Stacks

Having previously participated in the 5th edition of PHOTOIMAGEN within the exhibition “Memento Mori” back in 2012, artist Andrés Ramírez Gaviria returns in the current iteration of the biennial with a solo exhibition titled ‘Stacks.’ Comprising two main projects, the exhibition showcases a photographic series, showing stacks built from business cards the artist has received over the years. Infused with a touch of humor, the series is a subtle gesture that plays up notions of power, precariousness, and failure. It also hints at the obsolescence of this once-prevalent medium for exchanging information, which now seems to be nearing its end.

In the second project, History’s Carrousel, Gaviria focuses his attention on the slide projector marketed by Kodak since 1961. Gaviria recreates the story of Louis Misuraca, the Italian-American who invented this projector for the delight of multiple generations that used it to share various images. Misuraca received only a one-time payment for his invention, something that today seems incomprehensible. The proceeds from that transaction enabled him to take a trip with his family to Italy. Nearly 60 years later, Gaviria does something similar: using the advance sale of a commissioned work, he took his wife and daughter on a vacation to Italy, echoing Misuraca’s journey. The result is a work in which Gaviria addresses themes of nostalgia and memory, referencing the family gatherings of yesteryears that involved projecting slides of travels and significant family events. Similarly, Gaviria leaves contemplative questions open concerning the notions of time, technology, and once again, obsolescence or, more broadly, loss.

This exhibition was realized with the support of Phileas – Fund for Contemporary Art and the Ministry of Art and Culture of Austria.