About the project
Hablemos (Let’s talk) deals with Nicaragua’s current social crisis. Through dialogs between artists, scholars and other guests, we inroad discussions on what and how geopolitics, mythologies and human desires intertwine in the conflict. How the newly revealed dictatorship -which has killed over 400 since this April- came to be, 40 years after its same leaders overrun the last tyranny. The dialogs also address social fabric, individual memories, and art: what kind of art is possible when life is at stake, and how in such situation can we maintain our active role in the process? In an utterly polarized climate, true dialog is a treasure.
Amidst the maelstrom, we are beginning to forget: “There are decades when nothing happens, and weeks when decades go by.” Exchange of individual stories and perceptions, and their preservation facilitate understanding of our present, now and for the future; as well, in the form of podcasts, it facilitates other dialogs.
We engage in these discussions as artists, not journalists, nor social scientists: with our recollections, our voices, a sound recorder, drawing pads and other tools that allow for the anonymity of the speakers.
Nicaragua, who has seen the many faces of the “Empire,” is now on the verge of a civil war; thus, we speak softly, for fear of repression and to disown the loud voices in command. And what we say, we disseminate.
So far two dialogs have been held, both in post-production now. They are part of a broader EspIRA program: Cernir y Discernir (Sift and Discern), financed by Foundation for Art Initiatives. Through FfAI funding we will do eight sessions-podcasts by July 2019.
(The nature of Hablemos doesn’t allow photos. We included visuals from other EspIRA projects)
Video: EspIRA
About the artist
EspIRA is dedicated to fostering creative and critical thinking. We promote art as a field of experimentation, experience and thought -immersed in a fourth world, conservative geography, that defends the developmental vision of knowledge-.
In 17 years, EspIRA has carried out hundreds of courses, workshops, conferences, exhibitions, podcasts and television shows about art, gender, and politics. These actions foster the personal autonomy of artists and their audiences.