EDGARDO ARAGÓN

Dates of residency: November till December 2017
Born: 1985
Nationality: Mexican
Lives and works: Oaxaca, Mexico
Education:
2009 BFA Escuela Nacional de Pintura Escultura y Grabado, “La Esmeralda”
Selected shows:
2018 Cycles of Collapsing Progress, Tripoli
2016 Mésoamérique : l'effet Ouragan, Jeu de Paume, Paris
2013 Tinieblas, MUAC, Mexico City
2012 Solo Projects, MoMA PS1, New York

THE ARTIST
In the work of Edgardo Aragón the structures of power, violence and politics are addressed in recorded performances that recreate past events, freely mixing stories from domestic and political contexts. Describing his oeuvre, the artist states: “My work often revolves around how power from a higher level is used to segment a large part of the population.”
 His videos, serene in appearance, display scenarios formed by landscapes that in fact hide a political discourse.
They develop narratives inspired by the everyday environment and harsh social realities, mostly of his home country Mexico. They become documents of mournful sensibility that use an eerie silence to bring awareness in a most piercing way.

THE RESIDENCY
Aragón took his residency at BAR as an opportunity to foster a deep understanding of the layered aspects of the Lebanese culture. This investigation laid the groundwork for his site-specific performance and video installation at Rashid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, North Lebanon. Designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the early 1960’s, the concrete run-down structures of the fair were in dialogue with contemporary art as part of Cycles of Collapsing Progress, curated by Karina El Helou in 2018.

This residency was in partnership with Studiocur/art and supported by the Embassy of Mexico in Lebanon, Mitsulift & 22 degrees.