20.07.2015 - 28.09.2015
In 2008, Naomi Klein explained in The Shock Doctrine the manner by which the aftermath of catastrophes which she described as “states of shock” — whether they be ecological, political, or economic in nature —are crucial moments for the redistribution of social structures, ideologies, institutions, and individuals that then seek to impose new orders more aligned with their respective interests.
Shock as a strategy is familiar to artists. In history, artworks have been uttering loud, peculiar statements often defying the conservatism of the societies they belong to, fostering intellectual shifts of perspective through formal and conceptual experimentation. A “shock” can crack a system open and is an occasion for discussion, meaningful silence, and the overall mutation of the status quo. What differentiates the normal state of things from one of emergency? How do feelings of fear, comfort, or disruption affect our judgment, making us susceptible to certain forms of hatred, ambition, or indulgence? How can we propose an alternative to the radicalization of behavior brought about by traumatic historic contingencies? How do artists deal with the particular perception of temporality embedded within these complex situations?
The 3rd issue of Terremoto proposes to look at “shock” as an entity in itself, entailing its own aesthetics, morals, and ideology through its representation in contemporary art. It considers art born in periods of crisis, taking extreme situations as inspiration, food for thought, or sheer provocation. Or rather, art that establishes “shock” as an aesthetic method in itself. Through the use of appropriation, documentary, and fiction, contemporary artists confront the state of permanent emergency that characterizes early 21st century global politics, thus hoping to digest social traumas so they can become springboards for change rather than remain as unresolved wounds.
3
2015
3 2015
20.06.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Emily Rappaport
Baudelaire and the 19th-century French decadent poets famously laid down the imperative to “shock the bourgeoisie.” Twentieth-century avant-garde movements answered this call, using unheard-of materials and modes to make new art for a new era. But innovation has gone from being a viable, world-building artistic strategy to a tech buzzword and a prerequisite for artists seeking blue-chip mega-collectors. Late capitalism has robbed shock of its political value. The terms of transgression have changed. The modernists and their successors reinvented art—now it’s time to reinvent the art market.
3 2015
13.07.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba
What would happen if an earthquake would bring down the Soumaya Museum and the Jumex Museum?
3 2015
27.07.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Milena Bonilla, Natalia Valencia
Milena Bonilla and Natalia Valencia discuss the inscription of political contexts in animal behaviour and the politics of chocolate readings.
3 2015
10.08.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Catalina Lozano
A dialogue with Puerto Rican artist Beatriz Santiago Muñoz on her recent projects that focused on post-military spaces, the political history of Puerto Rican flora and the circulation and mutability of objects in syncretic religions in the Caribbean.
3 2015
17.08.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Bernardo José de Souza
Bernardo José de Souza’s interest on how contemporary society relates to past, present and future times has led him to investigate science fiction as a powerful tool for artists and curators worldwide who challenge current political views.
3 2015
24.08.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Victor Albarracín Llanos
Elkin Calderón recently presented his project Libertalia Tropical, as part of his series of enquiries about islands, social grouping models and spaces articulated by means of their permanent claim for liberty and autonomy. This text engages with Elkin’s incursion in Santa Cruz del Islote, a small yet densely populated island on the Colombian caribbean, the scenery for a visual exploration where he blends the already blurry limits between the somehow libertarian utopia of pirate islands and the idea of the insular prison. Thus he presents the precarious glory of an island surrounded by an immense and permanently calm horizon where the undying hope for a new coming persists.
3 2015
31.08.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Ángela Bonadies, María Virginia Jaua
María Virginia Jaua interviews Venezuelan artist Angela Bonadies; they discuss Venezuela’s permanent “state of exception”, the now normalized civil oppression ravaging the country.
3 2015
14.09.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Arden Decker
Shock and Alejandro Jodorowsky are synonymous. Those familiar with his films since the 1966 production Fando y Lis have come to expect this element in his works. But when and where did this aesthetic of shock originate? His Panic Theory -developed in the early 1960s- and its first visual expressions, the “panic ephemerals,” hold the keys.
3 2015
14.09.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Kelman Duran
Kelman Duran reflects on the media representation of racial and sexual diversity and immigration conflicts in the US, and the issues of “cultural translation” that arise.
3 2015
28.09.2015
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Eduardo Abaroa
Based on Sergio González Rodríguez’s premises from “Campo de guerra”, Abaroa reflects on catastrophic representations in mass media, enquiring on the possibilities that contemporary art practices offer to tackle the most traumatic topics of an era.
3 2015
21.09.2016
Issue 3: Watching Worlds Collapse
Cameron Shaw
How can artists offer solutions for addressing collective trauma? On the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failure that devastated New Orleans, Cameron Shaw talks with artist and educator Saul Robbins about his “How Can I Help?” project and “dedicated listening” as a tool for healing.
