In Greek mythology, a box was given to Pandora, the first woman on earth, but the box was not to be opened under any circumstances. Impelled for her curiosity, Pandora opened the box, and all evil contained inside of it escaped and spread all over the earth. She hastened to close the lid, but the whole contents of the jar had escaped, except for one thing that laid at the bottom: Hope – which remains to this day, mankind’s sole comfort in misfortune. As in the Pandora myth, a symbol of hope lies beneath this collection of works.

The Pandora Project was an international collaborative project involving 15 artists from Argentina, Chile, United States and Uruguay,  that jointly developed an edition of non-traditional paper objects based on the Greek Myth “Pandora’s Box”.

The project was directed and conceptualized by artist and professor, Rimer Cardillo, from the State University of New York at New Paltz, in the United States and Alicia Candiani, artist and director of Proyecto´ace, an international centre for innovative print media located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

After three months of separate work, (one group in North America and the other in South America), the Pandora’s artists gathered together at Proyecto´ace in Buenos Aires in the month of July of 2006. The encounters took place from the 8th to the 22nd of that month. Through various innovative printing, digital and photographic techniques, pop ups in paper, collage and sewing, the participants were able to document global subjects involving environmental, anthropological and social issues of our time. The printed objects were collected and housed in a portfolio/ “art container”.  Seen as a contemporary Pandora’s box, the container became a symbol of the collaboration among the artists who participated in intensive days of cultural and artistic diversity.

On September 1st and under the name “VI Belgrade Encounters: Latin America meets Serbia” ​​will begin the sixth edition of the International Printmaking Workshop and Symposium 2011. The event has a packed agenda, which includes the residence of 6 Latin American artists, the production of a portfolio in collaboration with 7 Serbian artists, a guest artists exhibition and a symposium with lectures and demonstrations.

“Akademija” Research Center Visual and Graphic Arts “(Centar za grafiku i vizuelna istrazivanja” Akademija “) has been organizing on biennial basis these encounters during the past 10 years. The purpose of these meetings is to establish organizational and artistic links between different countries, helping to position Belgrade among the leading cities on the international map of new media and printmaking.

‘ace and Latin American artists related with our center will be the guest of honor at the 2011 event,  being the first time that the invited institution and region do not belong to Europe. The Argentinean artist Alicia Candiani, who is the founder and director of ‘ace, is in capacity of curator and liaison with the Latin American group of artists, and her colleague from Belgrade, the curator Ljiljana Tašić, is in charge of the selection of Serbian artists.

In addition,  Rafael Trelles (Puerto Rico) and Alicia Candiani will lead the symposium, hosted by the Instituto Cervantes de Belgrado,  that will focus on heterogeneity, multiplicity, connection and rupture as marks of contemporary printmaking. Finally, ´ace will increase its collection with one of the portfolios, which will be exhibited in Buenos Aires in the future as well as several projects will be launched inspired by these contacts between artists and art associations.

The “meetings” have taken place during the last 10 years on a biennial basis organized by “Akademija”: Center for Visual Research and Graphic Arts (Centar za grafiku i vizuelna istrazivanja “Akademija”), under the Faculty of Fine Arts of Belgrade El The objective of these meetings is to establish organizational and artistic ties between different countries, helping to position Belgrade among the leading cities on the international map of new media and graphic arts.

The international project CROSSOVER [KC-Bs As] was exhibited from October 17th until November 14th, 2014 at the Mallin Gallery, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, USA. Organized

ALEJANDRO THORNTON I WRITE / I DRAW

PLACE AND MEMORY – Kansas City Art Institute students participated in the Foreign Travel Led Program to Buenos Aires. Upon their return they created a series of works made in response to their experiences in Argentina and Uruguay. These visual sources, or tokens are being adapted and processed around notions of the found print and memory recollection.

CROSSOVER [KC-Bs As] is an in-progress international collaborative printmaking project between artists questioning the established norms of the original production and authorship of artistic works. In this project one’s work, property and egos became irrelevant, as artists have to trust each other allowing themselves and their counterparts to place their hand-marks, images and matrixes on one’s previous works. In April 2015 the project will be received by the Western Gallery at Western Washington University in Washington States, United States, completing a successful project carried out as an initiative of ‘ace in 2013.

Check pictures of the exhibition here
Check catalogue on line at issuu

PAndora, ´ace first international project,  was exhibited at the Museo Superior de Bellas Artes Evita (Palacio Ferreira) in Córdoba, featuring artists from Argentina, Chile and USA.

Conceptualized and directed by Rimer Cardillo at the State University of New York SUNY-New Paltz and co-directed by Alicia Candiani, it was carried out at the Proyecto’ace workshops in June 2006. Seven years later, the portfolio/box is still an example of collaborative work and expanded print media, even in small sizes.

Special thanks to artist and participant Juan Canavesi for having commissioned this public exhibition and head the guided tours in this stunning museum. We continue to be very proud of this project!

Artists in the Pandora Project
Amy Appel (USA) | Silvana Blasbalg (Argentina) | Silvia Brewda (Argentina) |Juan Canavesi (Argentina) | Alicia Candiani (Argentina)
Rimer Cardillo (Uruguay, USA) | Bob Capozzi (USA) | Alexandra Davis (USA) | Sebastián García Huidobro (Chile) | Luca Giovanopoulos (USA) |  Siri Hanja (USA) | Susan Jenkins (USA) | Dylan McManus (USA) | Carly Still (USA)

[CYCLES] Portfolio exchange – Caja Gráfica is an initiative that seeks to open spaces for the creation of graphic work, the interaction of artists of all nationalities with our neighborhood, the opening of places for exhibition and dissemination of work as well as interact with international artists. In this way [CYCLES] proposes the creation of a graphic portfolio-box with engravings / graphic pieces of each one of the participating artists and guests and offers the opportunity to exhibit that work both in Argentina and abroad.

The selected artists developed a one-week micro residency to develop their work in the Foundation’s ´ace workshop. Each of the artists will have a portfolio box with the work of all the participants at the end of the project. The works carried out and the box-portfolio will be exhibited at the Foundation in 2014. Some boxes will be donated to international collections and will start a traveling exhibition.

———————
For the Royal Spanish Academy [cycle] it is a period of history that is considered finished, the set of phenomena or operations that are repeated in an orderly manner, a group of epic traditions concerning a certain period of time or a series of phases through which a periodic phenomenon happens. On the other hand, the prefix “cycle” means “spins”, “spins”.

All disciplines, from anthropology to engineering, have cycles. As well as the cycles appear as processes that always follow the same phases in the same order. In this project we are inspired by the idea of ​​[cycles] from multiple perspectives, alluding to the idea of ​​movement, of turning, of beginning and end, of mythical return, of what left and ended, of what opens and It flourishes or repeats indefinitely giving rise to multiple visual interpretations. Beginning and end, return, stages, movement … will be some of the possibilities that artists can visually explore in this portfolio.

On Sunday May 20th, 2012 and as part of the 21st arteBA Contemporary Art Fair in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a panel with free admission will take place at 4:30 pm:

FROM OBJECT TO EXPERIENCE: ARTIST RESIDENCIES AS STRATEGIES FOR PRODUCTION IN CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICAN ART

The panel is organized within the schedule of conferences and activities at the auditorium of the fair as part of the Open Forum 2012 program.

residencias_en_red [iberoamérica] will present artist residencies as strategies for production in contemporary Latin American art. This panel has been organized by Alicia Candiani director of ´ace (who will also be the moderator) and Kadija de Paula (residencias_en_red manager). The event will feature the participation of Lorena Cardona (El Levante, Rosario), Julia Tamagnini (Casa13, Cordoba), María José Trucco (Centro Rural de Arte, itinerant project in Argentina) and Aixa Sanchez (Oficina # 1, Caracas, Venezuela).

The proposal for the discussion will focus on the possibilities that the model of the artist residency can offer in the contemporary Latin American art scene. Understanding the diversity of agents involved in the system of art, from artists, public and private managers, as well as independent initiatives, the model of artist residencies has generated alternatives to traditional production models for works of art. It will be noticed how these possibilities hold new tools for the artistic system and propose a new way of giving value to artistic practices, from what has been called “the collecting of place”.

The ´ace artist residency program is a part of residencias_en_red since March 2011 and is pleased to invite all of you to this event.

Objetivos Móviles/Moving Targets-Buenos Aires was a co-curatorial project co-organized by the artist John Hitchcock (Director of the Printmaking Department and Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) and the artist Alicia Candiani (Projecto´ace Director) framed in the residence that Hitchcock made with us from February 15th to March the 6th, 2008.

With the institutional support of the Ministry of Culture of the Municipality of Buenos Aires and Metrovías company partnership, Objetivos Móviles/Moving Targets-Buenos Aires results in an urban artistic action involving Colegiales neighborhood and displayed on the Metrovias Trains System in Argentina on Friday February 29, 2008 (a unique day in a leap-year!). The print action took place between the Federico Lacroze Station in the City of Buenos Aires and Fernández Moreno Station in Buenos Aires Province of the railroad Gral. Urquiza. These two stations united Proyecto’ace in Colegiales, Buenos Aires City and Centro de Edición. Directed by Natalia Giachetta, this is a litho workshop and gallery located in Saénz Peña, Buenos Aires Province. A group of 25 Argentine artists lead by John Hitchcock and Alicia Candiani, carried large banner prints through the train cart system. Each banner had several images of North America, South America and Caribbean artists’ works. 50 young up and coming artists (25 from South America and 25 from North America) and 50 established artists were invited to participate.

The banners, as large flags, were exhibited in two spaces in Argentina: the Proyecto’ace Studios and the platforms of the General Urquiza Train in front of Centro de Edición in Buenos Aires Province. Later they were exhibited in Pyramid Atlantic Art Center´s Main and Kunst Vault galleries from August 1 – October 3, 2009 in the United States.

ABOUT MOVING TARGETS INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

As a concept, Moving Targets involves presenting the print medium in a specific and meaningful way. It ties to the rich tradition that printmaking serves as a vehicle for expression of discontent and critique.

As an international print project reflecting social concerns moving via public transportation across borders, it aims to address on how public transport can become a means of cultural dissemination while emphasizing the historical tradition of graphics as a democratic vehicle for the communication of ideas.

The first action-exhibition was originally presented as Cultural Transport / Moving Target on a train between Berlin (Germany) and Poznan (Poland), co-organized by Keith Christensen and John Hitchcock within the framework of IMPACT IV in Germany.  The title Moving Targets, expresses the difficulty in stopping something (shooting down–in military terms) that exists when trying to stop something or destroy it when it is in movement. The project uses trains, means of public transport, to disseminate cultural actions, thus the vehicle is literally the means of expression. Under the metaphor of what is in motion cannot be shot down, actions have been planned on the trains with printed works, also referring to the capacity of prints as agents that promotes reflection and change.

Emerging Argentine artists participating in the performatic action |Buenos Aires Daniela Karol, Magdalena Arnaud, Lucía Miranda, María Julieta Arnaut, Félix Torrez, Carolina Sosa, Josefina Zuain, Federico Signorelli, Juan Natch, Sofía Quirno, Fernanda Castelo, Valeria Zamparolo, Ignacio Luis Ravazzoli, Nicolás Monti, Isabel Gruppo | Córdoba Sergio David Alvarez, Gisele Rodriguez Polich, Maximiliano de los Ríos, Lucia Mendez, Ana Belen Saldias Lopez, Mariana Pavan, Iván Vianello, Micaela Damico Bossio | Santa Fé Javier Cazenave | Tucumán Martín De Negro.

Since November 30, 2013, the Critical Mass exhibition was on display for 2 months in ´ace Foundation for Contemporary Art’s Sala Políglota, an International Exchange of portfolios organized by Nathaniel Stern (Professor of Art and Design at the School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg College of Art, Design and Architecture Research Center) and Rhianna Andrews from the University of Milwaukee in the United States.

The portfolio includes forty artists, all published in Richard Noyce’s books Printmaking at the Edge (2006 | 2008) and Critical Mass: Printmaking Beyond the Edge (2010). The portfolio “explores the evolutionary techniques and approaches, strategies and materials that are used in and with contemporary forms of printing. It is a project of artists – explorers who put hands to work: with ink, metal and stone, with politics and pop culture and characters, and in the bits, bytes and code of new technologies. Artists cross borders with new ways of thinking, doing and collaborating. “

Organized by the Argentine Center of Cartography and framed by the Sixth Congress of Cartographic Science, Alicia Candiani has been invited for a second time to present a keynote lecture about the relationship between Cartography and Contemporary Art. The conference is scheduled to be held on the opening day, Wednesday June 27th at 5.30 pm, at the headquarters of the center located at Av Cabildo 381, City of Buenos Aires.

ACTIVITIES – VI CONGRESS  OF CARTOGRAPHIC SCIENCE

Conferences – 27, 28 and 29 June

Roundtables – 27 and June 29

• History of Cartography.

• Quality of cartographic data

Workshop Introduction to OrtoSky – June 27

Geologic Mapping Symposium – June 28

Technical Sessions – 27, 28 and 29 June

GeoInquietos Meeting – June 28

Shows and exhibitions:

Exhibition of posters with technical and institutional work

Photo exhibition related art Cartography.

Themed art exhibition Mapping

Exhibition of old maps

Mapping the Road to San Juan 2010 – CEFOCCA – UNSJ

Technological and commercial exhibition

Latin American music group T’Andando

The World IS a Handkerchief : El mundo es un pañuelo
A Wandering Genealogy curated by Claudia DeMonte & Cecilia Mandrile
The World IN a Handkerchief : El mundo en un pañuelo
Guest Curator, genealogy Proyecto’ace: Alicia Candiani
Exhibition of pieces
selected from the Fundación´ace´s collection and Alicia Candiani’s personal collection of the participating artists in “The world IN a handkerchief”

For a month and a half, the Políglota Room is hosting three exhibitions on a rotating basis. From March 23 to April 1, “The world IS a handkerchief” and “The world IN a handkerchief: the genealogy of ´ace” were exhibited simultaneously, paying special tribute to the Argentine artist Graciela Sacco. While the original  series returned to New York from where it will soon travel to England, the ‘ace genealogy collection was joined by a new exhibition of  large format pieces of the participating artists, some belonging to the Fundación’ace collection and others to the private collection of Alicia Candiani.

The World IS a Handkerchief is a travelling exhibition rooted in the Spanish saying ‘el mundo es un pañuelo,’ which translates into English as ‘this is such a small world’. The project traces serendipitous encounters, moments of discovering personal connections in distant places or unexpected contexts. The project began with the meeting of Claudia DeMonte and Cecilia Mandrile as a mentor and student respectively at the University of Maryland, United States in 1995 and has expanded through an international collaborative network between mentors, students and
peers.

The World IN a Handkerchief is a new chapter of the project, a graphic, soft and traveling portfolio curated by guests artists from the core genealogy. Artist and curator Alicia Candiani, essential mentor of this genealogy, Founder and Director of Proyecto´ace, has been invited to curate this new collection that reflects her close creative family.

ABOUT THE WORLD IN A HANDKERCHIEF  by  Cecilia Mandrile

Handkerchiefs have accompanied people in celebrations and farewells in many cultures for centuries, offered bodily protection and coverage, and sustained expressions of political tenets and spiritual beliefs. In this project, handkerchiefs become vessels of memories and itinerant narratives; containers of emotions; translators of wounds, signals of ideological resistance. Each piece epitomizes a soft space that holds disappearing recollections of homeland as well as reflections on displacement and identity that can be carried as a tangible memento. In times when touch appears as a dangerous sense, every single printed handkerchief means a meaningful testament of the continuous nurturing mentorship among artists and educators, reminding us that the soft touch remains both an intimate and universal need of communication.

To celebrate this constant and sustained creative dialogue, in 2019 the curators developed a portable exhibition of 50 handkerchiefs that explored the meaning of belonging and interconnectedness that this Spanish saying so tangibly evokes. In the reconstruction of this alternative family made up of artists and collectives from different latitudes and generations during the last two decades, both printed an edition of 25 handkerchiefs, and sent a printed handkerchief along with a blank handkerchief to 50 invited artists to intervene with their own reflections
on home, identity and belonging. From this exchange a “wandering genealogy” was born, a tribute to the strong threads that have woven this shared territory as itinerant artists and educators.

A limited edition catalogue including the work of 50 invited artists was published by Impact Press, Bristol, UK and includes an essay by Gill Saunders, Senior Curator of Prints, Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Currently, the catalogs of workshops and portfolios remain as digital publications, thus allowing to document the constant growth of this genealogy. Chris Knollmeyer, a sound artist in residence at ´ace at the same time, composed for this exhibition a special piece: “Sound of the Handkerchiefs”. The piece is a piano study made up of 25 melodies. Just as the handkerchiefs are tied to each artist’s history and sense of home, Chris feels a connection to the piano.