artnexus #26

The presence of memory has become a recurrent theme in contemporary art. Many artists are exploring the reconstruction of an individual or collective memory, using a variety of resources.

Juan Fernando Herrán (Bogota, 1963) has been working insistently in this direction, basing his investigations on his conception of the past. From his early work he has focused on how the past is also part of the present, how apparently completed historical processes can also be viewed from the present.

Our cover shows the launching of a sphere constructed with bony waste materials culled from the drains of London, the destination of which is the city of Havana. Lat.50-02'N. Long. 5B40'W was the title of this project in which the artist combined sea maps, action photos, and drawings of an object which symbolically tried to reach the shores of a place that others were trying to leave.

The works which Herrán will present at the Biennials of Istanbul and Johannesburg confirm his intention of scrutinizing the process of historical memory, looking back at the past from other perspectives.

IVONNE PINI