“Common Words,” a work by Colombian video artist Martín Mejía that juxtaposes words with images to explore questions of existence and survival, was awarded first prize and US$4,000 by the Fourth Edition of the Inter-American Biennial of Video Art organized by the IDB Cultural Center, in Washington D.C.
César Meneghetti from Brazil (currently living in Rome) took second prize and US$3,000 for “No-one’s Land,” a conceptual piece that focuses on social and political events that invade the reality of the world today.
The Chilean Iván Nicolás Grum was awarded third prize and US$2,000 for “Two Good-byes", a humorous piece that uses film history to tell a universal love story that mimics scenes from Gone With the Wind.
Honorable Mentions went to Verónica Riedel from Guatemala, and Cristián Maciá de la Orta of Mexico. Each received US$1,000. The Jury also awarded a Juror’s Mention to Argentina’s Mariana Sosnowski.
The entire selection of 25 videos representing 13 countries in the region, plus Puerto Rico, were chosen by an international jury composed by art experts Bélgica Rodríguez of Venezuela and Germán Rubiano Caballero of Colombia. These entries were selected from among 201 submissions by artists from 15 countries.
The videos will be exhibited at the Gallery of the IDB Cultural Center, in Washington DC (1300 New York Avenue NW), between December 1st and January 23rd. After the presentation in Washington, the Biennial will be launched in June 2009 at the Instituto Italo-Latinoamericano in Rome.
“It is clear by now that there are a number of artists in and from the region committed to expressing themselves, as well as the realities of our time, using video technology,” said Félix Ángel, General Coordinator and Curator of the IDB Cultural Center and Director of the Video Biennial. The Biennial was created in 2002 to encourage and stimulate the use of video technology for creative purposes among Latin American and Caribbean artists. “The results speak for themselves,” Ángel added.
A full color, bilingual catalogue is available upon request from IDB Publications.