palabras embajadora clemencia forero ucrós ping pong exhibition

8/14/2019 PALABRAS Embajadora Clemencia Forero Ucrs Ping Pong Exhibition

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Ping Pong Exhibition

Colombia Australia Connections

Through Visual Arts

Opening of Exhibition, November 7th, 2013

Intervention by

H.E. Clemencia Forero Ucrs

Professor Margaret Gardner AO, Vice Chancellor RMITUniversity

Jill Morgan, AM, CEO, Multicultural Arts Victoria

Artists Jorge Julin Aristizabal from Colombia and Greg Creek,from Australia.

Dear Ambassadors, Consuls and members of the ConsularCorp in Melbourne

Mr Geoffrey Widmer, Honorary Consul of Colombia

Dr Geoff Hogg, Program Director, Art in Public Space, RMITSchool of Art

Dear Friends,

It is for me a great privilege to be here in Melbourne to

inaugurate this innovative exhibition, which enhances the

cultural connections between Australia and Colombia through

visual arts.


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Intervention by AmbassadorH.E. Clemencia Forero Ucrs

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I wish to thank RMIT University and Multicultural Arts Victoria,

institutions at the very heart of this effort and to express the

special gratitude of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to

Professor Margaret Gardner, Vice Chancellor and President ofRMIT and Stefan Romaniw, Chair of Multicultural Arts Victoria.

And I would like to add that the exhibition of these splendid

drawings would not have been possible without the

enthusiasm, affection and support provided by Trinidad Estay,

and Mara Teresa Mendoza, who is in charge of cultural affairs

at our Embassy in Canberra.

Letsput your hands together for them.

Ping Pong is a project of visual arts that intends to promote a

visual dialogue between artists. It was conceived in 2007 by the

Colombian artist Jose Antonio Suarez Londoo, who developed

it in collaboration with Mateo Lpez.

This initiative was replicated with the same denomination by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2013.It intends to foster an

interactive dialogue between artists from Colombia and the

Asia Pacific region, particularly from Australia, Thailand, India

and China.

Maestro Jos Antonio Surez Londoo led the selection of the

Colombian artists that would take part in this initiative and set

the rules for the Pig Pong game.


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Allow me to explain these rules so you can grasp the essence

of this special kind of Ping Pong Game.

The rules were the following:

1. Agree with your playmate the minimum and maximumdimension of the drawings that will be developed.

2. Make a list of ten words, ideas or texts

3. Give a copy of your lists to your playmate

4. Proceed to cut each word and roll them individually.Each player will have a total of 20 rolls of paper in acontainer, 10 suggested and 10 received from thecounterpart.

5. Each artist will take the words from the containerrandomly, creating a drawing for each one of them.

6. The time to play will be 2 months, starting from themoment the list is given to its counterpart.

7. As a result there will be 40 drawings.

After selecting and inviting the artists, and with the support of

curators and cultural entities and spaces, it was possible to

identify the artists that could develop the initiative in Asia.


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Embassy was Now I understand what the word Lejos-Far

means. Could you one day draw this word for us?

Lejos, in Spanish, far, in English. By creating these artistic

links and by allowing artists and audiences from each country

to get closer, we expect to surpass physical distance and

increase the people to people links and the cultural proximity

that is the basis and the essence of a growing relationship

between our two countries, Colombia and Australia.

Greg Creek has been the counterpart in Australia for this ping

pong match. We wish to thank this prestigious Australian artist

for his participation in our initiative. Allegory has been

acknowledged as an essential tool of his works, and Ping Pong

is an allegorical game that translates ideas and themes into

plastic realities.And now, please enjoy the exhibition. Thank you for your

participation.

palabras embajadora clemencia forero ucrós ping pong exhibition

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