curated by Jose Carlos Mariatequi
This selection defines the short history of Peruvian video art with some works that may come from different approaches and interdisciplinary fields, meaning diverse propositions. What is the main difference with Peruvian video art and video art from other parts of Latin America? Since its development is recent, the works are still quite different one from the other, making it impossible analyze specific trends but exemplifying the diversity and allowing a new ways to broaden and extend the creative universe, representing an hybridism that is shown through out Latin America: since our past history has been very brief the panorama is diverse and we don't have trends to follow.
Before getting into the specific theme it's important to shortly explain the electronic art panorama in Peru. Historically speaking, in September 1977 the first Video Art Festival was organized in Lima by Jorge Glusberg, director of the Center for Art and Communications of Buenos Aires (CAYC), and the Peruvian art critic Alfonso Castrillón at the Continental Bank Gallery. In this occasion several works of international artistic presence were shown (such as Nam June Paik, Valie Export, Wolf Vostell) incorporating also the works of the Peruvian artist Rafael Hastings. We have also to note the works of Francesco Mariotti, one of the few peruavian artists who has constantly worked in the electronic medium since the 60's. After this first and auspicious period, however, the electronic art in Peru stopped almost completely among us for about two decades, although we have to take into consideration the active role of visual artists couple known as Arias & Aragon, who have been accomplishing multimedia performances around the beginnings of the 90's.
A meaningful event is given in 1995 when Gianni Toti comes to Peru. Toti's debate with Peruvian artists and theoreticians helped to modify the solitary panorama of electronic art in Peru. In 1998 the lonely panorama of electronic arts in Peru begins to be modified: in that year, and taking as historical reference the already mentioned event of 1977, the 2nd International Video Art Festival is accomplished in Lima, organized by ATA (Alta Tecnología Andina) and the Visual Arts Gallery of the Ricardo Palma University, this one directed also by Alfonso Castrillón. Initially it was thought in appealing solely to foreign artistic projects, but fortunately local videos were produced, and were also presented within the Festival. Since then, this Festival is accomplished annually, with a massive response of the public, which confirms the great interest that this new manifestations of art and technology can produce.
Certainly the production of video art in Peru has increased substantially since 1998, thanks to this Festival that generated the only space available for local artists to present their work and also to see screenings from other realities of the world.
In this recent anthology we present some of the 'early' works that were made with few resources but a very creative intuition. Such is the case of the first works done by Roger Atasi. He began to work with very simple equipment but also in a quite particular and experimental way.
Other could be done with technological sophistication and esthetic detail, such as the MagnaOpera project by Rafael Besaccia, which he continues to work today. In this case, the work of Plaztikk (Ivan Esquivel) is also appealing to a conceptual and minimal image. In the conceptual image but associated with society, politics and media culture Angie Bonino is a young artist that works this kind of projects mainly in video and video installation.
There are also the ones interested in the Andean perspective, as is the case of Alvaro Zavala. In works such as Atipanacuy, the scissors dancer, traditional character of the city of Ayacucho watches toward the present of his country as a confusing mixture of ideals, of social classes, of lack of identity.
During the last two years, an even younger generation is also experimenting and trying to present new proposals. This is interesting, because this means they are not copying works from previous generations of artists, but preparing their own and believing on their new approaches. In this new scene the work of Jose Luis Carbajal with abstract but consistent images and a well produced sound scenario is probably one of the most interesting recent proposals. This is also the case of particular ways of thinking and bizarre images such as in the case of the animations done by Ricardo Velarde. The narrative and non/narrative sequences structures of Carlos Letts videos define the new visual literatures; and fresh works such as the ones of Juan Diego Vergara, which with simple elements, freedom and spontaneity with few resources could create an innovative and simple work.
On the other side, visual artists with innovative conceptual works such as Giuliana Migliori also began to explore video as a way to develop imaginary and ironic stories in visual and diverse ways. Also in the case of the work Identity Transfer (after Dennis Oppenheim) by Eduardo Villanes we see a 'conceptual' transfer of identity from the printed image to the TV image, oven the skin of the author, as a way of showing impunity over a case of human rights in Peru.
It's stimulating to see that in a country such as Peru, with high levels of misery and starvation, creation could grow spontaneously in such diverse and complex ways. Electronic art in Peru, even though is found in an initial stage, can be defined as the new creative metaphor that is identified with the young public, that seek a most authentic form of expression associated with the Peruvian reality.