Más Arte Más Acción

Led by Fernando Arias and Jonathan Colin, Más Arte Más Acción generates inspirational art in Colombia and Latin America that gives a voice to people from communities silenced by lack of opportunity. Our projects raise awareness of people from remote regions to deprived urban settings, revealing their worlds, expressing their concerns and sharing their wisdom. We have our own creative team and work with other artists who challenge mainstream culture. We aim to create work of the highest quality and to stimulate cultural exchange, debate and dialogue by working with our network of partners, leaders who have the confidence of their communities. Our projects fall into four areas: Silent Voices, Grains of Sand, DocumentARIAS and LoVisual.

MICROmacro
13 Salón Regional de Artistas

Fernando Arias and Jonathan Colin won a Ministry of Culture Award to curate part of Colombia's XIII Regional Salon 2009/10. Through open submission and direct invitation eighteen projects were selected.

Starting with a talk given by a bacteriologist in laboratories across the region, this theoretical and practical session focussed on the principles of life seen through the microscope. This interaction between art and science created spaces for dialogues. Based on this session, participants developed social, environmental and cultural projects.

To download the catalogue click on link below.

PDF Catalogue here

Photos of the MICROmacro exhibition

Photos/video of MICROMACRO process

MISION VISION

Mision Vision was a creative workshop funded by the Ministry of Culture. Directed by Fernando Arias and Elkin Calderon it coached artists in how to work with audiovisual technology by exploring a theme 'the city as a living organism'. Calderón is a professor of video art at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogota.

The city as a living organism serves as a base to investigate the 'life' of a city. The way in which the human body functions on a microscopic level has similarities with the dynamics and organisation within a city. From this starting point, Mision Vision uses video to explore the artists' daily life and their intimate relationship with the city. The project forms part of MICROmacro with selected videos being shown during the exhibition.

Choco Residencies brings artists, writers and musicians into this remote Colombian region. Here they can develop their work, share experiences and skills with local communities, learn from these communities and present the best joint projects on the internet and through national exhibitions, publications and events. At least one annual residency will be linked to another national and international residency with our partner organisations.

Is a new programme to create partnerships and opportunities for disadvantaged people working in the creative field. Since 1999 when we first began to help groups and individuals in Colombia, we have seen how it's possible to transform lives with relatively small financial input. Through on-going advice, it's also possible to create a sustainable future for those receiving support.

Grains Of Sand supports micro cultural projects that have a social emphasis. In return for financial support or other goods and training, recipients will create a work of art or craft using their specialized skills. This is given to the project's supporter.

A video strand includes the abstract-documentary approach that Arias has imprinted on his own work and has been supported by the Prince Claus Fund. Future projects involve collaborations with artists whose work is relevant to Más Arte Más Acción's vision. This is also connected to other programme strands with video works emerging from Silent Voices and Grains Of Sand. Arias will also extend his project Humanos Derechos to other conflict zones through DocumentARIAS.


Writers, critics and social commentators assess Más Arte Más Acción's projects. The results are published on our website, through catalogues and dvd's.