Exhibition “Theory for a New Geography” in Panguipulli
- Emian Gallery of the Educational Theater of the Arts of Panguipulli, Roberto Bravo Coastal Avenue 250, Panguipulli.
- Monday to Friday – 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Until May 9.
The Emian Gallery of the Panguipulli Educational Arts Theater was prepared to receive the exhibition “Theory for a New Geography” by a local collective of artisans from the commune of Panguipulli in collaboration with the prominent Chilean artist, resident in New York. , Jorge Tacla, whose purpose is for the public to reflect on the limits, borders and geography of Nation-States and the imposition of identities on people.
“Theory for a New Geography” is an installation that invites us to reconsider geography not as a set of imposed limits, but as an altered space, almost like a disaster that revolutionizes established conventions. The works reflect the freedom and work with which they were made.
Credit: Alexander Hidalgo
The installation demonstrates the human nature of the work; since October, the craftsmen and women have worked on the creation of these large-volume pieces that defy the imposed limits. A five-meter loom made by the artisan Rosalía Collinahuel is embroidered by the artisans Alira Kaechele, Maquel Trincado, Adela Ruiz, Erica Espinosa, Carolina Segura, Sonia Figueroa, Erna Vásquez and Guadalupe Troncoso presenting on it the Andes Mountains, with hand-dyed wool by Irene Millapan, the artisans are part of the Panguipulli School of Trades.
The carpenter artisan Héctor Minder presents a five-meter handmade wooden table where the artisans of Widülafken, a Pitrén pottery cultural group, will present a raw ceramic work that represents Chile.
A ten-meter blue neon sign with a poem by the Mapuche poet, singer-songwriter and artisan, Faumelisa Manquepillan illuminates its surroundings, thus uniting the different pieces of the installation.
Pamela Calsow, Artistic Director of the Educational Arts Theater comments that “the idea of the gallery is to be able to develop installations with artists with both national and international careers, and for them to be linked to the community. The inaugural work of the Emian Gallery was Santos Chávez, whose installation was linked to the Art Chairs of the Casona Cultural de Panguipulli, and on this occasion, it will be with someone who is a reference for Chilean art abroad, Jorge Tacla, together with a collective of local artisans from the commune.”
Jorge Tacla
Tacla studied at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Chile and moved to New York in 1981. His paintings have been part of museums, biennials and galleries around the world. In her more than 40 years of career, she has been the recipient of various awards and scholarships, among which are The New York Foundation for the Arts (1987, 1991), the Eco Art Award, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1992). ; and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1988). In 2019 the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art acquired Jorge Tacla’s papers, including his drawings, correspondence, photographs, notebooks, and press clippings. These records offer a glimpse into the fluctuating histories of the art worlds of New York and Santiago.
Matías Allende, PhD candidate in Latin American Studies, from the University of Chile and General Curator of the Chilean Textile Art Biennial (BAT), is the one who wrote the texts about Jorge Tacla that can be seen in the exhibition. He comments about this work that “in this experience it is interesting to observe how Tacla gives itself the freedom to leave its own artistic parameters and gives itself the opportunity to work with craftsmen and artists of trades connected to the traditional and the popular.”
He adds that “Tacla during its years of experience has been related to contemporary art that is not subject to the parameters of the market, thus approaching manual crafts and knowledge. In my opinion, Jorge is capturing a branch of contemporary art that is more sensitive to crafts and traditional art, and that is carried away by a new installation of cultural parameters. In this exhibition, Jorge summons everything from poetry to carpentry to think about a new geography.”