Family to Nation
An adapted family drama
The intention was to examine, with a group of participants, power relations and forms of authority using a series of short plays inspired by the group behavior techniques of pedagogue Paulo Freire and Agosto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed. The forty-two audience members became the performers in a fictional kitchen, living room, bedroom and garden.
The event also involved a psychologist (Dr. Roman Snihurowych, Charité Hospital) and a sociologist (Prof. Gökçe Yurdakul, Humboldt University) who analyzed and modified the scenes in collaboration with the participants. The discussions were moderated by Kim Einarsson (director, Konsthall C). All group members were then asked to reflect on their experiences and the role they had taken in the experiment. On the agenda were also more general issues like the role of the audience in performance, the activation of the viewer, and the possible social function of art.
The most experimental project in format was Olivia Plender and Romeo Gongora’s role-play Family to Nation. While the event was announced as a performance, it was actually the audience members who, together with the artists and the organizers, became the performers. In a hybrid between a psychological family drama and an exercise of group behavior techniques of the Brazilian reformist pedagogue Paulo Freire, the participants were to “examine with a group of participants existing power relations, forms of authority and what they undermine, in both the ‘family’ and the ‘nation.’” The setup at the multifunctional theater space at .HBC involved the curator Kim Einarsson, who took the role of the mediator of the evening, and a sociologist and psychologist who intervened into the dynamics and conflicts within the group. Right from the beginning, the participants were split up into five “families” and assigned their roles as respective family members. The evening evolved out of a script of four successive scenes, the laid out problems mostly revolving around traditional family models and exploitative support structures (like hiring an au pair for child care). What was intended as a side topic of the inquiry, namely to explore “the role of the audience in performance, the activation of the viewer, and the possible social function of art,” became much more of an issue than the forthright political themes – although this happened after the performance rather than during its course. Surprisingly, the transformation of the viewer into a participant didn’t activate any resistance amongst the group at first; everybody (including us, the organizers) … READ MORE
(“What is Lecture Performance? An Introduction to an Extended Investigation” by Ellen Blumenstein)
Catalogue
Perform a Lecture! A publication documenting the performance, as well as 5 other events on performance lectures, is available from argobooks (Berlin, Germany, 2011), edited by Ellen Blumenstein and Fiona Geuss. Contributors: Ulf Aminde, Eric de Bryn, Helmut Draxler, Felix Ensslin, Christoph Gurk, Dorothea von Hantelmann, Clemens Krümmel, Solvej Helweg Ovesen, Dieter Roelstraete.
Publisher: argobooks
Designer: Jung und Wenig
52 pages
21cm × 27.50 cm
Format: Softcover
2011
ISBN-13: 978-3-942700-20-7
Available here
Credits
Family to Nation was presented at the .Hbc (Berlin, DE) on November 10 2010, 7pm. The project is part of Perform a Lecture!, a series of 6 events on performance lectures curated by Ellen Blumenstein and Fiona Geuss with the support of the Capital Culture Fund.
Table of Contents
Biography
Romeo Gongora is a Canadian-Guatemalan visual artist and PhD researcher in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London (UK). Since 2008, he has conducted major collaborative projects that interact with the social sphere, integrating politics and pedagogy in the practice of performance. He is the recipient of several grants and has shown his work at, amongst others, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (Canada), HISK (Belgium), Centre of Art Torun (Poland), Centre Makan (Jordan) and Leonard&Bina Ellen Gallery (Canada). He has been an artist-in-residence at, among others, the Rijksakademie (Netherlands, 2007-08), the Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany, 2009) and Acme Studios (UK, 2016).
Curriculum vitæ
Education
Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK, 2017- (PhD)
Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, CA, 2002-2005 (MA)
Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, CA, 1995-1998 (BA)
Solo exhibitions/projects (selected)
2018 Bromley by Bow Center, London, UK, community-making project, 2017-18
2017 Truck, Calgary, CA
2016 Acme studio, London, UK
2015 3e Imperial, Granby, CA (exh. website)
2014 Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal, CA (exh. website)
2013 Laura Mars GRP, Berlin, DE
2012 Museu de Arte de Goiania, Goiania, BR
2009 Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE, (exh. cat.)
2009 Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto, CA
2007 Dazibao, Centre de photographies actuelles, Montréal, CA, ‘Sincère’
2006 Gallery 44, Center for Contemporary Photography, Toronto, CA, ‘Recovery’, (exh. cat.)
2006 Optica, Contemporary art center, Montréal, CA, ‘Logiques de l’arrachement’
Group exhibitions/performance (selected)
2018 Sur, Toronto, CA
2018 Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK, “Communities and Commonalities”, performance, in collaboration with Sue Mayo
2016 Open School East, London, UK, lecture-performance, with cur. Juliette Desorgues (ICA)
2016 articule, Montreal, CA, exhibition, cur. Dominique Fontaine
2015 Rencontres de Bamako – Biennale Africaine de la Photographie, cur. Bisi Silva
2014 Festival Belluard, Fribourg, CH, performance
2013 Kas Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, CD
2012 Centro Cultural Chola Bravas, Lima, PE, performance
2011 Teatro Libre, Grado Cero: teatralidades expandidas, Bogota, CO, performance
2010 Contemporary Art Center, Lagos, NG, performance/workshop
2010 The Office, Berlin, GE, ‘Perform a lecture’, cur. Ellen Blumenstein (in coll. with Olivia Plender)
2010 Makan art center, Amman, JO, “Shatana hill”
2009 The Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK), Ghent, BE, ‘Time-Challenger’, cur. Adnan Yildiz
2009 Center of contemporary art, Torun, PL, cur. Joanka Zielinska
2008 Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, CA, ‘Rien ne se perd…’ , (exh. cat.)
2008 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL, ‘Open Ateliers’, (exh. cat.)
2008 MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, CA, ‘Double space’, cur. Timothy Long (exh. cat.)
2008 Dazibao, Montréal, CA, ‘Exposition portative’, 2007-2008
2007 Centre Culturel de Rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg, LU,
2006 VU Centre de diffusion de la photographie, Quebec, CA, ‘Habiter’, (exh. cat.)
Film/video screenings (selected)
2015 Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich, CH, “From the intangible…”, cur. Anne Brand Galvez
2012 Vidéo Portative – Dazibao, Montreal, CA
2009 Temporare Kunsthalle, Berlin, GE
2007 Big Family Business, Istanbul, TR, ‘Some of us try so hard to be somebody’, as part of the 10th Istanbul Biennial, cur. Adnan Yildiz&Ovul Durmusoglu
Residencies (selected)
Despina residency, Largo Das Artes, Rio de Janeiro, BR, 2016
Acme Studios, London, UK, 2016
Aux Recollets, Paris, FR, 2013
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, CO, 2011
Centre for Contemporary Art, Torun, PO, 2009
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE, 2008-2009
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, NL, 2007-08
Fellowships/grants (selected)
2018 Graduate School Fund, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
2017 Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture, CA, PhD scholarship, 2017-
2015 Canada Council for the Arts, CA, grant for artist-in-residence programs
2012 Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, CA, research and creation grant
2009 Canada Council for the Arts, CA, grant for artist-in-residence programs, 2008-2009
2008 Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, research and creation grant, 2007-08
Lectures, debates and seminars (selected)
2018 University of Bergen, Faculty of Art, Bergen, NO, “Rethinking Participation”, artist talk
2017 The Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, CA, artist talk, invitation Alana Bartol
2016 Média@McGill, Montreal, CA, international colloquium, Aisthesis and the Common
2015 Concordia University, Montreal, CA, artist talk, invitation Felicity Taylor
2014 Festival Belluard, Fribourg, CH, invited artist, 2013-14
2013 Centre PHI, Montreal, CA, talk with artist Steve Bates and cur. Dominique Fontaine
2012 Universidad Federal de Goias, Goiania, BR, artist’s talk
2011 Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, AR, talk in coll. with cur. Soledad Sanchez
2011 Faculdades Artes Visuales, Goiania, BR, talk in collaboration with Edgar Fonsas
2010 Kunstnernes Hus – W17 Studio, Oslo, NO, talk in collaboration with Anawana Haloba
2009 Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun, PL, artist-talk with cur. Kamila Wielebska
2009 e.mobility, Nicosia, CY, invited member for ‘Pépinière pour jeunes artistes’
Catalogues, articles and reviews (selected)
2017 Calgary Herald, “An interview with Romeo Gongora”, Jon Roe, March 22, 2017
2015 ESSE, “Just Watch Me”, Ariane De Blois, dans ‘Religion’, v.83, p. 56-59
2014 Le Devoir, ‘Entre la discorde et la crise sociale’, Jerome Delgado
2013 Taz Tageszeitun, ‘Zwischen Religion und Soap Opera: Lebende Bilder des Kolonialismus” MJ, August 22, 2013
2010 argosbook, ‘Volkskunsthalle/People’s Art Space’, collaboration with Aernout Mik (artist), Prof. Gökce Yurdakul (Georg Simmel Professor, Humboldt University) and Dr. Bernhart Schwenk (Chief curator, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich)
2010 VISUALIDADES, ‘Binding the viewer’, Romeo Gongora, Rosana Horio Monteiro ed.,
Published by UFG-FAV, V.7, n.3, 304 p. Goiania (BR)
2009 Intertekst, ‘I am the Other. In conversation with Romeo Gongora’, Kamila Wielebska,
Laznia Center of Contemporary Art publisher (PL), 132 p.
2009 Gallery 44, ‘Expanded Photography’, Marie Fraser, 145 p.
2009 BE Magazine, ‘Logic of alienation’, Veronika Schoene, no. 16
2009 Mackenzie art catalogue, ‘Theatroclasm: Mirrors, Mimesis and the Place of the Viewer’,
Elizabeth Matheson and Nancy Tousley, 154 p..
2008 Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, ‘The Quebec Triennial: Nothing is lost…’, 220 p.
2008 Blackflash, ‘Scene as Space Across Time: Presence’, Katy McCormick, vol. 25, no. 3
2008 Canada art, ‘Double Space/Douglas Gordon: Double and Elephant Tricks’, Fall 2008
2007 NOA (Not Only Arabic), ‘Treason’, curator Mounira Al Solh: invited artist for newspaper
2007 Parachute, ‘Habiter et Les Convertibles’, Nathalie Côté, issue 25, p. 6
2006 ESSE, ‘Habiter le quartier baroque’, Lisanne Nadeau, issue 59, p. 47-51
Collection/Prize
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (Montréal, CA), Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Amsterdam, NL), Sommerakademie Zentrum Paul Klee (Zurich, CH) (nominated), Kunstzeitraum (Munich, DE) (nominated), Küntlerhaus Büchsenhausen (Innsbruck, AT) (nominated), Smithsonian Institut (Washington, US) (nominated)
Teaching Experience (selected)
2018 Université de Québec à Montréal, Montréal, CA, part-time teacher, AVM2000
2018 University of Bergen, Faculty of Fine Art, Bergen, NO, visiting teacher, workshop in collaboration with Anawana Haloba
2017 Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, Graduate tutor, “Radical pedagogy and participation”, BA Fine Art Extension Degree, 2017-18
2016 Bromley by Bow Center, London, UK, participatory appraisal workshop
2014 Université de Québec à Montréal, Montréal, CA, visiting teacher, “Les nous identitaires”, FAM4010-J
2013 Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, AR, teaching, performance
2013 Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, CD, facilitator for a workshop
2012 Universidad Federal de Goias, Goiania, BR, teaching, vidéo
2011 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin, CO, teaching, performance
2010 Contemporary Art Center/Triangle Arts Workshop, Lagos, NG, facilitator
Other (selected)
2015 Conseil des arts de Montréal, evaluation committee’s member, 2014-2018
2012 Dazibao, internal board member, 2012-2015
2010 TV-Poland, ‘Panorama’, interview, 07-08-2010
2009 e-mobility, board member, European union survey on artistic mobility
2006 Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, MX, teaching, Video department
10.03.2018
News
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25 January 2019
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19 January 2019
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Statement
I consider myself a researcher, my purpose is not an art object, but a research project that materializes in a transdisciplinary manner (installations, performance, photography, collaboration, meeting, writing, etc..). This emphasis on the process/experience rather than the final product. My work use dialogue, empathy and trust as a production strategy. This procedure usually involves a period of research in which I collaborate closely with different communities. The result is a collaborative work with a deep emotional intensity that aims to analyze the socio-psychological constructs of an environment.
Since 2008, I have conducted major projects collectively that have acquired a social dimension, integrating politics, activism and marginality in the practice of performance. Such as Movimiento Social del Cuerpo, a series of laboratories in collaboration with Latin American universities (Bogotá, Lima, Cordoba, Goiania, etc.) inspired by Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal and Orlando Fals Borda, on social and political questions. In 2014, I started the project Just watch me, event, social club, meeting space focused on dialogue and collective creation, presented at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery in Montreal.