“Latin America. Arts between Identity and Disguise”, at the 10th Contemporary Art Festival, Ptju, Slovenia
Art Stays International Contemporary Arts Festival of Ptuj, Slovenia, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and will be attended by contemporary artists from all over the world.
The program, which is part of the activities of Maribor 2012 European Cultural Capital, includes artists from thirty-two countries, twenty-six of which are European and six from other continents, with special projects, such as the presentation of European academies, exhibitions and performances.
A group of commissioners, working with organizations and galleries of global relevance, has produced a festival that reaffirms the Art Stays' key contribution to the European arts scene. It is within this context that the exhibition Latinoamérica. Arte entre identidad y máscara ( Latin America. Art between Identity and Disguise) curated by Antonio Arévalo has been inaugurated on August 2nd, 2012.
14 artists from various Latin American countries contribute to visualize Arevalo's proposal: Felipe Águila (Chile), Marlon De Azambuja (Brazil), Darío Escobar (Guatemala), Gianfranco Foschino (Chile), Regina José Galindo (Guatemala), Luis Gonzáles Palma (Guatemala), María Rosa Jijon (Ecuador), David Pérez Karmadavis (Dominican Republic), Priscila Monge (Costa Rica), Ronald Moran (El Salvador), Carlos Motta (Colombia), Iván Navarro (Chile), Ishmael Randall Weeks (Perú), and Enrique Zamudio (Chile).
This year, Art Stays will host artists' and curators' conferences on a daily basis, as well as workshops within the Summer Academy that will happen during the Festival's period. Among the participants are Felipe Águila, Marlon De Azambuja, Gianfranco Foschino, Maria Rosa Jijon and Ronald Moran, who will also attend a residence between July 27 and August 3, where they will produce artwork, and hold conferences to share their professional experiences .
“The language of these artists of different provenance plays a key role in contemporary image world, and proposes a reflection on concepts such as identity, race, religion, gender, sexuality”, says the curator Antonio Arevalo in the interview that introduces the exhibition. “I am interested in linking up this plurality and narrating the fragility of such visual research that moves from sentimental biography to socioligical analysis, between literary memory and ritual experimentation”.
