{"id":2600,"date":"2020-08-13T01:17:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T01:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nadinospina.org\/?page_id=2600"},"modified":"2020-08-13T01:19:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T01:19:17","slug":"comentario-critico-de-robert-schweitzer-curador","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/comentario-critico-de-robert-schweitzer-curador\/","title":{"rendered":"Comentario cr\u00edtico del curador Robert Schweitzer sobre la exposici\u00f3n Yo soy Otro T\u00fa."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fotograf\u00eda Robert Schweitzer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


NAD\u00cdN OSPINA \u2018YO SOY OTRO T\u00da (I am the other you)\u2019
It may also be translated \u2018I am the Other\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE: THIS A LONG EXHIBITION REVIEW\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I approached the entrance of the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia in Madrid I immediately recognized a work, a large bright yellow inflatable pre-Columbian figure, by Nad\u00edn Ospina – I had seen this work in Havana during the 7th Biennial in 2000, and I believe that I first came to know his work through the 5th Havana Biennial in 1994, possibly earlier. So this was an unexpected, but perfect \u2018encounter\u2019 for my last day in Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ospina is an artist who I have not just followed for many years, deeply appreciating his take on history and historical representation and the historical present, which early on often focused on how the hegemony of the North continued to exert itself on the lives and culture of those in the South, but I was also so fortunate to have been able to include his work (thanks to the help of Jos\u00e9 Roca) in an exhibition I curated in 2002 involving 15 contemporary Latin American artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ospina\u2019s early work on one level, at first glance, appears \u2018playful\u2019, humorous, and ones first reaction is generally laughter and or a broad smile\u2026 but at the core, the message in his work is quite serious and profoundly relevant today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A main theme for this particular exhibition in the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia, \u2018Yo soy otro t\u00fa \/ I am another you\u2019, curated by Isabel Dur\u00e1n, is \u2018the encounter\u2019, and the various possibilities that any encounter with \u2018the other\u2019 may entail. The encounter between the science fiction characters and the pre-Columbian figures in particular show no fear, or feeling of impending violence, they rather present an attitude, for the most part, of shared contemplation (sitting together on a bench) of an uncertain future, and of a non- hierarchical exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The earlier work by Ospina, similar to that which I had included in the 2002 exhibition, combined the bodies of pre-Columbian figures, often those related to the pre-Columbian culture of San August\u00edn (in present day) Colombia, an archeological site I visited when I was an exchange student in Colombia many years ago, with the heads of popular characters from Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck\u2026) or from \u2018The Simpsons\u2019 (Homer, Bart, and Marge). They were generally made of stone or clay, and carved or formed in a similar fashion to the early pre-Columbian figures by local indigenous artists in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting work clearly had a playful attitude, at least to most viewers, but this unlikely combination could also be seen as the expression and overarching \u2018presence\u2019 of the North in the South, and how manipulative and invasive that presence had become, dominating the cultural live of those living in trivialized (by the North) South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This exhibition takes a different course in certain critical ways, though at times using the same juxtaposition of shifting body and head, but now the body is of the more modern person and the head of a pre-Columbian figure, a significant shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a central issue\/theme being explored in this exhibition involves the encounter between peoples. Ospina\u2019s family provides a significant illustration and lesson when recognizing the reality of the cultural mixing that took place a few generations before Nad\u00edn was born. His finding of a family photo all wrapped up and hidden when he was 10 began to reveal to him the truth of a past that did not fit the family\u2019s chosen narrative of purity of blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encounters and the following exchanges on all levels can and should be positive, distinguished from the type that characterized the Columbus encounter. And these encounters today are often resulting from waves of immigration and migration by individuals needing to flee political persecution, war, or economic conditions of extreme poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again, in this exhibition Ospina \u2018plays with\u2019 the extremes (engaging the viewer) to focus on the reality of now\u2026 Science fiction characters and pre-Colombian cultures encountering\u2026 at times sitting on the same bench, seemingly contemplating what may become of these new possibilities of exchange and intermixing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Within the exhibition additional related issues are also addressed, including the ongoing stereotyping of Native Americas, as well as how the belief in a fictionalized \u2018other\u2019 bares on how we are able to receive and understand the other\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And how relevant and perfect that this exhibition should take place within the context of an museum of anthropology, where the visitor traditionally looks out \u2018at\u2019 the other as a distant and disconnected reality, and not \u2018with\u2019 the other as the work of Ospina constructs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding current migrant issues and the attitudes of those in the nations receiving them (or trying to deny them entry):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Th\u00e9odore G\u00e9ricault\u2019s \u2018The Raft of the Medusa\u2019 (\u2018Le Radeau de la M\u00e9dusa\u2019), 1819, provided Ospina with a image that could express the plight and struggle of present day migrants to survive in a turbulent sea while seeking safety on another shore\u2026 and I believe in the context of the overall exhibition a strong contrast to the \u2018beam me up Scotty\u2019 from Star Trek \u2018reality\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I mentioned in above, it was Nadin\u2019s the finding of this family photo of his great-great-grandparents when he was 10-years-old that opened his eyes to a family reality of intermarriage that had been concealed and denied in the accepted narrative of his parent\u2019s generation. There he saw his great-great German grandfather standing next to, and with his hand upon the shoulder of, his great-great Indigenous grandmother. This reality clearly dispelled and contradicted the desired narrative of \u2018racial purity\u2019 promoted by many European families, his own included, living in Colombia and other countries in Latin America. And in so doing provided a way to acknowledge the significance of the encounter and exchange based in his great-great-grandparents\u2019 inter-marriage, and his identity in the middle of the 20th century was more complex than had been taught by his parents – \u2018purity\u2019 was a myth\u2026. And the reality of the inter-cultural marriage was now not a negative but a positive factor in his life and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ospina\u2019s family photograph of his early relatives is placed in the center of 8 paintings (selected from a larger series) that had been created (uncertain of the artists) in the 18th century to establish a documentation of the \u2018casts\u2019 within the Viceroyalty of New Spain, providing visual evidence of the intermarriages and associations among Indigenous, Europeans, and African.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The additional focus by Ospina in this exhibition regarding \u2018intermarriage\u2019 can be readily seen in the number of \u2018combination\u2019 figures, both in his bronze \u2018Family Portrait\u2019 (2015) in the case directly in front of – and mimicking – the earlier photograph, and with the bronzes of \u2018monsters\u2019 and \u2018bodybuilders\u2019 located in the same room. The monsters refer to the early texts and accounts by Herodotus and writers after him who spoke of humans with wolf heads, or heads in their chest, among others. These stories and \u2018beliefs\u2019 persisted for many generations, believing that such creatures lived at the very periphery of the distant \u2018unknown\u2019 earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stereotypes:
The way by which Ospina addressed the stereotype of the Plains Indians in this installation is significant, given that the museum is an anthropology museum and its collections include artifacts from the Americas. Recognizing that \u2018context\u2019 is one way ethnographic museums attempt to convey deeper meaning to individual objects, in this first gallery we encounter a case that at one end you see a rather \u2018traditional\u2019 museum presentation of material culture, accompanied with an enlarged image, and text (context making). The viewer accepts this reality and then moves on to the other side of the case, with a now \u2018normalized\u2019 expectation for \u2018information\u2019 that is \u2018true and accurate\u2019\u2026 so it could take a moment or two before the visitor realizes that at this end of the case Ospina, as a way of critical intervention, presents multiple identical painted bronze figures of a stylized \u2018Indian, like one from the movies\u2019\u2026 and above you are watching segments from TV films and movies where the stereotype is repeated in another medium\u2026. Even the labels list the objects, both Ospina\u2019s and those from the museum\u2019s collection in an unbroken and \u2018normal\u2019 manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully everyone \u2018gets it\u2019\u2026 some may not, because they are taught and accustomed to believe that what is presented in a museum (and how it is presented) is \u2018factual\u2019\u2026. 
The obvious need to break down that unquestioning attitude and response is critical and most necessary, and hopefully opens up the visitor to also consider questions related to the \u2018actual museum presentations\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Shweitzer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NAD\u00cdN OSPINA \u2018YO SOY OTRO T\u00da (I am the other you)\u2019It may also be translated \u2018I am the Other\u2019 NOTE: THIS A LONG EXHIBITION REVIEW\u2026 When I approached the entrance of the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia in Madrid I immediately recognized a work, a large bright yellow inflatable pre-Columbian figure, by Nad\u00edn Ospina – I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154715982,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_wpcom_ai_launchpad_about_page":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_gallery_page":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_contact_page":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_events_page":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_video_page":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_portfolio_piece":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2600","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaPj6W-FW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154715982"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2600"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2639,"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2600\/revisions\/2639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nadinospina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}