Liliane Eberle’s Universal Melancholy and Julio Neri’s Super 8.
From Jun 11 through Nov 8, 2011.
In her second solo show in Miami, titled “Universal Melancholy”, the Swiss photographer Liliane Eberle presents her most recent work. In this new exhibition, she has focused on the visual documentation on her trips to Tunisia, Morocco, Bali, Cuba and Cameroon.
Hidden beyond the lens of her camera, Liliane stands witness to the political and social issues that affect the daily life of the residents of those countries. Through Eberle’s photo series one discovers that a universal melancholy unites each of these countries in one common state of circumstance.
Day to day experience puts man in situations, which at times are difficult to interpret, thus making it a challenge to capture the complexity of developing life. Spontaneity, rhythm, movement, unconditionalness, nature, sensuality, and the present, are the conditions set to launch this show. The perception of external objects is easy at first glance, but the essence of a movement that emanates from the inside out is requires a certain degree of concentration. In other words, virtues are created with practice, and in turn are nourished when immediate material conditions do not affect the characteristics of the being. This work has a clear role in which it distances itself from the superficiality and the whirlwind, and enters the inner world, taking us to the threshold where we begin to be able to discover, and make good use of substantial wealth. Without external intervention of miseries, weaknesses, and the coordinates of time and space, a sample of spiritual value is never passive. This raises the heart and mind to a level that allows us to be lead towards an inner journey, freeing us from a distracted life, plunging us into a world of meaning from which it is easier to read the essence and content, deactivating immediate reality, evoking only the resonance of the soul.
Project Room: “Super 8”, political art films by Julio Neri
Venezuelan, Florida based filmmaker Julio Neri will be screening, for the first time in Miami, two anthological rare art/political films titled “Armada” (1977) and “Electrofrenia” (1978).
In the 1970’s Super 8 Cine became the worldwide New Art filmmaker’s format, as 16 mm, the format of Underground Film as well as the 1950’s and 1960’s avant-garde Film (Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, etc.) had become too expensive and was not accessible to New Film Artists. Unlike many previous movements and film schools, Super 8 film was growing around the world. From Tehran to Caracas, from Buenos Aires to Toronto, filmmakers traveled all over the world shooting in this format. Either by attending festivals or giving lectures and workshops in other parts of the world is the manner in which this adoption took root and spread globally.
This occurrence is emphasized by the formation of the International Federation of Super 8 Film, of which Neri was its president. Super 8 Film marks the end of cinema as an individual or personal artistic expression through the imminent arrival of the video.
Armada and Electrofrenia represent the few cases of this type of cinema that took on a socio-political position, directed at predominant military dictatorships in southern countries of South America.
Armada (1978), Neri´s first political film, was made at a time in which several Latin American countries –most importantly Argentina and Chile— had seen a turn towards military dictatorships. Neri questions authoritarian regimes through the narrative of a devoted but free-loving daughter, Armada, and her military father. Armada´s line of argument departs from the militant films made by New Latin American Cinema directors in the 1960’s. Rather than openly opposing the violent and repressive regimes (represented by the father), Armada establishes a complex relationship in which the daughter is divided between the love towards her father and the love towards her freedom. However, Armada´s death at the hands of her violent father clearly condemns the use of violence and is thus a call to action against repressive regimes. As many Super 8 films of the 1970’s and 1980’s, Armada has a synchronized sound track rather than diegetic sound.
Electofrenia (1979), Neri´s third political film, requires a critical distance in order to consider the reasons why Venezuelans choose their presidential candidate in the 1978 election. Electofrenia, signifying the chaos of the elections, proposes that many Venezuelans select the candidate who benefits them personally rather than the one who is good for the country at large. Not without irony, the film brings up Venezuela´s two decades of peaceful democratic government. If people choose what is good for them, can we call it a democracy?
Dot Fiftyone Gallery
51 NW 36 Street
Miami, FL 33127
www.dotfiftyone.com
Leslie Gabaldon's And Let it go…Collective loss: another visual register of unavoidable thoughts, a composition of photography and language, opens on November 8th, 2008 and runs through January 20th at Dot Fiftyone Gallery's Project Room. 
From September 13th through October 20th, 2008, Dot Fiftyone Gallery presents Perpendicularity a new body of work from LA – based photographer Mark Indig. 
Transforming Light, at Dot Fiftyone Gallery, explores the notion of how light profoundly affects the perception of our physical environment and impacts our understanding of metaphysical reality. The eight featured artists are: Mauro Giaconi, Marc Ash, Ruddy Candillon, Patrick Laumond, Andres Ferrandis, Yom, Leonel Matheu, Max Gomez Canle. 
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