The Destruction of One Someone

For almost seven years now, we have been working as collaborators on a project called “Monster”. It has provided a reason to discuss, experiment, and produce, primarily, around the idea of construction and destruction as forces of simultaneous operation, which can generate images related to the apocalyptic, the ghostly or the romantic. As our practices have become increasingly specific, so have our points of convergence. While Milena’s recent work connects with vanishing as a phenomenon of dispersion, Pedro’s practice manipulates temporalities in a series of collision courses. Although this would seem to prescribe a collaboration based on a “before and after”, the tensions between constructive forces and a destructive courses point to a void that challenges most of our own representational artillery. Indeed we are left with a monstrous conversation.” p g-e

Milena Bonilla is a Colombian artist who currently lives and works in Amsterdam. Her practice traverses a range of media including drawing, sculpture and photography. Her working processes interrogate a series of questions around the economy, notions of territory, transit and politics with actions invoke the quotidian and generate a heterogeneous framework for the discourse surrounding her work.

Selected solo exhibitions include: “Manuscritos” at Valenzuela Klenner Gallery in Bogotá (2008); “Manuscrito Siniestro” at El Bodegón in Bogotá, “Limítrofe” at Valenzuela Klenner Gallery in Bogotá (2006); and “Common Places / Sketches” for a Garden at Alianza Colombo Francesa in Bogotá (2004).

Recent group exhibitions include: “X Havana Biennial”, Havana (2009), “Asimetrias y convergencias” at Vermelho Gallery, Sao Paulo (2009); “Revolución Industrial / Industrial Revolution” at Muca Roma Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City (2008); “Historia Natural y Política” at Casa Republicana, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá (2008); “BB3 Bucharest Biennia”l at Simeza in Bucharest and in Umeå in Sweden (2008); “Once More With Feeling: A Season of Colombian Photography” at Impressions Gallery in Bradford, UK (2007) and Photographer’s Gallery in London (2008); “Displaced” at Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea, UK (2007); and “Nuestra Hospitalidad” at Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló (EAAC) in Castellón, Spain (2007).

Official recognition, fellowships and prizes include: Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten / Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Amsterdam (2009); fellowship for the production of an artist book by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia (2008); Art Gene Residency (Visiting Arts) from the Arts Council England and the Colombian Ministry of Culture (2005); Honorary Mention at the 39th Salón Nacional de Artistas Colombianos (2004); and First Prize at the X Salón Regional de Artistas de Bogotá (2003).

Pedro Gómez-Egaña is a Colombian artist who is currently based in Norway. He was educated as a composer and a visual artist at Goldsmiths College, London and at the Bergen National Academy of Arts. His practice includes sculpture, performance, video, installation and sound works.

Gómez-Egaña’s recent artistic production forms part of a large-scale project entitled “Calligraphies”, supported by the Norwegian Artistic Fellowships Programme, which could be seen as an exploration of motion in relation to fundamental forces like gravity, repetition, accidentality, or anxiety. His works often include compositions of text and phonographic material, as well as mechanical or video animations of simple drawings. Although his practice involves multiple technical resources and artistic disciplines it appears to construct worlds of incisive simplicity.

Prior to “Calligraphies” Gómez-Egaña carried out a three-year research project on the relationship between musicality and physicality, sponsored by the British Council that included various collaborative and solo exhibitions, performances and papers. He has been involved with art, music, dance venues, exhibitions and festivals including the South Bank Centre’s Purcell Room in London, the Brussels Biennial 2008, the Kunstraum Kreuzberg-Bethanien-Berlin, FACT Liverpool, Rencontre International d’Art Performance de Quebec, Multipistes-Amsterdam, 66East Amsterdam, the Institute of Contemporary Art London, DareDare Montreal, Tanz Quartier Wien, BMIC London cutting edge series, La Source de Lion-Casablanca, and L’appartement 22 Morocco. This autumn Pedro will show at the Marrakech Biennial, Bogotá’s art fair, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires. Gómez-Egaña has been guest and resident lecturer at the MA programme in visual arts at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Goldsmiths College London, and the Laban Centre, London.

http://www.pedrogomezegana.net