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AMALGAMA Forum

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21 - 26 April 2021

Amalgama, the cultural programme dedicated to championing women artists from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, in partnership with the Instituto Cervantes in the United Kingdom, invites you to participate in a series of online conversations, studio tours and seminars exploring the dialogue between art and literature in Latin America.

 

The collaboration between art and literature has been a critical component of Latin American aesthetic development during the twentieth century. Many of the region’s avant-garde movements were a result of the direct collaboration between artists and writers in steering each country's cultural debate and introducing new visual and textual styles. Magazines and journals such as Martin Fierro, Arturo, Plástica, Amauta, Prima and Círculo y Cuadrado were fundamental in breaking away from traditional perspectives and generating new discourses and lines of research both on the continent and abroad.

 

Furthermore, during the 50s and 60s, research on semiology introduced the possibility for the written word to be considered both a form of representation and a visual shape in its own right. This new exploration gave a particular prevalence to form over content allowing artists to discover new meanings of significance and introduce a new formal language into the visual arts. Concrete and Neo-Concrete artists in Brazil and the Constructivist artists in Argentina and Uruguay, among others, employed geometry, mixed with marks and words as interchangeable signs to create a new visual universe that would break the limits between art and literature.  

 

Finally, with the international art scene turning towards conceptualism, artists worldwide started to give a prominent role to language in the visual arts as words, rather than the visual form, allowed them to give more emphasis to ideas. However, the socio-political circumstances in Latin America required artists to go beyond this theoretical approach of conceptual art. The woven mesh between art and literature was needed to create a tool that would transform the relationship between politics, art and text in countries controlled by authoritarian regimes and limited by increasing censorship policies.

 

To coincide with UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day, Amalgama Forum brings together artists, curators, academics and writers to discuss ideas on these subjects and their relevance in the contemporary cultural practices of Latin America. Join us for this series of lively discussions and visual explorations!


Daniela Galan.
Artist & Curator. Founding Director of Amalgama

Programme

Day 1

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Photo by Federico Bottia. 

Luz Lizarazo
Studio visit
 

Join us in a virtual visit to the studio of this Colombian artist, whose exploration of language delves into the dichotomy between the public and private sphere, and interactions between the intimate and the outside world.

This event will be in Spanish on Zoom & Facebook Live @Amalgama.

Replay coming soon
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Photo by Creative Commons

Trama: the impact of publications as an artistic tool

Join us for a conversation between artist Lizi Sanchez, writer Enrique Zattara, curator Luisa F. Lindo & Professor Camilo Jaramillo, as they discuss the implications of collaborations between artists and writers; and the role of cultural magazines in Latin America. 

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This panel will be in English & Spanish via zoom

Replay coming soon

Day 2

Miriam Londoño
Studio visit
 

Join us in a virtual visit to the studio of this Colombian artist, whose work on paper expands the possibilities of this medium to explore three-dimensional and sculptural drawing and writing.

This event  will be in Spanish on Zoom and Facebook Live @Amalgama

Replay coming soon
Mira Schendel:
the calligraphy of thought

Join Flavio Cohn, Director of DAN Galeria as he explores the outstanding work of Mira Schendel, one of Latin America's most important and prolific post-war artists of the 20th Century. 

Translating movement:
the work of Rosana Antoli

Join us for a conversation between artist Rosana Antoli, and Marti Manen, Director of Index, as they explore the artist’s body of work, interweaving a specific fictional history of movement into a cosmos of relations, placing us in the rhythmic eddying of past, present and future constellations. Expanding on the notion of linguistics and translation as an artistic practice. 

Day 3

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 Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Clemencia Echeverri
Studio Visit

Join us in a virtual visit to the studio of this Colombian artist, whose artistic exploration allows us to discover the collaboration between figure, image and text as a political and conceptual device.

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This event will be in Spanish on Zoom & Facebook Live @Amalgama.

Replay coming soon
Weaving Data:
the work of Paola Torres Núñez del Prado

Join us for a seminar on the work of Paola Torrez Núñez de Prado, with Dr. Giuliana Borea as we explore the exertion of power in the hierarchy of translation and interpretation.  Dismantling and decoding languages lost, and dissecting the use of data and AI in interpretation.

Art & Text as a Political Device: the work of Cecilia Vicuña

Join us for a conversation between artist Cecilia Vicuña and Camila Marambio, curator and Director of the nomadic research programme Ensayos, as they explore the temporality and fragility in collective actions. Exploring art & text as a political device - the book as an intimate conversation.

Cecilia Vicn

Day 4

Maria Elvira Escallón
Studio visit
 

28/04/21
14:00 (UK) / 08:00 (Col)

Join us in a virtual visit to the studio of this Colombian artist, whose exploration of language delves into the tension of nature and culture, and the political implications of the written word.

This event will be in Spanish on Zoom and Facebook Live @Amalgama

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Partners

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Media partners

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