Class of 2017 exhibition
January 17–February 14, 2018
El movimiento no está en la pantalla* is an exercise in conflict. It is the result of a group of artists who together chose to be thrown into a two-year process of growth, production and cannibalization. How to evaluate, how to proceed and how to act within a field that, even as it is mostly symbolic, remains haunted by a world outside and all of it concrete urgency? The resulting process provides evidence of the paradox of resistance through the very means provided by the object to be resisted.
SOMA provides a space to reflect upon what it means to be part of a process of dialogue, of education and knowledge production. The participation of each individual shapes, in clear yet sometimes unexpected ways, the results of every research process and subsequent artwork within the group. How to opt for a resistance without declaring war? As it might seem (and not without irony), our free and democratic societies have opted to follow D.A. Siqueiros’ famous stance: “There is no other way but ours.” However, choosing a different route than Melville’s Bartleby, who might just prefer a path of least resistance, it is clear today that there is no such luxury. But how is resistance to be achieved?
El movimiento no está en la pantalla pauses the production of an ensemble of artists, pushing a fog away and allowing steps to be retraced that might also foretell paths to follow.
Ricardo Alzati,
Mexico City
*The movement is not on the screen
