“Faber,” by Chilean video artist Boris David Franco Navarrete, which explores global philosophical and religious traditions with majestic symphonic variations of images and sound dialogues, was awarded the first prize by the Fifth Edition of the Inter-American Biennial of Video Art organized by the IDB Cultural Center in Washington, DC.
Alexandre Braga Brandão from Brazil received the second prize for “Between My Hands”. It is a tarot-card-like visual game that presents an elaborated obsession reminiscent of the contemporary times; casualness of outcomes in confrontations; and the anxiety of a growing technological world.
Mexican Benjamín López Alcántra was awarded the third prize for “Vigilantes (Museum Guards),” a sophisticated satire that hints criticism towards the apathy of security personnel in museums or the disillusioned reflection on the appeal of contemporary art in the Latin American society.
Honorable Mentions went to the videos “Aún aquí (Still Here),” by Paulina Alicia del Paso Gordillo, of Mexico; and “Se me pergunto, por quê meus lábios negam respostas? (I Ask Myself, Why Do My Lips Refuse to Answer?)” by Joacélio Batista de Sousa Da Silva, of Brazil. López Alcántara and Paulina del Paso have received awards in previous editions of the Biennale.
Twenty videos from 13 countries were selected, from among 223 entries from 20 countries including Puerto Rico, by an international jury composed of Marina Galvani, Curator of the Art Program of the World Bank, and Edgar Endress, Assistant Professor of Digital Media Technologies at George Mason University.
The exhibition of the winning entries will take place at the IDB Cultural Center Gallery, in Washington, DC, from December 6, 2010 through January 28, 2011.
The traveling circuit of the Biennial will start in March of 2011 and comprises more than 25 museums, cultural centers, and cultural organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Spain, and Italy; and brings artists exposure to an extent that would be difficult to obtain otherwise.
The Biennial was created in 2002 to encourage and stimulate the use of video technology for creative purposes among Latin American and Caribbean Artists. This year, the Biennial celebrates its first decade of existence.