Born in Bogota, Colombia, Iván Argote lives and works in Paris and New York. His work explores the relationship between history, politics and the construction of our own subjectivities. His interest in the public space, the problems it generates, the way we relate to others, to the state, to heritage and traditions, is translated through films, installations and sculptures.

We talked to Iván about his next project that he plans to film on East Island, in the Hawaiian area. This archipelago that belongs to the United States, has a very complex history of colonisation and is now slowly being eaten by the Pacific Ocean, due to climate change. Ironically, the US is losing territory due to the effects of climate change, just when it is refusing to sign the agreements to stop it.

“The project I propose will be a reflection on the particular relationship between colonialism and the climate crisis in the ocean’s lands. The project in general is part of a long-term reflection on the decentralisation of our perspectives in political and geographical ways, a subject that I have previously explored in my films and installations”. The film he was producing focuses on cultural resistance in this region and on how culture could perhaps bring us another socio-political perspective.

POSTED: @tropicalpapers_