By Francisco Guevara | Director
Creating social awareness to reduce violence is one of Arquetopia's dearest principles and greatest challenges. Not only does it mean to persist in developing artistic projects that promote ideas of social change but to examine our own behavior and face it with a greater sense of responsibility. The philosopher Emmanuel Levinas summarizes it in simple words: "Real violence doesn't consist so much in injuring and annihilating persons as in interrupting their continuity, making them betray not only commitments but their own substance, making them carry out actions that will destroy every possibility for action."
Throughout the summer and fall, Arquetopia launched an extensive program incorporating young students, local artists, and curators as well as our staff and board members in the discussion and understanding of violence through social issues, discrimination, and injustice. We all pitched in and developed an ambitious program starting from Arquetopia's core and extending to museums, artists studios, and open spaces. The results were a series of workshops, lectures, studio visits, exhibitions, and public art projects.
We had the privilege to work with brilliantly talented people including Kirsten Pai Buick, Gustavo Larach, Emmanuel Ortega, Martí Peran, and Jakub Szczesny who generously participated sharing their knowledge and establishing one-on-one dialogues with local artists. We presented the results of outstanding Art Educators Residencies such as Yveline Etienne’s pinhole photography project at Fototeca Juan C. Méndez, Lindsay Sparagana’s digital photo project at the children museum Imagina, and Bronwyn Treacy’s printmaking installation in collaboration with students from Bachillerato 5 de Mayo BUAP at Museo de la Memoria Histórica Universitaria BUAP. All projects engaged young students in the critical discussion of social issues and extending the dialogue to broader audiences.
This is only the beginning, and with your help we will continue to raise questions, reeducate, and engage artists in projects that actively contribute to social justice. You are welcome to join us in the dialogue.
Thank you again for your generous support!
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