YUMA o la tierra de los amigos (YUMA, or the Land of Friends) by Carolina Caycedo is a large mural containing a series of satellite photographs mounted on acrylic. The mural contrasts and mixes multiple layers of these satellite images capturing the progressive devastation of the El Quimbo dam on the Yuma river (Magdalena), in the Department of Huila. The project was originally produced for the 8th Berlin Biennale, and developed out of the artist’s research into waterways, their political and cultural impact, and their historical development. In this work Caycedo focuses on the particular case of the El Quimbo Dam in Colombia, a dam along the Magdalena River. It was the first hydroelectric power project in Colombia to be constructed by a transnational, private corporation, signifying the transition of this geographically, ecologically, and historically important public body of water into a privatized resource. The dam’s construction required the redirection of the Magdalena River, the main fluvial artery in the country, which affected a vast area and displaced the Indigenous population of the region. Through this case, Caycedo investigates the destructive cultural and environmental consequences of erecting dams, as well as the desire to master the course of nature and the complicity of state power in quelling social unrest.
Carolina Caycedo’s work triumphs environmental justice through demonstrations of resistance and solidarity. The artist uses drawing, photography, film, and performance at venues and vehicles for research and action. Caycedo’s work addresses and laments the corruption of power and the destruction of nature by corporate greed, justified by progress. With regard to pressing concerns of global climate change, causing destruction to communities via droughts and natural disasters, Carolina’s works address the implications and consequences of such carelessness towards the future of the earth and its inhabitants. The artist’s use of technology to mediate these concepts provides a harmonious relationship between content and form. Caycedo’s work offers utopian models to inhabit in a world in which individuals and communities are increasingly subject to commodification, exploitation, and discrimination.
Masiniya Matawali by Subas Tamang is an etching and aquatint print based on photographs taken by German photographer Volkmar Wentzel in 1949...
Compositions such as Tree on Keystone (2011) become hyperreal versions of their real-world equivalents...
Donald of Doom Tank (2008) is a replica of a vintage metal toy with Donald Duck’s image one side and a soldier on the other...
22022021, Yawnghwe Office in Exile by Sawangwongse Yawnghwe belongs to a body of work made in response to the Myanmar military coup that began in February 2021...
The Commission: Why do these three meet again? | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Crispian Chan June 28, 2021 By Eugene Tan (1,503 words, 5-minute read) As has become customary for every review of a Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA) 2021 show (or as the festival programme now calls them, “content”), we should applaud the fact that these shows are happening at all...
Hannah Diamond and Arvida Byström are girls online | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Music PC Music Takeover As part of Dazed’s PC Music takeover, the pair discuss coming up in the Tumblr blogging era, the girl-coded internet, and how technology informs their work Text Kez Cochrane Illustration Walter Parenton Photography Hannah Diamond 12 December 2023 Welcome to Dazed’s PC Music takeover, a two-day guest edit celebrating 10 years of pop music’s most exhilarating label...
To explore the boundaries between artwork and audience, Gimhongsok created a series of sculptural performances in which a person wearing an animal costume poses in the gallery...
Sideways Time by Olivia Erlanger is the result of the artist’s interest in networks, seen and unseen, financial and ecological, the collapse of which has resulted in the fracturing of a middle class American identity...