From Bogota with art: Nicolas Consuegra takes up Met residency

One of the Latin American visual art scene's more prominent figures is currently in town to learn about the Philippines' visual art scene.

Colombian artist Nicolas Consuegra is the first artist-in-residence of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, for which a grant was provided through the Latin American Roaming Art (LARA) project.

Water and mirrors

Last Saturday at the Manila Met, the Bogota-based artist introduced his work, which runs the gamut from plays on popular culture to reflections upon the role of architecture and the what-ifs of history.

For his 2012 residency, Universidad de los Andes and Pratt Institute of New York graduate created two works. One of these—an excerpt of which was shown during the talk—was a video installation titled “The water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes.” The piece is based on his time at the city of Honda, Colombia, where the residency took place. It piece makes use of five video monitors showing five panning shots of the Magdalena riverside.

The other work, “No one knows the thirst with which another drinks,” uses mirrors and the illusion of wholeness to illustrate what LARA exhibition curator Jose Roca called “the non-transmissibility of experience.”

What got the interest of one eager audience member was Consuegra’s 2010 work “Interior (After Paul Beer),” an almost exact mock-up of an old modernist interior photo by a German photographer the artist admired. He also showed a work reflecting upon social mobility in Colombian society in the 1970s, focusing upon what he called “the only car you could buy at that time,” the ubiquitous Renault 4.

At the talk, Tina Colayco, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, said that she hoped that Consuegra’s exploration of the art scene would highlight not just similarities, but “differences from which we could all learn.”

Everyone everywhere, searching

We caught up with Consuegra at the opening of Rodel Tapaya’s new exhibit at the Ateneo Art Gallery yesterday night, and his impressions of the Manila art scene so far seemed to show some commonalities.

Noting how Tapaya’s work made use of popular culture in some of its motifs, he said, “Popular culture is a melting pot. We all get exposed to the same images wherever we are.”

He was impressed by an ongoing exhibition focusing on the Mabini art school at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

“I got to know about this community of artists that was influenced by European art, by a very academic style,” he said. “But at the same time were struggling to find their distinct voice as artists from the Philippines.”

Consuegra said that this struggle for a Filipino artistic identity was one thing he noted so far, but he said that this was true of everywhere he has been—everywhere he went, he found people seeking to express their own voices.

As of posting time, Consuegra is exploring Baguio. He will remain in the country until the end of this month. The Museum has not yet announced who will be the next artist-in-residence, but this brief encounter may very well signal more interesting points for dialogue.

The LARA project, sponsored by Asia Cititrust, aims to encourage “creation through experience,” giving artists the chance to reflect upon both the milieu and the issues confronting the places where they are resident. Each LARA residency takes place in a different city and country each year. — VC, GMA News