Estrecho Dudoso (Doubtful Strait)

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Estrecho Dudoso (Doubtful Strait) was a visual arts event organized by TEOR/éTica, inaugurated on November and December 2006. The event took place in several museums and institutions as well as certain public spaces in San José, Costa Rica. More than 70 artists from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia took part of the event.

Tamara Díaz Bringas and Virginia Pérez-Ratton curated it.

The title of the event takes as reference the designation “estrecho dudoso” (doubtful strait), with which the Spanish conquistadores named the Central American isthmus when they were not able to find the strait that would have lead them to the Spice Islands. The aim is to resume (and revert) this misunderstanding, the lack of balance with regard to the other’s expectations. Above all, it is about reinscribing that doubt from the past into today’s cultural context, in a doubtful region that continues to doubt. Through the process of globalization and the continuing growth of population flux, information and cultures, it almost seems as if the world has become narrower (“estrecho”), more connected, more united. This narrowness (“estrecho”) is also “doubtful” in the sense that these global processes are accompanied by an increase in physical and symbolic boundaries as well as proliferations of security, control and surveillance mechanisms.

Through its exhibitions, Estrecho Dudoso (Doubtful Strait) sought to establish and strengthen relationships and bonds between the artists themselves and their works. In a time when diversity was one of the most important issues behind several of the projects, the event aimed to emphasize the common aspects shared within that diversity that could contribute to a bigger and better understanding, through artistic sensibility from opposite sides of the world.

Estrecho Dudoso (Doubtful Strait) was dedicated to the memory of Juan Downey (Chile 1940-1993) and Margarita Azurdia (Guatemala 1931-1998), from whom monographic shows were exhibited. The event was made up of four collective shows interconnected through their themes: “Boundaries”, “News from the filibuster”, “Intangible Routes” and “Traffics”.

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)