RFAOH - past resident - Enrique Ruiz Acosta

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

June 11, 2015
12

La coneja de mi hija ha cumplido un año de vida.

Cuidarla se ha vuelto parte de mi rutina. En la mañana la saco de su jaula y jugamos un poco mientras reviso pendientes, leo algún texto, o navego por internet. A media mañana la regreso a su jaula y le doy un poco de perejil, albahaca, pepino, hierbabuena, zanahoria y otras delicias. Pequeñas cantidades y variaciones para cada día. En la tarde la saco otro rato y la llevo junto a mi escritorio, o al jardín. Ahora estoy intentando sembrar algunas hierbas y verduras para que pueda comer directo de la tierra. También eso estoy aprendiendo.

Es fascinante su inteligencia, su sensibilidad, su voluntad de vida. Me sorprende la forma en que su naturaleza establece vínculos con mi naturaleza, en niveles que no puedo describir con precisión.

Los humanos somos poco asertivos al tratar con otros seres vivos porque la soberbia de nuestra cultura occidental, religiosa antes y racional-materialista ahora, sostiene la idea de una absurda superioridad de la especie humana que solo sirve para generar separación, desconexión y supresión de nuestro estado del ser con el entorno, con la vida como tal.

Es un grave error vivir como vivimos en la “modernidad”. Me decepciona mirar el horizonte y observar pocos cambios en esta ruta hacia el desierto, hacia la erosión.

En cierto modo convivir con la coneja me permite sentir que nuestros corazones se enlazan. La premisa es muy sencilla: si compartimos este lugar, esta casa, también compartimos el mundo, y el vasto universo que es aún más misterioso y desconocido. Al compartir el todo, tenemos un privilegio que nos es co-rrespondido: la existencia. Existimos en el todo, solamente así.

Justo hace unos días conversaba con Martín, un amigo, que me planteaba interesantes ideas para su tesis de maestría, y me llamaba la atención acerca de la Teoría de las Branas. Ahí hay algo en que pensar, algo que sentir, para aplacar nuestra soberbia y nuestro antropocentrismo. Sin duda.

• • • • •

My daughter’s rabbit now is one year old.

Taking care of her has become part of my on-hiatus routine. In the morning I take her out of the cage and play with her while I check things, read, or check the web. By midmorning I take her to the cage and give her some parsley, basil, cucumber, mint, carrot or other delicacies. Small amounts and variations for each day. In the afternoon the same, I bring her next to my desk, or take her out to the garden. In this days I’m trying to plant some herbs and vegetables so she can eat straight from the earth. I’m learning about it.

It’s fascinating her intelligence, her sensitivity, her living will. It amazes me how her nature builds links with my nature at levels that I can not describe accurately.

We humans are poorly assertive when dealing with other living beings mainly because our Western culture, religious earlier and rational-materialistic now, that supports the idea of an absurd superiority of the humankind that only generate separations, disconnections and the removal of our state of being with the environment. That is, with life itself.

It’s a serious misunderstanding to live as we live in the “modernity” era. I feel disappointed looking at the horizon and seeing so little changes in the route to the desert and erosion.

Somehow living with this little rabbit allows me to feel that our hearts may interweave. The premise is simple: if we share this place, this house, we also share the world, and the vast universe, a universe that is even more mysterious and unknown. By sharing the whole, we have the privilege to co-correspond each other: we share the existence. It’s simple as that.

Just a few days ago I was talking with Martin, a friend, who has some interesting ideas for his master’s thesis, and it called my attention when we talked about the Theory of Branas. That’s something to think about, also something to feel different, that may appease our humankind pride and our anthropocentrism. No doubt.

Enrique Ruiz Acosta, Mexico

Residency Period: 1 November 2014 - 31 October 2015

Bio

On-hiatus Proposal Summary

Final Report

June 11, 2015 12

June 11, 2015
12