Buenos días Santiago - an exhibition as expedition
14 December 2005 - 22 January 2006
Pro Helvetia Swiss Foundation for Culture
Museum of contemporary art
Matucana 464 – Santiago de Chile
mac@uchile.cl
www.mac.uchile.cl
Lara Almarcegui, Marc Bauer, Margrét H. Blöndal, Sebastian Diaz Morales, Geert Goiris, Vincent Lamouroux, Constantin Luser, Gian Paolo Minelli, Marianne Müller, Mario Navarro, Gregor Passens, Dan Perjovschi, Peter Regli, Tomas Saraceno
Curators
Jean-Paul Felley & Olivier Kaeser
attitudes – espace d’arts contemporains
attitudes@worldcom.ch www.attitudes.ch
Buenos días Santiago an exhibition as expedition is part of a series of projects which we carry out with some Latin American art institutions and artists, with the support of our main partner Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Foundation for Culture.
Facing the possibility to conceive and realise an exhibition in Santiago de Chile, we asked ourselves, as Swiss curators, what kind of project would be original, significant and rewarding to artists living in both Europe and Latin America, as well as to Santiagos artistic scene and the Chilean public? To answer this question, 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. So we wanted to encourage the artists to come along and work on the spot during almost 2 weeks and to consider the Chilean cultural context, instead of just sending their exhibits. 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.
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. We also try to stimulate the community spirit that should animate the project. 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-expedition, we will prepare a publication with two original contributions: a portfolio of photographs by Marianne Müller one of the artists involved in the exhibition – and a text by the art historian Florence Grivel, who works for the Swiss French Radio and who also takes part in the journey. Both contributions will attempt to give an account of this human and artistic experience.
Jean-Paul Felley & Olivier Kaeser
Buenos días Santiago – an exhibition as expedition
is realised with the support of the following organisations and companies:
Pro Helvetia Swiss Foundation for Culture, main partner
City of Geneva, Department of Cultural Affairs and Fund for Contemporary Art
Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Bern
Steo Foundation, Zürich
Swiss Embassy in Chile, Santiago
Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam
Ministry of Flemish Community, Administration for Culture, Belgium
Muggur Project and CIA.IS, Center for Icelandic Arts, Iceland
FLORAMATIC, Chile