Máximo Corvalán-Pincheira

Máximo Corvalán-Pincheira on his time in Auckland

Article Detail

 

With a little distance from my stay in New Zealand, where I travelled to install my work in Space to Dream: Recent Art from South America, I am left with wonderful memories of my time in Auckland City and I realise how important this experience was both personally and professionally. From the first moment I heard about the planned exhibition I had great expectations; it seemed very interesting and necessary to extend a bridge between cultures from the South of the world and create another possible circuit beyond the hegemonic discourse that the North has created.

I would like to thank the curators Beatriz Bustos and Dr Zara Stanhope, with whom I shared long conversations to work out how to present my installation. The artwork required a series of complex technical solutions that could have meant Beatriz and Zara ended up having to decide not to present it. For this reason their curatorial commitment and professionalism is highly appreciated. Their work was not only about making a gesture but also showed tremendous effort to install the artwork in its full dimension. Their curatorial labour created a dialogue that allows us through contemporary art to reflect and to question. I have no doubt that for visitors to the show this has been a valuable experience.

To present Proyecto ADN (DNA Project), which I made in 2012, and see it placed in a context of South American artworks presented for a New Zealand audience reaffirmed the idea that, despite this work stemming from an autobiographical experience which reflects the recent history of my country and expands out to the rest of the Southern Cone as a problematic, when the artwork is left suspended to the interpretations made by Aucklanders it acts as a hypnotising scene which does not necessarily speak of its initial meaning (or of the artist). Something I enjoyed doing while I was in the Gallery was observing spectators’ expressions as they entered the room.   

Once again I would like to thank the curators for granting us this 'space to dream' and curatorial assistants Maya Errázuriz and Amparo Irarrázaval for their professionalism, and of course I also wish to extend my thanks to the technical team at Auckland Art Gallery who made possible the entire framework of this exhibition. 

Related content