[ISEA2017] Paper: Luz Maria Sanchez Cardona — Vis. [un]necessary force: A socially engaged creative practice research project

Abstract 

Keywords: Social Justice, Art, Creative Practice Research, Community, Digital Technology, Digital Image, 3D portrait, Sound, Voice.

Vis is a long term socially engaged creative practice research project that -using digital technology as a tool- examines the consequences of violence on the daily life of civilians in contemporary Mexico. This project addresses the tensions that take place in the smallest human unit/group possible: family. Specifically, Vis focuses on families in both rural and urban areas of Mexico, that have one or more members that, officially, are not kidnapped or killed, but who are not present: absentees [ausentes], that is those taken away by police forces, the military, or by members of drug-cartels. At present the ausentes, their children and/or spouses [not officially orphans or widows yet], are just numbers and statistics in governmental reports. This project reclaims the experiences of these families by attentive listening to them, understanding their stories, and engaging in an active participation about how they would like to be portrayed within the contemporary social ethos. Using the potential of technology through creative practice, Vis collaborates with these families in order to regain the lost power of their voice -a voice that has been silenced- within a dialogue that has yet to start in Mexico.

  • Transdisciplinary art practitioner, scholar, media archaeologist and author, Dr. Luz María Sánchez (Mexico) studied music and literature, and through her doctoral studies (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain) she ocused on the role of sound in artistic practices since its mechanical inception in the 19th century. Sánchez is Artistic Member of the National System of Art Creators in Mexico, and is part of the Program “Science, Art and Complexity” of the Complexity Sciences Center at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México C3-UNAM. She is the Chair of the Department of Arts and Humanities at Universidad Autónoma Metroplitana, Lerma. Samuel Beckett electrónico: Samuel Beckett coclear (Mexico City: UAM) and The Technological Epiphanies of Samuel Beckett: Machines of Inscription and Audiovisual Manipulation (Mexico City: FONCA) are her most recent publications -both 2016-. Her artwork has been included in major sound and/or music festivals as well as museums and galleries in the Americas and Europe: Zéppellin Sound Art Festival (Spain), Bourges International Festival of Electronic Music and Sonic Art (France), and Festival Internacional de Arte Sonoro (Mexico); Museum of Contemporary Art (Bogotá), Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (Mexico City), The Dallas Contemporary (Dallas), The Illinois State Museum (Chicago and Springfield) and Centro de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona (CCCB) among others.

Full text (PDF) p.  255-261