Space to Dream: Recent Art from South America

Space to Dream: Recent Art from South America opens this weekend with a selection of choice events

Maximo Corvalán, Proyecto ADN (DNA Project) 2012, resin (bones), electrical connections, fluorescent tubes, pool, water pump,
28 water taps. Courtesy of the artist, Chile

Artist and curator talks, performance, exhibition tours, family activities, film and a panel discussion make for a weekend not to be missed when the landmark exhibition Space to Dream opens this Saturday 7 May at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Auckland Art Gallery’s Director Rhana Devenport says the exhibition’s visitor programme aims to promote familiarity with and understanding of the cultures of South America.

‘Through interaction with artists, involvement in activities, and opportunities to experience music, dance, panel discussions and film, we aim to engage people with the diversity, local histories and cultural contexts of South America,’ she says.

Artist and curator talks and performance

This Saturday’s programme commences at 12.30pm with a talk by artists Maria Nepomuceno (Brazil) and Bernardo Oyarzún (Chile). Both artists’ work is linked to indigenous communities and the way their traditional cultures are translated into contemporary life. Each will discuss their artworks in Space to Dream.

Artists Máximo Corvalan (Chile), Lenora de Barros (Brazil), Joaquín Sánchez (Bolivia) and co-curator Beatriz Bustos Oyanedel (Chile) engage in a panel talk Art across the South at 2pm chaired by the Gallery’s Principal Curator Dr Zara Stanhope where questions pertinent to art practice across the south will be considered.

At 12pm on Sunday 8 May, co-curators Beatriz Bustos Oyanedel and Dr Zara Stanhope will hold an in-depth guided tour of this extensive exhibition, Space to Dream, a project they have collaborated on for three years.

Memory and tragedy permeate the work of both Máximo Corvalán and Joaquín Sánchez, who at 2pm on Sunday will discuss how their personal stories influence their artworks shown in the exhibition.

Artist Lenora de Barros begins her Pregação (Nail Action) performance artwork at 3.30pm, where she will invite viewers to participate in the piece. The artwork will be left for the duration of the exhibition.

Family activities

On Saturday from 1–3pm is a free participatory family drop-in in the Gallery’s north atrium. Inspired by the artwork of Bolivian artist Joaquín Sánchez, visitors can help create an interactive installation of 3D letters formed by over-sized words and sentences, which morph and change throughout the afternoon.

A self-guided family trail will be available for visitors with younger people in tow for the duration of the exhibition. The trail encourages families to experience art through all the senses, navigating by way of smell, sight, touch, taste, sound and imagination.

On the big screen

A free film screening ends Saturday’s programme at 4pm in the Gallery’s auditorium, with internationally acclaimed Bolivian director Juan Carlos Valdivia introducing his film Zona Sur (Southern District) 2009, which portrays cultural strife in La Paz at a time of deep social upheaval.

On Sunday at 1pm there will be a screening of the documentary Kandire 2014, by director Rosana Matecki, about the making of a film Yvy Maraey 2013, which traces the steps of a Swedish explorer to the forest of South Eastern Bolivia where uncontacted indigenous people still exist.

Themed weekends

As the exhibition continues its season through to 18 September, four weekends of events will anchor the exhibition’s visitor programme with themes of ‘Storytellers, histories, memories’ on Saturday 18 – Sunday 19 June , ‘Dreamers and revolutionaries’ on Saturday 16 – Sunday 17 July, ‘Peoples: mixing cultures’ on Saturday 20 – Sunday 21 August, and ‘Poets’ on Saturday 10 – Sunday 11 September.

Tickets to Space to Dream: Recent Art from South America are available now. For ticket and event information go to aucklandartgallery.com/spacetodream

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