Year
2012
country of production
Mexico
credits
Alexandra Gelis
kind of work
Video Installation
Intersecting Fields
Intersecting Fields is a five channel video installation. Deals with the ecologically wounded and exploited landscapes in Mexico. Shot in different cities in Mexico, the piece explores the relationship between landscape and the effects of trade blocks to the environment and its people; effects in many cases invisible to the camera and to the eye of the observer. While drawing much needed attention to aesthetic concerns in the representation of the landscapes.Installation requirements:The five channel installation can be shown in two ways:
– Using one video projector per video and distributed in the space.
– Can also be projected in two channel installation using two video-projectors per channel, one after another.
The piece will be showing one landscape at the time.
Intersecting fields es una videoinstalación de cinco canales.
Fue grabada en distintas ciudades de México y explora la relación entre el paisaje y los efectos de los bloques de comercio sobre el ambiente y sus habitantes; efectos que en muchos de los casos son invisibles a la cámara y al ojo del observador. Esta obra enfatiza la necesidad de atención a los aspectos estéticos en la representación del paisaje
Environment sample for field work #1.
Pollution. Skyline, Mexico CityRecorded during one week everyday at sunrise.
HD Video
1:39:00
Muestra ambiental para trabajo de campo #1.
Contaminación. Cielo, Ciudad de MéxicoGrabado diariamente por una semana durante el amanecer.
HD Video
1:39:00
Environment sample for field work #2.
Town of Real de Catorce in San Luis PotosíTwo hour recording.
The REAL DE CATORCE SILVER PROJECT owned by First Majestic Silver Corp, Canada, consists of 22 open sky mining concessions covering 6,327 hectares in Virikuta, sacred land for the Huichol native community.
HD Video
0:43:37
Muestra ambiental para trabajo de campo #2.
Pueblo de Real de Catorce en San Luis Potosí.
Grabación de dos horas.
REAL DE CATORCE SILVER
PROJECT cuyo propietario es la Empresa First Majestic Silver Corp, Canada, consiste en 22 consesiones de minería a cielo abierto que cubren una superficie de 6,327 en Virikuta, tierra sagrada de los Huicholes
HD Video
0:43:37
Environment sample for field work #3.
Playa Ventura in Guerrero.
One of the routes used for the traffic of drugs towards the US market.
HDV Video
0:09:35
Muestra ambiental para trabajo de campo #3.
Playa Ventura Guerrero.
Una de las rutas para el tráfico de Drogas hacia los Estados Unidos.
HDV Video
0:09:35
Environment sample for field work #4.
Mexico. Railway Kansas City Southern (KCS), Kansas City Southern Railway (KCSR) – as part of NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) – railway links mid-America, Mexico and, through interchange with Canadian National, Canada.
Mexico’s whole railway is rented to KCS and closed for local commerce and public transportation since late nineties. Freight carried by KCSR includes general commodities (agricultural and mineral products, chemical and petroleum products, and forest products and minerals), coal, intermodal containers, and motor vehicles. One way of transportation to go through Mexico via North and go unnoticed is the railroad. Hundreds of Central and South Americans traveling as stowaways on the roof or clinging to the sides of the train.
HD Video
0:10:24
Muestra ambiental para trabajo de campo #4.
Como parte del Tratado de Libre Comercio.Railway Kansas City Southern (KCS), Kansas City Southern Railway (KCSR) – vinculan México, Estados Unidos, Centroamérica y Canadá.
Las vías ferroviarias de México están concesionadas a KCS y cerradas al comercio local y la transportación de personas desde dinales de los años 90.
Las cargas que lleva KCSR incluyen mercancías en general, productos para laagricultura y la minería, productos químicos y derivados del petróleo, carbón, contenedores intermodales y vehículos motores.
El tren es también el medio que utilizan cientos de centro y sudamericanos para transportarse hacia el norte sin ser vistos. Viajan en los techos o colgados a los lados de los trenes.
HD Video
0:10:24
Environment sample for field work #5.
Estación Catorce, desert.Land of peyote (Hikuri), sacred plant for Mexico’s largest indigenous groups, the Huichol native community in the desert of San Luis Potosi. Magnetic ambivalence attracting psychedelic tourism and silver mining.
HDV Video
0:12:10
Muestra ambiental para trabajo de campo #5.
Estación Catorce, desierto.Tierra del peyote (Hikuri), planta sagrada utilizada por el grupo indígena más grande de México, los huicholes. Ambivalencia magnética que atrae turismo psicodélico y minería de plata.
HDV Video
0:12:10
Gallery OCAD – Documentation
INTERSECTING FIELDS explores the relationship between landscape and the effects of trade blocks to the environment and its people; effects in many cases invisible to the camera and to the eye of the observer. While drawing much needed attention to aesthetic concerns in the representation of the landscapes,I was touched by my everyday encounters with people in their own environment, their straightforward personal narratives; anonymous histories that helped me to understand the asymmetric impact of “development” on their lives and land.5 Channel Video Installation.
– Environment sample for field work #1.
Pollution. Skyline, Mexico City
– Environment sample for field work #2.
Town of Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosí. Two hour recording.
– Environment sample for field work #3
Playa Ventura in Guerrero.
– Environment sample for field work #4.
Mexico. Railway
– Environment sample for field work #5.
Estación Catorce, desert
Exhibitions:
At the Boundary of the Self . York University MFA/Phd Visual Arts Program.OCADU Graduate Gallery. .Toronto, Canada. 2010.
Belong to Something. York University MFA/Phd graduate exhibition.
Galles Gallery and Special Projects Gallery, York University.
Toronto, Canada. 2010