Our artist-in-residence Cristóbal Gracia will be in conversation with Yoshua Okón. Both working in Mexico City, they will be discussing their practice and the importance of the artist-led organisation, SOMA (of which Yoshua is co-founder and Cristóbal was a student) in the Mexican art scene and political context.
Yoshua Okón
Yoshua Okón was born in Mexico City in 1970 where he currently lives. His work, like a series of near-sociological experiments executed for the camera, blends staged situations, documentation and improvisation and questions habitual perceptions of reality and truth, selfhood and morality. In 2002 he received an MFA from UCLA with a Fulbright scholarship. His solo shows exhibitions include: Salò Island,UC Irvine, Irvine; Piovra, Kaufmann Repetto, Milan; Poulpe, Mor Charpentier, Paris; Octopus, Cornerhouse, Manchester and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and SUBTITLE, Städtische Kunsthalle, Munich. His group exhibitions include: Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Antes de la resaca, MUAC, Mexico City; Incongruous, Musèe Cantonal des Beux-Arts, Lausanne; The Mole´s Horizon, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Mercosur Biennial, Porto Alegre; Amateurs, CCA Wattis; San Francisco; Laughing in a Foreign Language, Hayward Gallery, London; Adaptive Behavior, New Museum, NY and Mexico City: an exhibition about the exchange rates between bodies and values, PS1, MoMA, NY, and Kunstwerke, Berlin. His work is included in the collections of Tate Modern, Hammer Museum, LACMA, Colección Jumex and MUAC, among others.
Cristóbal Gracia
Starting from the research and connection of historical events, mixing them with a touch of humor, science fiction, irony and violence Cristóbal Gracia´s work challenges the construction of a present built and regulated by ideological and power structures imposed over time.
Biography
Cristóbal Gracia (1987) lives and works in Mexico City. He is co-director of Bikini Wax, an independent platform of production, discussion and exhibition of contemporary art in Mexico City. He is a current recipient of the Arte Actual BBVA Bancomer – MACG grant and the Young Creators grant of the National Fund for Culture.
Among his exhibitions we can mention; Vis à Vis, McNichols building, The Biennial of the Americas, Denver, Colorado, USA (2015), Fragments, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, Colorado, USA (2015), Cristobal Gracia at Venice 6114, Los Angeles, California USA (2014), Horror en el trópico, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City (2014), Sector ACMA, arte contemporáneo del mas allá, Centro Cultural Border / Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico city (2014).
SOMA
SOMA offers a two-year program imparted in Spanish, targeted to contemporary artists and cultural producers interested in developing their practices. This pedagogical model is designed to stimulate exchange among young artists and professionals in the artistic field through courses, workshops, one-on-one interviews, lectures, and studio visits. The faculty at SOMA is mainly composed of artists, but also includes theorists and curators with extensive experience in the national and international art scenes.
SOMA’s task is to build a platform to collectively investigate what art can become and how it can work in different contexts. The pedagogical program seeks to create a space for a horizontal and collective interaction and for critical thinking, taking into account the many different creative communities of Mexico City.
SOMA Program is not designed to promote artists’ careers. SOMA is a space where students have the possibility of critically reconsider their work and where the analysis of creative processes is stimulated. The program’s emphasis is to support the development of both artistic praxis and artistic discourse.
*Cristobal Gracia’s residency is possible with support from the Government of Mexico as part of the Year of Mexico in the UK 2015