JAVIER CASTRO: COLISEUM

DESCRIPTION

Javier Castro: Coliseum is part of the forthcoming exhibition series Plural Domains / Selected Works from the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation Collection, which seeks to explore important questions concerning contemporary Latin American Art. Coliseum was selected as the winner of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) Grant and Commission Program in 2015. The work will be on display at University Gallery from February 12 through March 12, 2021.

In this installation, the artist pushes the limits of traditional audio-visual reception by utilizing multiple video and audio channels broadcast across six large screens confronting the viewer with a fragmented audio-visual experience within the gallery space. Through the liberation of the audio from the video and the video from a singular cohesion, a freedom is gained that allows the participant to associate various sounds with different images, modifying the work to their choosing, and ultimately, creating their own narrative.

Multiple aspects of a fish fight in Havana are displayed on the screens, from the social hierarchy of the human participants to the perspective of the battling animals. Ethical limits are pushed and moral questions are raised concerning the pursuit of money and diversion. The main actions take center stage in the arrangement of the screens, while the secondary events are projected in the periphery. In this way, the viewer is encouraged to move throughout the space to fully access the artist’s vision.

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