Cecilia Candiani, was a guest artist at the ´aceNITE of October, 2018. Installed in the Dialogue Space at ´ace, Rewrite is a series that portrays one of the infinite activities / “performances” that happen in the city of Buenos Aires at night. From her eye and camera, from above, Cecilia shows the streets of Buenos Aires in the process of being built, its actors work but seem to dance, write and rewrite the asphalt. Transit and change spaces that are transformed into scenarios where, even for brief moments, coordinates and feelings of belonging are generated.

REWRITE (by Cecilia Candiani)

Transit places, passing through. Places where there is no time for dialogue or a fixed gaze.

The desolation of space of anonymity can be mitigated by a group of people who become actors. They rewrite this scenario, they draw signs or some message that will not be followed nor read. The play, carried out by its characters, has modified that place. A place that will son become a “no place”.

Digital photography.
Digital impressions on Hahnemühle Photo Matt Fibre 200 grs archival paper.
2017.

Aguascalientes´ State Ministry of Culture, through the Support Program for the Cultural Infrastructure of the States (PAICE), allocated more than US $ 1,000,000 for the consolidation of the Macro Space for Culture and the Arts, whose building 49 houses the  TNG |Taller Nacional de Gráfica/National Printmaking Workshop. Opened on October 28, 2016 the TNG is located in what were the former Aguascalientes Railway Workshops and Warehouses in Mexico. Specifically, it was installed in one of the warehouses of those old railway workshops, at the time functioning as the bronze casting workshop into the railway complex. The ambitious project rescued one of the most representative spaces both of the state and of the country in terms of historical and industrial heritage, considered as well one of the largest in Latin America.

The TNG |National Graphics Workshop  will provide services to the students of the University of the Arts, to the artists in the community, both nationally and internationally, with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, in accordance with the technological advances of the 21st century. Combining the different techniques of print media and digital graphics, with a special focus on eco-trends and the dissemination of graphic arts, it pay homage to the illustrious printmaker José Guadalupe Posada´s valuable legacy. The workshop has four areas: intaglio, screen printing, lithography and digital area.

Alicia Candiani, director of Proyecto´ace, was the only international representative to be invited by the  Cultural Institute of Aguascalientes at the opening ceremony. In her speech, she appreciated the opportunity to be in a historic moment, highlighting the refurbishing of architecture as well as the facilities of this space, which is at the height of the most important workshops in the world. She then promised to be a bridge with Argentine artists and to promote the work of Mexican artists internationally. Associated with this invitation, the presence of ´ace was completed with an on-site conference and workshop as well as participation in the 4th Engraving Fair, also organized by the Secretary of Culture, who also carries out the José Guadalupe Posada International Print Biennial.

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.