Ivan Juarez
Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Over the years your works have been conceived in United States, Taiwan, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Brazil, Senegal, Peru and Mexico and they have been awarded by multiple international institutions. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
I am interested on how a site- specific project can improve the community’ s’ landscape approach and the viewer’ s bodily experience. Through my work, I try to make emphasis on how the audience could discover, participate and interact, and how they could reflect about the surroundings and cultural context by having a new perception of their own place. At the same time, I also intent to raise questions such as What is the relationship between the natural environment with, sound, smell, taste, touch and vision?. How do people perceive, experience, and respond to their own environment? and How the project provides new visions and ways of thinking from sensorial experience?.
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Ivan. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?
Nowadays I am working at the intersection of practice, teaching and research. Regarding to my practice, I am currently working on an applied research interest that is focused on searching for alternative artisticenvironmental strategies of responsible tourism in the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. A project supported by the Secretariat of Culture of Mexico. In addition to my practice, I have been teaching as a Professor of environmental design disciplines, including architecture, landscape and urban design as well as a professor of art disciplines including environmental art and installation.
Thanks!!!
An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryder, curator landescape @ europe. com