Alfredo Jaar
Encyclopedia
Alfredo Jaar is a Chilean-born artist
, architect
, and filmmaker who lives in New York
. He was born in 1956 in Santiago de Chile. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography
and covering socio-political issues and war
- the best known perhaps being the 6-year long The Rwanda Project about the 1994 Rwandan genocide
. He has also made numerous public intervention works, like The Skoghall Konsthall one-day paper museum in Sweden
, an early electronic billboard intervention A Logo For America, and The Cloud, a performance
project on both sides of the Mexico-USA border. He has been featured on Art:21.
or the globalized world, and sometimes with a certain level of viewer participation (in the case of many public interventions and performances).
"There's this huge gap between reality and its possible representations. And that gap is impossible to close. So as artists, we must try different strategies for representation. [...] [A] process of identification is fundamental to create empathy, to create solidarity, to create intellectual involvement."
(1986, 2007), São Paulo
(1987, 1989, 2010), Istanbul
(1995), Kwangju
(1995, 2000), Johannesburg (1997), and Seville (2006). His work, Park of the Laments, was part of the 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park
which opened in 2010 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
.
Important individual exhibitions include the New Museum of Contemporary Art
, New York (1992); Whitechapel Gallery
, London (1992); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
(1992); Moderna Museet
, Stockholm (1994); Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
(2005); Fundación Telefónica, Santiago (2006); Musée des Beaux Arts, Lausanne
(2007); and the South London Gallery
in 2008.
's Premio Extremadura a la Creación.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, and filmmaker who lives in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He was born in 1956 in Santiago de Chile. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and covering socio-political issues and war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
- the best known perhaps being the 6-year long The Rwanda Project about the 1994 Rwandan genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
. He has also made numerous public intervention works, like The Skoghall Konsthall one-day paper museum in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, an early electronic billboard intervention A Logo For America, and The Cloud, a performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
project on both sides of the Mexico-USA border. He has been featured on Art:21.
Work
The art of Alfredo Jaar is usually politically motivated, strategies of representation of real events, the faces of warWar
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
or the globalized world, and sometimes with a certain level of viewer participation (in the case of many public interventions and performances).
"There's this huge gap between reality and its possible representations. And that gap is impossible to close. So as artists, we must try different strategies for representation. [...] [A] process of identification is fundamental to create empathy, to create solidarity, to create intellectual involvement."
Exhibitions
His work has been shown extensively around the world, notably in the Biennales of VeniceVenice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
(1986, 2007), São Paulo
São Paulo Art Biennial
The São Paulo Art Biennial was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial , which serves as its role model....
(1987, 1989, 2010), Istanbul
Istanbul Biennial
The International Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition, held every two years in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The biennial is organised by the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. The Biennial aims to create a meeting point in İstanbul in the field of visual arts between artists...
(1995), Kwangju
Gwangju Biennale
The Gwangju Biennale, which started in September 1995 in the city of Gwangju in the South Jeolla province of South Korea, was Asia's first contemporary art biennale. The purpose of Gwangju Biennale is globalization of art and it respect diversity rather than uniformity...
(1995, 2000), Johannesburg (1997), and Seville (2006). His work, Park of the Laments, was part of the 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park
100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park
100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park is a public park located behind the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The park opened in 2010, showing large site specific installation art works by Alfredo Jaar, Andrea Zittel, Atelier Van Lieshout, Kendall...
which opened in 2010 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
.
Important individual exhibitions include the New Museum of Contemporary Art
New Museum of Contemporary Art
The New Museum, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to presenting contemporary art from around the world...
, New York (1992); Whitechapel Gallery
Whitechapel Gallery
The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, it was founded in 1901 as one of the first publicly-funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in London, and it has a long...
, London (1992); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
(1992); Moderna Museet
Moderna Museet
Moderna museet, the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, that was first opened in 1958. Its first manager was Pontus Hultén...
, Stockholm (1994); Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome is a municipal art museum located in the north-east of Rome, Italy, on Via Reggio Emilia.-History:The project began in the late 1990s over the site old factories Peroni...
(2005); Fundación Telefónica, Santiago (2006); Musée des Beaux Arts, Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
(2007); and the South London Gallery
South London Gallery
South London Gallery, founded 1891, often known by the acronym SLG, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London - exhibiting artists included Alfredo Jaar, Ryan Gander and Chris Burden...
in 2008.
Awards
Jaar became a Guggenheim Fellow in 1985 and a MacArthur Fellow in 2000. He was also a 2006 recipient of SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's Premio Extremadura a la Creación.
External links
- Alfredo Jaar's personal website
- 'Interview with Alfredo Jaar by Europa Magazine
- A Logo For America, early electronic billboard intervention, documentation on YouTube
- The Skoghall Konsthall documentation on YouTube
- The Silence of Nduwayezu, part of the Rwanda Project, documentation and artist statement