LOCATION: Citadellet, Landskrona. MAP. Included in festival ticket.
In a small and closed space with white walls, a group of people is instructed to circle for hours in different directions. A camera records how the bodies touch each other. Fear and submission accelerate. The people become sweaty, tired and fragile. They feel the need to escape.
The video work is part of the larger project Observations About Corporal Resistance which through photography, video, installation and performance explores human nature as a vulnerable material. People are constantly worn down by life’s obstacles in time and space, but above all by the wear and tear of the socio-economic and political system.
Filmed in Mexico City, the video piece depicts the presence of violence in the city’s culture as well as in José Luis Cuevas’ own life. He lost his younger brother at an early age and his father a few years ago. He visited both in hospital, completely vulnerable, which has made a lasting impression on him and cemented the idea that bodies are defenceless. After becoming extremely afraid of losing more loved ones José Luis Cuevas began to compulsively follow police press releases. The project is a way for Cuevas to cope with his own paranoia in a brutal environment.
Jose Luis Cuevas was born in Mexico City in 1973. His work has been shown across the world, including Mexico’s most important photography festival, FotoMexico, and the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. He is the founder of Gimnasio de Arte y Cultura y CAMPO, an educational platform in Latin America.
