Responses to The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) at Unlimited Festival

We received some wonderful feedback from the visitors who experienced the work in installation at Unlimited Festival. 

Here is a selection of the responses that were written in the visitors' book that we would like to share.



“The level of intimacy accomplished with the multi-screen editing is intriguing, as well as the anonymity of workers/consumers.”

“Beautiful installation. It embraces the force and softness of a land I have started to forget: my original land. Memories of many generations.”

“Incredible piece of art. The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) shows not just a reality of an invisible community that feeds Bogotá and their surroundings but shows a true beauty, the colours, the lights, the beauty of the chaos. Thank you for this beautiful work.”

“The installation really made me feel that I was in Corabastos, experiencing it personally.”

“Absolutely wonderful. Very political. Made me wonder about the passage of the food through the body and the issues of fair trade.”

“I really enjoyed this film. It was very thought provoking and made me think about my own relationship with food, as well as how we treat food and the distribution of it in the UK. I really enjoyed the three screen format. I had never experienced that before and I liked how it made me constantly concentrate and view different aspects of the same scene.”

Artist’s talk: Juan delGado in conversation with Sandra Tabares-Duque

The Artist's Talk at the +Southbank Centre was very successful, with tickets sold out days before the event.

Juan delGado met with Sandra Tabares-Duque and a large audience in the Sunley Pavilion at the Southbank Centre to talk about the inspiration behind his Unlimited 2014 commission, +The Flickering Darkness (Revisited)

As the work explores the journey that produce takes from its arrival to its consumption at the Corabastos market in Bogotá, Colombia, the discussion revolved around food markets, politics food, displaced workers; inviting the audience to reflect on society’s strata. 

 Photos © from left to right @ShapeArt, @_caglark and @Dima_Sky7

 

Sandra Tabares-Duque is a producer who worked with Juan on Sailing Out of Grain in 2012 and is now developing documentary film projects 360º of Being Human (UK/Iceland) and Quipu Project (UK/Peru). 

Sandra is also part of Where there is Hope's group, a documentary film project aiming to follow and record the Mingueo project with the intention of producing a feature length film. Similar to Juan delGado, this group believes in the power of cinema to tell the stories of those without voices or visibility and calls for change and improvement among systems and communities throughout Latin America.

Sandra studied in Birkbeck College, University of London where she graduated in Spanish and Latin American studies. She has been researching Latin American cultural studies since 2003 and has been directly involved with the Latin American film activity in London gradually joining several teams such as the DLA Film Festival and Colombiage.

The talk was followed by a guided tour of the installation at the Southbank Centre, inviting visitors to debate and interact, filling the venue with activity.

 

The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) - Installation

A week after the opening of +The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) by Juan delGado, the video installation is still being talked about. It's been a mesmerising week full of events, activities and mostly visitors!

We had the opportunity to meet many interesting people from the +British Council along with project managers, directors, producers, founders, curators, publishers, writers and many others based in the UK or visiting.

It's been a real pleasure discussing the work with visitors coming from different countries, elaborating on the chore topic of the installation, how it is dealt with in their respective countries and the fact that it is a universal problematic to shed the light on.

From the Corabastos market in Bogotá, +Colombia, the discussion led to many other food markets around the world, with visitors vividly narrating stories from their native towns and markets they grew up to see changing. It was mostly noted how +The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) added colour and dynamism to these memories, bringing a beautiful picture to such a strong reality.

It would be an amazing opportunity to visit some of those other food markets and share the story behind them all over again, with a different angle and a fresh perspective.

In addition to markets and politics of food, other themes were highly debated, including workers and displacement, cities with different profiles and inspiring descriptions, the evolution or metamorphosis of markets in the UK, etc.

The professional and motivated teams from +Artsadmin, +Shape Arts, in collaboration with +Southbank Centre's production team were of a big support. And a big thank you goes out to everyone who helped with the production and promotion of this new version of the work.

Being awarded an Unlimited commission has been a nurturing experience to Juan delGado. It's been such a wonderful week, witnessing the work being presented in a leading British cultural institution as part of an inspiring programme. Juan delGado is looking forward to future collaborations and touring the work to other venues both in the UK and internationally in the next year.

Unlimited on Screen - Sailing Out of Grain

While Juan delGado's The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) installation is running at the +Southbank Centre, another work by the artist: Sailing Out of Grain, is being shown part of Unlimited on Screen.

Unlimited on Screen is a programme of films featuring profiles of the Unlimited-commissioned artists. Visitors viewing Unlimited festival - an amazing event featuring work by disabled artists - can witness films from 2014 and 2012 alongside other films made by Unlimited festival artists. The films in the exhibition are captioned and audio described.

Sailing Out of Grain is a collaboration between the London-based Spanish artist Juan delGado and solo yachtswoman Hilary Lister. Together, they have embarked on a journey, which will lead them to explore the inner world of Hilary, her life, dreams and achievements. Through an observational camera, Juan will compose an intimate portrait of this extraordinary, yet vulnerable woman whose body has steadily became paralysed due to a progressive neurological disorder.

 The project will take the artist and the sailor beyond the physical, creating a poetical moving image installation revealing Hilary’s internal, psychological experiences and motivations.
Sailing Out of Grain invites it’s audience to embark on a journey to that significant place that is the sea, a remarkable place which allowed Hilary to reaffirm herself with life.

La Tundra Magazine Interview - Juan delGado

The day we've been waiting for is finally here. The venue looks great, so much is going on. The week seems so promising and exciting.

Juan delGado who is exhibiting at +Southbank Centre met the Argentinian journalist Brunela Curcio for an interview, viewable here for La Tundra Magazine to talk about The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) and the themes around it.
 

Brunela Curcio is a columnist for La Tundra, an independent printed magazine in London and online platform written in Spanish.
The aim of the magazine is to reach new audiences in the UK showcasing well-established artists but also supporting emergent talents and festivals.

Brunela is also a journalist for EL IBÉRICO, a freelance creative writer and has worked with Pinta London as a Technical Communicator and with Aculco Radio as a Journalist and Voiceover.