Relevant discussions at MUAC
about the files and images of war
The University Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City, MUAC, held today, the conference "The image of war and the war of images", which closes the cycle "Machine vision", organized around the exhibition “Enrique Jezik: obstruct, destroy, conceal”. This addressed the status of war images generated by various visual production media available in each period, for informational purposes, denunciation, or propaganda, as a historical document or file, or confined to a strictly military use.
In addition, this week took place the II discussion roundtable about the exhibition “Visit to the Olivier Debroise archive: between fiction and document”. Comments and questions are available on the exhibition blog www.archivoolivierdebroise.blogspot.com, where there are uploaded texts reflecting on the subject as well as information on working with files.
The MUAC noted that not only museums, private institutions but also some independent projects have committed themselves in recent years -with varying success, and facing issues from the structure, budget and to the conceptual but with quite enthusiastically- to the task to rescue, revive and conform their contemporary art files.
The goal of the discussion was to open a space for informal meeting with people working every day on institutional or personal contemporary art files in Mexico, to share issues, insights, concerns and possible solutions.
The panel, which was moderated by Monica Mayer (File Pinto mi Raya) was joined by Maribel Escobar (ExTeresa Documentation Centre), Paola Gallardo (Laboratorio Arte Alameda Documentation Centre), Pilar García (MUAC Documentary Collections), Ruth Estévez (writer and independent curator), Ana Maria Garcia Kurtycz (File Marcos Kurtycz), Angelica Garcia (CITRU), Edna Torres (File Pola Weiss) and Sol de Henares (MUAC collection curator).
As for the conference, Enrique Jezik and Pedro Ortiz-Antoranz, delved into the ambiguous status of the images; as is the case of “souvenir” images of the torture occurred in Abu Ghraib prison, by US soldiers. On the other hand, the live transmission of the beheading of American hostage, Nicholas Berg, thrown into the mass media, which have highlighted in a so sinister way, the trivialization and growing show off the hybris released in the subjugation and annihilation of enemy, the vanquished, the other.
In order to avoid the opacity of the images of war that makes them susceptible to extensive manipulation, it is necessary to consider, following Gervereau (1), three images dimension: the paper material, the reality has inspired and mental representation or place in the collective memory.
During this conference, Enrique Jezik and Pedro Ortiz-Antoranz, commented selected portions of the film "The images of the world and the inscription of war” (Bilder der Welt und des Krieges Inschrift), by director Harun Farocki. They will comment as well as various images of armed conflicts that occurred during the twentieth century, which may provide clues about the transformation of the ontological character of the same.
Colloquium Friday September 23, 18:00 Hrs. Conference Centre
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University Cultural Centre
