*Discoveries
Juan Antonio Olivares
ChertLüdde is honored to present the first exhibition in the gallery context of Juan Antonio Olivares. The artist’s first solo exhibition in the gallery space after an initial presentation at Bungalow, Transference revolves around moments of joy, exhilaration, meditation, visions, or hallucination– probing the nature of social connection and intimate exchange, and, as the title suggests, projections of private ideas unto others.
Gallery Weekend Berlin Where do you come form, what should we know about you and your background?
Juan Antonio Olivares I live and work in Brooklyn, New York.
GWB What was the inspiration for your current body of work?
JAO The inspiration for my new video installation, Transference, started on a feeling of external time moving faster than my internal awareness–the anachronism of my inner timeline in relation to the objective marker of years, days, and so on. The research and development for this project began a few months before the emergence of covid. At that point I had a few of the scenes in mind, and the audio sample I wanted to work with for the music. To say that the pandemic has made me look at everything in my life differently would be an understatement. In the isolation of lockdowns, I began to see my body as a porous vessel of functions and substances. Social distancing also made me reminisce about the spaces of joy and exhilaration that were necessarily denied in our global predicament.
Juan Antonio Olivares, “Transference”, installation view at ChertLüdde
Photo: Andrea Rossetti
Courtesy of the Artist and ChertLüdde, Berlin
Juan Antonio Olivares, “Transference”, installation view at ChertLüdde
Photo: Andrea Rossetti
Courtesy of the Artist and ChertLüdde, Berlin
GWB Could you describe your upcoming exhibition in a few words/images? What can we expect to see?
JAO Transference is a multi-channel holographic video installation. The devices used in the installation create an apparition of 3D animated footage through rotating LED strips.
GWB Are there any particular visual / literal references you like to point out?
JAO The exhibition references the book Awakenings, neurologist Oliver Sacks’ 1968 study of institutionalized patients in nearly akinetic states, known then as “sleeping sickness”–who were miraculously revived, albeit for a short time, by the administration of a revolutionary dopamine-producing medication.
GWB What is the right soundtrack for your exhibition?
JAO The music in the installation is made by my composer friend, Stelios Phili.
GWB What is special about exhibiting in Berlin for the first time?
JAO I kind of see Berlin as a city of pleasure-seekers. Transference feels in line with that pursuit.
GWB Could you describe your upcoming exhibition in a few words/images? What can we expect to see?
JAO Transference is a multi-channel holographic video installation. The devices used in the installation create an apparition of 3D animated footage through rotating LED strips.
GWB Are there any particular visual / literal references you like to point out?
JAO The exhibition references the book Awakenings, neurologist Oliver Sacks’ 1968 study of institutionalized patients in nearly akinetic states, known then as “sleeping sickness”–who were miraculously revived, albeit for a short time, by the administration of a revolutionary dopamine-producing medication.
GWB What is the right soundtrack for your exhibition?
JAO The music in the installation is made by my composer friend, Stelios Phili.
GWB What is special about exhibiting in Berlin for the first time?
JAO I kind of see Berlin as a city of pleasure-seekers. Transference feels in line with that pursuit.
Juan Antonio Olivares, born in 1988 in Puerto Rico to Colombian/Chilean parents, is currently based in New York. Olivares has exhibited in venues such as: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York; Off Vendome, New York; and M/L Artspace, Venice.
