8th Festival de Performance de Cali

The Festival de Performance de Cali is an event organized in the city of Cali- Colombia since 1998 by the artist collective Helena Producciones. It was born as a critical alternative to participation and research in the local context. This context was built from points of view that, despite the artistic history of the city, restricted their own structures, generating a deep isolation between the community, the local context and the development of contemporary art. During the nineties, certain artistic possibilities like performance were not accounted as significant strategies in the development of the visual language, which opposed many of the projects that were generated among artists at the time. This phenomenon occurred due to a shortage of information sources, an absence of academic and professional spaces and the precarious research and interaction initiatives that would have allowed the development of other models.

The Festival has proposed strategies to promote the work of many artists, and it has become a heterogeneous stage that is constantly transforming according to the economic and socio-political needs and expectations of its environment. It has also expanded in order to give visibility and to empower a broader arena of socio-cultural practices and community initiatives through mechanisms of active and continuous participation. What is proposed for each festival is directly linked to the surrounding context, the possibilities of exploration of new actors and the integration of local, national and international realities. This creates a dynamic process of dialogue.

The Festival allows the exploration of key problems that have shaken our country’s reality in recent times. This is possible thanks to the work of artists, cultural groups, researchers, theorists and the community in general. The formats of participation and presentation of these works have been varied, being the educational component one of the most relevant.

The 8th Festival of Performance of Cali will take place from 27th of November to 1st of December 2012 in Cali- Colombia. Helena Producciones is entirely in charge of the conception, production and post-production of it. The proposed program of the festival is based on a structure that has been conceived during the festival’s trajectory. Nevertheless, it is open to integrating or exploring new possibilities in order to optimize the development of the projects. It will host exhibitions, conferences, insertions, interventions, public art, workshops and a day of performance. This usually takes place on the Saturday at the end of the week, from nine in the morning until midnight.

For the coming Festival, Helena Producciones intends to integrate into its program “La Escuela Móvil de Saberes y Práctica Social” (Traveling School of Knowledge and Social Practice). This initiative has been running for a few years, and its projects are very closely related to the cultural, environmental, political, historical and socio-economic realities of the communities. The methodology used is essentially based on direct contact and experience rather than on default systems of cultural exchange.

The educational component of the Festival enables the younger generation to be an active audience through talks and workshops during the month prior to the Festival. It will have an intensive program taking place in schools and universities in the city. It will also be directed to various community groups scattered throughout the city, considering their needs and possibilities. The Escuela will reconsider the theoretical components and formats used during previous Festivals. The interest of the Festival is focused on the exploration of the context through spaces that allow active participation and exchange at various levels in relation to aspects of daily life. One of the objectives of this component of the Festival is to create the conditions that enable direct dialogue about common concerns, thus promoting mutual understanding.

El Festival de Performance de Cali thinks preliminarily in Colombian society. This society has been the product of serious isolation since the nineties and also of an environment of national and institutional propaganda that has promoted a state of disinformation during the last decades. This project takes a position against this. It is a project that, from the art point of view, brings discussions about these problems and their ghosts.
Also, this project speaks about this particular region (Cali) that has different presences like the Afro-descendant diasporas, people of various ethnicities and also a large community with limited opportunities. The project is directed to community initiatives and their needs for visibility, to all those who seek a space of self-representation and empowerment to make their political images drive along.