Born in 1984 (Chile), based in Santiago (Chile).
It is said that all the cells in our body regenerate within ten years. Every second, millions of elementary particles emanating from cosmic phenomena pass through this same body. What do these movements say about the integrity of our being? And what is the vertigo we feel when faced with this porosity between ourselves and our environment?
Javier González Pesce is fascinated by scientific theories, and more specifically by their ability to simultaneously reflect and challenge our anthropocentric view. Moved by humanity's quest for meaning, he delves into the history of science – the study of which reveals that the various attempts to explain the world explain above all the social context in which they arose. Each theory is a cultural construct, a scaffolding combining politics, philosophy, spirituality, and field observations. The latter are always conditioned by the performance of the available tools and instruments, revealing more about their technology than about the subject being studied. Taking historical context into account allows us to question the idea of scientific “neutrality” and “truth”, as well as of a linear progress of knowledge, opening up more polyphonic narratives of the universe.
Javier González Pesce translates these reflections into playful, kinetic installations that display disjointed human bodies, scientific diagrams, constellations of everyday objects, songs evoking the revolution of the planets. He confronts the micro and macroscopic scales with a more metaphysical dimension, proposing a personal and sensitive cosmogony, a vision of the world as a gigantic game of action and reaction in which nothing is stable: everything is movement, transformation, interaction. It is precisely in the precariousness of balance that its beauty lies: it reveals the billions of possibilities that are offered to us, never fixed and constantly reinventable.
Written by Isabelle Henrion.
A well-known saying describes as an idiot anyone who looks at the finger instead of marveling at the moon pointed out by the wise man. But is it really so foolish to examine that outstretched finger, and thus question the position – valued and often privileged – of the one who points the way, who holds authority? In a world rife with ideological tensions, information manipulation, and increasing technological mediation, isn't it healthy to take into account the entire system of knowledge production and dissemination? Not to be blinded by the seductive brilliance of the moon, but to question the motivations of those who guide our gaze?
The three artists brought together for this residency, Sabine Fischer (DE/IS), Valeria Limongi (IT), and Javier Gonzalez Pesce (CH), share this interest in the tools – technical, scientific, spiritual, and ideological – that shape our vision and our coexistence. They dissect how humans create meaning and place great importance on the role that sensations and experiences play in these processes of knowledge and understanding of the self and the world.
Written by Isabelle Henrion.