The art practice of Carlos Motta and the archive as tool for re-enactment and communication

Abstract

This essay discusses the practice of contemporary, multidisciplinary artist Carlos Motta (Colombia/USA), who explores history, politics, religion, sexuality, and gender in the context of today's democracy, and from the view of side-lined groups and their subjective views. Approaching this topic from a distinctly leftist political field, Motta critiques democracy as a political framework that imposes the rule of the majority upon minorities, who are obliged to adhere to hegemonic norms that determine their way of economic, social, and political engagement. Motta's strategy traverses extensive research and the formation of online archives through which he establishes carefully curated repositories that critique power relations and the hegemony of the majority. He furthermore, uses documents from the archive to re-enact and re-contextualize historical events in contemporary settings. This multifaceted approach contributes to the creation of multiple voices that are in dialogue with each other. As a result, the artist's practice underlines the significance of archives and their contingency for the future, as well as their potential to provoke change. This essay argues that Motta uses the archive as a tool for communication and impetus for action. Through this artist's contribution to contemporary art, he unearths pressing issues concerning unequal power relations, opening avenues for discussion and debate.

Keywords:

• online digital archives
• communication
• activism
• democracy

Notes on contributor

Stefanie B. Kogler is a PhD candidate at the School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex, UK. Her ISLAA/Silberrad funded thesis explores exhibitions of art from Latin America and Latino art in the United States between 1956 and 2004. Between 2014 and 2015, she contributed to the Unplace project with a presentation and publication Divergent Histories and Digital Archives of Latin American and Latino Art in the United States- Old Problems in New Digital Formats. She has worked on archive projects and exhibitions in the UK, and continues to research the intersection of art, digital media, and curating.

Notes

1. The projects are accessible online: http://carlosmotta.com/project/deus-pobre-modern-sermons-of-communal-lament-2011/ (DEUS POBRE) and http://carlosmotta.com/project/six-acts-an-experiment-in-narrative-justice-2010/ (Six Acts).

2. Motta interviewed a variety of people in the streets of Mexico City, Mexico; Guatemala City, Guatemala; San Salvador, El Salvador; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Managua, Nicaragua; Panama City, Panama; Bogotá, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; São Paulo, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

3. All projects discussed in this paper are accessible online: http://la-buena-vida.info/ (La Buena Vida/The Good Life); http://carlosmotta.com/text/the-immigrant-files-democracy-is-not-dead-it-just-smells-funny-by-carlos-motta-2009/ (Democracy is not Dead); http://wewhofeeldifferently.info/ (We Who Feel Differently); and http://gendertalents.info/ (Gender Talents).

4. The term ‘public’ encompasses a vast mass of people, the definition of which is beyond the scope of this essay; however, it is used here to denote Derrida's and Joyce's idea of democratic inclusion of everyone, despite the inherent difficulties of realizing this ambitious notion.

5. The actors and the speeches they performed were: Carmiña Martínez, as Rafael Uribe Uribe; Dubián Gallego, as Jorge Eliécer Gaitán; Ivonne Rodríguez, as Jaime Pardo Leal; Lisandro López, as Carlos Pizarro; Atala Bernal, as Luis Carlos Galán; and Francisco Martínez, as Bernardo Jaramillo.

6. The priests and the sermons re-enacted were: Father Almiro Mendes, reading Gustavo Gutiérrez; Father Antonio Bacelar, reading excerpts from ‘The Violence of Love’ by Oscar Romero; Father João Lucas and Father José Martins Júnior, reading a sermon of Father Antonio Vieira; Father Manuel Correia Fernandes, reading Friar Bartolomé de las Casas; and Father José Alberto de Oliveira, reading Leonardo Boff.