Without your permission

Sin permiso de ustedes (without your permission) is a multidisciplinary exhibition that, from an almost archaeological approach, investigates how the limits between the possible and the true—so often blurred in Peruvian horror narratives—also operate as aesthetic and epistemic devices that neither the social nor the scientific gaze can escape. Through installations of engravings, videos, sound, and performance, the exhibition traces how the fantastic is inevitably inscribed in the historical and colonial narrative of a modern, rational, and “progressive” Peruvianness.

This exhibition would not be completed without the kindness of: Maria Cristina Salgado, Ronald Sanchez, Briggite Paz, Andrea Beteta, Ana Masias, Kiana Romero, Samuel Chambi and Isaac Ernesro Ruiz whom collaborated in the production of this exhibition.

The photographic registration of the exhibition was generously provided by Ian Tevo.

“Ecisión”
Kinetic assemblage composed of a cut book and mirror.
36x29x21cms
2022

Artifact resulting from a critical reflection on the book “Profetas del odio, Raices culturales y líderes de Sendero Luminoso” written by the Peruvian sociologist and cultural critic Gonzalo Portocarrero and published for the first time in 2012. Although the author’s intention was to reconstruct the cultural substratum that nourished the Shining Path insurrection from its origins and to analyze the personal trajectories of its main leaders, he ends up infantilizing and minimizing the suffering and the gestation of the insurrection at that time. In his analysis of the ‘other’, the author assumes a position of moral authority that, in my eyes, ends up revealing class arrogance and the absence of a complex position on those he seeks to understand. As a scholar, Portocarrero subtracts socio-historical substance from the racial oppressions that cross the Peruvian context when he denounces that the Andean counter-narrative about “the pishtacos” (a sort of vampire frequently represented by a white man) is an expression of inverse racism; a statement that from the present we know seeks to invisibilize the history of ethnic genocide and the systemic survival of the colonial order.

“Misti”
24 offset aluminum plates in pieces
7.2 x 2.0 mts
2022

Large format graphic piece that reproduces a photograph of the famous crater of the Arequipa volcano, Misti. The image was taken from the Peruvian publication “Cultura y Pueblo” of 1965.

“Where is the beast?”
Installation of silkscreen prints on paper
variable messures
2022

Spatial installation that reproduces the juxtaposition of the shortstory “The Beast” (1955) by Peruvian writer Luis Loayza and the portrait of the neomythical fox “Run-run”, a fox bought and raised as a dog until he ran away from home and began to prey on the chickens of the neighbors of the human settlement ‘Sol Naciente’ in the district of Comas. Thus, playing with Loayza’s story, this piece invites the spectator to immerse himself in his gaze on the other and on himself.

“El sueño del Pongo”
Video installation
12min
2022

Audiovisual re-interpretation of the classic Andean tale “El sueño del pongo”, which comes from the Quechua oral tradition and was translated by José María Arguedas into Spanish in 1965. With the recreation of the action of licking chancaca honey on a mirror, I reflect on how the relationships of narcissistic abuse characteristic of colonialism inevitably shape the construction of our own image. The subtitles of the video correspond to Arguedas’ translation. The musical composition that accompanies the video was made by Ronald Sanchez and set the mood for the entire exhibition, giving the show a “sinister” character.

Video available in https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/750456103

“Lectures”
Video
20’
2022

Four colleagues of Peruvian nationality and of diverse ethnic, racial and gender identities were invited to read 4 chapters of the book “The prophets of hate” written by the Peruvian sociologist Gonzalo Portocarrero in 2015, where the author interpreted and related subjective characteristics of the subversive leader Abimael Guzman in the light of the expressions of the cultural wound of Peruvian society studied by him. In the video, the four fragments read from the book, appear randomly and intermittently where the fantastic story about the pishtacos, an analysis of Christianity in the Andes and a critique from the social sciences are related. Ana Masias, Isaac Ernesto, Kiana Romero and Samuel Chambi participated in the video.

Extract available trough the following link: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/750472062

“Trace”
Performance
5’ 24”
2022
Video recording of performance executed by the artist Andrea Beteta and co-directed by Chris Luza in the frame of the exhibition “Sin permiso de ustedes” held in Lima Peru on 2022.
Video available through the following link: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/750584360

“JUAN D1ce QUE ESO NO PASÓ”

As a closing activity for the exhibition “Sin permiso de ustedes”, I organized a portfolio presentation with artistic creators who did not know each other beforehand. I chose the title of the event from one of my saddest memories, related to an experience of gaslighting. Documentation of the exhibition is available at the following link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChghboMtzFt/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Text written by artist Isaac Ernesto for this exhibition.