Enrique Ruiz Acosta, Mexico

Residency Period: 1 November 2014 - 31 October 2015


Bio

Mexican artist Enrique Ruiz Acosta studied at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Artes Visuales from 1979 to 1985 in Monterrey Mexico after which he spent time in Germany and Europe for two years, where he was exposed to various mainstream cultural movements. He then returned to Mexico and began his career as an artist while teaching at his University. He was part of a generation of artists who enjoyed a local prestige in Monterrey. In 2008 he began his PHD which has gradually brought him to this hiatus.

URL: enriqueruix.tumblr.com


On-hiatus Proposal Summary

Having worked and well-recognized as an artist in his community, in 2012, various factors in his personal and professional existence led to a re-evaluation of the way he had been conducting his life and career as an artist to this point. He gave up his teaching position at the university and began new pursuits such as meditation, random conversations, poetry workshops etc., as ways to assess where and who he is and where he would like to be. Enrique has reached a hyper-awareness of middle age and the corresponding time remaining for productivity and how exactly he should use it -- a mixture of thoughts and concerns about what to do just before he becomes too old or even perhaps senile. He plans to use his hiatus residency at RFAOH to make the best decisions for his remaining life.


Final Report

And now for something completely different
- Monty Python Flying Circus

No hay mucho que agregar a lo que ya he escrito durante un año. La residencia ha sido una estimulante oportunidad para resolver algunos aspectos de mi crisis, mientras que otros aspectos han permanecido aún a la deriva o irresueltos. Pero sobre todo encontré esta afortunada coincidencia (si es que existen las coincidencias) con un plan al que ahora me estoy impulsando para realizar a partir del 2016, algo que ya he comentado en estos últimos dos meses de residencia. Ha pasado un año y mi percepeción es que casi todo el tiempo de la residencia me sentí motivado a participar. Me hice preguntas necesarias y traté de responderlas. Escribí en español y traduje al inglés. A este complicado ejercicio se agregó el diálogo con los colegas (algunos de ellos, no todos) lo cual fue esencial para clarificar y para ubicar / desubicar las diferentes posiciones que tenemos frente al mundo del arte. Ha sido difícil al mismo tiempo que un poco extraño y otro poco cómico. Creo que las diferencias interculturales a veces dejaron huecos en las conversaciones imposibles de resolver.

There isn't much to add to what I already have written in one year. The residence has been an exciting opportunity to solve some aspects of my crisis, while other aspects have still remained unresolved or still drifting. But above all I found this lucky coincidence (if coincidences exist) with a plan that I'm pushing for, and that will start in 2016, something I have mentioned in the last two months of the residence. A year is gone, and my perception is that almost every moment I felt motivated to participate in this peculiar residence. I asked necessary questions and tried to answer them. I wrote in Spanish and translated it into English. In this complicated exercise, the dialogue with colleagues (some of them, not all of them) was essential to clarify and to locate/dislocate some of the different positions we have concerning the world of art. It was difficult but at the same time a little odd, and a little funny sometimes. I think cultural differences sometimes leave gaps behind impossible to solve.


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recent comments


7

Tengo 6 meses de ser voluntario en Misión del Nayar. Ahí participo en reuniones con jóvenes que vienen de comunidades indígenas situadas en zonas rurales situadas entre los estados de Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas y Durango en México. En esa zona habitan Wirrarikas, Coras, Tepehuanes, Mexicaneros. Vienen a Monterrey a estudiar preparatoria y facultad apoyados por la Misión del Nayar que les entrega becas de escuela, hospedaje y alimentos. Es un grupo pequeño de  jóvenes entusiastas que deben adaptarse a diferentes situaciones al llegar a una ciudad como Monterrey, como son las distancias urbanas, la lengua (de cora a español, a inglés), la discriminación, la diferencia en los niveles académicos, etc. Mi contribución es apoyarlos en algunas de sus tareas de la escuela cuando lo solicitan (desde mi campo: arte, historia, sociología, filosofía, herramientas de redacción). También he encontrado interesante acompañarlos en sus encuentros de futbol rápido. Acercarme a esta realidad me ha permitido enterarme de otras cosas, como que en México se hablan 68 lenguas. Para este año estoy a cargo de un proyecto de Cine Foro en el que podremos ver películas poco conocidas, y además, discutiremos acerca de la importancia del cine en la formación de los individuos contemporáneos. El primer ciclo está listo, hice un poster para dar a conocer la programación. Empezaremos el próximo viernes. Están todos invitados, habrá palomitas !

• • • • • 

I have been a volunteer at Misión del Nayar for six months now. I participate there in meetings with young students who come from native communities in rural areas between the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas and Durango in Mexico. In this areas live Wirrarikas, Coras, Tepehuanes, Mexicaneros. They travel to Monterrey to study high school and faculty, supported by the Mission Nayar, who offer them school scholarships, accommodation and meals. It’s a small group of enthusiastic young people who must adapt to different situations as they come to a city like Monterrey, i.e. urban distances, language (Cora to Spanish, and English), discrimination, different academic levels, etc. My contribution is to give them support in some of their homework, when requested (from my field: art, history, sociology, philosophy, writing tools). I also found interesting to cheer their soccer encounters. I guess that’s our national sport, indeed. For me, getting closer to this reality has allowed me to learn about other things, i.e. that 68 languages are spoken in México. This year I’m in charge of a Film Forum project, where we will watch not so commercial movies, and also discuss about the importance of film in the formation of contemporary individuals. The first cycle is ready. I made a poster for the program. We will start next Friday. You are all invited, popcorn for everyone!

Leave a Comment (6)

Matt wrote on Mar 16:

"trivial entertainment or transcendental art" ...

This reminds me of a quote by Chris Hedges:

"The role of knowledge and art, as the ancient Greeks understood, is to create ekstasis, which means standing outside oneself to give our individual life and struggle meaning and perspective. The role of art and scholarship is to transform us as individuals, not entertain us as a group. It is to nurture this capacity for understanding and empathy. Art and scholarship allow us to see the underlying structures and assumptions used to manipulate and control us. And this is why art, like intellectual endeavour, is feared by the corporate elite as subversive. This is why corporations have used their money to deform universities into vocational schools that spit out blinkered and illiterate systems managers. This is why the humanities are withering away.

The vast stage of entertainment that envelops our culture is intended to impart the opposite of ekstasis. Mass entertainment plays to the basest and crudest instincts of the crowd. It conditions us to have the same aspirations and desires. It forces us to speak in the same dead clichés and slogans. It homogenizes human experience. It wallows in a cloying nostalgia and sentimentalism that foster historical amnesia. It turns the Other into a cartoon or a stereotype. It prohibits empathy because it prohibits understanding. It denies human singularity and uniqueness."

(http://www.truth-out.org/chris-hedges-retribution-a-world-lost-screens63624)

enrique wrote on Mar 14:

Hi Milena! Mmh... Well, yes, i think that it is hard to offer them a different approach to the movies, but I try. Seems to me that the contemporary world lives in the hollywood forest, or in the satellite TV space. Like in the movie Leviathan, there is no way out the "system". It's a monster, write Hobbes, and if we dare to fight it, we are aware that it is also inside of the self. I do agree that art may help to change people, but what kind of art are we talking about? It doesn't occur every time, nor everywhere. It is not a panacea. I'm sure that it is helpful because it is a weapon for the artist. As an artist (although i'm on hiatus), I'm the first person that gets the benefits: I'm capable of transforming something inside of me. But what I argued before, in the Davos event, is that there are also art events not meant to transform people or situations. Music, visual arts, digital art, dance. First it is obligatory to analyze which event or what art action in particular is taking place, and second, open a discussion about what is called to change. It is never an "a priori". There are thousands of art forms. For instance, the movies: trivial entertainment or transcendental art? Saludos !!!

milena kosec wrote on Mar 5:

" importance of film in the formation of contemporary individuals" - about changing by art?
By the way, I agree with Matt about Leviathan film.

shinobu wrote on Feb 28:

Year totally, Zidane will cover it all -- art + foot ball!

enrique wrote on Feb 28:

thanks matt, hadn't heard of it until now, and just found it on youtube, i'm going to take a look !! by the way this week I enjoy "leviathan" (russia), pretty impressive, no doubt, in a wim wenders way. Saludos !!

Matt wrote on Feb 27:

Great programme Enrique.

I had this thought Douglas Gordon's Zidane movie would cover all your bases :)