Alexander Apostol

Listings(s)

'Yamaikaleter'

Alexander Apostol at Stevenson in Cape Town

As part of the FOREX series Alexander Apóstol presents Yamaikaleter.

Since the 1990s, Apóstol has been concerned with investigating the impact of modernism and the failure of its utopian project on contemporary cities and society in Latin America, with a particular focus on architecture. Underlying this is an interest in political ideology and discourse, which comes to the fore in the video piece Yamaikaleter (2009). The work uses as its basis Simón Bolívar's Letter from Jamaica, a document written in English in which the Latin American leader set out his political ideals. Apóstol writes:

'The legacy of the Letter from Jamaica ... has frequently been adapted to suit any political tendency and is here read aloud by leaders of various political groups in an improvised municipal office. As they do not understand or speak English, the reading becomes a visible parody born by the charisma of amateur leaders. Their empty verbosity, the populist promises or the nationalist inclinations turn into inescapable principles of political messianism.'

25 October 2011 - 25 November 2011