"From adversity we came": Learning from Latin American decolonial theories, curatorial and artistic practices.

Workshop by Dr. Daniela Labra (curator)
14.06.2019, 2pm
Within the framework of the AG Decolonial Aesthetics/Practices.

The title of this workshop quotes a phrase from the iconic Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, whose work brought together erudite and popular culture in propositions of a critical and relational nature, in the 1960s, in Rio de Janeiro. His practice and discourse defended the creative potential of adversity in non-industrialized countries, as a source of original aesthetic reinvention and political resistance.

This workshop summons an exercise on reflection based on the analysis of artistic projects, curatorial proposals and texts by Latin American authors, elaborated since the 1960’s. With the impetus of decolonial approaches, these contributions problematize the historical narrative and the eurocentric artistic canon. The knowledge of these sources, still little studied outside their regions of origin, is a door to new artistic approaches, and to curatorial and contemporary theories concerned with revising and re-configuring the persistent colonial narrative still adopted by European art and cultural institutions.

Daniela Labra (b. Santiago de Chile, 1974) Lives in Berlin.

Independent curator, art critic and lecturer. Graduated in Theater Theory at Uni-Rio, Rio de Janeiro (1998). MA in Arts at UNICAMP, São Paulo (2005), PhD in Art History and Critique at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, (2014). Her thesis "International Legitimization of Brazilian Art from 1940-2010" was awarded by the Gilberto Velho Prize for best PhD Thesis in Arts and Humanities at the UFRJ in 2015. Post-doc in Communication and Aesthetics with the project "After the Future: Ruins and reinventions of Modernity in Contemporary Art (2014-16)". She works on projects with an emphasis on Latin-American modernities, contemporary Brazilian art, decolonial theories, art and politics, performance art and performativity. Professor at Parque Lage Visual Art School, Rio de Janeiro (2007-2016). Art critic for the newspaper O Globo, (2014-2016). Professor at Node Curatorial studies Online. Chief curator at Frestas Trienal 2017: Between post truths and events, São Paulo, Brazil.