By Rolando J. Carmona

Caracas Reset! It is an interdisciplinary and collaborative meeting that will be held on May 15, 16 and 17 in La Colonie (128 of Rue Lafayette), a space founded by the renowned French artist of Algerian origin Kader Attia, who through his activities intends to pose in the present debates on the decolonization of peoples, knowledge, and contemporary history.

Caracas Reset! It is a hope. It is a very special event in favor of Venezuela that takes the spaces of La Colonie, one of the cultural centers of current affairs in Paris, which is directed by Kader Attia, an excellent artist and promoter of prestigious art who aims to bring together artistic and intellectual creation of minorities and silenced stories. With Caracas Reset! I propose to make this sample of parallel paths to survive the art scene in Venezuela as well as show the horrors of the current regime and for that I make a selection of more than 30 Venezuelan artists, architects, researchers and thinkers who come together to meet and express your ideas about it

The event consists of two parts. On the one hand there is a cycle of conferences that aims to start a discussion platform, but also encourage the meeting and the reunion between divergent positions. On the other hand there is an exhibition with works made by artists from the diaspora: works marked by economic failure, the fracture of cultural institutions, the mass exodus and the birth of other political consciousnesses.

Caracas Reset! it begins with a round table called "the decolonial turn in Venezuelan contemporary art" by the historian and Casa de las Américas prize 1983, Elizabeth Burgos; followed by Fabiola Velazco who reads her thesis on contemporary Venezuelan art; Rolando Peña highlights important manifestations that were made in Venezuela in the sixties such as, for example, The Whale and Testimony Roof, the first multimedia show made in Venezuela, designed and assembled by Rolando Peña and José Ignacio Cabrujas.

The conferences continued with varied interventions such as that of Paula Vásquez who makes a scientific introduction to the current situation in Venezuela where she lectures on the contemporary and the consequences of oil; the well-known critic and curator of María Luz Cárdenas who makes a brilliant presentation on Venezuelan art highlighting very important events from the 60s to the present and making a diagnosis about art criticism in times of robolution.
The artist hacker Yucef Merhi talks about his work on the interception of Chávez's private account for 6 years; Nayari Castillo presents her public art projects for immigrants; Clemencia Labin with 10 years of community art in a dangerous suburb of Maracaibo (performance, Velada Santa Lucía); Iván Candeo with a seminar on video art in Venezuela, Rafael Serrano (photographs), Kiko Villanueva presents his book on contemporary Venezuelan art; Teresa Mulet with a hard book that confronts us with the numbers of violent deaths; Lourdes Peñaranda, who directed the MACZUL turning it into a very important museum of Latin America; Nelson Garrido, director of the NGO organization of the cultural scene of Caracas; Hugo Javier Palmar, Alfredo Brillembourg and Alejandro Haiek gave talks and some also presented works, videos, etc.

Others presented only works such as Jaime El Gili with a work in situ created for the event on the guarimbas; Lucía Pizzani sublimated the products of the basic basket; Linda Philips with the executions in the Rodeo prison; Pepe López presents his famous rugs using signs of fashion, perfumes, etc. thus giving elegant and sarcastic connotations; and Pedro Morales presents his censored work at the 2002 Venice Biennial.

The closing of the event was in charge of the transgender singer based in Berlin: AEREA NEGROT.

ARTISTS:
Rolando Peña / Juan Loyola / Yucef Merhi / Erika Ordosgoitti / Bernardita Rakos / Juan Carlos Rodriguez / Iván Candeo / Deborah Castillo / Sandro Pekeno / Raul Rodriguez / Linda Philips / Vincent + fair / Pedro Morales / Armando Ruiz / Antonio Briceño / Mariana Bunimov / Marco Montiel Soto / Algeria Bravo / Hugo Palmar / Lucía Pizzani / Jaime Gili / Teresa Mulet / Nayari Castillo / Milton Becerra / Clemencia Labin

CONFERENCES:
Maria Luz Cardenas / Elizabeth Burgos / Rolando Peña / Paula Vasquez / Yessica Gonzalez / Alfredo Brillembourg / Fabiola Velazco / Alejandro Haieck / Lourdes Penaranda / Clemencia Labin / Yucef Merhi

SPONSORS:
Anilu Gomez / Maria Baro / Alejandro Zaia / Adriana Meneses / Laurent Marigo / ARCADI / VAEA / Eléonore Schöffer / Arts Connection Foundation / U-TT / Carlitos Carrot / Maria Carlota Perez / Fabiana Cruz / Aji Dulce Restaurant