Antonio Jose Guzman (Panama/The Netherlands) is one of the artists participating in Bienal De La Habana
Between the Idea and Experience
May 22 – June 22, 2015
http://www.bienalhabana.cult.cu/
Vodou, Hell Breaks Loose, 2014
About his Havana Project:
La Prensa
Panama, Apr 6 (Prensa Latina) The work by young Panamanian artist Antonio Jose Guzman, who will represent his nation in the upcoming Havana Biennial, deals with trips to distant lands and cultural meetings, local media reported.
During the 12th edition of this traditional meeting with the best art, Guzman, who is also a photographer and a communicator, will present the project “El Organo Oriental” (The Eastern Organ), an example, according to him, of the appropriation and integration of cultural elements and trends through history.
For Guzman, this musical instrument, which is highly valued in eastern Cuba, represents the island’s cultural values and its capacity of adaptation to different cultures, while it is very similar to traditional organs used in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
The scores used in this kind of organ resemble DNA sequences, and as he explained, his project will have his own composition as it includes genetic information of his American, African and Spanish Sephardist ancestors.
Guzman, who shares his inspiration and work among Amsterdam, Panama and Dakar, has exhibited his works in many galleries worldwide, including the Contemporary Art Museum MHKA in Antwerp, the Arhus Gallery in Denmark and Corridor Gallery in New York.
The Havana Biennial will be held from May 22 to June 22, and will be attended by some 150 international artists.
Doubtless, 2012.
Statement:
“No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place”. Maya Angelou
As an artist the aim of my work is to create audiovisual storytelling, with photographs, installations and films projects related to gravity, history, my African identity and the Diaspora, using interaction and reaction between different cultural groups internationally. My work address how immigration has become constitutive of the world today. These projects explore mechanisms of power and violence inherent in the ongoing and open confrontation between different worlds and address my fascination with the dichotomous relationship that exists between architecture, urbanism and sociocultural identity.
I believe that Diaspora and gravity have a relation with each other. My projects give me the opportunity to explore with all the gravitational elements that surround my life in new places and new environments. In my work every image is linked to the place were my ancestors come from. They play as a whole with time and space. Reconnecting all this to the issue of my Diaspora.
Mapping Project LA, 2013.
I see my projects as the documentation of the contemporary sociological mapping. In globalized urban environments people inhabit meaningful spaces, these spaces are vernacular landscapes. Urban spaces are also subject to the effects of social inequality. Class, racial, ethnic, religion, and citizenship hierarchies mark urban territories with differential meanings. Urban spaces are filled with signs of collective identity that signify the flows of people and culture.
On my works I create man made constructions, labyrinths, and spaces that suggest human interaction. The installations are made of scrap materials and repurposed objects like pallets and wood, they feature architectural futuristic structures made for a society freed from establishment power structures, dominant groups and institutional authority.
Prophet, 2012.
The photographs and videos on the installations intend to give the impression of people living in the inner spaces of utopian civilizations. Reconnecting largely unresolved historical issues such as the colonial past and creating a collective memory. They also deal with Pan African motivations, rhizomatic networks, as well as the urge to create a transatlantic collective memory. My work poses questions concerning daily life, strategies of survival and presents thoughts on our ancestry and identity as well as possibilities and ideas for cooperation, refering to exile identities and how they bring together thoughts, ideas, experiences and dialogues of different people around the world.
