Osmosis/Bajo La Piel (Under the Skin): Media Art

Devereaux, Emile (2008) Osmosis/Bajo La Piel (Under the Skin): Media Art. N/A, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract

These two media works were shown in a major exhibition in Argentina’s museum and cultural centre, the Casa de la Cultura of the National Foundation for the Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They participate in the larger question of the role of arts as social sculpture, particularly as a way of reshaping the boundaries of feminism. The curator, Graciela Ovejero dedicated the Subjected Culture exhibition to the women who disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina and in response to the “honour killing” of the Pakistani artist Safia Bibi, killed by her brother for her participation in an arts workshop for women. The exhibition travelled to four major museums across Argentina from 2006-2008, reaching audiences outside of major cultural centres, as a way of proposing alternative representations of gender roles. Bajo La Piel (Under the Skin) is a site-specific video intervention that falls outside the walls of the Casa de la Cultura (20-22 May 2008). The work references popular culture to speak across cultures, evoking a haunting sense of familiarity through archival imagery. Osmosis is a small scale animation loop embedded inside of a sculptural object. Displayed within the museum setting, the piece requires audiences to peer into the piece as if it were a microscope or other medical apparatus. Funded by the Experimental Television Center and Susan B. Anthony Institute in New York. Two catalogues and numerous reviews were published. The exhibition brings together a group of 29 internationally prominent artists and academics from Argentina, UK, US, Europe and Asia including the Guerrilla Girls (USA), Ursula Biemann (University of the Arts, Zurich), Coco Fusco (Temple University, USA) and Varsha Nair (UK, India, Thailand). Funded by Argentina’s main government body for cultural activities, Fondo Nacional de las Artes as well as INADI, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism.