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DCU lecturer curates major art exhibition in Mexico
DCU lecturer curates major art exhibition in Mexico

DCU lecturer curates major art exhibition in Mexico

On the occasion of FotoMéxico 2017, the International Photography Festival for Latin America, Jean-Philippe Imbert (SALIS, DCU) curated two photographic exhibitions (KIII and Pantonecropolis) and of one art installation (Columbarium) for Mexican visual artist Alejandro Gómez de Tuddo, in the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART, Coyoacán, CDMX).

“With KIII the visitor wanders amongst the intimate details of cemeteries’ microcosms, whilst the large, panoramic photographs of Pantonecropolis visually wonders about the thresholds where the city, the live and the dead merge. The funerary portraits of Columbarium, the installation, elaborate a specific discourse on seeing, reflection and reflexion, resonating as a dialogue between life and death, concomitantly anamorphic and ubiquitous”, says Jean-Philippe.

In 2014, the Octagonal Room of the Irish Georgian Society in Dublin, had inaugurated The Koimeterion Project, presented as KI. In 2016, KII and Pantonecropolis took place at the AuditoriumArte Gallery in Rome, Italy. In 2017, the CENART presents an organically expanded project, growing yet again in size and intentions: the previous projects become KIII, Pantonecropolis and Columbarium. The overall event is comprised of 58 photographs, 490 funeral portraits, a multi-channel quadraphonic sound sculpture of graveyard melodies from around the world, and a mirror-clad coffin. Also, an art catalogue - edited by the curator and the artist -  is produced by Verona-based  EBS Editoriale Bortolazzi Stei (who showcased Henri Cartier Bresson, Andy Warhol, Jacques Lowe or Wim Wenders) for Mexican art publishing company Uroboros Basilisco.

“Blurring the lines between photography and artistic installation, Alejandro Gómez de Tuddo’s negotiates the aesthetics of evanescence and perenniality alike. Space meets with time and life meets with death using the different modalities of visuality offering us an imag(in)ed eschatology.” says Jean-Philippe. “On the occasion of the opening, more than 400 guests, art dealers, artists, and Festival participants as well as students, lovers of photography and the international media gathered at the CENART. We also celebrated the power of art as a means to transcend life, earthquakes and hurricanes, and appreciated the fact that, once more, Mexico is greater than its problems. This free exhibition is open to the public for four months”.