Kickstarter

Tonight's the night!  I'm on my way tonight to the opening for the Selección Promérica exhibition at the Museo de Arte in San Salvador, El Salvador.  I'll find out soon if the project continues on to the Biennial in Panama.  It's been a lot of work to get here, but I already feel extremely satisfied with the way the Altar looks and works and with this experience as a whole.  

I haven't posted any pictures or given any updates because the project has been THAT crazy.  I finally got the project to where I wanted it to be that yesterday morning, just hours before I was presenting to the jury.  The presentation went well and now all that's left is to cross my fingers and say a prayer or two before the six of the total 19 artists are chosen tonight at the opening ceremony.  Today is the first day I truly feel I can relax.  I decided to reward myself and go to the beach before the event tonight.  

Some thoughts:

I feel extremely proud to be showing amongst the other Salvadoran artists in the Seleccíon Promérica show.  I think the work is really strong, and I feel honored to be sharing space with these people.  Overall, it surprised me (pleasantly) how strong a bent the show has towards the technological.  Here I was thinking that I would give the community here "an idea of what is possible today with technology" when not only do a lot of the pieces use sound / video / multimedia, but they are using programs such as Processing, hacking a Kinect to detect presence, and analyzing text with software to create sonic soundscapes… Oh well, sometimes it feels good to have a little egg on the face, to be humbled when it is actually a good thing when you didn't have the right idea… telling piece.  The work in photography, drawing and painting also deal with some very relevant issues to this place and time such as sex work, immigration, gender, and the environment.  There's a really nice piece with two phones where one can hear a jailed female gang member talking to her husband.  I'll try and post some more pictures tomorrow or as soon as I can after the event tonight of not only my piece, but of the others as well, so you can get an idea of just how cool the scene is here.  

I've met a community of Salvadoran artists who are doing very interesting work here in El Salvador, my country of origin, which I love and identify with very strongly.  It feels really good, like being a setup on a blind date and actually liking the person you meet.  I look forward to staying in contact with them and hopefully building a bridge between New York and the work being done here in El Sal.  

In the end, all I can say is this:  No matter what happens, if my project is chosen or not, I feel really happy and content about the whole experience and what I have been able to produce.  I continue to feel grateful to all who have helped me along the way-- It feels like this something that you all are also taking part in.  This has pushed me, and pushed me hard, to produce work that I feel really good about.  It is the continuation of a dream from when I first started the project years ago.  Even if the project is not picked tonight, I can feel really good about this (and what you have helped with).  ALSO… I'd like to show the piece in just a few more places, be it in Miami or New York… So let's see what happens!

Also, special thanks to José Olivares, Sofy Yuditskaya, and Eric Beug for their help with the interactive programming in MaxMSP. 

I'll let you know what happens and post some photos in the next few days!  Wish me luck!