Carlos Garaicoa
GOQA
Goodman Gallery presents GOQA, Carlos Garaicoa’s second exhibition with the gallery - marking a return to Joburg since participating in the first Johannesburg Biennale (1995) and bringing new and historical work, previously unseen within South Africa.
The centerpiece of the exhibition comprises a new body of photographic work in which the artist responds to contemporary Johannesburg alongside a series of historical works that consider varying contexts within the Global South with a focus on Cuba, Angola and South Africa.
At the heart of Garaicoa’s practice is an ongoing exploration of the narratives that buildings articulate as part of an expansion of the evolving dialogue between art, urban space and urban imaginaries. These concerns closely inform the new body of photography produced during a 2022 research trip to Johannesburg.
GOQA, the title for the photographic series from which the exhibition takes its name, is Zulu slang for a special key to enter a house illegally. This reference manifests in the installation of the work: a collection of blank keys held on rings alongside key holders that show photographs of Johannesburg’s buildings. Collectively, these photographs present a portrait of the city’s architecture today - an entry point for thinking about buildings as witnesses to history and as storytellers of failed urban ideals, forgotten spaces and deterioration.
Garaicoa’s Puzzles (2018-2022) series also reflects themes such as urban decay and degeneration of architecture over time. Here photographic works are shown in two layers; the first is a foregrounded image printed as a puzzle and the second is a washed-out version of the same image appearing in the background. The puzzle renderings of the photographs are dismantled in areas, with pieces held at the bottom of the clear plexiglass casing that contains each work.
The exhibition also includes elements of Memorias Intímas: Marcas [Intimate Memories: Marks], the historically significant project produced in collaboration with Fernando Alvim (Angola) and Gavin Younge (South Africa) in 1997. The work reexamines fragments of the Angolan Civil War in the territory of Cuito Cuanavale where Angola and Cuba joined forces against a common enemy, the South African Defence Force under apartheid. Here, Garaicoa’s photographs draw temporal and geopolitical connections between Cuba, Angola and South Africa.
Another key work on display is Garaicoa’s installation Escala 1:1 [Scale 1:1] (2014) in which rulers are cut to resemble buildings, resulting in a temporary cityscape along the gallery walls.
Artworks
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Artist Bio
Carlos Garaicoa (b. 1967 Havana, Cuba) studied thermodynamics and later painting at the Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana (1989 - 1994).
Garaicoa developed a multidisciplinary approach to address issues of culture and politics, particularly Cuban, through the study of architecture, urbanism and history. He focuses on a dialogue between art and urban space through which investigates the social structure of our cities in terms of their architecture. Through a wide variety of materials and media, Garaicoa found ways to criticise modernist Utopian architecture and the collapse of the 20th century ideologies.
Garaicoa has held numerous solo exhibitions including Lunds Konsthall and Skissernass Museum, Lund (2019); Parasol Unit Foundation, London (2018); Fondazione Merz, Torino (2017); MAAT, Lisbon (2017); Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao (2017); Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2016); Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (2015); CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Móstoles, Madrid (2014); Fundación Botín, Santander (2014); NC-Arte and FLORA ars + natura, Bogotá (2014); Kunsthaus Baselland Muttenz, Basel(2012); Kunstverein Braunschweig, Brunswick, Germany (2012); Contemporary Art Museum, Institute for Research in Art, Tampa (2007); H.F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (2011); Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), Amsterdam (2010); Centre d’Art la Panera, Lérida (2011); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Caja de Burgos (CAB), Burgos (2011); National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens (2011); Inhotim Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo, Brumadinho (2012); Caixa Cultural, Río de Janeiro (2008); Museo ICO (2012) and Matadero (2010), Madrid; IMMA, Dublin (2010); Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona (2006); Museum of Contemporary Art (M.O.C.A), Los Angeles (2005); Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá (2000).
Garaicoa has participated in prestigious international events such as the Biennials of Havana (1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2015), Shanghai (2010), São Paulo (1998, 2004), Venice (2009, 2005), Johannesburg (1995), Liverpool (2006) and Moscow (2005), the Triennials of Auckland (2007), San Juan (2004), Yokohama (2001) and Echigo-Tsumari (2012); Documenta 11 (2003) and 14 (2017) and PhotoEspaña 12 (2012).
In 2005 Garaicoa received the XXXIX International Contemporary Art Prize Foundation “Pierre de Monaco” in Montecarlo, and the Katherine S. Marmor Award in Los Angeles.
Garaicoa currently lives and works between Havana and Madrid.
