BiennialApril 30, 2021
22nd Paiz Art Biennial
The Fundación Paiz for Education and Culture announced the program for the 22nd edition of the Paiz Art Biennial, to be held from May 6 to June 6 at three venues in Guatemala City and four venues at Antigua, Guatemala. Curated by Alexia Tala, general curator, and Gabriel Rodriguez, associate curator, it will feature the participation of 40 artists.
It is entitled “Perdidos. En Medio. Juntos” (Lost. In Between. Together) (a reference to a 2013 publication by BAK’s New World Academy, edited by Jonas Staal, Yoonis Osman, and the We Are Here collective). It invites a reflection on the perennial crisis affecting the Global South, with Guatemala as a starting point to investigate the cultural and geographic diversity of Latin America. It explores the complexity of interpreting the past and looking to the future when obstacles rooted in history compromise the interpretation of the past and the ability to project potential destinies.
“Pasados. Eternos. Futuros” is a journey through issues related to political processes and narratives sensitive to the accelerated changes of the 20th century and how they affect discriminated minorities. This thematic axis includes two solo exhibitions by Aníbal López (Guatemala) and Paz Errázuriz (Chile), and works by artists: Benvenuto Chavajay (Guatemala), Emo De Medeiros (Benin), Jessica Kairé (Guatemala), Vanderlei Lopes (Brazil), Nelson Makengo (Congo), Andrea Monroy (Guatemala), Alejandro Paz (Guatemala), Oscar Eduardo Perén (Guatemala), Naomi Rincón Gallardo (Mexico/USA), Maya Saravia (Guatemala).
The Aníbal López exhibition is the most relevant retrospective organized on the Guatemalan artist, who died in 2014. The artist’s career has opened a broad reflection on the ethical and moral repercussions of power dynamics in Central America and a strong critique of the art world.
Paz Errázuriz’s exhibition includes new works created in Guatemala expressly for the biennial (the artist’s first works made outside Chile) accompanied by emblematic series from the last 40 years of the photographer’s production. “La Manzana de Adán” (1982 - 1990), “Nómades del Mar” (1991 - 1995) and “El Infarto del Alma” (1992 - 1994), will be accompanied by the new series “Sepur Zarco” (2019) and “Trans Guatemala” (2019) that relate the artist’s research with the local context. “Trans Guatemala” is a series of works in collaboration with the Guatemalan transgender community. “Sepur Zarco” shows the faces of the women in the trial of the homonymous court case for the first time.
“Perverse Geography / Cursed Geographies” probes the ambitions of power, forms of discrimination based on natural and human resources, which are among the most pressing issues in Guatemala today. The exhibition addresses the dialogue between the visions of artists who investigate the social and cultural consequences of the transformations and inequalities brought by the processes of colonization. The oppressive forces of northern geographies on the territories of the southern hemisphere are another story of presentism that affects the entire Global South. This section of the biennial explores ethnic violence from contemporary history, anthropology, and geopolitics.
“Universes of Matter” explores artistic practices that speak of knowledge that has survived thanks to the power of matter. They are artists who focus on the ancestral nature of matter to see and interpret the world, whether objects or landscape elements.
Venues 22nd Paiz Art Biennial
Guatemala City: Casa Ibargüen, Centro de la Cooperación Española (CCE) and Centro Cultural Municipal.
Antigua Guatemala: Museo del Libro Antiguo, Fundación para las Bellas Artes -FUNBA-, Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española -CFCE- and La Nueva Fábrica.
It is entitled “Perdidos. En Medio. Juntos” (Lost. In Between. Together) (a reference to a 2013 publication by BAK’s New World Academy, edited by Jonas Staal, Yoonis Osman, and the We Are Here collective). It invites a reflection on the perennial crisis affecting the Global South, with Guatemala as a starting point to investigate the cultural and geographic diversity of Latin America. It explores the complexity of interpreting the past and looking to the future when obstacles rooted in history compromise the interpretation of the past and the ability to project potential destinies.
“Pasados. Eternos. Futuros” is a journey through issues related to political processes and narratives sensitive to the accelerated changes of the 20th century and how they affect discriminated minorities. This thematic axis includes two solo exhibitions by Aníbal López (Guatemala) and Paz Errázuriz (Chile), and works by artists: Benvenuto Chavajay (Guatemala), Emo De Medeiros (Benin), Jessica Kairé (Guatemala), Vanderlei Lopes (Brazil), Nelson Makengo (Congo), Andrea Monroy (Guatemala), Alejandro Paz (Guatemala), Oscar Eduardo Perén (Guatemala), Naomi Rincón Gallardo (Mexico/USA), Maya Saravia (Guatemala).
The Aníbal López exhibition is the most relevant retrospective organized on the Guatemalan artist, who died in 2014. The artist’s career has opened a broad reflection on the ethical and moral repercussions of power dynamics in Central America and a strong critique of the art world.
Paz Errázuriz’s exhibition includes new works created in Guatemala expressly for the biennial (the artist’s first works made outside Chile) accompanied by emblematic series from the last 40 years of the photographer’s production. “La Manzana de Adán” (1982 - 1990), “Nómades del Mar” (1991 - 1995) and “El Infarto del Alma” (1992 - 1994), will be accompanied by the new series “Sepur Zarco” (2019) and “Trans Guatemala” (2019) that relate the artist’s research with the local context. “Trans Guatemala” is a series of works in collaboration with the Guatemalan transgender community. “Sepur Zarco” shows the faces of the women in the trial of the homonymous court case for the first time.
“Perverse Geography / Cursed Geographies” probes the ambitions of power, forms of discrimination based on natural and human resources, which are among the most pressing issues in Guatemala today. The exhibition addresses the dialogue between the visions of artists who investigate the social and cultural consequences of the transformations and inequalities brought by the processes of colonization. The oppressive forces of northern geographies on the territories of the southern hemisphere are another story of presentism that affects the entire Global South. This section of the biennial explores ethnic violence from contemporary history, anthropology, and geopolitics.
“Universes of Matter” explores artistic practices that speak of knowledge that has survived thanks to the power of matter. They are artists who focus on the ancestral nature of matter to see and interpret the world, whether objects or landscape elements.
Venues 22nd Paiz Art Biennial
Guatemala City: Casa Ibargüen, Centro de la Cooperación Española (CCE) and Centro Cultural Municipal.
Antigua Guatemala: Museo del Libro Antiguo, Fundación para las Bellas Artes -FUNBA-, Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española -CFCE- and La Nueva Fábrica.
