Found in Translation: The New Languages of Art

Found in Translation: The New Languages of Art

^12/19/2023

How do you recover lost histories? How to find memories within the incomplete records of colonized countries, in a language that may not be your own? The artists in this panel explore the relationships between language, history, territory, and geography. By reconsidering the gaps in histories and between languages, they aim to rebuild cultural memory – from pre-Hispanic dances to the unfathomable topography of the transatlantic seabed. By translating words, images, objects or sounds from one context to another, artists create potent new collisions of meaning.

Tania Candiani, Artist, Mexico City

Juana Valdés, Artist, Educator, Miami and Amherst

Moderator: Emily Butler, Conversations Curator, Art Basel Miami Beach, Vancouver

Tania Candiani lives and works in Mexico City. One of the central interests in her work is the expanded idea of translation, extended to experimental fields through visual, sound, textual, and symbolic languages. She considers the universe of sound and the politics of listening as a tool to amplify perceptions, both human and non-human. Her practice involves interdisciplinary working groups and collaborations in various fields. Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums, institutions, and independent spaces.

Juana Valdés holds degrees from Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts, New York and is an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Her research-based, multimedia practice explores race, gender, and class within networks of trade and labor in the Afro-Latinx diaspora. Solo exhibitions include ‘Juana Valdés: Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories’ (2023) at the Sarasota Art Museum, among many others. Valdés’s work is held by the Smithsonian, the City of Miami Beach, Oolite Arts, Pérez Art Museum, and the Joyner/Giuffrida Collection.

Emily Butler is Conversations Curator Art Basel Miami Beach, freelance curator and PHD candidate in Curatorial Practice, ZHdK / University of Reading. Previously she was Curator at Whitechapel Gallery, London. Her projects have included the Artists’ Film International programme (2016-21); survey exhibitions such as The London Open 2018 and 2022; Electronic Superhighway (2016); major solos by Kai Althoff (2020), Hannah Höch (2014), John Stezaker, and Wilhelm Sasnal (2011); collection displays; commissions by Nalini Malani (2020), Carlos Bunga (2020), Katja Novitskova (2018), Benedict Drew (2016), Kader Attia (2013), and Rachel Whiteread (2012); as well as festivals including Nocturnal Creatures 2021, 2018 and Art Night 2019, 2017. She has held roles in the Visual Arts Department, British Council and at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. She contributes to international publications and independent projects.

The Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 Conversations program was curated by Emily Butler.

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