Carlos Motta
“Six Acts: An Experiment in Narrative Justice” and
“The Good Life”
23 April – 30 April 2010
Opening Reception:
22 April 2010, 7:30pm
HAU 1
Stresemannstr. 29
10963 Berlin, Germany
+ 49 30 25900427
Set against the current presidential election campaign in Colombia, “Six Acts: An Experiment in Narrative Justice” (2010), which is being shown at HAU for the fist time, is based on a series of performative actions in public squares in Bogotá. Six actors of different social and ethnic backgrounds read peace speeches originally delivered by six Colombian liberal and left-wing political leaders who were assassinated in the last 100 years because of their ideology. These performative ‘acts’ focused on the need to remember the systematic elimination of voices that have dared to oppose the ruling order by articulating their differing points of view and that have denounced by name those responsible for Colombia’s repetitive history of political corruption and violence. Drawing upon the notion of ‘narrative justice;’ that is, justice from the perspective of an aesthetic experience instead of a normative concept, this work offers an exercise of collective memory to underscore its transformative potential.
For “The Good Life” (2005-2008) Carlos Motta recorded over 400 video interviews with civilians on the streets of twelve cities in Latin America. The questions he asked, on individual perceptions of democracy, US foreign policy, leadership, and social inequality, resulted in a wide spectrum of opinion, which varies according to local situations and forms of government in each country. Arranged in an open structure that evokes a classical space for the exercise of democracy, these conversations shed light on the effects of political intervention and the public perception of political concepts on the formation of national and individual subjectivities. www.la-buena-vida.info
Carlos Motta (b. Bogotá, Colombia, 1978) is a New York-based artist whose work has been presented in solo exhibitions at PS1/MoMA Contemporary Art Center, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and Fundación Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá amongst others. His upcoming and past group exhibitions include: To the Arts, Citizens!, Serralves Museum, Porto; The Politics of Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens; Geography of Trans-territories, San Francisco Art Institute; X Biennale de Lyon; Biennale Cuvée, OK Offenes Kulturhaus, Linz; The Greenroom, CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson; Soft Manipulation, Casino Luxembourg; and Democracy in America, Creative Time, New York. Carlos Motta was named a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in 2008.
About “Libertad y Desorden / Freedom and Disorder – Young Art from Colombia”
The slogan of the Colombian State displayed on its flag reads “Libertad y Orden”, Freedom and Order. This appears to be sarcastic, given the country’s historical disorder. Artist Fernando Arias has produced a series of “representative” objects with the emblem “Libertad y Desorden,” Freedom and Disorder – his work was HAU’s source for the title of the Colombia focus, which aims to present and discuss the way in which young artists reflect on the everyday life, the political circumstances and the maelstrom of violence in their country.
The festival will feature dance, theatre, performance, film and visual art installations from Mapa-Teatro, Tino Fernández, Teatro Petra, Juan Aldana and many others.
“Libertad y Desorden” is sponsored by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes, the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung and the Goethe-Institut
