“Mockups of monuments for the construction of a better world”, is an exhibition especially designed for the Miniature Mobile museum of contemporary art by artist Luis Hernández Mellizo, curated by me, Adriana Rios Monsalve, and thanks to the invitation of George Mason University and particularly to Edgar Endress dean of the MFA Program.
Luis Hernández Mellizo is a Colombian artist who lives and works between Buenos Aires, Argentina, Asunción, Paraguay and Bogotá, Colombia. His artistic production uses elements of daily life, combining them with political, social and territorial issues. He refers to himself as a Painter, even though his body of work includes all kinds of art media (sculpture, installation, video, etc), because it is what is most related to the trade of being an artist. Luis defines Painter as “a hardworking person who uses and organizes shapes and colors on a surface. He or she is a worker who sells his/her time in the form of commissioned work, for example, someone who paints cars or houses. Another type of worker, but emancipated, is the one who paints his or her interests and develops a research based visual thinking, an activity that in some sort of social agreement is given the name of Art”
For this project the artist takes elements of a worldwide discussion on monuments that portray people who under a current perspective are understood as enslavers or murderers, in contrast to what before could be understood as adventurous people in search of lands and treasures for their kingdom. He also contrasts the understanding of a monument in terms of “High Art” based on the common use of materials such as Marble and Bronze and the use of daily life tools such as hammers used in construction, a must-have household item and a basic tool for artists in general.
The Miniature Mobile Museum of Contemporary Art presents itself as a possibility within the artist's interests, because it allows him to reveal the contradictions between scale, discourses and the understanding of public spaces. The three sculptures shown here are at the same time a mockup of a monument that will never be built, while using real size tools that give them the quality of a collectable object. Shining a light on public monuments shows that there is more than either taking them down by force or keeping monuments with the meaning and implications of the time they were commissioned and located around the colonial world. Instead, it places a possibility of resignification through art, and implicitly invites museums and art and history institutions to take an active role in providing tools for people to understand such monuments in their proper historical context. It is imperative to bring new information to the table for new generations to create a better world for themselves and for older generations to forgive but not to forget.
When we started working on this exhibition in late 2020 we couldn't foresee the social uprising that was about to happen in Colombia, a country that built an inclusive constitution in 1991 but that even now finds it hard to apply. At Covid 19 times it is a greater challenge for all countries to maintain the democratic promise of social justice, wellbeing and cultural rights, while decisions are made in autocratic manners in order to contain the spread of the virus.
The MMMoCA arises as a possibility to bring art to people in public spaces while institutions figure out a way to deliver what they promised in the light of present times.
Thank you
