in the peripheral historical accounts. The project tries to bring back the European concepts of race, gender and power organisation projected toward the non-European people. The exhibition is a decolonisation process of the historical perception and information; reviewing fragments of such structure to hypothesize that the concepts imposed on others are the product of the own rejection and projection. The artist has worked gathering the concepts with which the colonies were defined: race and cross-breeding; male minions; cannibalism; gender perceptions; civilisation and savagery; as well as the conflict between monarchy and republic. 

In view of this, the project is showcased as a narrative in three successive physical and cultural spaces: The Hegemonic Museum, The Subaltern Portraits Gallery, and lastly The Emancipating Opera.

As pointed out by Pérez Rubio, “the project has been directed to the only biennale where the geopolitical representation powers are still valid, as it is the case of the Venice Biennale. For this reason, the project we have prepared not only investigates the European monarchy/plebeian structure and its hegemonic goings-on, but the manner in which they adapted to the colonies as new ways of supremacy erasing every knowledge, manner and wisdom that were superseded or forgotten in the colonial predominant heritage.”

For the first time in the history of Chilean pavilions in the Italian city, in its sixth version, the contribution of Chilean private entities such as Antenna Foundation, AMA Foundation, private collectors, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Chilean Chapter) and members of Antenna Circle Community will be present. 

About Voluspa Jarpa
One of the most internationally recognized Chilean artists. Has exhibited in museums and art centres in Latin America and Europe as well as biennials around the world such as Havana Biennale (1997), Istanbul Biennale (2011), Mercosur Biennale in Porto Alegre (2011), Sao Paulo Biennale (2014) and the Shanghai Biennale (2018).  

About Agustín Pérez Rubio
Has curated significant projects for international and Latin American artists. Former Artistic Director of MALBA Museum of Buenos Aires (2014-2018) and former Head Curator and Director of Castilla and Leon Contemporary Art Museum (MUSAC) in Spain (2003-2013). He is member of Boards of CIMAM and Istambul Biennial. He is currently part of the curatorial team for the next 11th Berlin Biennale for 2020. He was awarded in 2018 via public tender called by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage to represent Chile as curator at the Venice 2019 Biennale.

In the context of this project, Puro Chile Publisher is editing a publication that will include texts from the pavilion’s curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, as well as from Charles Esche, Sabine Breitwieser, Andrea Giunta, Adriana Valdes, Alberto Mayol and Cuauhtémoc Medina.