7ª edición 2010, La Habana, Cuba

Adela Picón

When Ada Azor invited me to get involved, from Switzerland, in a videocreation exhibition including artists from Cuba and Spain, I could not anticipate that I would become the curator of a selection of videoartists from the country where I have lived since 17 years ago. In fact, I must admit that I am not responsible for the whole collection of works which represent Switzerland in this project. According to the request of the head of Proyecto Circo to diffuse the call, I decided to use some professional platforms for videoart, located in Berna, especially, a gallery, an alternative place and a collection, all connected to the artistic circuits.

This way, abaut 13 works were gathered in hardly a week. They constitute a range of artists from different origins, but all residing in a Swiss city, like Berna, Thun, Geneva, Basel and Zurich. These videos provide an overview to the different manners in which image in motion, digital techniques or animated cartoons are approached nowadays.

Essentially, some of the works have been created by means of the digital treatment of images; through cuts, extrapolations, and reconstructions for a further recreation of new stories. Others record with a camera a certain moment of real life, a performance or the action of people involved in an artistic project. The treatment or alteration of images in motion makes us think about or question them and our own perception; we get disquiet.

It is precisely the fact that we live in societies based on communication through images in motion and sounds, which increases the urgency to analyze, create, reinvent those representations that do not correspond to cultural capitalism and consumption. Videocreation is a choice, a necessary alternative, to approach not only matters related to images as such, but also what they portray or denounce.

The positive invitation made to artists from Switzerland to participate in this exhibition in Cuba assures a suggesting overview to Videocreation in different countries, which I hope the interested audience will enjoy.