Author: idioma

The COVID-19 pandemic comes as the deployment of 5G and IoT technologies begins, technologies that promise to continue accelerating the radical change that has taken place in the 21st century. What is your opinion about the role that the pandemic plays in history?

Without a doubt, the emergence of this new context derived from COVID-19 has accelerated our transformation towards ultra-connected and intelligent systems. What once seemed like science fiction, today we live in everyday life. The world changed. It no longer makes sense to say that “the world is changing”, or that “we must prepare for what is coming”. The disruption to the system has already arrived and we are seeing it raw.

In this way, we can say that the pandemic accelerated time, it has forced us to have the discussion that we all knew that sooner or later we were going to have: the current system is insufficient to respond to global emergency situations. This reflection is fundamentally linked to the issue of exponential technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the IoT, and the 5G infrastructure.

These technologies predict a greater disruption to the global system, which will impact all areas of society, generating greater uncertainty in crisis situations. These technologies have great potential to improve our systems, but they come with a series of risks – even of an existential nature – that we must collectively face on a global level.

The pandemic revealed the great deficiencies of the system, as well as accelerated processes that will bring greater difficulties to its capacity to successfully face the challenges of the Great Disruption.

The women’s liberation movement has empowered many women from all walks of life to denounce their transgressors, stalkers, rapists, etc … I recently heard about the launch of the book “Premka: White Bird in a Golden Cage: My Life with Yogi Bhajan ”In which a spiritual leader is accused of harassing and raping women who belonged to her community. To this we can add countless cases in which leaders in the course of history act against what is perceived as “good” or within the laws of morality. Taking into account that the society today is very likely more moral than in past centuries, what repercussions do you think this increase in accusations and movements will have? How do you think man would evolve in the face of his merely vicious behaviors from all these scandals, starting from the hypothesis of man’s “natural evilness”?

This is an interesting question because it starts from very complex premises. I do not completely agree with the hypothesis of the “natural malignancy of man”. I believe that the human responds to environments, rather than having a fundamental nature. For me the natural is what exists, I don’t think there is a metaphysical concept of nature; a fundamental essence. The natural encompasses the entire physical result and its universal derivatives, which are processes with a high level of randomness due to chaos and entropy. Although causal relationships are what science explains, the random component within complex systems is fundamental and breaks any concept of a “universal order” or pure essence of nature. Order is a concept that has evolved along with life, but Physics tells us that disorder and chaos are the greatest universal forces.

Good and bad are inter-subjective concepts, that is, they are created through social language. Morality responds to a historical context and a social environment. What used to be moral today may not be tomorrow. Today we see with moral repudiation the era of human slavery, while we torture and murder billions of animals for dietary and aesthetic purposes, which suffer the martyrdom of civilization. Similarly, today we are flooding our oceans with plastic, deforesting our jungles, and destroying ecosystems. Perhaps in more “primitive” times that would not have been acceptable, taking into consideration the moral orientations of peripheral communities to civilization.

Undoubtedly, I believe that there have been advances, especially in the role of women in society. However, this does not mean that this advance is also a conception that comes from an intersubjective interpretation. Absolute concepts are difficult to apply in the field of social complexity.

“For me the natural is what exists, I don’t think there is a metaphysical concept of nature; a fundamental essence.”

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence applications, the large capital investment in less expensive energy, and other market trends, could represent the reduction of the cost of living on the one hand, and on the other hand the obsolescence of human labor in many areas . Today’s society has flourished due to capitalism, and humans today “live to work.” Ideas such as the Universal Basic Salary represent a probable economic solution to these problems. From the perspective of Social Sciences, what do you think about a possible decrease in the enjoyment of life of these people who would not work and what solutions are there?

The issue of the possible obsolescence of human work due to the deployment of automated systems is one of the great challenges that we must face as a society in the coming years. The Universal Basic Income has emerged as one of the loudest proposals to handle market disruption by exponential technologies. Without a doubt it is a measure that deserves to be studied and experimented on a large scale.

The quality of life of the people depends a lot on the access to the fundamental services that a society has. Whether there will be a decline in the quality of life will depend fundamentally on whether there is a social structure that guarantees access to public goods and services. That is why politics is fundamental and should not be replaced by merely technical, much less business thinking. Regardless of whether in the future we have a job or not, I believe that the discussion should be centered on access to goods and services that are fundamental for the common good.

That is why the solution is political, since it is the tool that societies have to guarantee rights. Ironically, like morality, rights are intersubjective realities that we create through language. The ethical and moral discussion cannot be separated from rights, since there is no law as an objective reality and it is only a construction of language.

That is why politics is the highest expression of human agency, since it is concrete action that plays between power relations and social capacities. To define whether there will be a greater or lesser quality of life in a scenario where work is no longer essential to life, it will depend fundamentally on the political action we take to guarantee the rights that we value as fair to our human condition.

“That is why politics is the highest expression of human agency, since it is concrete action that plays between power relations and social capacities.”

Today we have heard figures like Ray Kurzweil talking about the possible immortality of man. Many spiritual beliefs speak about the finality of man’s existence as being immortal, or breaking the “cycle of reincarnation.” In a world in which humans control their mortality, and have access to virtually unlimited energies, how do you think humans will live? What psychological and spiritual changes would they have? What would be their purpose, and perhaps more importantly, are they psychologically prepared for this?

Kurzweil has been one of my great inspirations over time. His ideas have been decisive in expanding my horizon of the potential that life has to transcend and expand the universe. In fact, I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for Kurzweil’s ideas. My work at GENIA is a direct result of my experience at Singularity University, an institution founded by Ray Kurzweil, motivated by his vision of exponential development towards technological singularity.

When you speak of the “purpose of human existence” I think precisely of teleological questions, even touching on metaphysical concepts such as destiny. I am not very given to assuming metaphysical ideas as absolute truths of nature, but I understand the conceptual relationship between evolutionary trends and teleological doctrines, which speak about the “end” of things.

Evolutionary philosophy is marked in all areas of thought, from biology to political economy. It should be noted that thinkers like Marx had an evolutionary philosophy, which have broad similarities with theologians like the great Jesuit Pierre de Chardin, who spoke about an “Omega Point” or an end point.

My thinking has been heavily influenced by evolutionary philosophy. It could be said that the concept of the Singularity is a teleological concept, since it speaks about a future scenario where we are irreversibly heading, determined by the “Law of Accelerated Returns”, explained in Kurzweil’s mathematical projections. Not only Kurzweil, Marx himself spoke about a dynamic where the materialist dialectic was going to lead us towards a new social order where the laws of capitalism would collapse, being a kind of “economic singularity” that he called communism. Hence my admiration for post-capitalist thinkers like Jeremy Rifkin, ideologue of the “Third Industrial Revolution”, who also raised a concept of economic uniqueness.

This evolutionary dynamic for me is something material, not a metaphysical essence of “nature.” If there really are social meta-trends that are leading us towards a Singularity, it is the result of feedback loops that respond to random probabilities in the world of atoms and quartks.

The theme of singularity and the eventual appearance of “general artificial intelligence” and “Superintelligence” for me reflects the clear end of the humanist conception. Furthermore, I think it represents the end of the human itself in the medium and long term. Not seen in apocalyptic optics but seen as part of the evolution of life. Intelligence and the same power are passing from an organic substrate to a synthetic one, with many more creative capacities and power of being.

Capacities and power that culture currently grants to the gods, which we are nevertheless creating based on pure reason. It is the triumph of reason over Faith.

Faith tells you of an abstract and mythological God, while reason little by little generates those apparently divine capacities in concrete terms. Not a heaven or hell after death, but a new state of being here in the real world, with the potential to create the best of utopias or the worst of catastrophes.

However, ironically, this can also mean the vindication of faith. So much so that it has been warned about the existence of God, innumerable parables that reflect what we can savor today through human creation. Perhaps the religions have been warning about the arrival of the Singularity, the end of the human and the beginning of infinity. I see a lot of similarity between the apocalyptic narrative and the eventual arrival of the Singularity.

It is a new order of life that transcends our biological capacity. We are creating a next evolutionary stage, with its own agency and transcendental potency in relation to our capacity. A very interesting phrase from Kurzweil when asked about the existence of God is:

“Does God exist? … Not yet.”

Tell us a little about GENIA. What are the main points of this strategy and how does the Latin American continent benefit from it?

We deploy the infrastructure to create the Latin American ecosystem of intelligent transformation.

The trunk of GENIA is the Inter-American Network of Artificial Intelligence Laboratories #YoSoyFuturo; that positions the region as a developer, not simply a user to grant agency to LATAM in the new digital era.

The ecosystem is based on these 4 pillars:

Data

Academy

Business

Public politics

Through a regional AI strategy, GENIA works on these 4 pillars to promote the creation of the first ecosystem of of artificial intelligence in the region.

You’ve said “We do not need the future to design humans, we need to design a more human future.” What actions can be taken to design a more human future?

The uncontrollable irruption of technology into our lives is leading us to redefine what it is to be a human. When the computer absorbed design (and almost all our functions) the humanity of its practice was significantly emptied, not only in the nature of the technique but also in its orientation. Where there is a machine, there is, essentially, the absence of a human being. In a world where everything has a new, updated version, we should rediscover the essential values of humanity and translate them into matters that can last, focus on more human rather than user experiences and interactions, develop more individual than brand identities, listen and speak rather than download and upload, connect the heart with the mind than the mind with the machine. In many orders, technique is the means of emancipation from the essence of things; it has even made us rethink the limits between the human and the machine, the spirit and the software. Technology liberates everything, as Benjamin would say, reality loses its aura due to the technical reproducibility. When the gene is liberated from the chromosome, it becomes information. When events are liberated from the real, they become media. When sex is liberated from biology, it becomes gender. When art is liberated from beauty, it becomes a concept. In all orders, technique is the means of emancipation from the essence of things. With the non-stop rise of technology and AI, we are precisely in a point before things can take a direction that will have no return. With all our diverse technologies and ideologies, we are liberating us from what makes us human, and this can only be fatal. In d’Alembert words, we must do for the future generations what we wish it was done for us.

Art is known to be of deeper value and is not concerned with functionality or use, while design’s primary purpose many times is function. Do you agree? Can design be art, can art be design?

Firstly, I reckon that we are used to say that Art does not have a «function» because we see it in a positivist and utilitarian way. But if we think deeply, Art has a very specific role which transcends the mere utility, as it is the expression of the zeitgeist of a society. As Kant wrote in the Critique of Judgement, Art is a natural extension of Philosophy and it should express the highest ethical ideas of a society; the love we have towards the beautiful is actually disinterested, in other words, it moves us from our selfish concerns and demands inspiring us to our better selves. Moreover, I believe that this constant division between Art and Design is again part of this instrumental desire to separate things instead of understanding everything as a whole. It would be absurd to deny the artistic background of design. Moreover, I don’t think it takes away from the meaning of Design to affirm this phenomenon, on the contrary, I think it gives us a broader and a more complete view of this discipline. Art can be design, and design can be art, each body complements each other, they are both part of the same constructive and heuristic ability of creativity.

What are your thoughts on the idea of technology being what replaces “God”?

Postmodernity is a transition, a dead time between Modernity and Transhumanism (or disappearance), as Hölderlin would write, that «empty time in which the old gods have already become gone and the new ones have not yet arrived». And it seems as though what comes to replace the idea of God is, actually, technology, in other words a «creation» is replaced by «another creation». Previously, it was the idea of God that represented all the qualities we would desire as mortals, now this function is replaced by technology. Technology is an extension of our capacities, while it is also a medium of manipulating, controlling and modifying reality. Technology allows us to see without being seen, as well as to think about immorality. Technology has replaced God, and Internet has become the new Eden.

How would you describe the transition from postmodernism to transhumanism?

We first transited from Medieval theocentrism to Modern anthropocentrism, but Postmodernity seems to have lost the «anthropo» and the «center», since even the idea of man is freed from its reason and its original meaning. Rather than a «post»Modernity or a continuation, is a «contra»Modernity or an antithesis, because it is the abolition of all the cardinal values, narratives and ideas of Modernity. Postmodernity, as a Modernity liberated from its idea, turned progress into progressivism, equality into egalitarianism, liberty into liberation, reason into artificial intelligence, man into information, humanism into transhumanism, and so on. And disorder begins with the loss of the idea that organizes form. What is liberated from its cause (like Postmodernity is from Modernity) is condemned to proliferate beyond its ends, in a disorderly propagation. Everything «post» is crossed by the «trans». Postmodernity seems to be this transition between Modernity and Transhumanism, but in a destructive way. Transhumanism is not, as it is usually thought, «more» human but, on the contrary, the technical and utilitarian vanishing of human. It is only when we are liberated from our original idea is that we can think the transhuman.

“Art can be design, and design can be art, each body complements each other, they are both part of the same constructive and heuristic ability of creativity.”

You’ve been at different fashion shows documenting what takes place backstage and during the runway. What has this experience been like for you? Is fashion photography one of your main interests?

It’s been a great experience, I really enjoy the “hecticness” of it all, the pressure of delivering great content in very limited time keeps me engaged and in my toes. Also meeting different people in the industry and seeing them working so hard towards a common goal is very appealing to me. There is so much running around that when the show is over, it’s great to see everyone happy!
Yes, definitely fashion photography is one of my main interests, it was one of my first interests in photography. I really love how it can come together with my other work. As a photographer, I’m constantly thinking of ways to complement fashion, personal, and editorial work into one big body of work.

What do you find most interesting in a subject? Why?

I’m very drawn to the true form of a subject, I like to get to know whatever subject I’m working with on a deeper and humane level, and to a certain extent creating an emotional connection. As a photographer, I’m very attracted to the usage of color and shapes, when approaching a subject that is one of the first attention-grabbers. Whether it’s working with a model for a fashion story or traveling around Colombia, color, and shape are an important tool to convey a feeling or a thought into a story.  

You began traveling back to Colombia to rediscover your country and find connections to it, yet found that you weren’t the person you were when you left. The series “Olvido Pa’ Recordar” came from this.

“I’m very drawn to the true form of a subject, I like to get to know whatever subject I’m working with on a deeper and humane level, and to a certain extent creating an emotional connection.”

You began traveling back to Colombia to rediscover your country and find connections to it, yet found that you weren’t the person you were when you left. The series “Olvido Pa’ Recordar” came from this. How do these images show your personal journey of moving to Colombia to New York?

Olvido Pa’ Recordar started three years ago when I went back to Colombia after seven years away. At first, I felt like I never left. I thought everything was still going to be the same, but as I “re-explore” Bogota (my hometown) and traveled the country, I quickly discovered that everything changed a lot, time is something that you can’t cheat. The feeling of not belonging, feeling strange in my country was something that struck me deeply, which ultimately transitioned into a mix of emotions; sadness and loneliness which I convey in the images of this series. A feeling of “knowing” but not knowing” where I was. Seeing sometimes a foreigner is something that I will continue to challenge, I will continue to work on this series as I reclaim my life in Colombia. There is still much more I need to discover until I find that meeting point where the 15-year-old Mateo that left his life behind meets with the present day Mateo. Olvido Pa’ Recordar is therapy for me, it is a way to come to terms with life.

Tattoos interest you a lot. How do you relate to tattoos and photography?

I’m a very melancholic person interested in people’s stories and traditions. Tattooing is one of these great traditions that have been with us for many years, the constant evolution that tattooing goes through along with its mysticism interests me a lot. I love walking around New York stopping older people with traditional tattoos to hear about their 40-60-year-old stories about how they got those tattoos. Those stories are so foreign and distant for us now that with photography I find a way to link and present them with the beautiful imagery and craftsmanship of tattooing.

In your opinion, what details make the best photographs?

I believe the best photographs are those that provoke something in you, whether it’s emotion, a thought, a feeling, making you comfortable or uncomfortable for whatever reason. I think a photo is successful when after you look at it, that initial reaction sticks with you. 

What photographers have influenced you and how have they played a role in your way of thinking?

I am influenced by various different photographers but to name a few, August Sander, with his honest approach to portraiture that depicted the Weimar era Germany impacted me early on, seeking that same easy and honest approach to my subjects. Nereo Lopez is my biggest inspiration, as he was one of the first (if not the first) to introduce Colombia’s everyday life and popular culture to the world with a very sympathetic and real take on photography. His visual poetry is something that definitely influenced my way of thinking. Also, more contemporary photographers like Sian Davey, Doug DuBois, and LaToya Ruby Frazier with their intimate, familiar, and very layered work impacted the way of approaching my personal work, letting my subconscious be revealed through images by constructing a bodywork deeply rooted in my feelings, family and life experiences. Lastly, I would say Rich Gilligan is someone I admire infinitely. He has been my mentor and friend for years now, the way he works with his subjects by constructing a sense of familiarity that provides confidence in making the image as truthful or close to what that subject’s true nature is. Rich has taught me that sometimes less is more in the sense that you need to trust your gut and always be honest with who you are.

If you had the opportunity to pursue any creative project right now, which one would it be and why?

Getting together Colombian artists, writers, and thinkers into a long-lasting conversation where we approach various topics that affect our daily lives as Colombians and Latinx Americans in Colombia and abroad. We are people full of prejudice and social standards that for good or bad, we have inherited from our families, country and society. I would like to expose what is it that makes us Colombians and challenge all these “traditional” views in a nonjudgemental way that can be accessible to many. 

What has been the process that led to artist residencies in different cities throughout your careers?

Artistic residency scholarships are common practice in the art world and they turn out to be very creatively stimulating. They allow us to enrich our work by making contact with different cultural environments and, what is very important, to personally meet artists from other countries with whom to exchange ideas and knowledge. In these trips that we have made, we always try to soak up the place and this leaves its mark on our work. We try to give a biographical patina to the paintings we make as a way of bearing witness to the time.

What Italian Renaissance artists influenced your work and how does it translate to contemporary art?

We have studied in depth that stage of Art History, and we were lucky to live in Italy for a year and take the opportunity to visit not only its famous museums, but also small places in remote cities where authentic palazzos and churches hide artistic jewels. We try to recycle the language of this period and put it in relation to contemporary artistic practice resources, such as design, comics or digital art. When we are in the workshop, our effort is focused on balancing the tension between tradition and modernity.

Has your anthropological research led you to discover insights from different locations? Can you share examples?

We enjoy tracking cultural influences that have traveled from one place to another in the world, those connections are what make us understand how we relate to our environment. It is curious, for example, the way in which the West has images at the core of all its culture, and yet in other societies such as Africa, sound is the fundamental engine. However, the cultural exchange brought about new forms and artistic expressions, we appreciated this very clearly in 2019, painting during the same year in the Dominican Republic, Spain and Senegal.

Congratulations on being awarded the solo residency at Unit 1 Gallery in London! What can you tell us about your experience there so far? What can we expect from your upcoming exhibition?

It is fortunate to have such a large and bright work space in a city as cosmopolitan as London. We are going to paint daily but the experience has been profoundly conditioned by COVID-19. Since everything has been closed, much of our free time is spent wandering through its streets for hours, it is usual for us to do stages of more than 20km. The new paintings we are making are deeply marked by this experience. These last days it seems that the city is starting to resume its usual rhythm and we hope that by the last week of August we can open the exhibition and invite as many people as possible.

“We try to give a biographical patina to the paintings we make as a way of bearing witness to the time.”

What is the role of art & what are your roles as artists?

We have asked ourselves this question many times, we suppose that when you start making art you feel a force that drags you without knowing very well where. In our case, we decided to focus on our own experience, our life, the trips and the people we meet along the way. We use art as a journal that somehow serves other people both intellectually and for aesthetic rejoicing that makes them happier.

Is there something you dislike about the art world? If so, how would you change it?

When we started we dedicated ourselves to self-edit our own fanzines with paintings or stories, there was a great independent circuit where the camaraderie was very important and there was true love for artistic expression and culture. Sometimes we feel that contemporary art is too influenced by a certain pose that detracts from the environment and makes it somewhat frivolous. Fortunately, we have met artists, gallery owners, and collectors who fight every day to maintain the passion and make this worthwhile. In the end, it is what we are left with, those moments between friends sharing and enjoying together.

What advice can you give to artists starting out on developing relationships with art dealers and gallerists?

The most important thing is to contribute to creating a good artistic scene in your city, where the different cultural agents benefit from each other. A good atmosphere will contribute to generating a stable platform with which to promote art.

How does your process begin? Do you start with materials or a sketch?

I love to work with tangible objects. I prefer to begin with materials, fabric swatches, trimmings, and printouts. From there I deconstruct garments and materials to drape on a form. I then will transfer it onto my sketch pad and begin the production process.

What is important for you to communicate with your clothing?

LUAR is a reflection of life. I want people to understand my story and to be able to carry a piece of me wherever they go. I’m not a writer so the only way for me to share my story is through my garments and collections. LUAR is for all walks of life.

I feel both love and hate for fashion. I see it’s creative and destructive potential. Do you feel the same?

I love fashion. It’s like the oxygen to my lungs – I just can’t live without it. The way it feels to see my creations come to fruition and move through the world is one of the best feelings I have ever felt in my life. Ever since I was a child seeing my mom sew as I sat beside her, it was like a kid in a candy store. I honestly don’t know what to do other than expressing myself through my garments.

There are times when students come in to intern and I ask them WHY FASHION? It’s an industry that literally makes you give up everything you know. I always say it’s like having a baby – nurturing, feeding, and just giving it your all. In all honesty, not everyone is cut out to be a parent. The demand in fashion right now is ridiculous and pretty much atrocious. Fast Fashion has stifled creatives and essentially prohibited them from expressing themselves due to high demands and consumerism – which in my unfiltered opinion, is just in the name of creating more trash and filling landfills.

What are your thoughts on Dominican Republic’s relationship with fashion?

Where should I start….. Dominican Republic has always been one of my biggest inspirations when designing. To me, there is nothing like riding around on a motoconcho (motorcycle cabs) in this island / urban dystopia full of insanely incredible and original style. The absurd part of it all is that they definitely don’t even realize how cool they actually look and how under appreciated they are by their surroundings. I’m so intrigued by how people who have fewer resources consistently create forward-thinking and innovative silhouettes. Men wear women’s garments because it looks cool, not because it’s mens or women’s. DR has to be one of the most gender-fluid places I’ve ever been – there isn’t anything like barrio style. The way the men and women carry themselves and their mannerisms, it’s like a walking canvas. This is where all the style and inspirations come from for most designers and their mood boards in this internet age. Yet most would never step foot in any of these places nor give the people the credit they deserve. Especially NY Dominicans, it sometimes feels like they go there to look down on those with less and shame them for the way they carry and express themselves. Those same people then turn around and mimic them and love their music, but can’t give them the appreciation they deserve…

When I think of your work, it makes me think of a mixture of futuristic aesthetics & Dominican Catholicism. Would you agree that with Luar you have developed a sensibility that makes your work lighter than at HBA?

When I was creating HBA it was Shayne and my story – it’s definitely lighter. It’s my own story now. It was a different era, you grow and your storyline shifts as you get older. Being raised catholic and having this obsession of living in the future. It definitely plays a huge part in the airiness and shaping of LUAR.

Would you say your work is more technical or conceptual?

If you put both these concepts in a nutribullet, you will definitely have an amazing LUAR smoothie.

How do you personally measure the success of a collection?

When the collection is going down the runway the attitude, the hair, the makeup, the accessories – everything telling a tale from my past and future thoughts in real-time. It’s tapping into a specific moment in my life and letting my hands just take it and make it real. When that story is brought to fruition, then it feels like a success.

Can you tell us about your unrealized projects? Projects that were perhaps too large or small to be realized, or that were censored or self-censored. Is there a project you wouldn’t dare to do?

The quarantine has really inspired me to step out into the art world in a different way. I love furniture design which has been one of my biggest ambitions recently. I’m also working on some more sculptural art pieces. There are some other projects I can’t talk about right now, but there isn’t any project I wouldn’t take on unless it goes against my morals and beliefs. Other than that, throw them my way and let’s play a game!

Nabila & I went to see your YB²P opening in Harlem. We had a great time and enjoyed the intriguing artworks. How did you go about choosing the artists and organizing this exhibition?

First of all, thank you for coming and showing love and support for the exhibition and the artists. To give you a very brief breakdown of how the exhibit came to life, I was invited by Catinca Tabacaru sort of last minute to put together a painting show in Harlem hosted at Audry Casusol’s new home for CTG activation during Armory Week.

The selection process was based on the premise of me bringing in talented young Black and Brown artists whose work and practice is in the realm of figuration but not limited to it. Eleven of them, ranging from 22-32 years of age. A nice and solid group of young artists I believe in and that I identify with. To me, it was all about creating a harmonious exhibition and elevating the community.

MECA is an Art fair you co-founded. Talk to us about your experience so far & how you think the future of Art fairs could look like? I understand this is difficult given the level of uncertainty of things, but I’m wondering what you think can happen.

Challenging and rewarding. Challenging because building something from scratch without capital is never easy and comes with, no pun intended, a fair amount of surprises that could easily affect the flow of things. Rewarding because we’ve been able to showcase a plethora of multifaceted Caribbean cultural offerings while at the same time hosting exhibitors from different cities around the world. MECA is the only international art fair in the region at the moment.

My love goes to Hazel, Frederique, Mariángel, Alexandra, and Tony. The Epic Team!

I tend not to think about the future too much but I can give you this answer: I believe that unfortunately, not many Art Fairs will be able to sustain or keep operating under this new wave of online “viewing rooms” for too long because most of the art business is conducted face to face. A good amount of collectors and art dealers prefer to conduct business and close deals IN-PERSON.

I suspect that only a few niche fairs will be able to survive. I hope MECA will be one of them. If it isn’t, well it was a nice three years. Hehehe. Having said that the industry is also slowly adapting to this new reality. So who knows? Perhaps, everyone (hopefully) can keep afloat and strive despite the circumstances.

You noticed how the Caribbean was mainly known for tourism and felt you had to show that these beautiful countries are actually rich in terms of culture. How did you notice that there was a gap in the international art world?

Sadly, it was not too hard. Visiting a couple of international Art Fairs even in Latin America made it clear that Caribbean representation was lacking. Not only in real life but also in art history textbooks. We are here and we want to be seen and heard.

Tell us about your experience working with Rirkrit Tiravanija & Gavin Brown.

Rirkrit was my entry point into the contemporary art world. Through him, I got to experience the life of an artist first hand. I consider this to be the first phase of my unconventional art education. During this period, I was able to work with many Columbia University MFA students which allowed me to gain a greater understanding of the institutional and educational part of fine arts.I entered the second phase through my work with Gavin where I dipped more into the business aspects of the art world. This is also where I gained my first experience with Art Fairs. He became a mentor to me and for what I was about to do next.I have the utmost respect for Rirkrit and Gavin and feel very privileged to have worked with both of them. At this point, I have to give a shout out to Glorimarta Linares who introduced me to Rirkrit. Originally for a three-day job that turned into an entire career. Gracias Culin!

For you, what is the role of art, and within art what is the role of a curator?

Is it possible to assign a role to art? Instead of placing a role per se, allow me to give you my take on it: I would dare to say that ART is probably the most profound way of communication where someone, in this case, the artist, gives us a glimpse into our own nature and allows us to connect in one way or another.

From my perspective and within this context, the role of a curator is to enable this dialogue and to provide some of the tools needed for it.

Who are the artists making the most relevant work right now? Why?

Relevancy just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You pick yours (and share those picks with me later)

I think about Tania Bruguera, a Cuban Artist who coined the term “Arte Útil”. She pushes art to not just symbolize issues but to actually help communities with material support. I find this to be very relevant work.

What advice would you give someone looking to become a curator?

Talk to the artists. Get to know them. That will be your best school. Remember without them there is nothing to curate. Do some research, hit those art books. Also, reach out for mentorship. There are few good folks out there willing to guide you and lend a helping hand. Don’t be afraid to ask. Internships at museums, cultural institutions, and some galleries are also other ways to nurture and expand your practice.

I heard you can also go to college for that. As you can see there’s a decent amount of options available out there to achieve this. Choose wisely!

In your brief time in New York City, we went to the Blue Note together to see Roy Haynes. After that, we checked out the after-hours jazz club called “Smalls”. It was amazing to see that platform for musicians to just play together. People would sign up and play their instrument with strangers, they just jammed. I felt envious of that, in my field, I can’t think of something like that. Where I could just join other designers at 3 AM because I was feeling it, and I could contribute.

I remember that night like it was yesterday! I think Roy Haynes is 94 now… and to see him still playing like that was mind-boggling. I think the ability to dig up restrained impulses is a big thing for performers. The throes of improvisation really start taking shape once you commence that cleansing process. And when you do so amongst strangers, there is this idea of confiding your secrets to them, and everyone is feeling that communication. I think that’s the beautiful thing about jazz, and the thing that makes it a truly global genre, not a niche subculture like a lot of people think.

Vito Acconci once said “Music is time and not space. Music has no place so it doesn’t have to keep its place. It fills the air and doesn’t take up space. Its mode of existence is to be in the middle of things. You can do other things while you’re in the middle of it. You’re not in front of it, you don’t go around it or through it. The music goes through you and stays inside you.”

A big discovery for me was starting to engage with music as my sole point of focus. Like listening to a whole album eyes closed, lights off. I recently did so with Bill Dixon’s Vade Mecum. Listening to LPs and interacting with their continuity can really bridge that gap between space and time, and it can become a multi-sensorial experience if you pay close attention.

I have this need to constantly draw parallels between what I do with other creative fields. Is there something that you see in music that you wish you saw in other fields of art?

I’m a big acoustics geek and have always been amazed by sound and how it physically interacts with its surroundings. Sounds are basically pressure waves that move particles in the air and other objects they come in contact with. I try to use a lot of infrasound in my compositions to quite literally, move the room and the listener. Translating this physicality into other disciplines is something I’d like to see, I think it’s very present in fashion with textiles and the feel they add to an outfit. I think visual artists can also play a bit more with the physics of the visibility spectrum and heat emanation from light sources. Jean Renoir once said there’s no point in replicating nature, but it’s more about augmenting it than anything else.

I remember in a recent conversation you drew a connection between listening to merengue in Jarabacoa to Techno in Berghain. Let’s develop that idea more, what are the similarities between such different musical genres?

You see this in various musical styles, this atemporal quality of being able to perform for countless hours. Especially with many afro-dominican styles such as Gagá or Sarandunga, where performers can switch around and easily play non-stop for hours at a time. I also think there is beauty in restraint and in being able to develop a clear idea within a limited time frame, but when we talk about pure, limbic energy, nothing beats immersing yourself in a trance for a few hours, maybe days.

Genres can become formats of the same thing, repeated again and again. Especially with Pop. What could be done to change that?

I don’t really think you can “try” to change that, there are various factors to take into consideration when answering a question like that. One main consideration is that music is a byproduct of its time. I’ve always found pop music’s marriage to consumer capitalism a very funny one; the artificial demand, the pointless obsession over numbers, it’s as if music was no longer the object, but rather the instrument through which platforms could increase audience engagement times. Remember that your data and how much of it you generate, rather than the songs you listen to, is the true currency nowadays.

Another consideration is the subject of influence. I rarely try to fall into dichotomies such as “music for the people v. music for the self”. We’re social beings who mostly learn and adapt through imitation. However, I think fostering a culture that holds experimentation in high regard is essential if we want to see less of these ‘clichés’.

You once told me that music is a deeply personal affair, and it treats a lot of very emotional stuff inside individuals; it can get messy and it’s not necessarily a luxury product. I agree, but there is emotion in fashion, and looking from the outside, I guess it’s hard to see. It’s important to understand how fashion is created, and it’s actually all about desire and emotion. It’s not the tangible luxury product you refer to. Just like music is not the physical Vinyl.

I totally agree, I think fashion emboldens individuals by giving them shelter in their own body. It can be used to connect with certain cliques, it can signify the mood of an occasion and it can give others cues regarding your emotional state. Remember that up until the start of the century, buying music was very similar to buying outfits. A few LPs could run you a few hundred bucks, but now with all this access, the quality of what we manufacture seems to have drastically diminished, like sweatshop economics.

The track “Manhattan” is one of my favorites on your album Error Subcutáneo, give us a brief of the thought behind it.

I have always romanticized over New York City, ever since I was a kid I was drawn to its melting pot urbanism. When I stayed with you guys in Inwood over the summer, I got to see it again with more of a bird’s eye view, indulging in the heavy political and artistic discourse of the city, two ideas that seem completely unretractable from each other in American society. I remember walking from Times Square to Battery Park during a single day, taking in the city’s extreme parallels: hypercapitalism, multiculturalism. After recording a few AM radio stations with filmmaker Roan Gil, I composed Manhattan, wanting to talk about all that through a sonic medium.

We worked together on a track for Medicina De Amor. I told you I wanted to create a juxtaposition of Musique Concrète & Bachata. This was an interesting experience for me, because I got to sit with you and listen to the process. Are you happy with the result? I know I am.

When you first told me what you had in mind I was like what? But when we sat down and put our ideas on the table, something really special came about. For me it was a big epiphany regarding cross-discipline collaboration: anything is possible with enough deliberation and patience. I was really happy with the result, I also got to sample some CDs I had bought that day at Academy Records right around Flatiron District, so that was pretty cool. 

We also worked on a track for the upcoming collection World On A Wire. It was a different experience because you are in London and I am in New York for this one. We did it talking on Skype and sending different versions until we arrived at something that we both agreed worked.

It’s important to demystify long-distance collaboration, most of my creative projects have been long-distance endeavors with great success. It’s different than one-on-one obviously, but strong communication is key in anything. And if you can do that through Skype, you become a great team player across the board.

Special thanks to Mauro, feel free to listen to his album Error Subcutáneo on Spotify.

Talk to us about your latest online exhibition at Thierry Goldberg Gallery. You shared with me how in the middle of this crisis, all of your paintings sold. (Congratulations again!) How do you think this will change the way artists present their work?

I am very happy about the success of this exhibition! It was truly a blessing that people reacted so positively to my work! I genuinely hope things go back to normal after this crisis. Nothing beats being able to stand in front of a painting and seeing it in person, plus being able to interact with the artists and explain the work. Especially for me, my work has different layers and elements that can only be appreciated if seen in person. I hope the art world goes back to being how it was, at least in terms of experiencing the art.

You work with different mediums such as sculpture, painting, and digital media. Do you have a preferred medium?

Painting is definitely my preferred medium. It gives me a lot of freedom! As my paintings are mixed media, I have the freedom to experiment more. I do try to keep a balance between sculptures and paintings.

We see that you include references from the Renaissance and Italian Mannerists in your paintings. May you share more about combining this with Dominican references. How do you incorporate your Dominican and Caribbean heritage into your work?

Sometimes I describe my work as if the Renaissance period was started in the Caribbean. In terms of composition, I try to keep the strong and clean figures that Italian mannerists are famous for, but in my own way. I try to include motifs in my work that are automatically associated with Caribbean and Dominican culture. Plantains, plantain trees, and the ocean are some of those things. The same thing applies to my figures, usually making black/brown bodies that reflect the population of the Caribbean. Ultimately, mainly Dominican/Caribbean people notice the motifs and they feel represented, and that’s very important to me. My new body of work will have a bigger presence in my culture and I’m very excited for the future.

How has being at home impacted your future works?

So far, it’s been decent. My pieces are too big to just simply work on them on a table, so I use the kitchen countertop as my easel. The only limiting part is keeping everything clean. Trying not to get paint on the appliances or the kitchen in general. It’s definitely limiting, but so far I have to make it work!

How did you arrive at the style of distorted figures in your paintings? Have artists like Picasso and Francis Bacon influenced you? Has the style evolved since you started painting?

My early style was very child-oriented, at some point I wanted to be a children’s book illustrator. At the same time, I knew that I really wanted to push myself stylistically. I felt like I had not found my artistic voice. Later on is when I found out about Francis Bacon and Picasso, artists that push the human anatomy to the unimaginable! For a period of time I kept experimenting with the figures, drawing any type of proportion that came to my head.

Recently, you have started to explore the Caribbean immigrant perspective on American culture. How do you conduct research and what is your process to start a new series?

Before I start a new series, I sit with the idea for a long time in my mind, until I think if it’s strong enough. I think, how can I expand it? How can I make it better? My previous body of work had a strong presence of religious iconography, so I did a lot of research about religious saints and stories. The more you learn about a subject, the more flexible and easier it becomes to represent. For this new body of work that I’m pursuing, I will focus a lot on Caribbean culture and the Caribbean immigrant perspective on American culture. I will explore things that I’ve experienced, so the research is already in me, but I still have to find new ways of portraying those experiences, and that’s where research kicks in again.

Some of your favorite photographers are Nick Knight and Carlota Guerrero. Do you see yourself exploring photography in the future?

I love looking at photographs, especially the ones with people. The postures, the form and the composition are all very inspiring. However, for my work I try to stay away from anatomical correctness. My figures are always from the top of my head, I never use photos as reference for the figures, only for the scenery and animals if included in the work. I don’t see myself ever trying photography any time soon, as my brain sees it as the complete opposite of my practice. I may venture to use photographs in my collages, but not actual photos, but who knows, the future is uncertain.

What contemporary artists do you admire and why?

I look up to artists that like me, explore the limits of human anatomy. Mainly figurative artists. Artists like UK-based Emma Finerman and Philadelphia artist Johnathan Lyndon Chase, that use strong brush strokes to create their figures. Tschabalala Self, that blends both pattern and texture in a genius way! I also admire artists that go beyond in their use of materials. A good example of this is Cuban-American artist Joseph Lazaro Rodriguez. He’s a multi-disciplinary artist that combines his sculptures and projections into multi-sensory installations.

In your website’s home page you state that you hate rulers. Do you feel that artists should work without rulers?

I believe artists should definitely work without boundaries. Artists should always try to challenge the norm in their own way. The statement is just a super technical way of telling myself to be free when creating.

As a young artist, what advice can you give to other young artists about growing their presence on social media platforms?

 The first thing is to trust yourself, to believe that your work is great! Make sure to have a style or something in your work that identifies you, so when your work is shared around the web, people know where to find you. Also, be as active as possible, but with quality work. Always quality over quantity. You can entertain your followers daily, with “Stories”, and save the actual posts for pieces or events that are important to you. It’s a long road, but if you believe in yourself, the universe will believe in you too!

In her paintings, Hulda uses space by taking into account interior design, furniture design, and architecture. As the viewer, you feel like you can enter the space and walk through her living rooms and different home sceneries. In order to achieve an illusion of depth, Hulda carefully considers the placement of objects and subjects. This allows her to show different layers in the picture plane. She uses a combination of color and planar perspective, techniques that were developed in the 16th century. These two are usually used together to create the desired depth effect. The selected series is called “Be Kind to Your Demons”. In this series, Hulda is influenced by psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who claims that we all have a part of our personality that we are not conscious of. He calls this the “shadow” self. Usually, we develop this after we get some sort of rejection growing up, and we end up rejecting that aspect of ourselves because we feel ashamed of it. This is our unknown side. In the paintings in this series, the shadow is represented by demons.

We see nightmares as terrifying visions we have at night, when often, they consist of a recollection of our repressed thoughts or emotions. Dreams come from the emotional centers of your brain. They make connections regarding your feelings that your conscious self does not make while awake. Nightmares specifically tend to be caused by stress and/or anxiety and can serve to become aware that you are harming yourself with negative thoughts. In this painting, there is a dormant couple and a demon at the foot of the bed, licking the subject’s feet. This could represent the first attempt to awaken her unknown side.

In “A Haircut”, there are now three demons, as if the subject has fully awakened and is trying to deal with all her personal shadows and repressed emotions. Slowly, the subject starts to evolve to a moment of conciliation. In the scene, the subject is getting a haircut by her demons. It is an instance in which she struggles to become more confident with how she views herself, or how she always has wanted to look like but was afraid to do so. It makes me think about how many of us change our appearances to fit in and be accepted by society.

I particularly find “A Snack”, the most interesting because we see the subject in total comfort with her demon; sharing food while being naked. The demon enjoys it too. It’s a representation of complete acceptance of the shadow self. Hulda paints demons that look far from threatening, emphasizing that what we become scared of, is what we create in our heads. We have the power to control how we feel and to accept who we are. The shadow is just something that develops in your mind.

Specifically, these three paintings show how the shadow and the subject evolve. The first confrontation of the shadow is in a nightmare, but then she has an encounter with her unknown side. Finally, she fully embraces her shadow, learning to integrate it into her life, resulting in the final painting, A Snack.

The series, Be Kind To Your Demons represents a moment of personal growth. We must remember that we are in control of toxic thoughts that lead to toxic behaviors. Let go of the shadow, and you will find the light.

Special thanks to Hulda Guzmán for sending us images of her captivating paintings.

How would you describe your creative process?

My creative process starts with inspiration, but first, I have to put my mind into it, because I learned how to turn it off and on. It sounds weird, but I had to learn because I would be thinking about making a dress all day, every day. Life is not only about being an artist. There are also more things to enjoy and feel. So, my creative process starts with a future presentation or collection in mind. I choose a topic that relates to me or my past experiences and I begin reading and researching. This usually puts me on a different path from the original topic that I had in mind. After the inspiration is chosen, I image-search as much as I can, using books, taking pictures, and searching on the Internet. Later, come the textiles and colors, and drawing comes at the end. After getting the material, I start having a conversation with the textiles, and this is where draping takes place. Touching and folding the materials is where the magic happens. I feel where they want to go and what they want to do. I let them do their job, while I just follow their instructions.

Would you say that your work is conceptual?

Of course it is. Every piece I created is part of a story. Most of the collections I presented have a story of struggle that I want the viewers to grasp. I want them to know a part of history that maybe they never knew existed. Fashion is a way for me to communicate with people.

Are you still interested in working in fashion? I remember you telling me you wanted to move into the art realm.

I am very much interested in creating a balance between fashion, art, and technology. I am certain that this is a new way of creating fashion at the moment.

When did you decide fashion was going to be the medium to express your ideas?

While growing up in my hometown Moca, Dominican Republic, I was not surrounded by art. The closest I got to it was by spending hours at my mother’s beauty salon and working with my father in our mechanic’s garage. Fashion was the only way for me to express myself. I’ve always liked dressing differently, and fashion was the only way I could communicate my art sensibility.

What do you think about the democratization of fashion?

Democratization of fashion has not helped our environment as people are buying too many clothes. Everyone wants to look like their favorite celebrity and this has brought the fashion industry to be the second most polluting industry. This has hurt the industry and has hurt young creatives. It is impossible to compete with big brands and corporations.

What was your first show or presentation like?

My first presentation was in 2006. It was in Chelsea at an Art Gallery called Rush Arts. I did a collaboration with amazing artists friends Kehinde Willey, Mickalene Thomas, Shanique Smith, and David Cruz. An outfit was given to them to create anything they wanted and photograph what they had done. The photos were printed and placed in the gallery, and the outfits were on mannequin forms around the space. It was a great experience.

What are the garments that you believe define Jose Duran?

My draped garments are very special for me and the structured jackets, but the most important is how people feel when wearing Jose Duran.

How have your studies in Taiwan influenced you?

Taiwan! Taiwan was amazing. I spent 3 years learning Mandarin and doing a Master’s Degree in International Business (IMBA). My first year of Mandarin was very intense but amazing at the same time as I had to learn how to write, read, and speak a new language in a short period of time.

At the moment, Chinese consumers are the biggest investors of fashion. Their buying power cannot compare to any other nation. I wanted to learn about their culture and their consumer behavior to be able to target them as consumers. This goes for the whole Asian market though. During the course of my degree, I gained superior knowledge of fair trade, while focusing on informative and innovative management techniques for foreign enterprises in the fashion industry. I’ve organized a mock Artificial Intelligence Design Program that taught me about how Artificial Intelligence impacts the fashion industry and how it will change the way that the industry operates.

Tell us about your trips to Africa and the collaborations you have done with artists.

My trip to Africa! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went to be part of the BLACK ROCK artist residency. There, I was able to create and design textiles and sculptures. I am a designer, a businessman, but I also consider myself an artist.

How important is Dominican culture in your work and are there specific examples that come to mind?

Dominican Republic has always inspired me to create my work, but what inspires me most are the people. I would love to grab more inspiration to create my work from Dominican culture, but our history has taken so much from us. We are a mixture of races and the African race is the most prominent. When we embrace it, Dominicans will have more to offer to the art world. My recent trip to Dakar, Senegal was for this purpose. I want to create art for the future generation of Dominican artists, to maybe influence them with the merge of African and Taino art. There is nothing that is “real” Dominican anymore. The garments I could get inspired by, and everything we have was taken from other cultures. For example “Chakavana”, is a staple garment in the Dominican Republic, but its origins are actually from the Philippines. I have to create a new aesthetic of what a Dominican designer is and create my own voice.

To end I want to ask you, what are your general thoughts on the fashion industry today?

The fashion industry has gotten too big in recent years. It’s all over the place. It is not special anymore, but we need to find a way to make a difference and make it special again.

Feel free to visit Jose’s Website and Instagram