LA><ART

Iván Argote
La Estrategia, 2012
(TRT 30:12)

This film and video work focuses on clandestine communities founded in 1970s Bogotá by revolutionaries. Guided by a system of gnostic truths that consolidated their vision, these cellular groups applied their hermetic values in shared living situations. Their everyday reality consisted of physical and mental exercises that expressed their commitment to the collective and a way of life was intended to prepare them for the coming revolution.
 
Traveling between Bogotà and the jungle, La Estrategia establishes a mirror community of youth in Colombia. On the basis of family folklore collected by the artist, he and his actors immerse themselves in the spirit—and occasional absurdities—of a former, more militant generation. The new group stalks their predecessors in a series of staged actions and kinetic artworks that attempt to reconstitute the past. A visual journal unfolds in vignettes made-up of asynchronous passages anchored in half-truths, historical fiction and actual events. La Estrategia searches for traces of individuals that can only be approached by seemingly futile experiments in collective action and a blind willingness to narrate a story that will inevitably remain incomplete. In this sense, the work investigates how quickly partisan ideals transform while still imposing their influence.
 
“The strategy” seen in the footage tests how method relates to historical encounter and the provisional materials a micro community may use to mark the past.
 
Film screening will begin promptly at 7:30 PM
Public parking is free on La Cienega after 7 PM. 
 
About the Artist
Ivan Argote was born in Bogota in 1983. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Argote creates scenarios in his art that blend rebellion and absurdity. “My works are reflections on the way we behave and how we understand our environment and how our immediate surroundings relate to history, tradition, art, politics and power,” Argote says of his work. He has presented solo exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, CA2M, Madrid and D+T Project, Brussels. The artist was included in the 30th Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil, along with his partner, Pauline Bastard.