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Edicin y coordinacin editorial Ariadna Gonzlez Naya Tamara Lpez Mato Lucrecia Palacios Hidalgo Colaboracin Matas Garabedian Diseo grfico Alejandro de Ilzarbe Correccin Mario Valledor | Alicia Di Stasio Traducciones al ingls Victoria Patience Realizacin DVD Matas Larosa Preimpresin e impresin Casano Grfica S.A.
Lpez Mato, Tamara Tcnica: video Tamara Lpez Mato con colaboracin de Lucrecia Palacios Hidalgo y Ariadna Gonzlez Naya. 1ra ed. Olmo Ediciones. Buenos Aires, 2009.
ISBN 978-987-1555-02-4 1. Arte. I. Palacios Hidalgo, Lucrecia, colab. II. Gonzlez Naya, Ariadna, colab. III. Ttulo CDD 708. Fecha de catalogacin: 17/03/2009
2009 OLMO Ediciones Marcelo T. de Alvear 2261 (1122) Buenos Aires olmoediciones@gmail.com www.olmoediciones.com
tcnica:video
CONTENIDO: 7 | Presentacin. 9 | Rodrigo Alonso, Algunas claves histricas y estticas del videoarte argentino. 18 | Estanislao Florido, Cartonero. Washington Cucurto, Cartoneros para Family ?. 21 | Florencia Levy, Turismo local. Pablo Katchadjian, Espontaneidad. 24 | Gustavo Caprn, Chamber Piece. Eugeni Bonet, Chamber Piece. 27 | Mateo Amaral, Almacenado libros. Matas Capelli, Ruidos de colores. 30 | Esteban de Alza, Resistor. Yamila Bgn, Los tiempos de la bestia. 33 | Sebastin Daz Morales, Orculo. Jorge la Ferla, (El) Orculo de Sebastin Daz Morales. 36 | Luciana Lamothe, Maine in Wood. Pablo Accinelli / Leandro Tartaglia, Rodeadas en Maine. 39 | Federico Falco, Estudio para horizonte en plano general. Cecilia Rabossi, Huellas de identidad en el paisaje. 42 | Mario Caporali, Lquenes. Lorena Gall, De la curiosidad cientfica al humor. 45 | Marcello Mercado, Series of periodical bilinear surfaces. Diego Golombek, De mapas, territorios, superficies y naturalezas matemticas. BONUS 51 | Gustavo Gallupo, Apuntes para un panorama posible del video argentino actual. 58 | Martn Bonadeo, Mulholland Drive. Javier Villa, Martn Bonadeo: Mulholland Drive. 61 | Artistas y autores. 73 | English texts.
Presentacin
Tcnica : video ofrece un panorama de once obras que comparten entre ellas el haber sido realizadas en soporte de video por artistas argentinos. Estas piezas dan cuenta de diferentes aproximaciones a la imagen en movimiento, pero, sobre todo, constituyen once obras independientes que deben leerse dentro del programa esttico de cada uno de los artistas. Como sealan Rodrigo Alonso y Gustavo Galuppo en los textos que incluimos en este libro, el video es hoy un elemento ms dentro del repertorio de instrumentos a disposicin del artista. Si hasta hace una dcada quien haca obras en video generalmente se especializaba en dicho soporte, aquellos que en la actualidad trabajan en video difcilmente se llamaran a s mismos videoartistas. Es por ello que les pedimos a los escritores y crticos que participan del libro que ofreciesen una lectura personal del trabajo elegido, una posible interpretacin, evitando los tecnicismos que suelen acompaar la crtica de video. La publicacin se completa con un segmento titulado Bonus compuesto por una obra de Martn Bonadeo que, por sus caractersticas, es difcil incluir dentro de un panorama del video, pero muestra exactamente cmo la utilizacin de este medio como recurso no tiene formatos preestablecidos; y un escrito de Gustavo Galuppo que indaga sobre las posibilidades de produccin y circulacin del video en nuestro pas. Debemos agradecer a todos los artistas el prstamo de sus obras, y a los escritores su buena predisposicin y los textos que nos enviaron. Tambin a todo el personal de Galera Crimson y a Victoria Sacco, siempre tan amable. Recientemente, en una presentacin de videoarte, Rafael Cippolini mencion que el video hoy es como la fotografa en los aos 80: los artistas lo han incluido como tcnica. De ah el nombre de nuestro libro. As que gracias a l tambin.
Alonso, Rodrigo, Hacia una genealoga del videoarte argentino, en Baigorri, Laura. Vdeo en Latinoamrica. Una historia crtica, Madrid, Brumaria, 2008; Alonso, Rodrigo, Hazaas y peripecias del videoarte en la Argentina, en Cuadernos de cine argentino. Cuaderno 3: innova-
lugar en el circuito artstico muy rpidamente, sin la necesidad de tener que esperar largos aos para su legitimacin. Quizs eso se debi a que los artistas lo adoptaron inmediatamente. Los performers, por ejemplo, se acercaron a l buscando el medio adecuado para registrar sus acciones efmeras. Pero del encuentro surgira un dilogo especial, un tipo de obra hbrida que se conoci posteriormente como videoperformance. Lo mismo result del maridaje del video con otros soportes ya establecidos, como la escultura y la instalacin.2 El nuevo medio se adecuaba con facilidad a sus antecesores, produciendo combinaciones inesperadas. As lo encontramos en las obras de Jaime Davidovich, Margarita Paksa y Luis Benedit de los aos 70, a veces ligado a una accin, otras a una instalacin, otras a una pieza escultrica. Pero los aos 70 son tambin los de la independencia del medio. Con la aparicin de las primeras cmaras porttiles y de la cinta magntica, los artistas empezaron a volcarse a la investigacin de las posibilidades estticas que ofrecan esos elementos. Comienza la produccin de piezas de videoarte destinadas a visionarse en un monitor; el tiempo cobra un nuevo protagonismo. Se trata ahora de ver videos. La imagen pasa a acaparar la mirada, a exigir atencin y contemplacin. La tecnologa se estandariza. Luego aparecern los casetes, que atesorarn una produccin electrnica autnoma, de caractersticas singulares, menos hbrida que la anterior. En la Argentina, el Centro de Arte y Comunicacin (CAyC) fomenta la creacin y la difusin del video mediante el aporte tecnolgico y la organizacin de exhibiciones.3
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Al mismo tiempo, el videoarte genera un circuito propio, distancindose de los mbitos artsticos por donde sola circular. Se multiplican los festivales que se especializan en este tipo de produccin, constituyndose en espacios frecuentados por conocedores y una crtica incipiente. El medio pasa a ser objeto de teoras que se desarrollan a la par del entusiasmo de los creadores comprometidos en la bsqueda y la experimentacin. Todava no hay una esttica establecida, muchos realizadores se ven en la necesidad de crearla y recrearla de forma permanente. Pero la tecnologa tiene unas propiedades tcnicas que requieren cierto grado de especializacin. Es as como surge lo que Graciela Taquini llama la generacin videasta, formada por creadores orientados a la produccin de videoarte que son conocedores de su tcnica, aunque no necesariamente de su esttica.4 La lejana del circuito artstico internacional hace que los realizadores locales deban descubrir por sus medios ciertas formas y lneas de trabajo comunes en otras latitudes. Es una poca ferviente, impulsada por la inminente recuperacin democrtica. Hacia 1982, con la explosin de la importacin propulsada por la plata dulce, la Argentina se inunda de televisores y cmaras de video. La produccin electrnica cobra un nuevo bro. Algunos videastas se nuclean para compartir sus equipos, otros utilizan las herramientas de los canales de televisin y las productoras de publicidad donde trabajan, otros se vuelcan a la creacin de manera individual. Hay una aproximacin a la televisin, en general crtica, dado el rol protagnico que adquiere este medio en la nueva vida democrtica. Aparecen obras notables de anlisis y reflexin sobre los mass media, como La era del and (1987), de Carlos Sorn, The Man of the Week (1988), de Luis Mara Hermida y Boy Olmi, o Reconstruyen crimen de la modelo (1990), de Andrs Di Tella y Fabin Hofman.
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Pero tambin se desarrolla una vertiente potica con frecuencia de inspiracin literaria orientada a la exploracin formal y narrativa, que erige una esttica diferenciada para el videoarte. Esa va es el resultado de las bsquedas personales y del desarrollo de la metfora audiovisual, un inters que animar a numerosos artistas. Piezas como Tango. El narrador (1991), de Luz Zorraqun, o Diez hombres solos (1990), de Ar Detroy, se encuentran entre los mejores momentos del videoarte local. Al mismo tiempo surgen los primeros autores con una marca propia, como Diego Lascano o Carlos Trilnick, este ltimo volcado tambin a los videoobjetos y la videoinstalacin. Estos artistas sern, junto con Graciela Taquini, los principales impulsores del medio en los festivales internacionales, y los constructores de espacios propios en Buenos Aires y el resto del pas. En muy poco tiempo, el videoarte alcanza la mayora de edad. A la generacin que crece en los aos inmediatamente posteriores no le cuesta tanto acceder a los espacios artsticos, conseguir financiacin para sus proyectos, hacer circular su produccin. El camino abierto por sus antecesores se demuestra frtil y les permite consolidar posiciones firmes en el mbito de la videocreacin local. No obstante, nada se obtiene sin verdadera vocacin y sacrificio. En muchos casos, se hace necesario salir del pas, incluso de manera definitiva. Artistas fundamentales como Marcello Mercado, Charly Nijensohn o Ivn Marino, y luego Sebastin Daz Morales o Gustavo Caprn, encuentran hoy en Europa el contexto adecuado para su trabajo, constituyendo una dispora que, afortunadamente, todava guarda una relacin estrecha con nuestro pas. Hacia mediados de los `90, la produccin videogrfica se complejiza por mltiples factores. Hay una especializacin de los artistas que les permite elaborar discursos ms sofisticados, avalados por una historia y una esttica cada vez ms slidas y legitimadas. Tecnologas crecientemente precisas acompaan este movimiento: la mejora de la imagen electrnica y de los dispositivos de edicin fomenta las obras con un alto nivel tcnico. Con la aparicin
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de las computadoras, las herramientas bsicas para la realizacin de una pieza audiovisual pasan a estar al alcance de la mano y a plena disponibilidad de los artistas (antes los creadores deban alquilar espacios de edicin en estudios profesionales, lo que aumentaba considerablemente los costos de produccin; ahora disponen de los equipos en sus propias casas o estudios, pudiendo experimentar mucho ms y sin tantas presiones econmicas). Finalmente, la explosin de la tecnologa digital, con sus nuevos mtodos y herramientas para el procesamiento de las imgenes y los sonidos, introduce un campo de investigacin indito, un terreno virgen que los artistas asumen como desafo. Pero, al mismo tiempo que el circuito del videoarte se consolida, sus lmites empiezan a desdibujarse. Realizadores formados en los campos del cine o las artes plsticas comienzan a interesarse por este medio que se acomoda fcilmente a las exigencias de un pblico que ha crecido con la televisin. Estos creadores se aproximan al video desconociendo su historia y los hallazgos estticos conseguidos a lo largo de los aos. As, una mirada renovada reaviva las posibilidades del audiovisual electrnico, introduciendo a una nueva generacin de autores. Los realizadores de finales de los 90 provienen en gran medida de las escuelas de cine y de artes visuales (los casos de Gabriela Golder y Andrs Denegri son paradigmticos5). Muchas de ellas incluyen en su planta de profesores a los artistas que propulsaron el medio en nuestro pas. De todas formas, no hay una continuidad directa entre maestros y alumnos, porque el videoarte ya no es lo que sola ser. Hay, ahora, un inters orientado a los aspectos conceptuales y narrativos del lenguaje audiovisual, que muchas veces desatiende sus propiedades formales o sus particularidades tcnicas. Para algunos artistas, el video es slo una herramienta. Otros se interesan en sus cualidades estticas, pero nicamente en la medida en que stas son capaces de transportar unas bsquedas que exceden los lmites especficos del medio.
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Siguiendo la lnea de la produccin artstica contempornea, el videoarte de estos tiempos se preocupa menos por la investigacin y mucho ms por la construccin de situaciones, el examen analtico de la realidad o la consecucin de efectos. Ya no son importantes ni la originalidad ni el estilo, sino ms bien la efectividad para impactar en un espectador anestesiado por el bombardeo constante de los medios de comunicacin. Esto se consigue muchas veces desacelerando el flujo de las imgenes, promoviendo la contemplacin y la reflexin, fomentando la intensidad audiovisual perdida. De ah la preferencia por los tiempos muertos, el reciclaje o la reprogramacin de las imgenes, la atencin a los detalles inadvertidos de la cotidianidad. La generalizacin de la tecnologa digital abre nuevas vas de exploracin. La versatilidad de los programas de edicin y creacin de efectos introduce una renovacin del lenguaje videogrfico y una multiplicidad de productos hbridos, que combinan materiales de diferente procedencia. Las imgenes y los sonidos son ahora conjuntos de unos y ceros infinitamente manipulables, flexibles y lbiles, que pueden mezclarse y recombinarse sin cesar. La edicin alcanza grados de precisin imposibles en los equipos analgicos y permite, adems, el trabajo con mltiples capas audiovisuales. No obstante, y a pesar de todas estas innovaciones tcnicas, los artistas jvenes que se acercan al video en el cambio del milenio no parecen demasiado interesados en interrogar los dispositivos, sino ms bien el mundo a su alrededor. En muchos casos, hay una recuperacin del registro como herramienta conceptual, como instrumento que permite confrontar la idea artstica con la realidad. Muchas piezas estn conformadas por trozos de vida traducidos por la cmara, otras retoman la va de la videoperformance. De cualquier modo, hay una confianza en el discurso audiovisual que resulta paradjica en un universo plagado de informacin contradictoria, realidades distorsionadas y basura medial. Desde sus orgenes, el video se ha desenvuelto en el contexto inmediato e ineludible de los mass media. Al formar parte del
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conglomerado de los recursos audiovisuales, sus relaciones con la televisin, el cine y los multimedios han sido constantes, aun si se establecan en trminos beligerantes o crticos. Es imposible pensar el videoarte sin ese fondo meditico continuo, sin esos parientes tecnolgicos con los que siempre, de una manera u otra, entraba en dilogo. A comienzos del tercer milenio esas relaciones no slo no han disminuido sino que son cada vez ms profundas. Los mass media han alimentado y continan alimentando el imaginario de muchos artistas que encuentran en ellos ciertos modelos formales o el sustrato cultural que les permite zanjar el camino hacia el espectador. Los universos de los videoclips, las pelculas de clase B, los videojuegos aparecen con frecuencia en las obras de los jvenes realizadores, poniendo de manifiesto no slo un grupo de referencias discursivas, sino tambin el mbito cultural en el que esos artistas nacieron y crecieron.6 As, su aparicin en las obras es mucho ms que una mera cita: constituye el verdadero rescate de una historia audiovisual y sentimental presentada al espectador como un punto de complicidad a travs del cual fluye cmodamente la propuesta esttica. Este vnculo con el pblico es algo que el videoarte actual ha ganado laboriosamente. Si en los aos 70 y 80 era una produccin que circulaba en mbitos ms bien reducidos, hoy se encuentra en el corazn mismo del mundo artstico, en museos y bienales. La gente se ha acostumbrado a su lenguaje, a su maleabilidad, a encontrarlo en las situaciones ms dismiles, transmitido, proyectado, colndose en la Internet. Para la generacin del YouTube, probablemente sea muy difcil imaginar que el video fue alguna vez un medio al que se acceda con dificultad y hasta con cierta iniciacin previa.
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la dcada de 1980.
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Aunque la accesibilidad del lenguaje audiovisual sea a veces un arma de doble filo en tanto muchas veces induce al consumo inmediato e irreflexivo, los artistas sacan provecho de su capacidad para seducir e impactar al espectador. Que tambin promueva la observacin y el pensamiento es una cuestin de pericia esttica. All est, quizs, la clave del videoarte argentino contemporneo, en el delicado equilibrio entre reflexin y agudeza formal, entre concepto y emocin.
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OBRAS Y TEXTOS
rigor, algo nos queda rondando en el mate. Espero. Si una imagen vale ms que mil palabras, las palabras no han de faltarnos luego de este efectista, pero no menos efectivo, relato cartociberntico. Si rernos de nuestras desgracias es una forma de ahuyentarlas, el cartonaje ha encontrado a un profeta, un mesas, un redentor o al menos, un exorcista. Para los tiempos que corren, en que los colectores urbanos estn ms preocupados de la play station que de sus derechos y de telfonos celulares ms que de comunicarse con pares esto no es ningn disparate. De esta forma, Cartonero se alza como un manifiesto desechable, a la altura de quienes lo inspiraron; est en vuestras manos el querer recogerlo, guachos. Game over.
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tensin, entonces, se presenta con el texto, que parece no tener nada que ver y que, de hecho, no tiene nada que ver: habla de cosas que estn en otro lado, en la calle, que nunca van a aparecer, y comenta, se burla, etc., y todo en un tono exageradamente espontneo. Uno podra pensar: se no es el texto que va ah. Pero, a la vez: menos mal que ese texto est ah. Y como uno no sabe qu hacer con ese texto, entonces se inquieta y piensa: estas imgenes son inquietantes. Sin embargo, se trata de la tensin entre el texto y las imgenes. Esa tensin, seguramente, dice algo. Y si lo anterior es discutible, esto lo es un poco ms: la tensin habla de la idea de espontaneidad. Quiz parezca demasiado dicho as, pero lo que se ve es eso: por un lado, imgenes que se muestran como una composicin; por el otro, un texto que se muestra espontneo. Y todo esto, junto con el sonido, forma otra composicin en la que conviven los elementos en cierta armona. Cmo funciona? Porque lo que uno podra preguntarse es qu es entonces lo espontneo. Y si uno ve el resto de la obra de Florencia Levy se sentira obligado a pensar que, contra la primera impresin, la imagen sin duda es espontnea, acorde a la espontaneidad propia de Levy, a su retrica, mientras que el texto es artificioso y elaborado, y despus de pensar esto podra sentirse sorprendido.
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Toda la primera seccin (Work Plan) est hecha de ejercicios de emulacin o tentativas de reproduccin de los gestos presentes en las lminas del libro: el acto de extender la mano y apretar el puo, una mano erguida con los dedos curvados, etc. Mientras que, en la segunda seccin (Frames), el marco que circunvala el retrato de un andrgino, caracterstico del primer Caravaggio, se revela como un espejo por un ligero desplazamiento, as como el deslizamiento u escamoteo de otros objetos altera diversamente la visualizacin forense de los detalles pictricos que se hallan reproducidos en otras pginas del libro. Y, por tratarse de un libro repleto de reproducciones fotogrficas de unas pinturas y sus recovecos, se comprende a su vez que sea la mesa de operaciones elegida por un artista como Caprn, cuya prctica discurre por diversos medios. Desde la pintura, la accin y la fotografa en sus primeros pasos, a dibujos que bosquejan hipotticos proyectos de mecnica o ingeniera (Estructuras hidrulicas, Recolectores de lluvia, Productores de vapor y ruido); libros que ilustran en ausencia del texto propiamente dicho obras de Plinio el Viejo, Francis Bacon, Georges Perec y Olivier Messiaen; y videos que proporcionan mudos adiestramientos en las intersecciones del arte con otras reas del saber y de la tcnica.
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revientan, se aceleran, errticos, con incertidumbre binaria cuando el soft es forzado por quien lo manipula a cometer errores; las partculas se disuelven fluidas, se desintegran, se mueven como sombras de colores. Recuerdos de bosques y de ciudades supuran y se sobreimprimen en un disco rgido de clusters defectuosos: una fenomenologa de la percepcin audiovisual para consolas de 8 bits.
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ella retornan, ms tarde, para volver a expandirse y contar la historia una vez ms. Dos focos centrales de luz, constantes, se mueven como un planeta y su satlite: desde all se desarmar el fuego elctrico. Las apariciones del alien tambin son progresivas y, a la vez, reincidentes: bosquejado como un mero cuerpo extrao que, al principio, se ofrece como la causa difusa de la explosin, slo ms adelante las escamas muestran los colmillos y el manotazo se hace certero. El clima de guerra, no obstante discriminado ante la aparicin salvaje, conforma la atmsfera en que las chispas se iluminan y la bestia se enfurece. Por momentos, la luz enceguecedora asume potencia atmica. Ser capaz el alien de separar las partculas subatmicas? De cualquier modo, en esos instantes el blanco pisotea a lo oscuro, aunque su resultado es la misma invisibilidad. La esttica elongada conforma la base sonora para la pequea batalla entre la bestia y los cables. Una esttica que va deviniendo cada vez ms grave hasta lograr un perfecto cortocircuito sonante. Es el punto sin retorno: se acaba la resistencia. A partir de all se comienza a definir el final para los sonidos y las figuras: la lluvia se aproxima y los nubarrones grises espantan hasta a los monstruos.
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ciudad detenida, manos que buscan el contacto con una estatua de Buda, seres suspendidos en un cartel de nen de la gaseosa imperial, juguetes electromecnicos en venta en una vereda, un subte que deja la estacin hacia las penumbras de un tnel, indgenas marchando en el altiplano, alguien que trabaja la piedra sobre el mar, estruendos en el cielo. Son escenas que se basan en situaciones presentes y reales que suceden frente a cmara, pero que Morales recorta y descontextualiza con el fino trabajo del encuadre. Es la mirada que desplaza la literalidad de las imgenes. El punto de vista y la combinatoria de las tomas connotan un universo onrico, la realidad del presente como anticipo de un dudoso futuro. Este desvo de lo analgico hacia regiones metafricas es la gran propuesta de Orculo. Es el trazo de una potica de lo real en su reflexin sobre la dimensin del tiempo. El pasado y futuro son juegos de la memoria a partir del acto de ver a travs de una cmara de video. Una mirada conceptual que rompe el paradigma de la huella de la realidad. Una bsqueda trascendente por la que en la obra de Daz Morales podemos reconocer ciertos paisajes de Asia y Amrica Latina en los que el autor aplica su recorte en su espacio y tiempo. Las demarcaciones de fronteras espirituales, fsicas y simblicas son el trazado de las cartografas que propone Orculo. En esta obra, Morales narra su condicin de extranjero a travs de su escritura audiovisual, rompiendo siempre con su hipoteca del realismo ptico. La filmacin de lo extranjero trasciende la situacin de nmade del realizador para convertirse en una reflexin a ultranza sobre el acto de ver e imaginar. En sus desplazamientos por el mundo pone en escena una mirada sobre lo real, pero desde su extraeza. Es la clusula a partir de la cual Morales hace preguntas y nos ofrece su Orculo sobre la memoria de las cosas pasadas y la percepcin de un tiempo futuro.
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vnculo cotidiano enrarecido con el material: horizontal in wood is maine in you. Enfrentarse al lugar que se habita de la misma manera que lo hacen los materiales que lo constituyen es una tarea complicada para estas cinco mujeres. Incidir, convivir, manufacturar, transformar, sostener, trepar son algunas de estas acciones. En Maine in Wood, de Luciana Lamothe, materiales y formas de la arquitectura son siempre la causa de lo realizado por las actrices, lo cual conduce y perpeta la pregunta acerca de quines son los verdaderos personajes de este film, si las que interactan con la madera o la madera misma. YOU sos WOOD, YOU are MADERA. IN YOU, wood. IN MAINE IN WOOD IN YOU.
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Malosetti Costa, Laura, Pampa, ciudad y suburbio, Buenos Aires, Fundacin OSDE, 2007, p. 87.
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horizonte y el sonido del viento. Entra en escena una pareja mayor que se inserta en el paisaje. La pareja es sustituida por una fotografa de un grupo familiar numeroso. El horizonte de la fotografa coincide con el horizonte real, reforzando la idea de extensin de lo personal en lo geogrfico o viceversa. El artista juega con dicha fotografa; en unos momentos aparece fija y en otros en movimiento. La foto se funde en el paisaje; desaparecen las personas retratadas y quedan slo las sillas vacas, objetos reales como rastros de dicha manifestacin. El horizonte real es reemplazado por su representacin sobre una pared, y se coloca nuevamente la fotografa sobre ella. La accin performtica del artista refuerza la idea de horizonte como definicin de un espacio propio para contar sus memorias. Reaparece, el paisaje pero ahora en movimiento. Sobre el vidrio de un medio de transporte coloca una lnea de papel que coincide con el horizonte real, pero esta vez la lnea pierde la sutileza de leve divisin entre la tierra y cielo para ser una presencia casi corprea que intensifica la separacin. Aparece nuevamente la pareja de ancianos que se disuelven en el paisaje. En este video en forma de estudio, el horizonte, como una presencia empecinada, seala la injerencia del paisaje en la intimidad del artista.
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por s sola no podra sugerir. Caporali se aparta del lenguaje cientfico y documental a travs de la bsqueda de armona compositiva; en este nivel, a su vez, irrumpe el humor, pero del humor se puede siempre volver a la seriedad: nada de lo que se dice del fenmeno deja de ser riguroso. Lo significativo de este video es que en ningn nivel es posible detener la lectura: el tono documental, el juego pictrico y la toma de distancia respecto de ellos convergen en un dilogo comn, abren el tiempo hacia los costados para coexistir. Es difcil separar el hongo del alga; no menos trabajoso resulta encontrar el lmite entre la seriedad y el humor de la propuesta de Caporali. Lquenes provoca la sensacin de estar frente a un novedoso verosmil capaz de enrarecer el mundo natural al entrar y salir, sin solucin de continuidad, de los diferentes lenguajes y estticas que han intentado representarlo y conocerlo.
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DVD con un soft pirata y rearm por separado un Quicktime del .MPEG en el tamao del original y un .AIFF; 3. Hago un nuevo .MPEG del Quicktime recuperado y con l trabajo la edicin. Es cierto: intermediarios abstenerse, y mejor dediqumonos a mirar fijo un punto de la pantalla para intentar adivinar el prximo cambio, la siguiente superficie. Pero retomemos el concepto de peridico que permea y construye la obra. Somos y con nosotros toda la naturaleza bichos peridicos, relojes andantes que nos repetimos una y otra vez, en sincrona con un ambiente tambin oscilante. A veces es el alejarse de estos patrones rtmicos lo que sugiere una anomala, una enfermedad, una falla en la climatologa del universo o del organismo; ver las superficies mercadianas con los ojos entrecerrados o concentrados en el sonido circundante puede dar la oportunidad no slo de reconocer el mantra de lo peridico sino tambin, con la suerte de quien ve una estrella fugaz, sorprender un cambio de estado, una singularidad en sus series temporales. Pero cuidado con estas series numricas, que hacen dao, que dan pena y se acaba por llorar. Hay de todo, vea: series divergentes, convergentes, infinitas, autodestructivas, plenas de belleza. Belleza? En la matemtica? Ya lo afirm el poeta portugus Fernando Pessoa: El binomio de Newton es tan hermoso como la Venus de Milo; lo que pasa es que muy poca gente se da cuenta. Pero tambin, al decir de Bertrand Russell: La Matemtica es una ciencia en donde nunca se sabe de qu se habla, ni si lo que se dice es verdadero. Tal vez entonces para darse cuenta de la belleza matemtica, para compartir ese no saber de qu se trata, no quede otra posibilidad que visualizarla, orla, sentirla. En suma: captar la matemtica o, lo que es lo mismo, el mundo que nos rodea a travs de los sentidos.
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Esto nos lleva a otro aspecto sensorial de la obra de Mercado. Existe una enfermedad (enfermedad?) llamada sinestesia, en la que los pacientes (pacientes?) confunden modalidades sensoriales: as, son capaces de escuchar colores, u oler textos, o ver msica. Las superficies de videoarte de Marcello Mercado son, en cierta forma, sineststicas, y l mismo lo confiesa al afirmar que tengo la impresin que al trabajar el texto soy todo odos. El mundo del artista nuestro mundo, el que nos toca experimentar da a da es un mundo de cdigos: el de esta computadora en la que tipeo mi texto, las ondas de radio que nos traspasan por la calle, los sensores climticos, los antojos de los hombres de la Bolsa. Estos cdigos son sensados por las superficies bilineares, esos cuadrados y rombos que se intersectan casi caprichosamente sin ms azar que los sentidos del artista y sus series numricas. Sin embargo, los 6 minutos y monedas de las superficies bilineares de Mercado no estn exentos de peligro, como todo aparato de relojera. En el fondo del reloj est la muerte, deca Cortzar pero no tenga miedo. Pasen y vean (y oigan, y huelan, y escuchen).
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BONUS
Apuntes para un panorama posible del video argentino actual Gustavo Galuppo
Multiplicidad y combinacin. Contaminaciones e hibridaciones. Es cierto, la mquina-video, desde su gnesis electrnica hasta su mutacin digital, construye un territorio propicio para el deslizamiento entre los lmites, para el desestabilizador borramiento de las fronteras establecidas por tcnicas (ya) antiguas. Dnde empieza y dnde termina entonces el campo del video? Cmo y dnde erigir una especificidad que posibilite su existencia como tal? No es simple, desde ya, pero cabe comenzar por aquella vapuleada categora de experimental. El video se inicia con el primer cine experimental, con el abordaje flmico de las vanguardias histricas, piedra fundacional de un largo linaje, y germina con la aparicin de la tecnologa electrnica de registro y transmisin, la televisin. Toma de uno la base conceptual, y de la otra la maleabilidad del soporte. Y desde ah construye un largo itinerario de cruces y desvos, alejamientos, hibridaciones, violencias y sometimientos. El video es, primero y ante todo (aunque extraamente an a algunos les cueste aceptarlo), cine (ms all del soporte), despus TV (slo por el soporte?); es decir, las dos cosas y ninguna a la vez: una otra cosa, en cambio, que tambin es plstica, literatura, danza o arquitectura. Todo y nada. Un instrumento perfecto para la hibridacin Pero el video es, por encima de todo, un vstago de la genealoga de la produccin experimental audiovisual, que, otra vez, empieza por el cine, pero se vuelve en su contra para renovarlo, negarlo, o eliminarlo. O, en el peor de los casos, simplemente para recorrer desde la banalidad y la vaca pretensin conceptual caminos ya ampliamente transitados por otros soportes tecnolgicos. Qu se produce audiovisualmente hoy en la Argentina por fuera de los circuitos convencionales? Cmo se piensan las
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construcciones audiovisuales ms all de un estndar globalizado que no resiste ya a su propio y extendido agotamiento? El video es, o en l debera estar, la respuesta. El video como campo posible de experimentacin, como ltimo bastin de una libertad creativa y de una conciencia formal que han sido brutalmente abortadas de los circuitos oficiales. All, donde los medios se democratizan (a medias, claro, no todos tenemos acceso a la misma tecnologa y a su irrefrenable carrera por el desarrollo que constantemente inventa nuevos mrgenes y nuevos parias), es donde debera gestionarse la resistencia frente a un universo audiovisual ms contaminado que el propio planeta. Pero, y nuevamente en la Argentina, se puede hablar de una produccin con rasgos propios que establezcan una conciencia y un estado de riesgo en el campo de los medios audiovisuales para su puesta en crisis? Dnde encontrarla entonces? Lo primero sera, y apenas como esbozo de una problemtica generalizada, plantear la posibilidad de discurrir sobre una produccin supuestamente nacional (consideracin siempre discutible, cines nacionales?): el video argentino. Desde ya que existe (no puede ponerse en duda) una produccin localizada entre ciertos lmites territoriales, pero definira esto las coordenadas de un posible mapa de una expresin singular y reconocible como tal? El audiovisual, tal vez ms que otras expresiones artsticas, se ha visto en los ltimos aos transformado violentamente en una configuracin transterritorial, desde el cruce de rasgos estticos transnacionales hasta los modos mismos de produccin. As, algunos de los ms virtuosos y admirables videastas argentinos construyen su obra desde el exterior desde hace aos: Marcello Mercado, desde Alemania; Ivn Marino, desde Espaa, y Sebastin Daz Morales, desde Holanda. Tambin Gustavo Caprn emerge con una obra de planteos interesantes y personales trabajando en Espaa. Pueden ser entonces sus obras integradas a un corpus eclctico denominado video argentino? Producciones europeas, marcas de estilo que entrelazan rasgos dismiles que van desde los orgenes experimentales del cine, pasando por las reformulaciones
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de los ms radicales documentalistas, hasta la interaccin con otras manifestaciones y la creacin puramente digital. Sebastin Daz Morales, radicado en Holanda, realiza sus videos en diversas locaciones del mundo: Indonesia, Sudfrica, Argentina, Mxico, construyendo la base conceptual de cada obra sobre la idea de un dilogo profundo entre su interioridad y el paisaje extico que habita transitoriamente. Tal vez en su figura se encuentre la clave de este video transterritorial, errante, extranjero de todos lados. Una obra en la que los rasgos de cada territorio se infiltran en cada video y lo construyen, pero desintegrando en un mismo movimiento de escritura y borrado sus signos particulares para establecer un discurso universal plagado de autorreferencialidad, de una delicada reflexin sobre los mismos procesos de construccin del relato audiovisual. En la obra de Mercado la posicin es diferente. Desde hace diez aos radicado en Alemania, se sumerge en la bsqueda exhaustiva y obsesivamente minuciosa de formas personales cuyo germen se encuentra en su admirable produccin del perodo argentino. El extrao camino del ensayo a travs de la imagen abstracta fue tomando preponderancia entonces en la obra de Mercado con el acceso otras tecnologas ms sofisticadas. La pura creacin digital, la manipulacin extrema de la imagen, la composicin excesiva del cuadro y la desconcertante inclusin de textos tipogrficos oblicuos van conformando progresivamente un desencuadre (casi nunca una anulacin) de lo real (y con l de los cuerpos registrados, eje tal vez de obras anteriores) hacia la ms pura abstraccin geomtrica. Das Kapital, de 2003 (y parte de un proyecto faranico que intenta esbozar a travs de una serie de obras multiformato una lectura personal de la obra de Marx), versa tal vez sobre ese trnsito, aunque invirtiendo el sentido: de una composicin puramente numrica (como medio tecnolgico digital de creacin y como motivo principal de la imagen) hacia la exhibicin despojada de fotos. En Series of Periodical Bilinear Surfaces, por el contrario, recala en las formas del cine conceptual (como el de
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George Landow, con pelculas como Film with Scratches) esbozando una compleja construccin abstracta cuyo ttulo de algn modo describe y agota su esencia. Aqu, finalmente, una ausencia absoluta de registro cinematogrfico o videogrfico. Y, por ende, ausencia de aquellos cuerpos violentados tan caros a Mercado. Todo ha sido reducido por la violencia del poder a una glida ecuacin funcional (como aquellos cuerpos funcionales de la representacin clsica, pero aqu como discurso articulado con otros medios). Slo superficies geomtricas fluctuantes, una imagen-video que se devora a s misma y excreta otras imgenes en un ciclo interminable. Ivn Marino, desde Espaa, realiza una maniobra lmite, partiendo de la puesta en crisis de las formas documentales del cine de su primer perodo, se corre al pensamiento matemtico sobre los nuevos medios en obras para web, CD-ROM e instalaciones, experimentando con los lmites de la representacin tecnolgica actual y estableciendo un nexo indito entre la histrica mirada documental de la cmara y las configuraciones matemticas del ordenador. Gustavo Caprn, tambin en Espaa, desarrolla sistemticamente un minimalismo desconcertante y extraamente bello, una serie de construcciones videogrficas desnudas que se miran a s mismas, que discurren sobre el valor de la imagen y sobre los procesos de construccin de la misma obra. Algunos de los videastas argentinos ms admirables y reconocidos, entonces, trabajan desde el exterior componiendo este inasible y heterogneo mapa de un video transterritorial, agregando a la hibridez propia del video esta otra contaminacin cultural de la extranjereidad. Pero est tambin la otra produccin, la que se ejecuta dentro de nuestros estrictos lmites territoriales. Cmo abarcarla? Cmo acotar sus rasgos, sus alcances, sus pensamientos? Y adems, como se dijo al comienzo, se puede hablar realmente de una conciencia creativa que ponga en crisis los estatutos de la creacin audiovisual situada en perspectiva? Se puede hablar de una verdadera experimentacin con las formas y las estructuras
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audiovisuales que venga a establecer una resistencia eficiente contra los modos institucionalizados del espectculo ms vacuo? Desde ya, no es fcil responder a tales preguntas; el conflicto se acenta all donde es imprescindible descubrir esa produccin algo oculta. La dificultad econmica de producir (obra y pensamiento) y de exhibir es un estigma fundamental que convierte en un reto cada emprendimiento ligado a la experimentacin con las formas audiovisuales en nuestro pas. Y otro escollo aparece y se visibiliza como consecuencia de ese estado de cosas: la centralizacin de actividades relacionadas con la produccin audiovisual experimental en acotados curadores, grupos e instituciones hace que el poco material que accede a cierta difusin entre en un circuito cerrado, casi incestuoso, perpetundose los mismos autores y obras en relacin directa con los responsables de la legitimacin oficial. El problema, est claro, no es simple ni mucho menos, y tampoco privativo del bombardeado territorio argentino. El video argentino, entonces, se disgrega en una maraa inabarcable o, mejor, inaccesible. Porque es cierto que hay tambin un video oficial, institucionalizado y por ende visible, y otro (numeroso de seguro) que permanece en la parte de sombras, ajeno a los circuitos e ignorado por los legitimadores. All es posible que se encuentre esa verdadera y obstinada reflexin que se enfrenta al vaciamiento generalizado de la industria del arte y el espectculo. Pero claro, hay que llegar a ella una tarea muchas veces con escasas o casi nulas probabilidades de xito. Sera cuestin tal vez de que los mismos productores de imgenes generen nuevos circuitos alternativos a los del discurso artstico oficial, pero sin dejar de presionar a las instituciones por la concrecin de una poltica cultural coherente y amplia que asimile el riesgo creativo como eje antes que la facilidad del espectculo predigerido y conformista. Hoy en la Argentina, ms all de los realizadores radicados en el exterior (que parece ser la condicin excluyente para la legitimacin de los videoartistas latinoamericanos en Europa), existe
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una incipiente produccin experimental que oscila entre el reconocimiento a su filiacin cinematogrfica y la hibridacin con otras expresiones artsticas ajenas al campo audiovisual. All hay una brecha, una separacin visible, una divisin de aguas en la que se reconocen claramente los intereses en juego y los conceptos de base. El video conscientemente ligado a su genealoga cinematogrfica aborda a sabiendas la problemtica de la produccin audiovisual, insertndose en una historia que recorre un extenso derrotero de filiaciones y puestas en crisis. El video que viene de otros campos parece abordarla, en cambio, como una herramienta ms para la produccin de obra, apropindose de su carcter hbrido pero (en general) sin indagar en profundidad sobre cuestiones fundamentales de la imagen-tiempo. Al video de la corriente-cine se le puede asignar el desarrollo del lenguaje cinematogrfico en funcin de los avances tecnolgicos. Al video de las otras corrientes artsticas, en cambio, se le puede asignar la destitucin de la imagen videogrfica como nico fin, el desborde de la pantalla, insertndola en otros contextos espaciales e integrndola a otras problemticas que no se agotan en la inabarcable imagen-cine. Cabe agregar que es esta ltima corriente la que prima, y de seguro es una situacin derivada del poco inters (o la ignorancia, o la negacin) demostrado por las instituciones dedicadas a las carreras cinematogrficas por la posibilidad del riesgo, de la experimentacin, del corrimiento liberador con respecto a los formatos narrativos agotados por la repeticin de frmulas. De qu hablamos hoy entonces al hablar sobre video argentino? Tal vez de una enorme produccin oculta que espera ser descubierta o habilitada por los legitimadores oficiales. Y de una produccin visible que oscila entre el conformismo de los estndares artsticos aceptados y la subversin reflexiva de los cdigos audiovisuales. El cine experimental es videoarte minusvlido, afirm alguna vez Jean-Paul Fargier. Es de esperar entonces que alguna vez el video (no slo) argentino asuma todas sus potencias y configure
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un universo audiovisual desligado definitivamente del espectculo masivo y el arte domesticado. Estas obras, al menos, son una destacada muestra de eso que oscila entre la luz y la sombra, y entre la visibilidad y la negacin.
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Elementos esenciales como la proyeccin de luz, transformada en volumen corpreo y significante, o el aparato proyector, en dos robots performticos posedos por una danza de la que no pueden escapar. Bonadeo, Chu y Scott Hessels plantean otra forma de revestir el dato real, de mediatizar la experiencia por fuera del monitor para regurgitarla en un ambiente fsico y sensorial alejado del original: la base de datos estetizada, la informacin digitalizada para generar una accin de telepresencia. El espectador se funde en un mismo flujo con la pieza y experimenta corporalmente la historia narrada. Es atravesado por un chorro de luz que ya no es medio sino objeto escultrico, cintico y protagonista de la narracin.
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ARTISTAS Y AUTORES
Artistas
Mateo Amaral naci en 1979 en Mar del Plata, provincia de Buenos Aires. Estudi Ilustracin en la Escuela Superior de Artes Visuales Martn A. Malaharro y Direccin de Animacin en el Instituto de Arte Cinematogrfico de Avellaneda. Asisti a la clnica de obra de Diana Aisenberg y, entre 2003 y 2005, particip de la Beca Kuitca. Trabaja en diversos medios, como animacin, msica, video, dibujo, pintura, texto, instalaciones. Integra el colectivo artstico Oligatega Numeric, el grupo de msica punk psicodlica Hipnoflautas y el do de video y msica sinttica Fsforo Lquido. Su obra en video form parte de diversos festivales y exhibiciones: Un cultivo, Directors Lounge, Berln, 2009 [ind.]; Sintoniza ruido, Festival de Cine Under de Rosario y Galera Crimson, Buenos Aires; festival internacional 20es Instants Vido Numriques et Potiques, Marsella, 2007; Festival Video Populi, Mxico, 2007; Arte y nuevas tecnologas, Premio MAMbA - Fundacin Telefnica, Buenos Aires, 2006, y Jardn oculto videoarte, Chteau de Tours, Francia, 2006, entre otros. Desde 2000 ha presentado sus obras junto
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con Oligatega Numeric en las siguientes exposiciones: Oligatega en Pictocrom, Galera Daniel Abate, Buenos Aires, 2008; Noseque y su computadora, Lmite Sud, arteBA, Buenos Aires, 2008; El enorme, esc. 7, medidores de enorme, Fantasmas en el Di Tella, Buenos Aires, 2007; El enorme esc. 5, La Nuez, arteBA, Buenos Aires, 2007; Tren fantasma, MUSAC, Espaa, 2006; Submamone, Art Basel, Miami; MOBO 6 dice, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, 2004, y Fliguel Maus, Belleza y Felicidad, Buenos Aires, 2003. www.mecto.com.ar Martn Bonadeo naci en 1975 en Buenos Aires. Es doctor en Ciencias de la Comunicacin de la Universidad Austral y licenciado en publicidad. En 2004 Fundacin Antorchas le otorg una beca posdoctoral para estudiar vnculos entre arte, ciencia y tecnologa en el Hypermedia Studio, UCLA, EE.UU. Es profesor de la Ctedra de Arte Contemporneo Argentino y Arte, Ciencia y Tecnologa en el Programa de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad Catlica Argentina (UCA). All fund y dirige el Taller Experimental de Ciencia, Arte y Tecnologa. Entre 2000 y 2003 asisti
a la clnica de obra de Fabiana Barreda y al taller de Mnica Girn. Desarroll numerosas instalaciones en Buenos Aires, Denver, Los ngeles, San Pablo, San Francisco, Sevilla y Tokio. Durante 2007 particip de Intercampos un programa de desarrollo de proyectos visuales de Fundacin Telefnica, y al ao siguiente gan la beca Tec-en-arte de esa misma fundacin.En 2008 fue seleccionado para el Premio arteBA-Petrobras y el Premio Platt. Con anterioridad recibi el Gran Premio al Arte y Nuevas Tecnologas de Fundacin Telefnica - Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, 2005, y el Incentivo para Nuevas Producciones, en Vida 9.0, Espaa, 2006.Su obra form parte de diversas muestras como la Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporneo de Sevilla, Espaa, 2008; Memoria do futuro no Ita Cultural, en San Pablo, Brasil, 2007; Pampa, ciudad y suburbio, Imago, Buenos Aires, 2007; Proyeccin topogrfica: Mullholland Drive, Japan Media Arts Festival, Tokio, 2005; HOPE, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, EE.UU., 2004; etc. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires. www.martinbonadeo.com.ar
Mario Caporali naci en 1979 en Rosario. Estudi pintura con Piyawan Illsey en Hong Kong entre 1996 y 1998. En 2002 comenz la carrera de fotgrafo en la Escuela de Fotografa Creativa Andy Goldstein y estudi un ao en la Universidad del Cine de Buenos Aires. Realiz clnica de obra con Romn Vitali en 2003-2004, y un ao ms tarde, con Diana Aisenberg. Tambin asisti al taller de visin del color e imagen fotogrfica de Alberto Goldenstein. Explora distintos soportes, tales como el video, las performances y la fotografa. Entre sus exhibiciones podemos nombrar: KDA, galera Crimson Arte Contemporneo, 2008; Lo que no se ve, CCEBA, Buenos Aires, 2008; Proyecto A, Buenos Aires, arteBA 2008; Premio Platt Galera Isidro Miranda, Buenos Aires, 2007; Museo Pioln de Chiacchio-Gianonne, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, 2007; Laboratorio, Planeta X, Rosario, 2005; S/T en S/T, experimental/ Crimson Arte Contemporneo, Buenos Aires, 2004 [ind.]; Re-coleccin Malba, Buenos Aires, 2004. En 2007, su video Innocence fue seleccionado en el Bjrks Innocence Video Competition, publicado en Bjork.com y
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editado por One Little Indian Records, UK. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires y Rosario. www.caporali.wordpress.com Gustavo Caprn naci en 1968 en Buenos Aires. Es profesor nacional de Pintura en la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredn. En 2005 obtuvo el Diploma de Estudios Avanzados por la Facultad de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Barcelona. Desde 1994 exhibe sus trabajos en diversas exposiciones y festivales como: Karlsruhe, Zentrum fr Kunst und Medientechnologie, Alemania, 2008; 13 Canarias Mediafest 08, Las Palmas, Espaa, 2008; 7 Festival Internacional de la Imagen, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medelln, Colombia, 2008;Resplandores Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, 2007; Les Rencontres Internationales, Pars/Berln/ Madrid, Crculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Espaa, 2007; National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Ontario, Canad, 2007; Uncontrolled Reflections, Shift Gallery, Toronto, Canad, 2006; 11e Biennale de lImage en Mouvement, SaintGervais, Ginebra, Suiza, 2005; Cicles: recollectors de pluja i altres
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esctructures, Casa Elizalde, Barcelona, 2003 [ind.]; Scapes, Ross Farrell Gallery, Pasadena, EE.UU., 1999 [ind.]; , entre muchos otros. Actualmente, trabaja en video, libros de artista y fotografa. Recibi el segundo premio de video monocanal en el Premio MAMbA/Fundacin Telefnica, Buenos Aires, en 2006; la Beca Caja de Ahorros del Mediterrneo (CAM), Alicante, Espaa, en 2005, y una mencin especial en videoinstalacin del VAD - Festival Internacional de Vdeo i Arts Digitals, Girona, Espaa, en 2003, entre otras. Vive y trabaja en Barcelona. www.gustavocaprin.net
Esteban de Alza naci en 1973 en Buenos Aires. Estudi Diseo de Imagen y Sonido en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. En 2002 asisti al taller de fotografa de Guillermo Ueno. Realiz clnica de artes visuales con Alicia Herrero y un ao ms tarde con Diana Aisenberg, Rafael Cippolini y Eva Grinstein en el Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas (Universidad de Buenos Aires). Participa del proyecto de video online CONVI Video. Entre sus exhibiciones Figuran: Ciclo de Videoarte CONVI Videolinks MAMbA/
Alianza Francesa, 2008; Telpatas Resplandores, Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2007; Premio Chandon, Buenos Aires, 2007; Fuga jursica, Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires, 2006; Facultad de Medicina, Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires, 2003; MAMbA/ Intervenciones en video, videoinstalaciones realizadas en los edificios de las facultades de Ingeniera y de Medicina de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, 20022003. Tambin particip en la codireccin del cortometraje Sushi, presentado en el Festival de Cine Independiente de Buenos Aires (BAFICI), 1999. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires. www.calmer.com.ar Sebastin Daz Morales naci en 1975 en Comodoro Rivadavia. Estudi en la Universidad del Cine en Buenos Aires. En 2000-2001 complet sus estudios en la Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten de msterdam. Posteriormente realiz una residencia en Le Fresnoy, Roubaix, y Couvent des Rcollets, Pars, Francia. Su obra se desarrolla fundamentalmente en el campo del video. Desde 2000 ha realizado numerosas muestras, entre las que se destacan: HBox, Tate Modern,
Londres, Inglaterra; Locked-In: The Visible, Casino Luxemburgo, Luxemburgo, 2008; The Means of Illusion, carlier | gebauer, Berln, 2007 [ind.]; RING The Means of Illusion, Art/Unlimited, Basel, Suiza, 2007; The Man with the Bag, Fundaci Joan Mir, Barcelona, Espaa; HBox, Centre Pompidou, Pars, 2007; State of World, Fundao Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisboa, Portugal, 2007; 15000000 Parachutes, Tate Modern, The Projected Image, Collection Display, Londres, 2004; Bienal de Shangai, 2004; Kunst-Werke, Berln, 2004; Bienal de Sydney, Australia, 2006; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofa, Madrid, 2004; Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Holanda, 2003; Museum Abteiberg, Mnchengladbach, Alemania, 2002; Bienal de San Pablo, 2002, y Bienal de Berln, 2001. Obtuvo el premio Van Bommel van Dam de arte joven, el premio a la mejor obra en la FIAC de Pars en 2002 y el primer premio en el 14 Festival Internacional Videobrasil, 2003. Vive y trabaja en msterdam y en la Argentina. www.sebastiandiazmorales.com
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Federico Falco naci en 1977 en General Cabrera, Crdoba. Es licenciado en Ciencias de la Comunicacin de la Universidad Blas Pascal y actual profesor de las ctedras de Anlisis del Discurso (Cine y Literatura) y de Arte Contemporneo en dicha universidad. En 2005 recibi una beca de perfeccionamiento del Fondo Nacional de las Artes para estudiar y trabajar las relaciones entre poesa y videoarte. Como escritor ha publicado los libros de cuentos 222 Patitos (Editorial La Creciente, Crdoba, 2004), 00 (Alcin Editora, Crdoba, 2004); los libros de poemas Aeropuertos, aviones (Editorial Qu vamos a hacer hasta las seis?, Crdoba, 2006) y Made in China (Editorial Recovecos, Crdoba, 2008). Integr la antologa La joven guardia, nueva narrativa argentina (Editorial Norma, Buenos Aires, 2005) e In Fraganti (Mondadori / Reservoir Books, Buenos Aires, 2007) y la antologa digital El futuro no es nuestro, narradores de Amrica Latina nacidos entre 1970 y 1980 de la revista Pie de Pgina. En 2003 su instalacin Conserva fue premiada en la II Bienal de Arte Emergente del Centro Cultural Espaa de Crdoba, institucin que tambin, le otorg
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en 2004 la distincin Cabeza de Vaca, en el rea Literatura. Su video Estudio para horizonte en plano general fue seleccionado en la II Bienal Interamericana de Videoarte organizada por el BID, Washington, 2005. Vive y trabaja en la ciudad de Crdoba. Sin pgina web. Estanislao Florido naci en 1977 en Buenos Aires. Es profesor nacional de Pintura egresado de la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredn. En 2004 realiz clnicas de obra en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. En 2006 gan una beca del Centro Cultural de Espaa para la realizacin de proyectos de net.art y medios digitales, y la beca/taller Arte, redes y comunidades online, otorgada por el Fondo Nacional de las Artes, ambas en Buenos Aires. Durante 2007 particip del programa Intercampos III de Fundacin Telefnica. En 2008 realiz el Laboratorio de investigacin para la prctica artstica contempornea del Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, UBA, y el programa Interactivos IV en Fundacin Telefnica. Entre sus exhibiciones podemos nombrar: Le Rve, 713 Arte Contemporneo,
Buenos Aires, 2008 [ind.]; Super Market Chinese Game, 713 Arte Contemporneo, Buenos Aires, 2007 [ind.]; Curriculum cero 06, Galera Ruth Benzacar, 2006; Short Stories, galera de la Alianza Francesa, Buenos Aires, 2003 [ind.].Su obra en video form parte de bienales y festivales como el 19e Festival de Cinma de Rennes Mtropole, Travelling, Francia, 2008; VIII Bienal de Videos y Nuevos Medios, Santiago de Chile, 2007; Loop 07 Festival de VideoArt , Centre dArt Santa Mnica, Barcelona, 2007. Obtuvo las siguientes distinciones: segundo premio Fundacin Klemm, 2008; primer premio Bienal de Arte Wussmman, 2007; mencin, Premio MAMbA-Fundacin Telefnica. Arte y nuevas tecnologas, 2006, etc. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires. www.arte713.com Luciana Lamothe naci en 1975 en Mercedes, provincia de Buenos Aires. Estudi en la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredn. Durante 2003 y 2004 realiz clnica de obra con Pablo Siquier y con Ernesto Ballesteros. En 2005 particip de Intercampos III, programa de desarrollo de proyectos visuales de Fundacin
Telefnica. En 2007 realiz una residencia para artistas en Skowhegan, EE.UU. Integr varias exposiciones colectivas y present la muestra individual Criminal, en la Galera Ruth Benzacar de Buenos Aires en 2008. Ese mismo ao concurri como representante argentina a la 5 Bienal de Berln. Desde 2000 trabaja en escultura; tres aos ms tarde comenz a realizar intervenciones urbanas, y desde 2005 instalaciones y video, combinando, segn la obra, escultura, video y objetos. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires. www.youtube.com/polopron Florencia Levy naci en 1979 en Buenos Aires. Estudi en el Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, en Londres, y en Buenos Aires, en el IUNA, la licenciatura en Artes Visuales. Realiz clnica de obra con Pablo Siquier y con Ernesto Ballesteros. En 2007 particip de Intercampos III, programa de desarrollo de proyectos visuales de Fundacin Telefnica. En 2008 realiz la residencia Central Track en la Universidad de Texas, en Dallas. Su obra se desarrolla en distintos medios, como pintura, fotografa y
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video. Entre sus exhibiciones se encuentan: Commute Portraits, Central Track; El maestro herrero, 713 Arte Contemporneo, Buenos Aires, 2008 [ind.]; Escena de regreso, 713 Arte Contemporneo, Buenos Aries, 2007 [ind.]; Transatlntica, Sala de Estar, Sevilla, Espaa; International Film Festival Travelling, Rennes, Francia; International Film Festival Experimenta, Bogot, Colombia; Ciclo de Videoarte, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, 2007; Resplandores, Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2007; Premio Argentino de Artes Visuales, Fundacin OSDE, 2006. Ha obtenido el primer premio para jvenes artistas en el Premio Nacional de Pintura Banco Central, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2008. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires. www.arte713.com Marcello Mercado naci en Senz Pea, Chaco, en 1963. Estudi Cine y TV y Psicologa en la Universidad Nacional de Crdoba. En 1993 recibi un subsidio a la creacin otorgado por la Fundacin Antorchas. Fue becado en 1996 por The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation y The Lampadia Foundation; y en 1999, por la Academia de Artes y Medios de
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Colonia, Alemania. Su trabajo se basa en la relacin entre la biologa, el arte y la tecnologa. Utiliza mltiples soportes como la pintura, el videoarte, el bioarte, las instalaciones, las performances, el arte sonoro, la robtica y los proyectos en la red. Desde 1992 exhibe sus trabajos en diversas exposiciones y festivales, entre ellos: ARCO, Madrid, 1996 y 1997; Wie man sieht..., Museum Ludwig, Colonia, 2000; ZKM, Zentrum fr Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe; El lienzo es la pantalla, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofa, Madrid, 2007; New York Film Festival, Lincoln Center, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006 y 2000, entre otras. Obtuvo el Main Prize en el Videofest Berlin, 1994; el primer premio en Videobrasil, en 1998 y 2001, y mencin especial en 2006; el primer premio en Clermont-Ferrand, Francia, en 1999. Vive y trabaja en Colonia/Brhl, Alemania.www.khm.de/~marcello/
lugares del pas y realiz exposiciones individuales en las galeras Luisa Strina (San Pablo) y Alberto Sendrs (Buenos Aires). Actualmente forma parte del grupo Actividad de Uso dedicado a escribir libros sobre la obra de artistas contemporneos argentinos. Rodrigo Alonso es profesor y curador independiente. Licenciado en Artes de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, se especializ en arte contemporneo y nuevos medios. Dicta clases en la Universidad de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), Universidad del Salvador (USal) y del Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte (IUNA), Buenos Aires. Asimismo, es profesor y miembro del Comit Asesor del Mster en Comisariado y Prcticas Culturales en Arte y Nuevos Medios del Media Centre dArt i Disseny en Barcelona, Espaa. Entre sus publicaciones podemos mencionar los libros: Muntadas. Con/Textos (2002), Ansia y Devocin (2003), Jaime Davidovich. Video Works. 1970-2000 (2004), Inter/Activos. Espacio, informacin, conectividad (2006), No sabe/no contesta. Prcticas fotogrficas contemporneas desde Amrica Latina (2008). Debe destacarse su
labor como curador de exposiciones de arte contemporneo en los espacios ms importantes de Argentina y Amrica Latina, y en prestigiosas instituciones europeas. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires y Barcelona. Yamila Bgn naci en Buenos Aires, en 1983. Licenciada en Letras por la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Realiz la clnica de narrativa del Centro Cultural Rojas coordinada por Miguel Vitagliano. Ha publicado sus relatos en la revista virtual El Interpretador y sus cuentos forman parte de las antologas Una terraza propia. Nuevas narradoras argentinas, editada por Norma, y El tiempo en las letras y el dibujo, editada por Tantalia. Eugeni Bonet trabaja en las reas de cine, video y medios digitales como escritor, curador y artista. Sus realizaciones ms recientes incluyen Tira tu reloj al agua (2004, largometraje en 35 mm) y Golem (2007-2008). Entre sus curaduras figuran el ciclo de cine y performances cinematogrficas Prximamente en esta pantalla: El cine letrista, entre la discrepancia y la sublevacin (MACBA, Barcelona, 2005) y la
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exposicin Gustavo Romano: sabotaje en la mquina abstracta (MEIAC, Badajoz, 2008). Prximamente est prevista la publicacin de un libro con la recopilacin de sus escritos. Matas Capelli naci en Buenos Aires en 1982. Es autor del libro de relatos Fro en Alaska, editado en 2008 por Eterna Cadencia. Junto con Paula Fernndez correaliz el video El Antofagasteo. Una celebracin a destiempo, premiado en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata y acreedor del Premio MAMbAFundacin Telefnica, ambos en 2006. Es editor de la revista Los Inrockuptibles y colaborador de diversos medios grficos. Washington Cucurto es el seudnimo de Santiago Vega. Poeta y narrador, miembro fundador de la editorial Elosa Cartonera, que publica ttulos de poesa y narrativa en papel reciclado por cartoneros. Entre sus obras poticas se destacan La mquina de hacer paraguayitos y Zelarayn. Podemos nombrar entre sus novelas Cosa de negros, El curandero del amor y Las aventuras del seor Maz. Escribe una columna para el diario Crtica.
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Lorena Gall naci en Santa Fe en 1976. Es licenciada en Letras y artista audiovisual. Vive y trabaja en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, donde se desempea como docente en las materias Introduccin a la Esttica y Fundamentos Tericos de la Produccin Artstica, en los departamentos de Artes Dramticas y Artes Visuales del IUNA. Recientemente termin la posproduccin de su primer largo, El fantasma de Reiko. Gustavo Galuppo naci en Rosario en 1971. Cineasta y curador independiente. Curs sus estudios de realizador audiovisual en Rosario. Fue fundador y director de la revista sobre cine El Eclipse. Desde 1998 trabaja en la realizacin de videos, entre los que podemos nombrar Fedra o la desesperacin (2008), Sweetheart Storie(s) about Accidents of Love (2006), Das enteros bajo las piedras (2004) y La progresin de las catstrofes (2004). Vive y trabaja en Rosario. Diego Golombek es doctor en biologa (UBA), profesor titular de la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (donde dirige el laboratorio de
cronobiologa) e investigador del Conicet. Ha escrito numerosos libros y trabajos cientficos, adems de dedicarse con entusiasmo a la divulgacin cientfica en medios grficos y televisivos. Recibi, entre otros, el premio Konex, el premio nacional de ciencia Bernardo Houssay y la beca Guggenheim. Pablo Katchadjian naci en Buenos Aires en 1977. Public Dp canta el alma, El cam del alch, El Martn Fierro ordenado alfabticamente y, en colaboracin con Marcelo Galindo y Santiago Pintabona, Los albailes. Dirige la Imprenta Argentina de Poesa (IAP). Es docente de la carrera Ciencias de la Comunicacin (UBA) y becario del Conicet. Jorge La Ferla es investigador en artes audiovisuales. Profesor jefe de ctedra de la Universidad de Buenos Aires y la Universidad del Cine. Ha curado y programado muestras de cine y video argentino en eventos y festivales en Alemania, Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Israel, Mxico, Suiza y los EE.UU., entre otros. Ha publicado treinta libros sobre artes audiovisuales en la Argentina y Colombia.
Cecilia Rabossi naci en Buenos Aires en 1966. Es licenciada en Artes egresada de la Facultad de Filosofa y Letras de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, miembro de la Asociacin Argentina de Crticos de Arte (AACA), curadora independiente e investigadora del Instituto de Teora e Historia del Arte Julio E. Payr. Leandro Tartaglia (1977). Trabaja desde hace varios aos vinculado a la imagen-msica realizando recorridos sonoros. Realiz escenografas para conciertos de msica contempornea y teatro. Form parte del grupo Oligatega Numeric y del grupo musical Rondamones. Actualmente forma parte del grupo Actividad de Uso, proyecto dedicado a escribir libros sobre la obra de artistas contemporneos argentinos. Javier Villa estudi licenciatura en Artes Plsticas, en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Es crtico de arte y curador independiente. En la actualidad escribe para adn Cultura - La Nacin, Los Inrockuptibles y 90+10. Forma parte del grupo Rosa Chancho.
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ENGLISH TEXTS
Introduction
Tcnica : video (Technique : Video) presents a panorama of eleven works that were all created by Argentinean artists using video as a medium. They testify to different approaches to the moving image, but above all, they constitute eleven independent works that should be read as part of each artists own aesthetic programme. As Rodrigo Alonso and Gustavo Galuppo point out in texts we have included in this book, today video is simply one more instrument within the repertory available to artists. Although even a decade ago people that made video art were generally artists that specialized in the medium, the artists that work with video today would rarely call themselves video artists. For this reason, we asked the writers and critics who took part in the book to offer a personal reading of the chosen work, a possible interpretation, avoiding the technical language that often accompanies video criticism. The book finishes with a section titled Bonus, which is made up of three elements: a work created by Martn Bonadeo, the characteristics
of which make it difficult to include within a panorama on video, but which shows precisely how the use of this medium as a resource has no pre-established formats; a text by Rodrigo Alonso that briefly traces the history of video art in Argentina, from its beginnings to the present; and a text by Gustavo Galuppo which probes the possibilities for producing and circulating video in our country. We wish to thank all the artists for the loan of their work and the writers for their interest and the rich texts that they sent us. Thank you, too, to all the staff at Galera Crimson and Olmo Ediciones, and to Victoria Sacco, who is always so helpful. Recently, in a video art presentation organized by the Alliance Franaise in Buenos Aires, Rafael Cippolini mentioned that video art today is like photography in the 1980s: all artists have now included it as a technique. That is where the name of our book comes from. So a thank you goes out to him, too.
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Some Historical and Aesthetic Keys to Understanding Argentinean Video Art Rodrigo Alonso Thanks to the workings of an undeniably generous destiny, video art arose in Argentina at almost exactly the same time as the first international experiments in the form were taking place.1 The rooms of the legendary Instituto Di Tella in Buenos Aires were where the first pieces that used electronic images came to life, works that did not yet use magnetic tape as a medium but which intervened directly onto television waves. Marta Minujn, David Lamelas and Lea Lublin were the pioneers of this aesthetic phenomenon, which would become unusually important in Argentinas contemporary art circuit a few decades later, and which is a regular feature at galleries and
museums today. Back then, the image itself didnt matter much. Technology was what interested people, the possibility of working with a new, unstable, intangible material. On the road to the dematerialization of works of art that conceptualists proposed, video held a privileged position, as its bedrock was immateriality itself. As a result, it circulated freely through museums and galleries. Unlike photography, television and cinema, which it shares a certain affinity with, video art quickly found a space for itself in the art world without having to wait years to be legitimized. Perhaps this is why artists adopted the form immediately. Performance artists, for example, came to video art looking for a medium to record their otherwise ephemeral performances. This meeting of genres gave rise to an unusual dialogue, a kind of hybrid
1 For a broader picture of the history of Argentinean video art, see the following: Alonso, Rodrigo, Hacia una genealoga del videoarte argentino, in Baigorri, Laura (ed.), Vdeo en Latinoamrica. Una historia crtica, Madrid: Brumaria, 2008; Alonso, Rodrigo, Hazaas y peripecias del videoarte en la Argentina, in Cuadernos de cine argentino. Cuaderno 3: innovaciones estticas y narrativas en los textos audiovisuales, Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales, 2005, available online in www.roalonso.net; Alonso, Rodrigo & Taquini, Graciela, Buenos Aires Video X. Diez aos de video en Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires: Ediciones ICI, 1999.
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form that would later become known as video performance. A similar thing took place when video combined with other established art forms, such as sculpture and installation.2 The new medium adapted easily to its predecessors, resulting in unexpected combinations. This is the case with the works of Jaime Davidovich, Margarita Paksa and Luis Benedit in the 1970s, some of which are linked to a performance, some to an installation, and others to a sculpture. But the 1970s were also when video became independent. With the arrival of the first portable cameras and magnetic tape, artists began to throw themselves into investigating the aesthetic possibilities now available to them. Production began on video artworks designed to be seen on a monitor; and time became an important issue. Now it was all about watching videos. All eyes were on the image, which began to demand attention
and contemplation. Technology became standardized. Then cassettes appeared, bringing with them autonomous electronic production with definite characteristics of its own, rather than the hybrid forms that had come before. In Argentina, the Centro de Arte y Comunicacin (CAyC, Center for Art and Communication) promoted the creation and spread of video art by making technological contributions and organizing exhibitions.3 At the same time, video art generated its own art circuit, distancing itself from the art spaces where it had been seen before. The number of festivals that specialized in this sort of production multiplied and became spaces frequented by connoisseurs and budding critics. Video art became the object of theories that developed on a par with the enthusiasm of creators committed to experimentation and a quest for something. There was still no
For more detailed information on video performance, video sculpture, and video installation, see: Baigorri, Laura, Vdeo: Primera etapa. El vdeo en el contexto social y artstico de los aos 60/70, Madrid: Brumaria, 2004. 3 Between 1972 and 1978, the Centro de Arte y Comuniacin organized ten international video art encounters which were key in the mediums history.
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permanently create and recreate one. But some of the technical properties of the technology of the time required a certain amount of specialization. This is how what Graciela Taquini calls the videoast geneneration came about, made up of creators who specialized in producing video art and who understood the techniques involved, although not necessarily the aesthetics.4 The remoteness of the international art circuit meant that local video artists had to find out on their own about certain forms and lines of work that were common at other latitudes. These were heady times that were driven by the imminent return of democracy to Argentina. Around 1982, with the explosion of imports boosted by the so called easy money brought by neoliberal monetary policies, Argentina was flooded with televisions and video cameras. Electronic production got a new lease of life. Some videoasts formed groups to share their equipment, while others used the resources of the TV channels and advertising companies where
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they worked, and others threw themselves into creating things on their own. Their works often dealt with television, usually in a critical fashion, given the starring role that it acquired in the new lifestyle postdictatorship. Noteworthy films that analysed and reflected on the mass media appeared, including La era del and (1987), directed by Carlos Sorn, The Man of the Week (1988), by Luis Mara Hermida and Boy Olmi, or Reconstruyen crimen de la modelo (1990), by Andrs Di Tella and Fabin Hofman. But a poetic line also began to developoften inspired by literaturewhich aimed at formal and narrative exploration, and which set up a different kind of aesthetics for video art. This was the result of personal quests and the development of an audiovisual metaphor, and went on to encourage many artists. Works such as Luz Zorraquns Tango. El narrador (1991) or Ar Detroys Diez hombres solos (1990) are among the high points of local video art. At the same time, the first authors with a style of their own
See: Taquini, Graciela, Una memoria del video en la Argentina, in Buenos Aires Video, Buenos Aires: Ediciones ICI, 1993
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begin to appear, such as Diego Lascano or Carlos Trilnick, who also made video objects and video installations. Together with Graciela Taquini, these artists would go on to be the driving forces of Argentine video art at international festivals, and the creators of their own spaces in Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. In very little time, video art had come of age. The generation that grew up in the next few years had much less trouble getting access to art spaces, financing their projects, or getting their work into circulation. The trail their predecessors blazed proved to be fertile and allowed them to secure firm positions on the local video creation scene. However, nothing was achieved without real vocation and sacrifice. In many cases, the artists needed to leave Argentina, some even permanently. Fundamental artists like Marcello Mercado, Charly Nijensohn or Ivn Marino, and later Sebastin Daz Morales and Gustavo Caprn, found Europe to be the most appropriate context for their work, forming a diaspora that has fortunately maintained close links with Argentina. Towards the middle of the 1990s, videographic production got more
complex, for several reasons. On the one hand, there was a tendency towards specialization, which allowed artists to elaborate ever more sophisticated discourses, backed by an increasingly solid and legitimate history and aesthetics. Increasingly precise technologies accompanied the movement: the improvement in electronic images and editing devices encouraged productions of a high technical level. With the advent of computers, the basic tools for creating an audiovisual piece were within reach and became openly available to artists (creators had previously needed to hire editing space from professional studios, which increased production costs considerably; now they had the equipment in their own houses or studios and were able to experiment much more, with fewer economic constraints.) Finally, the explosion of digital technology with its new methods and tools for image and sound processingbrought about an unprecedented field of research, a virgin territory that artists saw as a challenge. But just as the video art circuit consolidated its presence, its edges began to blur. Directors that studied
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cinema or the plastic arts began to show interest in this medium, which adapts easily to the demands of an audience that has grown up watching television. These creators got involved in video with no knowledge of its history or the aesthetic discoveries made over the years. This refreshed perspective brought new life to electronic audiovisual possibilities and ushered in a new generation of authors. Video artists from the end of the 1990s came largely from cinema and visual arts schools (Gabriela Golder and Andrs Denegri are two paradigmatic cases).5 The faculties of many of these schools included artists that promoted video art in Argentina. Nevertheless, there is no direct continuity between teachers and students, because video art is not what it used to be. Today, there is considerable interest in the conceptual and narrative aspects of audiovisual language, which means that formal properties or technical particularities are often neglected. For some artists, video is just a tool. Others are interested in its aesthetic qualities, but only insofar as these are capable of dealing with quests
5
that go beyond the limits of the medium itself. Like other contemporary artistic production, todays video art is less concerned with research and more interested in constructing situations, examining reality analytically, or securing effects. Originality and style are no longer important. Instead the focus is on managing to make an impact on a spectator that is anaesthetized by constant media bombardment. This is often achieved by decelerating the flow of images, encouraging contemplation and reflection, and stimulating a lost audiovisual intensity. Hence the predilection for dead time, recycling or reprogramming images, and the attention to unnoticed details of daily life. The spread of digital technology is opening new exploration channels. The versatility of editing programs and creating effects has renovated videographic language and introduced a plethora of hybrid forms that combine materials of different origins. Images and sounds are now sets of infinitely manipulable, flexible ones and zeros which can be mixed and
These artists were educated at the Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires.
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recombined ceaselessly. Editing has reached levels of precision that were impossible on analogue machines, allowing, in addition, work to be done on multiple audiovisual layers. Nevertheless, despite all these technical innovations, the young artists that have decided to work with video at the turn of the millennium seem less interested in investigating these devices than in the world around them. In many cases, there is a return to recording as a conceptual tool, as an instrument that allows the artistic idea to be brought face to face with reality. Many pieces are made up of slices of life translated via the camera, others take up the idea of videoperformance once again. In any case, there is a lack of trust in audiovisual discourse which seems paradoxical in a universe riddled with contradictory information, distorted realities and media trash. From its very beginnings, video has unfolded in the immediate and inescapable context of the mass media. In forming part of the conglomerate of audiovisual resources,
video has been constantly connected to television, cinema, and multimedia, even though these connections have sometimes been belligerent or critical. It is impossible to think of video art without this continual media background, without these technological relatives with which it has always, one way or another, entered into dialogue. At the beginning of the third millennium, not only have these relationships not diminished, but they have also deepened. The mass media have fed and continue to feed the imaginaries of many artists who find certain formal models in them or a cultural bedrock that allows them to forge a path towards their audience. The universes of music videos, Bmovies, and video games often appear in the works of young directors, making manifest not only a group of discursive references, but also the cultural environment in which these artists were born and grew up.6 As such, their appearance in works is more than just a reference: it is the recovery of a sentimental and audiovisual history presented to the spectator as a point
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This connection with the audience is something that video art has won through hard work. If in the 1970s and 1980s video art was a production that made the rounds in very reduced circles, today it is at the very heart of the art world, in museums and biennials. People have become accustomed to its language, its malleability, to finding it in the most diverse settings: transmitted, projected, and uploaded onto the net. Its probably hard for the YouTube generation to imagine that video was once a medium that was hard to access and which you needed some kind of introduction to first. Although the accessibility of
audiovisual language is sometimes a double-edged swordin that it often encourages immediate and unthinking consumptionartists take advantage of its capacity for seducing the audience and making an impression on them. Whether it also promotes observation and thought is a question worthy of aesthetic inquiry. The key to contemporary Argentine video art lies there, perhaps, in the delicate balance between reflection and formal intensity, between concept and emotion.
Estanislao Florido: Cartonero A New Family Game? Washington Cucurto Estanislao Floridos Cartonero (Rubbish Picker) calls for humour and a new kind of irreverence. Putting aside conventional ways of looking at the issue of urban scavenging, it resorts to satire rather than melodrama, to a novel aesthetic rather than pretentious black and white images of kids rummaging through rotting rubbish
bins on the outskirts of towns. This time the recipe is simpler: older forms of protest give way to a metaphor about rubbish pickers lives, particularly their daily routines, inspired by a retro-looking, eighties, first-generation video game (think: rag-and-bone man meets nextlevel), which still manages to look fiercely up-to-date. In it, our rubbishrummaging hero stars in his very own odyssey: to the beat of the requisite cumbia, he has to get past obstacles that range from rabid dogs,
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unfriendly neighbours, distracted drivers, and shortages of rubbish, to an unlucky encounter with the police. What a life, mate. The action, for a change, flows from left to right at high speed. Our dark-skinned Odysseus must grab all he can before the city rubbish collectors, the fuzz, or life in general get in his way. Along streets strewn with empty bins, heartless cars, and the saving grace of boxes piled high outside supermarkets, our skipraiding hero sprints. Just when we thought we knew everything there was to know about cartoneros, Florido takes usquite literallyto a new dimension. With the dynamics of virtual reality placed at the service of the story, each mishap seems less tragic. The frantic pace that the tarmac-burning collector sets for his urban adventures ensures that the action (and our interest) never flag. Like in all video games, as actor-spectators, we Florencia Levy: Turismo local Spontaneity Pablo Katchadjian Florencia Levy spent January 2004 living in cheap hotels in her own city, one per night for almost a month.
acquire a certain degree of complicity with the main character and his troubles, so something about it all stays with us after the predictable laughs have faded. I hope. If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words then we shouldnt be short of things to say after watching this gimmicky, but nevertheless effective, story of cyber-skipping. If laughing at our own misfortunes is a way of warding them off, then rubbish-picking has found a prophet, a messiah, a saviour, or at the very least, an exorcist, in Estanislao Florido. In todays world, where urban salvagers are more interested in play stations than in their rights, and in mobile phones than talking to others, this isnt a particularly farfetched claim to make. Cartonero rises up as a disposable manifesto on par with those who inspired it. Whether or not you decide to pick it up is in your hands, man.Game over.
She spent the time going for walks and taking notes on what she saw, and, above all, photographing the hotels that she got to know. Later on, she went back to take more pictures and film them. The first things she exhibited
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were the photos. Elegant, distant, perhaps a little cold, desolate and attractive, they gave an idea of the hotels she had stayed in on her trip. What idea? In a way, they portrayed adventure as a job. But at the same time, they suggested that she had enjoyed her tour, and the sadness of some of the hotels looked very interesting: they made you want to be there, because in the photos they looked warm, cosy, and anonymous, as well as cold. With the footage and notes from her diary, she later made Turismo local (Local Tourism). But the story of the video is not in the video. I mean, the video still works if you dont know the story, because its not an exhibition of the remains of the adventure but rather a composition, a story that was written on the basis of what was collected during the adventure. Her tourism and the video are not the same pieces of work: the two are linked, but independent. As such, we need to understand what the video is about. In the first place, there are three elements. The image, which is radical, elegant, both cold and warm at the same time, like the photos. The sound, which is a kind of context-in fact, it is the back-
ground noise of what was filmed. Finally, the text, which is based on her diary of the tour and which is chaotic, by which I mean rich, varied, and fluctuating in style. The three elements are connected to each other. The first thing that attracts your attention is the sound, perhaps because it seems to be coming from the bottom of a cave. But you quickly get used to this and discover that the sound is so fused with the image it changes it: the sound lets in everything that the image keeps out. So the greatest tension comes from the text, which seems totally unconnected and which, in fact, is totally unconnected: it speaks of things on the other side, outside in the street, which never appear, and it comments on them, makes fun of them, all in an exaggeratedly spontaneous tone. You might think: that isnt the text that goes there. But at the same time: just as well that text is there. And as you dont know what to do with the text, you fidget and think: these images are disturbing. Nevertheless, its all about the tension between the text and the images. Surely that tension says something. And if that idea is arguable,
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this next one is even more so: the tension speaks of spontaneity. Perhaps this is going too far, but what you see is this: on the one hand, images that appear to be a composition; on the other, a text that appears to be spontaneous. And all this, together with the sound, forms another composition in which all the elements live together in a certain harmony. How does it work?
Because what you could ask yourself is what spontaneity is. And if you saw the rest of Florencia Levys work youd feel obliged to think that, despite first impressions, the image is undoubtedly spontaneous, in keeping with Levys own spontaneity, her rhetoric, while the text is artificial and intricate, and after thinking this you might feel surprised.
Gustavo Caprn: Chamber Piece Chamber Piece Eugeni Bonet The camera takes its name from a dark roomcamera obscurawith an open hole on one of its sides. In Chamber Piece, Gustavo Caprn works with a book of photographic reproductions of paintings to propose a series of actions which, like his other videos, resemble studies, exercises, and object lessons. Parodies of educational audiovisual material but not spoofs, they conceive of art as system of knowledge, however over-the-top some of his proposals may seem. The book used is the lavishly illustrated exhibition catalogue of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio:
Come nascono i capolavori (1992), which Caprn considers the trigger for his own piece. The fruit of research into the troublemaking Italians paintings and of restoration work on it, the exhibition and the catalogue used a variety of photographic and scientific visualization techniques to analyze details of the paintings and examine layers that are invisible to the naked eye, hoping to track the development of the artists genius. The reproductions in the book are therefore being put to abnormal uses, according to Caprn himself, in the sense that the book is taken as an exercise manual, a pretext for carrying out certain actions, rather than as a sacrosanct object of observation and study.
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Two consecutive series of four actions each deal with readings of anatomy and mimesis, while reframing and trompe loeil are tackled in another series of more varied experiments. In both cases, hands and forearms interfere minimally in the shots to mirror certain gestures, or to alter the fixed frame of each sequence or exercise through slight interventions that incorporate other objects, subtly modifying the appearance of the reproductions. The entire first section (Work Plan) is made up of exercises that emulate or try to reproduce gestures from the pages of the book: outstretching your hand and clenching your fist, stretching one hand upright with curved fingers, etc. In the second section (Frames), however, a slight shift reveals that the frame surrounding an androgynous portrait typical of Caravaggios early work is a mirror. Mateo Amaral: Almacenado libros Coloured Noises Matas Capelli A space station where a scientist is recording the empty space around him, storing sound waves arriving
Similarly, the changing positions and concealment of other objects totally change the forensic visualization of pictorial details that are reproduced on other pages of the book. And as the book contains photographic reproductions of paintings and all their hidden secrets, it becomes clear that it is the operating table chosen by Caprn, who works in a variety of media. These range from the painting, action, and photography of his early work, to drawings that sketch out hypothetical mechanical or engineering works (Estructuras hidrulicas [Hydraulic Structures], Recolectores de lluvia [Rain Collectors], Productores de vapor y ruido [Steam and Noise Producers]; books that illustratewithout the actual text being present works of Pliny the Elder, Francis Bacon, Georges Perec, and Olivier Messiaen; and videos that provide silent training, in which art intersects with other fields of knowledge and other techniques. from a host of distant times and places. Everything else orbits around this scene, which is the main nerve of the feature film Mateo Amaral has been working on for several years. The video Almacenado libros (Books Stored) is one of the asteroids circling
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the scene. It is one long abstract sci-fi animation made up of independent fragments that manage to hang together through the echoes of certain vectors that Amaral slowly but surely detects and reformulates. Snippets of sounds and images: (archaic) Arcade games like Another World, imposing Herzogian landscapes or postapocalyptic sci-fi backgrounds, and sections that decidedly tend towards abstraction. But in each and every one, Amaral never stops demonstrating the shortcomings of technology: sparks of static, breaks in transmission, hyper- compressed low-definition sound and video, the dyslexic mumbling of untimely machines. This rather distrustful chaotic, evenuse of technique is reminiscent of that which Amaral adopts in his work with Oligatega Numeric, the art collective he is part of. Almacenado libros is a sometimes opaque work of noiseism. It resists the narrative dimension of the larger
series (that is, the feature-length film) which contains characters from increasingly recognizable surroundings and solider scenes and stories. In this video, the scale of the distortion draws the bow that magnetizes the sounds and images over time; a defective valve or a restless handthe hand of the scientist shut away in the space station, or that of Mateo Amaralwhich always seems to be adjusting the antenna. As if certain information were hidden in the noise or stored randomly in the interference, the flat-colour pixels burst and accelerate erratically with binary uncertainty when whoever is operating the software forces it to make mistakes. The particles dissolve fluidly, disintegrate, move like the colours of shadows. Memories of woods and cities ooze and overprint themselves onto a hard disk of faulty clusters: a phenomenology of audiovisual perception for 8-bit consoles.
The sharpened, amplified sound frames the first lights. Bright spots expand from a nucleus that is slightly off-centre, then fall away into the darkness. They might be
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small military explosions: a trench full of gunshots. Later, the lights prove to be sparks and the trench is actually a border marked by highvoltage cables. It is the glow of the sparks themselves that allows the tensely spluttering cables to be seen in the dark. A cavernous noise announces the arrival of the alien, who reaches out to stroke the tangle of cables. It looks almost like a dark wing, impalpable but airborne; a scaly, feathery body that steals up to the cables, cloaked by the dark moments when the sparks stop. A careful swipe, performed with the subtlety of a fractious cat, and the sparks are let loose. The alien turns and moves away, satisfied with the light it has unleashed. Now a storm approaches out of the clouds. This play with temporal dimensions which come and go along a disorganized timeline creates an atmosphere that is part war-like and part apocalyptic. Only towards the end does the chronological sequence prove true, when the path circles round on itself and becomes repetitive. It is this firing off of temporalities that gradually shapesas if in instalmentsthe outlines of the cables, the post, the
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beast and its grasp. The chaos of each disordered moment adds to the next, culminating in the transmission of the devastating action. Formally speaking, the flashes of light and the darkness in which the images appear respect the logic of misaligned time frames, giving them a sparkling structure that fuses the clash of timescales with the steam of the trenches. The comings and goings of time sketch out the shape of Resistor, where the flying sparks and the silhouette of the beast draw away and come closer again and again. The lights vanish after the explosion and then return later to expand once more and tell the story again. Two constant central light sources move like a planet and a satellite circling it: from there, the electrical fire will fall to pieces. The alien appears increasingly often, repetitively. Sketched out as a mere foreign body which at first appears to be the vague cause of the explosion, only later do the scales reveal the fangs and does the aim of its swipes improve. The war-like conditions, although in contrast with the wild apparition, shape the atmosphere in which sparks fly and the beast becomes enraged. At times, the
blinding light takes on an almost atomic power. Will the alien be capable of splitting subatomic particles? Regardless, at these moments the white light tramples the dark, even though invisibility is still the outcome. Elongated static makes up the sound base for the small battle between the beast and the cables,
a static that grows deeper and deeper until it becomes a perfect resonant short circuit. This is the point of no return: resistance has run out. From then on, the way the sounds and shapes will end begins to be defined: the rain comes in and grey clouds frighten even monsters away.
Sebastin Daz Morales: Orculo (The) Oracle of Sebastin Daz Morales Jorge La Ferla I believe Sebastin Daz Morales to be one of the most emblematic audiovisual artists of today. I had the privilege of being present in So Paulo when he won first prize in the 14th Videobrasil competition for his video El hombre apocalptico, I attended the opening of his exhibition Dependence at Attitudes, one of Genevas most mystifying art galleries, and I saw his videos screened at the 11th Biennale of the Moving Image. Morales is also represented by the Carlier Gebauer gallery in Berlin. His cinematographic education at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires gave way to
artist-in-residence programmes at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains and the Couvent des Rcollets in France. In this way, Morales has been building on his educational background in audiovisual arts, which has led him to make forays into the fields of cinema, documentary, video art, and installation. He is a difficult author to classify, given the way his work wanders from the pale screens of dark cinemas (with his films and monochannel videos), to museums and galleries (with his objects and installations). Oracle is a work of video, video installation and video sculpture, which needs to be staged1 and exhibited in a variety of ways, and which, therefore, begs to be
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transferred so that what is exhibited in the museum space is this timeframe itself. But lets consider the essence of Orculo (Oracle), its images and its structure, which are based on the narrative, poetic tensions of a series of takes recorded around the world. Waiting and contemplating: the beginning and end show an eclipse, someone on a terrace, and a man gazing at the sea. A saga that appeals to a vision centred on the elements of water, air, fire and earth. A plastic bag dragged by the wind in a city where time has stopped, hands that stretch out to touch a statue of Buddha, beings suspended in a neon sign for the imperial soft drink, batterypowered toys for sale on a pavement, an underground train leaving the station for the halflight of a tunnel, native peoples walking along the high plateaus of the Andes, someone pounding stones in a barge at sea, thunder in the sky. The scenes are based on real and present situations that take place in front of the camera, but which Morales trims and
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decontextualizes through subtle framing. It is his gaze that displaces the literal meaning of the images. His viewpoint and combination of takes imply a dreamlike universe, where the reality of the present is the foretaste of a dubious future. This change of direction, the move from literal towards metaphorical regions, is the main idea of Orculo. It is the line drawn by a poetics of the real in its reflection on the dimension of time past and future like memory games sparked by looking through a video camera. A conceptual gaze that breaks the paradigm of the footprint of reality. A transcendental search through which we can make out certain Asian and Latin American landscapes in the work of Daz Morales, the times and spaces of which the author crops. Demarcating spiritual, physical, and symbolic boundaries traces the outline of the cartographies that Orculo puts forward. In this work, Morales tells of his role as an outsider through his audiovisual writing, always breaking with what he has borrowed from optic realism. Filming what is foreign goes beyond
prototype, http://www.sebastiandiazmorales.com/
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the filmmakers nomadic lifestyle to convert the film into an out-anout reflection on the act of seeing and imagining. On his trips around the world he stages an examination of real events, taking his own unfa-
miliarity with them as a starting point. This is the premise from which Morales asks questions and offers us his Orculo on the memory of things past and the perception of time future.
Luciana Lamothe: Maine in Wood Surrounded in Maine Pablo Accinelli and Leandro Tartaglia
Maine in Wood is the story of five women who are all in the same house but dont share each others spaces. As the film rolls, we gradually realize that the house they are in is made entirely of wood, and as the house is in the middle of a forest, its also totally surrounded by the material. The five women, who each have different racial features (Asian, Anglo-Saxon, African) dwell or live like this, unaware of each other, tormented and seduced by this wood all around them. The film mixes different ways of creating and building with wood, friction and axe blows in sweaty bikinis or the tearing of dresses, synthesizing what is happening to each of the women in this particular place.
The soundtrack is made up of two songs which are separated by sudden, high-pitched noises. The first announces the films suspenseladen atmosphere; the second is a galactic cowboy song in German. Both are superimposed onto the distorted sounds of the actions that link the characters to the objects. The camerawork divides the sequences (the series of scenes) into stills, high- and low-angle shots, hand-held camera work and frontality. The latter creates a kind of subjective shot that traces the movements of the actors, making us present in the same way that the characters are as they struggle, caress themselves, or obsess over the wood. The fundamental structure of the montage is built on the basis of segmented shots generated, for example, by reverse-angle shots of content, not just space, as in the case of the contrast of girl-wood-leg
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with beams-banisters-steps. Through this resource, comparisons are established between interiors and exteriors, generating jolts in continuity, which give rise to the films narrative tensions. Fixed images with texts superimposed on them point again and again to therarefied everyday connection with wood: horizontal in wood is maine in you. For the five women, facing up to the place they inhabit in the same way that they face up to the materials the place is made from
is a complicated task. Influencing, coexisting, manufacturing, transforming, sustaining, and climbing are some of their actions. In Luciana Lamothes Maine in Wood, architectural forms and materials are always the causes of what the actresses do. This begs the question about who the real characters are in this film: those interacting with the wood, or the wood itself? YOU are WOOD, YOU are WOOD. IN YOU, wood. IN MAINE IN WOOD IN YOU.1
1 Translators note: The original sentence uses a mix of Spanish and English words in upper and lower case, YOU sos WOOD, YOU are MADERA. IN YOU, wood. IN MAINE IN WOOD IN YOU
Federico Falco: Estudio para horizonte en plano general Traces of Identity on the Landscape Cecilia Rabossi
Outside, the moving shadow of the train stretched out toward the horizon. The elemental earth was not disturbed by settlements or any other signs of humanity. All was vast, but at the same time intimate and somehow secret Jorge Luis Borges, The South, 1944
In Estudio para horizonte en plano general (Study for a horizon as a long shot) (2003), Federico Falco turns to the landscape -more specifically, to the plains, that great swathe of land that characterizes the Argentine countryside- to talk of identity. Within this vastness, the horizons unavoidable presence defines relationships with the surroundings. The relationships with his personal and family histories, with the world of memory. The Pampaperceived as endlessbecomes a stage on which to work through memory, his memo-
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ries. The protagonists, either real people or those portrayed in an old photograph, appear and disappear, fade into this deserted landscape, a landscape of horizon and winds. Time seems to have stopped, which becomes more intense at different points in the video. I agree with Laura Malosetti Costas statement that time seems to stop in representations of the Pampa. Perhaps because the empty horizon, the skies, the perception of something sublime in its vastness is the topic that has most attracted and fascinated plastic artists since the late 19th century1 Although the photograph of the family and the real-life couple appear repeatedly, they are like traces of that presence. The horizon is the real protagonist that establishes relationships. At the beginning of the video Falco lingers on the landscape, centring on the horizon and the sound of the wind. An elderly couple enter the frame, and insert themselves in the landscape. The couple is replaced by a photograph of a large family group. The horizon in the photograph coincides with the real horizon,
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reinforcing the idea of the personal extending into the geographic, or vice versa. The artist plays with the photograph: at times it seems to be still, and at others, moving. The photo fades into the landscape; the people in it disappear and only the empty chairs remain, real objects that are like traces of this event. The real horizon is replaced by an image of one on a wall, and the photograph is placed on top of this once again. The artists performative action reinforces the idea of the horizon as defining a space of his own where his memories can be told. The landscape reappears, but is moving now. A piece of paper is placed on the window of some form of transport. It overlaps the real horizon, but at the same the line loses the subtlety of lightly dividing the earth and the sky so as to become an almost bodily presence that intensifies this separation. The elderly couple appears once more and then fades into the landscape. In this video, which takes the form of a study, the horizon a stubborn presence points to the way the landscape interferes in the artists intimacy.
Malosetti Costa, Laura, Pampa, ciudad y suburbio, Buenos Aires, Fundacin OSDE, 2007,
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Mario Caporali: Lquenes From Scientific Curiosity to Humour Lorena Gall At first glance, Lquenes (Lichens) appears to be a documentary that is attempting to describe the indivisible amalgam of a fungus and an alga that is a lichen. A male voice-over reads us a dictionary definition and the camera pans a photograph of the phenomenon. What triggers this and many of Caporalis other creations is scientific, documentary curiosity. Mario delves into the jaws of the natural world using procedures analogous to those used by science: he isolates a fragment of an organism from its context then amplifies it to observe it in detail and evaluate its relationship with other environments. He draws the videos educational tone from documentaries. However, the limits of both documentaries and science in the work can soon be seen because, of course, Mario is neither a scientist nor an educator: his intentions are aesthetic, his passion is formal and playful, pictorial and nave. The visual composition of Lque-
nes centres on the pictorial play on tonalities: the varied greens in the lichen unfurl, in turn, over background that is also green. This work with colours is nourished by other processes that help relegate the documentary value of the photography to a lesser level. The camera pans the photo slowly, as if it were exploring a body that is actually already a representation. The montage superimposes shots and makes the images slide over one another, generating an illusion of depth. What makes Lquenes nave is the humour that emerges in it, born of Caporalis passion for all things playful. In his photographs, this prompts him to recognize a dogs head in a stone, and in his installations, to transform a beekeepers suit into an astronauts, so as to invent a new genre, rural science fiction. In this video, Yao Ying Xian and Zheng Lang Seng debate the most exact translation of the term lichen into Chinese. The intimate tone of the conversation and the mans obvious irritation when the woman interrupts introduce a dose of humour that the image alone does not conjure up. In his quest for compositional
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harmony, Caporali moves away from the language of science and documentary. This is where the funny side of things bursts through, but you can always put this humour to one side and go back to the seriousness: nothing said here about lichens is anything less than rigorously true. What is significant about this video is that interpretations cannot be limited to any one level: the documentary tone, the pictorial play, and the videos distant stance
all converge into a shared dialogue and open time up sideways in order to coexist. Separating the fungus from the alga proves difficult, but finding the line between the seriousness and humour of Caporalis idea is no less laborious. Lquenes reveals a novel, realistic form of representation that rarefies the natural world as it flows seamlessly in and out of the different languages and aesthetics that have tried to represent this world and understand it.
Marcello Mercado: Series of Periodical Bilinear Surfaces Of Maps, Territories, Surfaces, and Mathematical Natures Diego Golombek At the beginning of the 20th century, the German shopkeeper Heinrich Grebing was overcome by an obsession with making lists, calendars, and columns of numbers that repeated themselves over and over, repetitions that he couldnt help writing down on scraps of fabric, in notebooks, or on canvases. By around 1930 he had covered all his old accounting books with an infinite system of series through which he
tried to re-order the universe. He did not have, of course, the technology to put his numerical series into action, to feed them into a factory of everchanging colours and forms which, strangely, have an underlying cohesion that brings meaning to them. This is the technology that Marcello Mercado uses to bring periodic series to life on the screen, creating the strange effect of something that is familiar and yet at the same time new and original, a kind of dj vu, of Ive-already-been-here, but which constantly surprises you as the images and trails appear. Although the periodic series of bilinear surfaces the artist works
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with are hard to imagine, its worth giving it a try. A mixture of tectonic plates, multicoloured fractals and space trips, his video art is built from the strictest mathematics, with numerical series that gradually vary and modulate the forms and palettes on the screen. These surfaces cross paths, sometimes passing each other by and sometimes fusing, multiplying their colours and shapes. To spice this up, the same series feed a background noise which, far from white noise, is as rich in nuances as the images themselves. Perhaps part of this richness or rather the depth of the surfacesis due not only to their mathematical origins but also to the extensive image processing the author carries out on them. In his own words: I compressed the original Beta Digital material three times: 1. From Betacam Digital to .MPEG; 2. Once the DVD was ready I hacked it myself with pirate software and created two separate files: a Quicktime of the .MPEG the same size as the original and a .AIFF; 3. I made a new .MPEG from the Quicktime and then worked with that at the editing stage. Its true: intermediaries, hands off; or better yet, just stare at a
point on the screen and try to guess what the next change will be, the next surface. But lets take up the periodical concept, which permeates the work and builds it up. Weand all of natureare periodic creatures, walking clocks that repeat ourselves again and again, in synchrony with an equally varying environment. At times, it is moving away from these rhythmic patterns that suggests an anomaly, an illness, some flaw in the climatology of the universe or the organism. Watching these Mercadian surfaces with your eyes half-closed or concentrating on the surrounding sound gives you the opportunity not only to recognize the mantra of the periodical but alsowith the luck of someone who spots a shooting star to catch a change of state, a peculiarity in its temporal series. But take care with these numerical series, which cause harm, create problems, and always end in tears. You see, theres a bit of everything: divergent series, convergent series, infinite series, self-destructive series, and series full of beauty. Beauty? In maths? Fernando Pessoa said so long ago: Newtons binomial is as beautiful as the Venus de Milo. The problem is that
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precious few people notice. But as Bertrand Russell said, Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true. Perhaps, then, to notice mathematical beauty, to share this not knowing what we are talking about, there is nothing left to do but visualize it, hear it, feel it. In short: to grasp mathematicsor the world around us, which is the same thing through the senses. This brings us to another sensorial aspect of Mercados work. There is an illness (illness?) called synaesthesia, patients (patients?) of which confuse the senses. As such, they are able to hear colours, or smell texts, or see music. The surfaces of Marcello Mercados video are, in a way, synaesthetic, something that he himself admits
when he says, When Im working the text I feel Im all ears. The artists worldour world, the one we experience every dayis a world of codes: the code of the computer into which I type my text, the radio waves that go through us on the street, weather sensors, the whims of stock market traders. These codes are sensed by bilinear surfaces, those squares and diamonds that run into each other almost wilfully with no more rhyme or reason to them than the artists senses and his numerical series. However, the six-and-a-bit minutes that Mercados bilinear surfaces last for are not free of danger, like any clockwork equipment. Behind the clock lies death, Cortzar used to say but fear not. Come on in and have a look (and listen, and smell, and hear).
Notes on a Possible Outlook for Argentinean Video Today Gustavo Galuppo Multiplicity and combinations. Contaminations and hybridizations. Theres no doubt about it: from its electronic beginnings to its mutation into digital, the video-
machine has created a territory that favours shifts within its limits and a destabilizing deletion of the borders established by (now) defunct techniques. So where does the field of video start and end? How and where can we construct a specific territory that allows video to exist as a form?
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Of course, its not simple, but we might as well start with the knockedabout category that is experimental. Video begins with the first experimental cinema, when film began to get to grips with historical avant-gardes. It became the foundation stone of a long lineage and grew to fruition when the technology for electronic recording and broadcasting appeared: television. It drew its conceptual base from the experimental cinema and the malleability of its medium from television. From there it set out on a long journey filled with crossroads and detours, distancing, hybridizations, violence, and subjugation. Video is, first and foremost (although strangely some people still have trouble accepting this), cinema (despite the format) and then TV (purely because of the format?); thats to say, its both things and neither at the same time: an other, however, which is also plastic arts, literature, dance or architecture. All and nothing. The perfect instrument for hybridization. But video is, above all, an offshoot of the family tree of experimental audiovisual production which, once again, starts with cinema but then turns against it in order to renovate, negate, or
eliminate it; or, in the worst of cases, to make the banal, pretentious trip along tracks well-beaten by other technological formats. What is produced in Argentina today outside conventional circuits? How can we conceive of audiovisual constructions outside a global standard so exhausted that it can no longer stand up to itself? Video isor should containthe answer. Video as a possible field for experimentation, as the last bastion of a creative freedom and formal conscience that have been brutally aborted from mainstream circuits. There, where the media has been democratized (or at least partly so, because of course not everyone has access to the same technology and the unstoppable race for technological development is constantly inventing new marginal areas and new pariahs), should be the focus of resistance to an audiovisual universe that is even more polluted than the planet itself. But, coming back to Argentina, is it possible to speak of an output with characteristics of its own that establish a conscience and a state of risk in the field of audiovisual media and where these can be brought into question? So where can conscience be found?
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The first step would be, just as an outline of the general problem, to try to reflect on the existence of a supposedly national output (this kind of consideration is always debatable is there such a thing as a genuinely national cinema?): that is, does Argentinean video actually exist? Of course there is localized output within certain territorial limits (no doubt about it), but can the output of a singular, recognizable expression be exclusively defined by territorial coordinates? Perhaps more than other artistic expressions, audiovisual art has been violently transformed in recent years into a transterritorial phenomenon, from the mixing of transnational aesthetic characteristics to the production methods themselves. As such, some of Argentinas best and most admirable videasts have been building their work from outside the country for years: Marcello Mercado, working from Germany; Ivn Marino, from Spain, and Sebastin Daz Morales, from the Netherlands. Gustavo Caprn is another artist working from Spain whose work sets out interesting personal questions. Can their work then form part of the eclectic corpus of Argentinean video art? European
productions, hallmarks that interweave contrasting features that range from the experimental origins of cinema via the reformulations of the most radical documentary makers to an interaction with other forms of expression and purely digital creations. Sebastin Daz Morales, based in the Netherlands, creates his videos in different places around the world: Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, building the conceptual base for each work on the idea of a profound dialogue between his inner world and the exotic landscapes hes passing through. Perhaps in his work lies the key to this transterritorial, wandering video art that is foreign wherever it goes. A body of work where the characteristics of each location filter into each video and help construct it, disintegrating its own signs in a single movement of writing and erasing, so as to establish a universal discourse peppered with references to itself, a delicate reflection on the very construction processes of the audiovisual story. In Mercados work, the position is different. Based in Germany for ten years, he has sunk himself into an exhaustive and obsessively
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detailed search for personal forms whose seeds lie in his impressive output during the years he lived in Argentina. The strange path of experimentation through abstract images began to gain importance in Mercados work when he gained access to more sophisticated technologies. Purely digital creations, an extreme manipulation of the image, excessively composed framing, and the disconcerting inclusion of oblique typographic texts gradually begin to form a de-framing (but almost never a cancelation) of the real (and with it of recorded bodies, perhaps the axis of his previous work) towards the purest geometrical abstraction. Das Kapital, made in 2003 (and part of a mammoth project that tries to sketch out a personal reading of Marxs work through a series of multiformat works), deals perhaps with this transition, although reversing the meaning of it: from a purely numerical composition (as a digital technological creative medium and as the main reason behind the image) towards a stripped-down exhibition of photos. In Series of Periodical Bilinear Surfaces, in contrast, he arrives at conceptual cinematic forms (like
George Landows work in movies such as Film with Scratches), sketching out a complex abstract construction whose title somehow describes and exhausts its essence. Here, finally, there is a total absence of a cinematographic or videographic record. And, therefore, an absence of those distorted bodies so dear to Mercado. Everything has been reduced by the violence of the power of an icy functional equation (like those functional bodies of classic representation, but here as a discourse articulated through other media). All that remains are fluctuating geometrical surfaces, a video-image which devours itself and excretes other images in an endless cycle. From Spain, Ivn Martino carries out extreme manoeuvres. He begins by bringing early cinemas documentary forms to the point of crisis, and moves to mathematical thoughts on new media for works for the web, CD-ROMs, and installations, experimenting with the representational limits of todays technology and establishing an unprecedented link between the cameras historic documentary gaze and the mathematical configurations of the computer.
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Gustavo Caprn, also in Spain, is systematically developing a disconcerting and strangely beautiful minimalism, a series of naked videographical constructs that examine themselves, that ponder the value of the image and the construction processes of the work itself. Some of the most impressive and best-recognized Argentina videasts, therefore, work from outside the country to put together this elusive, heterogeneous map of a transterritorial video art, adding the cultural contamination of foreignness to video arts already hybrid nature. But a different output also exists, carried out strictly within Argentinas borders. How can we approach it? How can we refine its features, limits, and thoughts? And also, as I said at the start, can we really speak of a creative conscience that brings the statutes of audiovisual creation into crisis retrospectively? Is there a real experimentation with audiovisual forms and structures that will establish efficient resistance to the institutionalized ways in which the most inane forms of entertainment act? Of course, answering these questions about any kind of video
production isnt easy. However, the conflict deepens when we need to explore these rather underground productions. The economic difficulty of producing (works and thoughts) and showing them is a fundamental stigma that makes each undertaking connected to experimentation with audiovisual forms in Argentina a challenge. And another hurdle appears and becomes clear as a consequence of this state of affairs: activities related to experimental audiovisual production are centralized in certain curators, groups and institutions, which means that the little material that does get shown enters into a closed, almost incestuous circuit, perpetuating the same authors and works in direct relation with those responsible for official legitimization. Clearly the problem is far from simple, nor is it limited to the bombarded territory of Argentina. Argentinean video, then, splits to form an impossibleor rather, inaccessibletangle. It is true that there is also an official kind of video art which is institutionalized and therefore visible, and other, more numerous kinds that remain in the shadows, far from art circuits and ignored by legitimizers. That
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might be where well find the true, obstinate reflection that faces up to the general emptying of the art and entertainment industries. But of course we have to get there first a task that is often doomed to little or no success. Perhaps its a question of the self-same producers of images generating new alternative circuits to those of the official artistic discourse, but without letting up pressure on institutions to bring about a broad, coherent cultural policy that takes creative risk as its main axis rather than the ease of pre-digested conformist entertainment. In todays Argentina, beyond the artists who have settled abroad (which seems to be condition for the legitimization of Latin American video artists in Europe), there exists an incipient experimental production that swings between recognition for their cinematographic leanings and hybridization with other artistic expressions alien to the audiovisual field. Theres a divide, a visible separation, a parting of waters which allows the interests at stake and the fundamental concepts behind the form to be clearly seen. Video art that is deliberately linked to its cinematographic ancestry consciously gets to
grips with the problems of audiovisual production, becoming part of a long history of trends and crises. The video art that comes from other fields, however, seems to approach these problems as just another tool with which to produce art, appropriating its hybrid nature (generally) without delving deeper into fundamental questions of the time-image. To cinema-inspired video art we can ascribe the development of cinematographic language according to technological advances. The video art that comes from other artistic disciplines, however, can be described as dismissing the videographic image as a sole end, as spilling off the screen, as inserting the image into other spatial contexts and integrating it into other problematic issues that arent limited to the endless cinema-image. Its worth adding that the latter school of thought reigns supreme, which is definitely the result of cinema schools lack of interest (or ignorance or denial of) the possibility of risk, of experimentation, of liberating shifts in narrative formats that have become exhausted through formulaic repetition. So when we speak of Argentinean video art today, what are we talking about? Perhaps of a huge amount of
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unknown work that is waiting to be discovered or authorized by official legitimizers. Or perhaps of a visible body of work that fluctuates between the conformism of accepted artistic standards and the reflexive subversion of audiovisual codes. Experimental cinema is video art disabled, Jean-Paul Fargier once said. It is to be expected, then, that
Argentinean (and other) video art will one day come to terms with its power and configure an audiovisual universe that will be definitively cut off from mass entertainment and domesticated art. The works in this book, at least, are outstanding examples of something that is part-light and part-shadow, part-visibility and part-denial.
Martn Bonadeo: Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive Javier Villa In a textbook on video artists, Martn Bonadeo would be an anomaly. He doesnt actually use video as a medium and conceptually dismantling video as a format never seems central to his thinking. Whats more, Mulholland Drive, the work chosen for this book, isnt even a video. This anomaly should therefore be read retrospectively, like the third line of a haiku: deliberately going back to the drawing board to rethink the idea of genre as an organizational tool, a tool that is never immaculate but rather riddled with cracks and distortions; another elegant, other-worldly question, how to
discipline the aesthetic potential of video beyond the frame itself. Mulholland Drive is a light installation developed by Bonadeo, graphic designer Michael Chu and film producer D. Scott Hessels as part of the Database Aesthetics course given at UCLA in 2004. As with filmmaking, this piece of work involved a data-capturing process, subsequent editing, and then being shown. However, rather than recording an image, the artists recorded the movement of a car driving down Mulholland Drive, the Californian highway known for its twists and turns. The data the vehicles direction, location, speed, engine RPM, and inclination was recorded on a Honda Civic tuned with various sensors and microphones, with the aim of digitalizing and
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translating the input later on. In a huge university gym sunk in fog and darkness, two robotic lights sending out white beams and two speakers reproducing the sound of the engine recreated this drive along the highway. In this way, the artists tell a story the projection of a journey by car which goes beyond the twodimensional image of cinema so as to be experienced spatially, through an environment. As their language, they use the elements of video that are generally kept hidden from the audiences gaze. Essential elements such as the projection of light, transformed into a significant physical volume; or the
projector, which becomes two performing robots possessed by a dance they cant escape. Bonadeo, Chu, and Scott Hessels suggest a new way of encasing real data, of intervening in our experience outside the screen in order to regurgitate it in physical and sensory surroundings far from the original environment: an aesthetisized database and digitalized information in order to generate an act of tele-presence. The spectator melts into the flow of the piece and experiences the story bodily. A beam of light shines through him or her, no longer a medium but a kinetic sculptural object, the main character of the story being told.
Mateo Amaral was born in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, in 1979. He studied illustration at the Escuela Superior de Artes Visuales Martn A. Malaharro and animation direction at the Instituto de Arte Cinematogrfico de Avellaneda. He attended Diana Aisenbergs art clinic and received a Kuitca grant between 2003 and 2005. He works with different media, including animation, music, video, drawig, painting, text, and installations.
He is part of the art collective Oligatega Numeric, the psychedelic punk group Hipnoflautas, and the synthetic video and music duo Fsforo Lquido.His video work has formed part of a variety of festivals and exhibitions such as:
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2007; Festival Video Populi, Mxico, 2007; Arte y nuevas tecnologas, MAMbA Prize - Fundacin Telefnica, Buenos Aires, 2006, and Jardn oculto videoarte, Chteau de Tours, France, 2006; amongst others. Since 2000 he has presented his works with Oligatega Numeric in the following exhibitions:
the Universidad Catlica Argentina (UCA). There he founded and directs the Experimental Workshop in Science, Art, and Technology.Between 2000 and 2003 he attended Fabiana Barredas art clinic and Mnica Girns workshop. Since then he has developed more than 30 specific installations for a variety of spaces in Buenos Aires, Denver, Los Angeles, So Paulo, San Francisco, Seville, and Tokyo. In 2007 he took part in the Fundacin Telefnicas Intercampos programme for the development of visual projects. The following year, he won Fundacin Telefnicas Tec-en-arte scholarship. In 2008 he was selected for the arteBAPetrobras Prize and for the Platt Prize. He had already received the Grand Prize for Art and New Technology awarded by Fundacin Telefnica - Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires in 2005, and the Incentive for New Productions, Vida
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Mario Caporali was born in 1979 in Rosario, Argentina. He studied painting with Piyawan Illsey in Hong Kong between 1996 and 1998. In 2002 he began a degree in photography at the Escuela de Fotografa Creativa Andy Goldstein and also spent a year at the Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires. He attended an art clinic run by Romn Vitali in 20032004, and then one led by Diana Aisenberg a year later. He also took part in Alberto Goldensteins workshop in colour vision and the photographic image. He explores different media, including video, performance art, and photography. His exhibitions include: KDA, Galera Crimson Arte Contemporneo, 2008;
Records, UK. He lives and works in Buenos Aires and Rosario. www.caporali.wordpress.com Gustavo Caprn was born in Buenos Aires in 1968. He is a National Professor of Painting at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredn. In 2005, he received a Diploma in Advanced Studies from the Fine Arts department of the Universidad de Barcelona. Since 1994 he has exhibited his work in a variety of shows and festivals, such as: Karlsruhe, Zentrum fr Kunst und Medientechnologie, Germany, 2008; 13 Canarias Mediafest
Internationales, Paris/Berlin/Madrid,
Crculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain, 2007; National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Ontario, Canada, 2007; Uncon-
Pioln de Chiacchio-Gianonne, C. C.
Recoleta, Buenos Aires, 2007; Planeta X, Rosario, 2005; S/T en S/T Experimental/Galera Crimson Arte Contemporneo, Buenos Aires, 2004 [solo]; Re-coleccin, Malba, Buenos Aires, 2004. In 2007, his video Innocence was selected for Bjrks Innocence Video Competition, published on Bjork.com and released by One Little Indian
trolled Reflections, Shift Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2006; 9o Estudio Abierto, Buenos Aires; 11e Biennale de lImage en Mouvement, Saint-Gervais, Geneva, Switzerland, 2005; Cicles: recollectors
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media he currently works with are video, artists books, and photography. He received an honourable mention in the videoinstallation category of the Paradigma Digital prize, Buenos Aires, in 2007; the 2nd monochannel video prize at the MAMbA/Fundacin Telefnica prizes, Buenos Aires, in 2006; the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterrneo grant, Alicante, Spain, in 2005; and a special mention in videoinstallation at the Festival Internacional de Video i Arts Digitals, Girona, Spain, in 2003; amongst others. He lives and works in Barcelona. www.gustavocaprin.net
Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires, 2006; Facultad de Medicina, Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires, 2003; MAMbA/ Interven-
Esteban de Alza was born in Buenos Aires in 1973. He studied Sound and Image Design at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2002 he attended Guillermo Uenos photography workshop. He took part in a visual art clinic run by Alicia Herrero and, a year later, in one run by Diana Aizenberg, Rafael Cippolini, and Eva Grinstein at the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas (Universidad de Buenos Aires). He is involved in the online video project
Comodoro Rivadavia in 1975. He studied at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. In 20002001, he completed his studies at the Rijksakademie Van Beldeende Kunsten in Amsterdam. He subsequently did a residency at Le Fresnoy, Roubaix, and the Couvent des Rcollets, Paris. His work is mainly within the field of video. From 2000 he has taken part in many exhibitions, including: HBox, Tate Modern, London, England; Locked-In: The
Visible, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 2008; The Means of Illusion, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, 2007 [solo]; RING The Means of Illusion, Art/Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland, 2007; The Man
Telpatas-Resplandores, Centro
Cultural Recoleta, 2007; Chandon Prize, Buenos Aires, 2007; Fuga jursica,
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Barcelona, Spain; HBox, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2007; State of World, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal, 2007; 15,000,000
video art. As a writer, he has published the short story collections 222 Patitos (Crdoba: Editorial La Creciente, 2004),
Parachutes, Tate Modern, The Projected Image, Collection Display, London, 2004; Shanghai Biennale, China, 2004; KunstWerke, Berlin, 2004; Sydney Biennale, Australia, 2006; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofa, Madrid, 2004; Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2003; Museum Abteiberg, Mnchengladbach, Germany, 2002; NICC Antwerp, Belgium, 2002; So Paulo Biennale, 2002; and the Berlin Biennale, 2001; amongst many others. He received the Van Bommel Van Dam prize for young art, the prize for the best work in the 2002 Paris FIAC, and first prize in the 14th Festival Internacional Videobrasil in 2003.He lives and works in Amsterdam and Argentina. www.sebastiandiazmorales.com Federico Falco was born in General Cabrera, Crdoba, in 1977. He is a graduate in communication sciences from the Universidad de Blas Pascal, where he currently lectures in discourse analysis in film and literature and contemporary art. In 2005 he received an advanced grant from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes to study and work on the relationships between poetry and
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Prilidiano Pueyrredn. In 2004 he attended art clinics at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. In 2006 he was awarded a grant by the Centro Cultural de Espaa in order to undertake net art and digital media projects, and also won the Art, Networks, and Online Communities workshop grant from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes, both in Buenos Aires. During 2007 he took part in Fundacin Telefnicas Intercampos III programme. In 2008 he took part in the
prize in the Bienal de Arte Wussmman, 2007; special mention MAMbA Fundacin Telefnica Prize in Art and New Technologies, 2006; amongst others. He lives and works in Buenos Aires. www.arte713.com Luciana Lamothe was born in Mercedes, Buenos Aires province, in 1975. She studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredn. During 2003 and 2004 she attended art clinics run by Pablo Siquier and Ernesto Ballesteros. In 2005 she took part in
Research Laboratory for the Practice of Contemporary Art at the Centro Cultural
Ricardo Rojas, University of Buenos Aires, and in Fundacin Telefnicas
Interactivos IV programme. His exhibitions include: Le Rve, 713 Arte Contemporneo, Buenos Aires, 2008 [solo];
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Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, and is a visual arts graduate of the IUNA in Buenos Aires. In 2004 she took part in art clinics with Pablo Siquier, and Ernesto Ballesteros. During 2007 she took part in Intercam-
the Universidad Nacional de Crdoba. In 1993 he received a creative subsidy from Fundacin Antorchas. He received grants from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and The Lampadia Foundation in 1996; and in 1999 from the Kunsthochscule fr Medien in Cologne, Germany. His work is based on the relationship between biology, art, and technology. He uses a range of media, including painting, video art, bioart, installation, performance, sound art, robotics, and web-based projects. Since 1992 he has presented his work in a range of exhibitions and festivals, including: ARCO, Madrid 1996 and 1997;
pos III, Fundacin Telefnicas programme for the development of visual projects. In 2008 she did a Central Trak residency at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her work uses different media, such as painting, photography, and video. Her exhibitions include:
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Pablo Accinelli (born 1983). Visual artist and contributor to various publications (La Mano and Planta magazines, and
Inter/Activos. Espacio, informacin, conectividad (2006); No sabe/no contesta. Prcticas fotogrficas contemporneas desde Amrica Latina (2008). Also worth noting is his
work as a curator of contemporary art exhibitions at major spaces in Argentina and Latin America, and at prestigious European institutions. He lives and works in Buenos Aires and Barcelona. Yamila Bgn Born in Buenos Aires,
1983. Literature graduate from the University of Buenos Aires. She took part in the fiction workshop coordinated by Miguel Vitagliano at the Centro Cultural Rojas. She has published her stories in the online magazine
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Lorena Gall was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, in 1976. She is a literature graduate and an audiovisual artist. She lives in the city of Buenos Aires, where she works as a lecturer for the subjects Introduction to Aesthetics and The Theoretical Foundations of Art in the Dramatic Arts and Visual Arts departments of the Instituto Universitario Nacional de Arte. She has recently completed the post-production of her first feature film,
El fantasma de Reiko.
Gustavo Galuppo was born in Rosario in 1971. Independent filmmaker and curator. He studied Audiovisual Directing in Rosario. He was the founder and director of the cinema magazine El Eclipse. Since 1998, he has directed videos that include Fedra
La mquina de hacer paraguayitos and Zelarayn. Amongst his novels are Cosa de negros, El curandero del amor and Las aventuras del seor Maz. He writes a regular column for
the newspaper Crtica de la Argentina.
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the chronobiology laboratory) and a researcher at CONICET (National Council of Scientific and Technical Research). He has written many books and scientific works, as well as being an enthusiastic promoter of science and scientific education in newspapers, magazines, and television programmes. The awards he has received include the Konex prize, the Bernardo Houssay national science prize, and a Guggenheim scholarship. Pablo Katchadjian Born in Buenos Aires in 1977. He is a writer and a lecturer in Communication Science at the University of Buenos Aires. He is researching the relationship between art and technology in Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century, and written on this topic for Ramona and
Cecilia Rabossi Born in Buenos Aires in 1966. She is an arts graduate from the School of Philosophy and Letters at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, member of the Asociacin Argentina de Crticos de Arte (AACA; Argentine Association of Art Critics), an independent curator, and a researcher at the Julio E. Payr Instituto de Teora e Historia del Arte. Leandro Tartaglia (born 1977). For several years he has been working with image-music, creating sound routes. These include Felicia en el reino de los
Artefacto magazines.
Jorge La Ferla Audiovisual arts researcher. Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Universidad del Cine. He has curated and organized Argentinean film and video festivals in Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Israel, Mexico, Switzerland and the USA, among other places. He has published thirty books on audiovisual art in Argentina and Colombia.
Javier Villa studied Fine Art with a major in plastic arts at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He is an art critic and an independent curator. He currently writes for ADN Cultura, the cultural supplement of the newspaper
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