Ven Aca
Multimedia Installation
October 6th to 28th
FREE Admission
Created by Alexandra Gelis and Jorge Lozano.
Ven Acá is a public intervention and video installation that uses personal testimonies, moving images, and performance to rethink and reflect on local conflicts caused by the Venezuelan exodus. This work questions the dynamics of abuse and discrimination against Venezuelan immigrants, creating a space to discuss and navigate these ideas.
Ven Acá is an interactive, multidisciplinary project of investigation and creation. It presents the viewer with intense encounters with the different women featured in the video testimonies. The title “Ven Acá” is a play on words between “Veneca” - a pejorative term used in the city when referring to Venezuelans - and the Spanish phrase which translates to “Come Here.” It extends an invitation to open a dialogue, to come closer.
It is widely known that the massive Venezuelan movement has all of South America on alert, and that no country was prepared to receive over three million citizens crossing the continent. Due to its geographical proximity, Colombia is the country to which most of the Venezuelans arrived, either to live or to pass through to other countries in the region. The city of Bucaramanga is the first stop in a long journey, or a first encounter with the urban harshness, loneliness, precariousness and pain of the exodus.
Join the curators at the exhibition’s OPENING NIGHT on Thursday, October 6th at 7:00 PM.
Join us for an ARTIST TALK with Jorge and Alexandra on Friday, October 14th at 7:00 PM.
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Images of the exhibition held in Bucaramanga
This work was made in collaboration with ten Venezuelan women who participated in the project’s three weeks of production, in post-production for a month, and as participants - also hosting workshops and talks during the initial exhibition.
The use of three screens creates an immersive space and helps the viewer to get a closer view of the women. In all presentations of the work we will be asking for donations that will go to Entre Dos Tierras, a foundation created to help Venezuelan people who are living in the streets or in precarious conditions.
