Ariel Camejo: Representing the City in Latin America and the Caribbean

Perspectives from Literature, Visual Arts and Music
Angewandte Resident Artist [Programme]

This lecture aims to present some recent developments in the process of representing contemporary city in Latin America and the Caribbean. Departing from the stories of three novels (César Aira: La Villa; Patrick Chamoiseau: Texaco; Pedro Juan Gutiérrez: Trilogía sucia de La Habana), the conference will trace a symbolic map that moves over some of the most iconic urban representations witnessed during Havana Biennial of Arts (with the last three editions deeply involved with urban practices and dynamics) and popular music cultures like the ones represented in reggaetón and trap.
Some of the concepts and figures to examine are the notions of Capital Cities (within the logics of late colonial and/or poscolonial territories), Junkspaces (as defined by Rem Koolhas), Ruins of Modernity, Paradoxical Infrastructures, Politics of Citizenship-Identity (concerning social class, gender, ethnic or linguistic appropriation of space-place).