Projects
From the 5th till 25th of July 2010, CEIA (Center of Experimentation and Information in Art) organized an event in Espaço 104, a local cultural center in Belo Horizonte entitled Drawing.
But why Drawing? Considered as a traditional medium, drawing is one of the major forms of expression within the visual arts and a structural base for image production. In contemporary visual culture the importance of this two-dimensional medium can not be denied. For this reason, it was interesting for CEIA to propose a series of projects based on experimentation to confront the traditional medium of drawing with new media, considering how present it is in every visual field produced in society nowadays.
Many different activities were developed within the framework Drawing including a collective atelier, workshops, lectures, round table discussions and several open days were the results of the workshops and collective atelier where showed to general audience. In addition to these events, CEIA also organized an activity for the pre-release of their new book Painting Beyond Painting.
As most of these events were open to the general public free of charge, the project succeeded in attracting a great amount of public. In particular, the event caused a very good impression on the local art students from the art universities of Belo Horizonte who later expressed how important Drawing was as an input for their artistic formations.
In overall, the directors of CEIA were very happy and satisfied with the results of Drawing: “For CEIA it [Drawing] was a good opportunity to open one more space of discussion and intense artistic exchange.” But in spite of its general success, the process was not always an easy one: “During one year of preparation Drawing passed through many changes and adaptations. On the one hand, some of the guests were not able to come. On the other, we had to deal with the issue of making possible the participation of Brazilian artists from other states. This happened because 2010 was an election year. Normally in this situation raising money from Brazilian governmental institutions becomes very difficult as during this period culture is being put aside by the government…”
Nevertheless, the project was also successful in the sense that it enabled opportunities for future collaborations. For instance, just after the culmination of Drawing, CEIA was invited to make a proposal for collaboration with Fundação Clovis Salgado, the most important art foundation from the state of Minas Gerais.
Furthermore, Marco Paulo Rolla asserts: “Another very interesting outcome was the possibility to improve international collaborations with two artists’ initiatives: the Centre Karthala from Comores Islands (Africa) and Espira La Espora from Nicaragua (Central America).” The participation of Ali Mroivili and Ahmed Moussa from Centre Karthala was the continuation of a collaboration which began already in 2008, when Marco Paulo Rolla and Marcos Hill went to Comores Islands to participate in the Magarando workshop. The participation of Patricia Belli, from Espira La Espora, gave impulse to a new collaboration between the organizations. In October 2011, CEIA and Espira La Espora will produce CA-BRA, a residence-show for young artists from Central America and Brazil.
