¿Qué Quiere Mostrarme la Ciudad? / What does the city want to show me?

 ¿Qué Quiere Mostrarme la Ciudad? / What does the city want to show me?

Video. Performance. 2023

The work of Johannes Gerard proposes an artistic exploration of culture, space and identity in Quito, through videos, performance and elements autobiographical. During the process, Gerard toured Quito through daily journeys in buses or walks around the city. Letting yourself be carried away by chance, curiosity and intuition, the artist became a distant observer of urban life, discovering the diversity, complexity and beauty of the capital. In their tours he was able to get to know different places, people, situations and atmospheres that inspired him to create his work. With his drift, the artist seeks to reveal and stress the traces of the utopian and the dystopian in the city and relate them to his own social disconnection and search for solitude. Through his work, Gerard shows us a vision personal and criticism of Quito, a city that for the artist becomes dichotomous since it is at the same time a dream and a nightmare, a place of meeting and isolation, a reality and a fiction. Quito, like many cities, is a city that lives in a contradiction, houses intersecting realities, dreams and nightmares that struggle between the progress and regression. It is a city that offers opportunities and challenges, that welcomes and excludes, that unites and divides, that transforms and resists, that adapts and rebels, which is invented and remembered. Quito lives a reality that It involves fiction, hope and political disenchantment. The project proposes a cultural experience manifested in videos about the Daily life and atmosphere of the city taken during the day and night, and a performance that narrates the relationship between the city, the people and Gerard. He artist uses different media such as video and performance to create a narrative that reflects on identity, memory, power, violence, endurance. Gerard draws inspiration from his own biography, as well as the history and culture of Quito, to create a work that dialogues with the social and political context of the country. The artist also incorporates elements from nature, popular art, architecture, religion and literature, to create a visual language that expresses their sensitivity and commitment to the environment and human rights humans, each fight is a way to transform dystopia into utopia.

Rubén Darío Díaz Chávez Curator No Lugar – Contemporary Art, 

Quito, Ecuador, November 2023

With Thanks To Stroom, The Hague, Netherlands

Live performance : la ciudad, la gente y yo - the city, the people and I 

                            Premiere: 21 November at 2023 No Lugar, Quito,Ecuador 

Video Work:Premiere 21 November 2023 at No Lugar, Quito, Ecuador 

1: ¿Qué Quiere Mostrarme la Ciudad? (version diurno / 

     What Does the City Want to Show Me? (day light version)

2:  ¿Qué Quiere Mostrarme la Ciudad? (version nocturno / 

      What Does the City Want to Show Me? (night version )

Link to both version for viewing:

https://vimeo.com/889251586?share=copy

5th Video Art Forum

 5th Video Art Forum

International video art forum with 68 works from 29 countries.

Participating with '"the luminous path of a troubled mind” & “steadliy flowing - steadily moving”

Event and forum opening was 21 st of November 2023

Dar Noura Al Moussa Center for Arts

Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

www.videoart-forum.com / @videoart_forum

the luminous path of a troubled mind

steadily flowing - steadily moving

21/11/2023 Presentation of ¿Qué quiere mostrarme la ciudad?

 Today 21st of November 2023 is the presentation of my project ¿Qué quiere mostrarme la ciudad? (What the city wants to show me?) at

NO LUGAR, Quito, Ecuador

FORMA Y SUBSTANCIA International Festival of Performance

 My video performance The Plant / La Planta will be presented at the
FORM and SUBSTANCE International Festival of Performance, to be held in Honduras, from November 20 to 26, 2023.

The festival takes place in the capital Tegucigalpa and its sister city of Comayagüela. There are several events location spread over the cities such as Centro Cultural de Espana / Centro de Arte y Cultura UNAH / Museo para la Identidad Nacional among others as well public space such as parks . The festivals is organized for the third time by RACA Red de Arte Centro America. Director /Curator Ever Rodas Curators Norma Silva, Pancho Lopez

My work THE PLANT visualizes the diginity of time, silence, solitude and living in carefully executed movements. The work has a philosophical approach, partly influenced by Buddhist and Zen thought, but at the same time contains autobiographical elements. It is a performance with deliberate movements and without words.

One more week “What the city wants to show me”

 One more week until the final presentation on November 21, 2023 and the last few days to round off my project with the working title. “What the city wants to show me” refering to the city of Quito Things are taking shape, now two video works have already been edited and finished. Now it's time to tackle my upcoming performance, which is a combination of live performance, sound art and installation. That means rehearsing and arranging the props.

Coordinator and curator of the project Ruben Diaz (no lugar)

With thanks to Stroom, The Hague, Netherlands

Vozes do Oceano / - Voices From the Ocean

 Vozes do Oceano / - Voices From the Ocean

Uma Exposição Visual Coletiva / - A Visual Collective exhibition

ESTAÇÃO Canelas

18 November 2023 Opening 17.00 h

18 November – 20 December 2023

Rua da Estação, 3865-012 Canelas, Estarreja, Portugal

The exhibition features visual narratives that represent our relationship with the sea and the need to preserve and care for the environment in which we live. The exhibition aims to convey the idea that we are an integral part of nature and that our fate is inextricably linked to its balance. Visual representations capable of evoking a deep dialogue with nature and evoking a feeling of admiration, respect and care for the sea and the environment in general. May it make us reflect on our interdependence with nature and inspire concrete action to preserve and sustain our planet, our common home.

“Flowing and Moving” 

The waves representing the restlessness of the mighty ocean. The ever-changing, living energy of the sea and nature. One of the natural elements that shape the cycle of life and travel. But then waves can be rough, uncontrollable, stormy and devastatingly threatening, reflecting an unreachable horizon in the distance. A symbol that represents overcoming obstacles but at the same time shows our vulnerability and limitations within nature

A Profound Talk About Feminist Art

In conjunction of my project here in Quito I had an interesting talk with the curator and interdisciplinary artist, independent researcher and cultural manager Tania Lombeida Mino at the Museo de Ciudad of Quito She is also one of founders and directors of the cultural organization Artes Mujeres Ecuador. Her organisation is currently presenting an temporaly exhibition of the their project “Aun cuando todo esta nublado - Even when everything is cloudy” at the Museo de Ciudad

The project focus about the Chocó area of Ecuador , with the aims to collectivize artistic processes based on the relationship with diversities, respect for biodiversity and cultural awareness, in order to build new imaginaries of life and narratives with practices of creation-action in the face of territories harassed by extractivism. With one exception only women from different culture and science fields where involved in this project.

We talked about the idea and execution about the project. Furthermore about the meaning and implementation of Feminist art and women in the arts in general Not many times you have the chance for a profound talk about certain topics. This was one of the rare chances.

Photos: Ruben Diaz

Shhhhh #1 and Shhhhh #2

“stairs & corridors” a collaboration work with dancer Jana Schmück (Bautzen, Germany) is presented in a two-day screening event in Berlin at

Shhhhh #1 and Shhhhh #2

Sankt Studio

Saturday 04.11.2023,18.00 h with an intro presentation held by the curator Martha Zoupa (Video Art Miden)

Sunday 05.11.2023 the vidoes will be shown in a loop from 15.00 h until 19.00h

Mittenwalderstrasse 15, 10961 Berlin, Germany

Video Art Zero will present 2 modules edited and a special presentation/speech by curator Martha Zoupa, The selection presents video works from 26 artists from all over the world. The works focusing on thematic questions such as How do we conceive silence? As an introspection? As a withdrawal? As a way to connect with the others? Silence as a protest,as a punishment,as a sign of respect, silence in the noise...

What the city want to tell me / Lo que la ciudad quiere decirme

What the city want to tell me /  Lo que la ciudad quiere decirme

A new project is coming up, but still so uncertain and vague like the new coming day who will come. What want the city of Quito to tell me

On November 1, 2023, I started working on a new interdisciplinary project on urban and social environments of the city of Quito, Ecuador. The time frame for implementation is rather limited as it is only 18 days. The city has to tell me what it wants and I try to fulfill it

With the kind support of Stroom, The Hague, Netherlands