nicolás paris: Manigua

Manigua by nicolás paris is the first solo exhibition by the Colombian artist to be presented in a German institution. His work is a poetic resistance to conventions, rules and entrenched convictions. His working method, based on the act of drawing, on dialogue and elements drawn from architecture, aims to encourage open-ended and experimental learning processes. The knowledge arising from this practice allows for new ways of being together. paris thus transforms the exhibition space into a place of egalitarian, communal and exploratory exchange, centred on collective experience. Essentially, his work is inspired by his interest in the strategies and politics of nature.   

nicolás paris’ installations, drawings, objects, workshops and videos, along with his collaborative educational projects are marked by a sense of delicacy and serenity. One of the artist’s fundamental tactics relies on relationships and dialogue—between people, insects, plants or elements. paris transforms the forest—a living system that functions through its manifold relationships and interactions—into an abstract form, making its knowledge visible, audible and tangible. At the same time, paris uses the forest as a role model for exchange and empathy. He draws on the forest as an interspecies school, referring to it as a place of origin stories and as a sensorial communication network. In the forest, we learn basic lessons about interdependence, mutual aid, and defence systems capable of maintaining balance rather than reverting to annihilation. With his works, paris allows us to adopt different perspectives by creating a heightened awareness for the missing connection with our surroundings. As a response to decontextualized knowledge consisting of data and theories the human body is unable to process, he seeks to offer meaningful experiences and thus remedy a deficit in our society.

Manigua becomes a stage—as an essential part of the exhibition, the accompanying programme offers a series of cooperative, unscripted, workshop-like encounters: exercises, workshops, experiments. paris has conceived the exhibition as a classroom, a place for the exchange of knowledge, where the positions of teacher and student are inconsistent and fluid. In this classroom without hierarchy, people learn together, from and with each other. Yet at all times the question remains in focus as to the state of coexistence and what knowledge the forest has to offer on this matter.

Curator: Merle Radtke

The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.