Collaborative laboratory of contemporary art in Lima
Directed by Martin Gustavsson and Rodrigo Gómez Olivos
February 10 – March 6, 2025
Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm and from 3pm to 5pm
Applications deadline: 2 January 2025
Selected artists announcement: 13 January 2025
Exhibition opening: 6 March 2025
Apply clicking here
proyectoamil
Lima
proyectoamil and artists Martín Gustavsson and Rodrigo Gómez Olivos are pleased to announce a national open call for art students and self-taught artists to join the HACIENDO CONTEXTO VIII Collaborative Contemporary Art Laboratory, titled The Divine Violet: Art in Distopian Times. Participants will have the opportunity to work with Frau Diamanda/Héctor Acuña, the transgender audiovisual artist, drag performer, independent curator, cultural manager, DJ, and occasional actress, specializing in transgender art and multimedia performance.
In its eighth edition, Making Context delves into the challenge of creating art in a present and future marked by dystopia. In a context of rapid environmental degradation and growing demands from a technological society, we ask: how can artists respond to this reality?
Peruvian artist and writer Jorge Eduardo Eielson provides insights through his work, addressing themes such as exile, autobiography, poetry, and the sea. His novel First Death of María transports us to a dystopian Lima, a city besieged by violence, marginalization, and overpopulation. In this setting, María, the protagonist, seeks her identity and validation through her alter ego, “Lady Cyclotron,” a striptease dancer. With her body covered in a vibrant violet hue, Lady Cyclotron embodies both resistance and sacrifice in a chaotic world.
Eielson employs this symbolic narrative to explore social inequality, sexuality, and the conflict between personal acceptance and external oppression. The sea, a recurring symbol in the novel, represents both hope and despair, inviting us to reflect on the complexities of human existence in an adverse environment.
This year, Making Context deepens these reflections through a collaborative production workshop inspired by Eielson. Participants will explore how art can serve as a space for resistance against contemporary crises and propose new imaginaries that connect materiality with collective action. As Eielson stated, “Art is not a solitary situation.” It is through joint creation that we can reimagine our responses to social challenges.
In difficult times, artistic production becomes an essential tool for navigating toward a future that, as Eielson suggests, has the potential to be poetic.
Collaborative work can take many routes depending on the dynamics and interests of each of the artists in the group. In fact, participants are encouraged to research their personal archives and experiences in relation to the theme, while exploring different ways of making art together.
It is essential that participants commit to the laboratory in terms of attendance and effort. The participants will work virtually and from February 10 onwards the collaborative work will begin in person. proyectoamil will cover the flights, expenses and lodging of the artists who come from the provinces.
Frau Diamanda/Héctor Acuña (Lima, 1971)
Translator, writer, transgender audiovisual artist, drag performer, independent curator, cultural infector, DJ, and occasional actress, specializing in transgender art and multimedia performance. She lives in Barcelona since 2016. She completed the PEI Independent Studies Program at MACBA (2017-2018), the El Hangar Institute of Porn Studies (2018), and the POPS Program for Subaltern Practices (2023). As a performer and video artist, she has collaborated with numerous international artistic and cultural institutions such as the Hemispheric Institute in New York, the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, and the Cultural Center of Spain in Lima. She published the book Escenas Catalanas: Errancias Antropológico-Sexuales under the La Máquina publishing house in Barcelona in 2020. Her artistic and militant production also takes the form of photography, video, and electronic music.
