How do you identify yourself with
autonomous management? What is the role for starting this enterprise?
I coordinate everything that
is going on in the space, and Roberto is more concerned with his work as a
designer. I look for contacts and establish the networks. I look for the
artists and the curators, so I don’t always have the role of curator and
instead the vision of the space varies and expands with exhibitions that have
not made it to museums or galleries. We want to provoke that the artists that
already have a trajectory bring in proposals for exhibits. I want the artist to
bring in ideas and to market those ideas, with a concept that holds the work sample
as a whole. I want the artist to bring me the undertone of his/her process, for me to be able to
understand it and be able to emphasize the importance of the work beyond the
aesthetics.
What
is the differentiation of this space in comparison with other spaces that are
emerging in the contemporary art scene?
Other spaces are more formal; they have scholarships and
monetary support. We are based in autonomous management, and whatever money we
receive is invested back to the space. In this aspect, La Productora is less formal; we don’t interview the artist to be
able to produce here. We do have criteria for selection, but at the same time
we are very flexible so that the artist who is looking for an alternative space
for creation can actually develop. We would like to achieve a point were we
could bring lectures and international artists. I hope we can do it at some
point so that the space can transcend. I would like to start seeing here what is being created outside the Island.
Do
you think there has been a transformation of the mentality about art? In that
case, does the space emerge as a response to it or critique about the absence of it?
I think the situation in the Island is difficult. In
Cart Watch the audience was fairly diverse. Visitors ranged from professors,
students, artists, curators and others. We have somewhat changed the dynamics
of the traditional galleries that established very specific parameters in terms
of uses and opportunities. Something interesting that occurred in Cart Watch
was the opportunity the space had for taking art out of the Island to an
exhibition at New York. The idea is also to take art out of La Productora, with
a selection of artists to visit other countries. I think we have changed
the collector's way of thinking. All these spaces have gotten together to
rethink new paradigms and spaces for art in the Island.
What
is your vision for the development of the project in short term and long term?
What situations in the future would enable the project to go forward?
I want more artists to come to the studio spaces and
that those artists stay as residents in the space. Maybe create some type of
critique cycles were we could bring people from the exterior and include them
in the creative process, which at the same time would enrich the studio
experience with other perspectives. I want to
establish an itinerary and keep bringing to the space quality work; maybe create a lecture cycle. It is not
about creating exhibitions just because; it's about maintaining a sequence from
an artistic logic. I want the space to become a residency for artists. At the
same time I want to have the opportunity to take the work and artists to the exterior.
