ANDRÉS DENEGRI
THE EXHIBITION
THE IMAGES
THE MACHINES
THE BEAUTY OF MACHINES
By David Oubiña
(...) First of all, there is another beginning for cinema here. No longer an open window or a mirror that shows the world: in these installations, the images of the cinema are in their fullest materiality. They are not a perfect reflection but an imperfect body. An opaque matter that is sculpted or processed in the projection (in a loop that is repeated and that runs in view of the spectators, which is combined with other images, adopting the texture of the surface on which it is imprinted).
THE TRANSFORMATION OF FILM INSTALLATION BY ANDRÉS DENEGR
By Miguel Alfonso Bouhaben
When the installations that embody image-sculpture and image-architecture begin to deteriorate, Denegri faces the search for an artistic praxis that embraces this problem. For this reason, we can affirm that the antecedent of what we have called burn-image is in the series We were expected, since the film installations of this series are going to gradually deteriorate itself.
CINEMA IN THE MUSEUM: FILM INSTALLATIONS OF ANDRES DENEGRI
By Jorge La Ferla
We were expected (iron and earth) is a symbolic piece since it is the work that is the origin of the entire series, in addition to having obtained numerous awards. In this piece, Andres Denegri proposed the confluence of projection on the same screen of the apocryphal film The flag by Py with the record of workers' march. The projections are partly superimposed on the translucent fabric of the screen. The archives of conflicts and protests during two moments in Argentine history of the last century are assimilated by concept to the image of the national symbol.
INSTALLED CINEMA. THE PLACE OF FILM IMAGES IN CONTEMPORARY ART
BY Ana Claudia García
Of these works by Denegri it could be said that they belong both to the field of production of signs of the visual arts (installation) and of contemporary audiovisual expressions (expanded cinema, exposed cinema) and at the same time, assert that it cant be located entirely or on one side nor the other. The "nor" in this case is not intended to refer to a hiatus or split between two issues. Less than a negation between one thing and the other. This copulative conjunction tries to connote here something of the order of the undecidable. Something that persists in appearing, and when it appears, it does so with its own rules, despite even the accumulation of meanings historically assigned to artistic production. In other words, where some people see continuity, there are perhaps small breaks. And it is undecidable perhaps because small conflicts do not produce too much discursive violence. There is something about that in Denegri's work.
THE EXHIBITION
THE IMAGES
THE MACHINES
ANDRÉS DENEGRI | b.1975, Buenos Aires - Argentina
Visual artist working mainly on film, video, installations and photography. Denegri’s projects generate dialogues between different film and video formats, questioning them poetically and conceptually and creating a tension of the classical uses of audiovisual technologies. His photographic production has its origin in analogue cinema, since the artist uses sequences of 16mm or Super 8 film frames to generate still images. The vintage film projectors are protagonists of many of Denegri’s installations; from portable family devices to powerful industrial machines that are combined in the production of both kinetic objects and monumental displays where the celluloid comes out of the projector and travels through the space transited by viewer. Sometimes the mechanisms of these equipments are modified to achieve different results than conventional ones. While the use of analog technologies marks a certain singularity in the contemporary scene, Denegri’s work also expands in the fields of video and digital media.
His awards include the Acquisition Award Cabinet Section (Rosario, 2019), Grand Prix from the Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales (Buenos Aires, 2015), First Prize in the Itaú Cultural Award for Visual Arts (Buenos Aires, 2013), Gold Medal for best experimental film from the Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival (Belgrade 2012), the Grand Prix from the MAMBA/Fundación Telefónica Competition of Art and New Technologies (Buenos Aires, 2009), the Prize for Best Short Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival (Mar del Plata, 2008), the John Downey Prize from the Santiago Biennial of Video and New Media (Santiago de Chile, 2007), Best Video Art of the Year from the Argentine Association of Art Critics Awards (Buenos Aires, 2006), Golden Impakt Award (Utrecht, 2005), 25fps Award (Zagreb, 2005) and the Leonardo Award–video category (Buenos Aires 2002.)
His latest individual exhibitions include Cine de Exposición (Exhibition Cinema) (Fundación OSDE, October 2013-January 2014), Al Interior (To The Provinces) (Matucana 100, Santiago de Chile, October-December 2013), Aurora (Salta Museum of Fine Arts, May-June 2014), Clamor (Clamour) (Recoleta Cultural Centre, August-September 2015), Éramos Esperados (We Were Expected) (1st Biennale of Asunción, Paraguay, October 2015). Instante Bony (Bony Instant) (MacBA, December 2015-March 2016), Mecanismos del Olvido (Mechanisms of forgetting) (ENERC mayo – junio 2018), Normas protocolares en el tratamiento de la bandera (Protocol rules for the treatment of the flag) (Pabellón 4, julio agosto 2018), (Pantallas Alteradas (Altered screens) (Universidad Di Tella, septiembre – octubre de 2018); “Mechanisms of oblivion”, INELCOM Collection, Madrid, 2019; Frame by Frame, Plattform, Berlin, 2019.
His latest group exhibition include Voltaje – Salón de Arte y Tecnología (Bogotá, October 2017), Sublevaciones (Museo de los Inmigrantes, Buenos Aires, August 2017), Colección Itaú de Arte Contemporáneo (Palais de Glace, Buenos Aires, June 2017), AVXLab Muestra de Auviosual Expandido (CCSP, Sao Pablo, June 2017), Artist ś Film International (Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, June 2016), Artist ś Film International (Whitechapel Gallery, London, October-November 2016), 1ra Bienal de Asunción (Asunción, October 2015); Canciones para una revolución (songs for a revolution), Tabacalera, Madrid, 2019.
Denegri is a graduate of the Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires. He teaches at the Universidad Nacional Tres de Febrero, where he created and directs CONTINENTE, a research and production centre dedicated to supporting and diffusing the audiovisual arts. He is also co-director of the Bienal de la Imagen en Movimiento (BIM) and guest film and video curator for the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art. He has completed artist residences in Colombia, Serbia, Canada and the USA.
He lives and works in the City of Buenos Aries.
