. Conversations at the Edge (CATE)

October 2 – Carlos Motta: The Nefandus Trilogy

Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | September 29, 2014

Thursday, October 2nd | Carlos Motta in person!

Still from Nefandus (Carlos Motta, 2013). Courtesy of the artist.

Still from Nefandus (Carlos Motta, 2013). Courtesy of the artist.

Carlos Motta’s practice draws upon various political histories in an attempt to articulate counter narratives that recognize suppressed histories, communities, and identities. Composed of the three films Nefandus, Shipwreck (Naufragios) and The Defeated (La visión de los vencidos) his 2013 Nefandus Trilogy is a haunting examination of pre-Hispanic homoeroticism and its brutal stigmatization during Europe’s colonization of the Americas. Motta accompanies the trilogy with excerpts from his ongoing Democracy Cycle, including We Who Feel Differently (2011), a database documentary that addresses critical issues of contemporary queer culture, and Gender Talents (in-progress), a multiplatform documentary on international trans and intersex activism.

2011–14, Colombia/Guatemala/India/Norway/Portugal/South Korea/ USA, multiple formats, ca 60 min + discussion
In English, Spanish, Kogi, Norwegian, and Korean with English subtitles

Carlos Motta’s (b. 1978, Bogotá, Colombia) work has been presented internationally in venues such as Tate Modern, London; New Museum, Guggenheim Museum, and MoMA/PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Museo de Arte del Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia; Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, Germany; and Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City. Motta is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program (2006), was named a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow (2008), and was short-listed for the PinchukArtCentre’s Future Generation Prize (2014). He is a member of faculty at both Parsons the New School of Design and the School of Visual Arts.

Carlos Motta Program Notes