Romeo Gongora
18 Sep - 04 Oct 2009
“Volkskunsthalle / People’s Art Space”
18th September – 4th October 2009, Studio 2
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, 3rd October, 2 pm, Studio 2
ROMEO GONGORA‘s works investigate questions of representation, the authenticity of emotions, and an awareness of being different. He works on his installations, actions and performances in the environment in which he is currently living, collaborating with members of different social groups. His work includes extensive research and a production process in which he attempts to ascertain how socio-psychological constructs are anchored in individuals, and to what extent.
Continual dialogue with those involved is characteristic of his cooperative working method, as well as the collaborators’ decisive influence on the outcome. Romeo Gongora’s most recent work, Volkskunsthalle / People ́s Art Space, consists of two installations which change over the course of the exhibition period and a series of individual actions – Gongora deliberately refers to these as “demonstrations” – that take place in the exhibition space, bringing together people who struggle for their personal freedom in various ways. Each demonstration leaves behind some material evidence in the exhibition, which develops into documentation of what has happened and modifies the exhibition over the course of time.
Volkskunsthalle looks to examine the interrelations of suppression and dominance upon which a society and its morality are based; the production strategy employed includes improvisation, the unexpected and the non-existence of any ‘screenplay’. This reflects Romeo Gongora’s working method, whereby the development process is always more important than the final product.
Volkskunsthalle was conceived during Gongora’s one-year stay at Künstlerhaus Bethanien and investigates or rather reacts to processes of transition and renewal, in the surrounding Kreuzberg area as well. It was also here that Gongora found his participants and invited them to his demonstrations.
(Project information: www.romeogongora.com)
ROMEO GONGORA, who was born in Guatemala in 1974, lives and works in Montréal, Canada. He studied fine art and media art at the Université du Québec à Montréal (MA, 2005).
Exhibitions incl.: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Galerie de l’UQAM (Montréal), Centre d'art contemporain OPTICA( Montreal), Centre de diffusion et de production de la photographie VU (Quebec City), Gallery 44 (Toronto) and Centre de photographies actuelles DAZIBAO ( Montreal).
Romeo Gongora holds a fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, and the Embassy of Canada, Berlin in the context of Künstlerhaus Bethanien’s International Studio Programme.
18th September – 4th October 2009, Studio 2
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, 3rd October, 2 pm, Studio 2
ROMEO GONGORA‘s works investigate questions of representation, the authenticity of emotions, and an awareness of being different. He works on his installations, actions and performances in the environment in which he is currently living, collaborating with members of different social groups. His work includes extensive research and a production process in which he attempts to ascertain how socio-psychological constructs are anchored in individuals, and to what extent.
Continual dialogue with those involved is characteristic of his cooperative working method, as well as the collaborators’ decisive influence on the outcome. Romeo Gongora’s most recent work, Volkskunsthalle / People ́s Art Space, consists of two installations which change over the course of the exhibition period and a series of individual actions – Gongora deliberately refers to these as “demonstrations” – that take place in the exhibition space, bringing together people who struggle for their personal freedom in various ways. Each demonstration leaves behind some material evidence in the exhibition, which develops into documentation of what has happened and modifies the exhibition over the course of time.
Volkskunsthalle looks to examine the interrelations of suppression and dominance upon which a society and its morality are based; the production strategy employed includes improvisation, the unexpected and the non-existence of any ‘screenplay’. This reflects Romeo Gongora’s working method, whereby the development process is always more important than the final product.
Volkskunsthalle was conceived during Gongora’s one-year stay at Künstlerhaus Bethanien and investigates or rather reacts to processes of transition and renewal, in the surrounding Kreuzberg area as well. It was also here that Gongora found his participants and invited them to his demonstrations.
(Project information: www.romeogongora.com)
ROMEO GONGORA, who was born in Guatemala in 1974, lives and works in Montréal, Canada. He studied fine art and media art at the Université du Québec à Montréal (MA, 2005).
Exhibitions incl.: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Galerie de l’UQAM (Montréal), Centre d'art contemporain OPTICA( Montreal), Centre de diffusion et de production de la photographie VU (Quebec City), Gallery 44 (Toronto) and Centre de photographies actuelles DAZIBAO ( Montreal).
Romeo Gongora holds a fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, and the Embassy of Canada, Berlin in the context of Künstlerhaus Bethanien’s International Studio Programme.