The exhibition curated by argentine artists Leo Chiachio and Daniel Giannone presented its digital catalog. In a virtual after party, they commented on the experience of this proposal that emerged as a result of the current pandemic moment, but which is still an invitation to expand the possibilities of art exhibition.
«The feeling of the virtual gallery opening was: art, freedom and fun. I felt like I was in a disco, I missed him.» — Marino Balbuena
Through the international platform of Isabel Croxatto Galería, a space based in Santiago de Chile, the curators brought together twenty artists from different places -Argentina, Chile, Brazil, France and the United States- and from different generations. This resulted in the intersection of various scenes and languages, which manage to meet in the sense of poetics and affectivity, where “cuir” -the latinized queer word- transcends the binary and the heteronormative.
«Our experience as curating artists is recent and rewarding. A constant learning. We are artists in the construction of this cosmogonic/language/universe. And in that construction we also do this work», described the hosts.
Cynthia Francica, a doctor in Comparative Literature and an expert in queer and gender studies, also participated in the making of the catalog. Throughout the work she agrees that there are conductive threads. The notion of queer family, as a family model dreamed of in art, becomes a thematic and productive idea. In addition, there is a queerization in the role of curatorship, since it does not work in the traditional sense, but rather generates communities of belonging.
“Today there is a hope of doing things and they did it in a fantastic way. It contains an intellectual and political approach that seems fundamental to me.” — Curtis Putralk
Chiachio & Giannone merge to tell that when creating the exhibition they thought of something that they themselves wanted to see and thus generate a unique moment in which they could be together. At the same time that this exhibition takes place at night, as a party, because they met at night and because the night is a party and it is queer.
The digital catalog is available for download on the Isabel Croxatto Galería website.
Isabel, also present at the after party, reflected on the current exhibition possibilities, in Chile in particular and from a global perspective in relation to the restrictions caused by the pandemic: «From before we were looking for a new way of sharing content and pandemic made us push the project. It is an experimental work, which brings together disciplines that add value to the visual arts and allow us to continue with this work of generating experiences».
“The virtual came to expand the world of possibilities, it does not replace anything.” — Daniel Giannone
Giannone adds that the idea, when curating the show, included different realities of production and realities of social context, of being, of what each one is as a gay/trans/lesbian/queer artist or whatever identity they are. In dialogue, the artist Cristina Coll shares the importance of embodying what was very difficult to show in her generation: the visibility of women and lesbians in particular.
Faced with the latter, Chiachio adds the intention of expanding the range of individualities that each person is. And he rules out that any work from a stereotype is exhibited in the sample.
One last reflection for this review takes up Cristina giving value to her participation: in relation to the low visibility of the last year for artists, CUIR brought a certain sense of success.
“It is a new way of documenting, an archive that will remain.” — Juvenal Barría
