PerformanceMay 2, 2022
Rosemberg Sandoval. Performances.
Next May 4 at 7 p.m., will take place in the space Nadie Nunca Nada No (alternative space in Madrid directed by Ramon Mateo. C/ Arganzuela 9, local derecho, Madrid, Spain) the presentation "Rosemberg Sandoval. Performances" that will be overseen by the art critic Carlos Jiménez and the artist.
Rosemberg Sandoval is one of the historical figures of performance art in Colombia and Latin America. He began his career in the 1980s, jointly with María Evelia Marmolejo, before going solo and fully deploying the strategies, modes, and resources that characterize his work. At first, critics associated him with Viennese Actionism, given the aggressiveness and crudeness of his actions, in some of which Sandoval even self-injured himself. However, he soon made it clear that this aggressiveness - which resulted in his decision to use urine, blood, and sweat along with residues and dirt in his performances and installations - was due to more profound reasons than the simple desire to emulate the controversial Viennese artists.
They are his response, his visceral reaction, if you will, to the injustice and violence that prevail in Colombian society and of which the recurrent victims are the poorest and most vulnerable. As indeed are his parents, who had to leave their homeland and take refuge in Cali, fleeing, like so many others, from the thugs' gangs in paying landowners. After describing his art as the work of a "consciously declassed person," he explains that he has built it from his experience in the bosom of "a large, conflictive, sick, poor, displaced peasant family, where art has no place, and no one is interested in it."
That experience has left an indelible mark on his work without allowing it to stifle and annul its virtues and expressive power. Ania Rog, the curator of Labriego - his exhibition currently open in Gdansk, Poland - rightly states that "fury and skillfulness" come together in his art, and there is "a balance between the forcefulness of the message and poetic realization."
The event will feature the screening of the videos "Acciones políticas" (Political Actions), which records 22 performances, as well as "Mugler," "Rose- rose," and "Eu-ropa", a record of homonymous actions, the last one made with the participation of Paola Andrea Tafur and Tomás Sandoval.
Rosemberg Sandoval is one of the historical figures of performance art in Colombia and Latin America. He began his career in the 1980s, jointly with María Evelia Marmolejo, before going solo and fully deploying the strategies, modes, and resources that characterize his work. At first, critics associated him with Viennese Actionism, given the aggressiveness and crudeness of his actions, in some of which Sandoval even self-injured himself. However, he soon made it clear that this aggressiveness - which resulted in his decision to use urine, blood, and sweat along with residues and dirt in his performances and installations - was due to more profound reasons than the simple desire to emulate the controversial Viennese artists.
They are his response, his visceral reaction, if you will, to the injustice and violence that prevail in Colombian society and of which the recurrent victims are the poorest and most vulnerable. As indeed are his parents, who had to leave their homeland and take refuge in Cali, fleeing, like so many others, from the thugs' gangs in paying landowners. After describing his art as the work of a "consciously declassed person," he explains that he has built it from his experience in the bosom of "a large, conflictive, sick, poor, displaced peasant family, where art has no place, and no one is interested in it."
That experience has left an indelible mark on his work without allowing it to stifle and annul its virtues and expressive power. Ania Rog, the curator of Labriego - his exhibition currently open in Gdansk, Poland - rightly states that "fury and skillfulness" come together in his art, and there is "a balance between the forcefulness of the message and poetic realization."
The event will feature the screening of the videos "Acciones políticas" (Political Actions), which records 22 performances, as well as "Mugler," "Rose- rose," and "Eu-ropa", a record of homonymous actions, the last one made with the participation of Paola Andrea Tafur and Tomás Sandoval.
