Lectures, seminars and workshops

Abdel Hernandez San Juan

Theoretical Seminars, courses, Lectures and workshops

1996- The posmodern work: beyond the intertextual. 

By abdel Hernández San juan

guest of the classical and hispanic studies at rice university in semiotic theory, anthropology and theory of art, Fondren library lectures auditoriums, rice university

 "The posmodern work", a theoretical paper/essay written by Abdel Hernández San Juan was lectured by him throught a 45 minutes conference read in person at the fondren library lectures auditorium as part in the meetings, dialogues and activities developed by abdel during his travel as guest theoretician writer and lecturer of the faculty of classical and hispánic studies at rice university to discuss his conjuntion of semiótic theory,  theory of contemporary art and anthropology.

The paper lectured focussed in avoiding speculative generalizations on posmodernism seen as a social, económic or history diagnosis on modernity, to instead discuss that the idea of posmodernism must be regarded, framed, cutted, logically identify as certain under empirical experience as a matter of subjectivity, a subjectivity phenomenologically expressed at the level of the "configurational paradigms" on how an "author work" as a whole of parts or fragments should be made  and understand both at writing works, --books of thought--or literacy as at any other language

Abdel examined this "configuratiónal paradigms" as a matter of languages in between defining "ideal types" as this concept was attempted to work in comprehensive sociology, from max Weber to Alfred shutz, or "tipifications", semiotically unveiling the levels of contrained signs in languages procedures and how it is entailed later as relations between subjectivity and culture.

1-Mixing or mixturing as cultural sincretization or as yuxtaposing, collecting or quoting cultural texts?

For example, we have recognized Ventury architectural ecleptisism as "posmodern" since an architectural building aesthetically speaking shows to be composed by fragments of styles clues we have never seen before mixed according to diacronical, logically linear, historial parameters of styles, this might be identified on a first level as a "sincretization" agains style, meaning negating style, but sincreticism itself is nothing but an ethnological culturalist concept far to be easely tangibly operated in terms of languages procedures by an author. 

One of the usual hiphotesis on this regard might often be regarded to a kind of overflows of culture over the author control of forms procedures and as such reduced to be seen as an expresión of the author permeability and or metamorphosis in a culture, the well know so-called analysis of forms as expresión of cultural identity issues, an overflows easy to be asigned in terms of sake as a result of the pop artists game with non-artístic massive and popular culture aesthetics so lossing control at the language level and becomings expresión of cultural dinámics

For examples, "remedos" and "pastiches" analyzed not as intentional language aesthetics to be seen instead as what is posible socioculturally to an author who can't do more than remedos of culture texts in currents sociocultural situations.

Another ussual hipothesis focuss from the oposites perspectives, instead of seen the author as losing control at the level of language in regard to culture, understanding it as a kind of artifice about which the author is full concient to be some one who act as a external collector of cultural codes as this codes may be recognized under visual culture icons, so that what before was seen as an ecleptisism resulted from overflows of culture over form triggering sicretism as an ethnological result of reacting agains the codes of style, is now be seen, gazing exactly the same motive, as an illusionist control of spetial effects by an author who quotes prevouslly unrelated codes of culture throught what Jameson defined as "an spectacle of availability", here the author appear as a collector who join or gather anything as quoting. 

So, from this another perspectives, "remedos" and "pastiches" appears not as a sociocultural condition of posibility on what any author might do with the texts of culture remedating it, but remedating as a voluntary procedures of cultural quoting, 

However, in both cases 1-reacting to styles codes from a mixing ethnologically sincretization of cultural overflowings over forms --the eclepticist cultural identity hiphotesis or 2-by intentionally yuxtaposing it -- the empty artifitial parameters of quoting--, the "ideal types" in both cases unveil at the configuratiónal level-- (paradigms of the work of an author as a whole--), how the relation between language, subjectivity and culture have changed.

"The posmodern work" must thus be seen in terms of idealizacion as one in which form and morphology are less a point of departure and more a point of arrivals, while as ever making a work as procedures level presupose working with a media, a matter or a form what a "posmodern work" imply might thus be identify as modalities from which style ever result from logically operating over form with cultural codes instead of operating from form, morphology and styles of departure over culture

2-Diferend, differed destinatary or difference: Avoiding the reader, viewer or receptor?

All this suposes the question about if a "posmodern work" in terms of the pluralist, heterogéneous, polisemic understanding of sociocultural environments should be considered as an "open work" remembering umberto eco and Claude Levis strauss discusion when the later reacted to eco "the open work" claming a "closed work' one, eco "Open work" was based and inspired in John Cage aleatorist work with fragments and suposed as inclusive understanding sociocultural environments mainly as entropic spaces of múltiples irreductibles, endless of interpretations pluralist spaces, have "the posmodern work" turned out it ending the ideals of the aleatorist "open work" or must it be intérpreted as less open?

A yes or a not in answers to this question shows major regards about how subjectivity --the authorial one--, feels itself in the universe, or we feel ourself as particular relational atoms under an Infinity irreductible universe or we feel ourselves under an enclosed universe, this might then be discussed less around styles and codes of culture and more around how subjectivity work at the configurational level in between the work language and the kind of reader and or viewer the work anticipates as adressed to it.

In this sense the paper discuss and sustain that avoiding the idea of a concrete destinatary, reader or receptor must be defined as another "ideal types" typical of "posmodern works"

The concrete reader, viewer or receptor is avoided in favour of a disuation instead of a persuation, diferends and diference.

Instead of taking responsability letting the work to be completed by the interpreter as it was often under late modernism or to change the receptor mind as it was often under modernist parameters, the posmodern work tend to avoid it.

3-Irony and parody as a disuasive actitudes regarding the content level of the themes or topics which contrain the author work

Focussing the relation between subjectivity, language and culture another "ideal types" must thus be entailed with irony and parody, the author choice a theme or topics to him or her work but will never compromise him or herself with something to be say on it,  ironing and paroding the say with the saying, this must thus be entailed again also with avoiding and with narcisism

4-de-(s) narrativization or rearticulation of fragments as disjuntures of fragments

Instead of a happy universe of fragments under aleatorial, fractal armony of atomized elements of relational ludric interactions as it was the "ideal types" paradigmatique of Cage paraboles of noises and silences, or recorded collected noises as sound typical of electroacustics, another "ideal types" looks to regulate the configuratiónal level of parts and wholes under posmodern works, the fragments are acepted less as a position of elements under an universe and more as a de-narrativization procedures, such attention on narrative is attempted to do both fragmenting narratives avoiding the often dramaturgical organizations of clímax and rearticulating it, such rearticulation finds a variety of forms, it might be seen as a resignation to fragmented subjectivity ironizing it or as abyections but must be seen too, at the same time, as a procedures to recapture narrative when entailed to cultural memory or the past, for example in the ways Wilson de-narrativize the mise in scene of classical motives in theater de-teatralizing it toward a visual yuxtaposition of a plastic surface of shadows, the actor as image

The paper lectured discussed around ten "ideal types" 

Max Weber, Frederic jameson, Julia kristeva and linda hutcheon are mentioned inside the paper toguether with somes united states visual artists such as ventury, bárbara kruger and Cindy Sherman, between others from the late eighties, references in bibliography included Susan Rubin  Suleiman on "naming and differences: reflexions on modernism versus posmodernism in literature", a paper about posmodern literature, pavao pavlicic "modern and posmodern intertextuality' and Hall Foster "re-post'.

The lecturer was introduced to the audience by Surpik angelini, included the presence of Stephen Fox, Richard ingelson, lane Kauffman, Stephen a tyler and Julie Taylor, between others, simultáneous translation by Graciela daichman

Rice university, Houston, texas

1997-New methodologies in the work with otherness. 

By abdel Hernández San Juan and Surpik angelini

Rice media Center lectures auditoriums, rice univesity, guest of the faculty of anthropology at rice university and the transart foundaton of houston

Following abdel Hernández San Juan 1996 theoretical paper read by him at fondren library focussed in developing max Weber and Alfred shutz " ideal types" method in sociology to the analysis of paradigms of configuratiónal procedures of " the posmodern work", abdel hernandez san Juan and Surpik angelini commit themselves to lecture a three months course of one lecture a week discussing several modalities of the work with otherness as "ideal types" under contemporary art.

This course focussed on a variety of well diferienced modalities

1- the museum and the market: high and popular culture/ otherness or alterity?

This first one "ideal types" born with an abdel project of research as curator of venezuelan art at the Alejandro Otero museum of visual art when he was focussing the relation between the high art museum and the food distributión market of coche since abdel asked about if the food market must be understand as one and the same market with the museum art market or instead as an otherness to it or optionally as an alterity to it, the question itself evolved to be both, one on the relation between the museum (the I, we or us) and the market (otherness to the museum or alterity to it, --meaning optionally self-exteriorization or otherness of the self).

2- The "I Mirrors" or the objective social otherness/intersubjectivity

This secound one "ideal type" discussed modality adquieres form as result of abdel and Surpik letters exchanges 1995-1996, when Surpik expressed to be interested in the relation between the "I" and it's "double figural" (in her words this notion of double figural), the "i in the mirrors" or the specular otherness seen as several "I"s?, or as projected by the "i" "otherness" versus objective others, and abdel  focussed instead in real others in terms of the individual versus social others, this modality developed under research dialogue adquiered attention and was discussed at the course in between two issues, 

a) the issue of biography, (pyche, eros and othernnes as mirrors to the "I"), developed under the Surpik angelini exhibit

b) the issue of objective otherness seen under the exploration of works between two authors, what it means as challenge to one author sharing his work with another one?,

This objective otherness side was derived then in discussing both: "intersubjectivity" and "dialogues", 

the first one otherness of Surpik mirrors derived in self-narratives and biography, 

the secound abdel one otherness derived in discussing "intersubjectivity" and "dialogue".

3-the otherness of an anticipated idealized other seen from the work inside as a later reader or later viewer to the author

Under this "ideal types" abdel and surpik discussed several modalities semiologically analyzed at the language level of the works adressed to destinataries (readers, receptor or viewers) 

thus here the issues of otherness was discussed from the perspective of how a future reader, spectator or viewer when the work is not published or exhibited yet but still being composed or created by the author in the studio function as an idealized, imagined otherness, anticipated at the configuratiónal level of the work

This analytic modes derived in two modalities

A) a suspended time of process or procesualism (the author in the process of composing the work when the future reader ir viewer is yet just something an imagínate otherness) 

B) how this imagínated otherness as anticipated at the work language interact later with the otherness of a concretized other (reader, viewer or spectator).

4-objective others in community spatialities

This modality of ideal types was similar to the first one on otherness or alterity between high and non high culture such as massive culture/mass medias or folklore as explored by Juan Carlos rodriguez

Generally this course from abdel perspectives was intrinsecally entailed with his weberian and shurtian influenced  perspectives, comprehensive, phenomenological sociology and from the Surpik angelini side entailed with her Thomas mc evilley influenced perspectives,

On his part abdel strongly focussed from referencing max weber and shutz, but also his often semiotic theory perspective  todorov, eco, bajtin and kristeva, Surpik on her side focussed Thomas mc evilley art and othernness

5-finally another two ideal types of otherness resulted from an aditionals perspectives abdel and Surpik commited to share and afford toguether, first 

A) The bajtinian issues of poliphony and multivocality, and secound  

B) The issue of primitivism as discussed at moma exhibit on primitivism from which they shared references under this part of the course to Thomas mc evilley análysis on the exhibit.

Two films one on socalled naif art (folklore) as otherness to highart, a documentary one on Íñigo, and another one ethnographic film on yoruba religión in cuban rituals "regla de Ocha" religión as otherness to Christian religión was showed at the end of the course

Tape recorded by Surpik angelini, film recorded by Surpik angelini, transart foundation sounds and images archive, and film by Brian huberman from the rice media center, included the presence in the audience of Stephen A Tyler, Stephen Fox, Richard ingelson, Brian huberman, lane Kauffman, Thomas mc evilley, between others.

Rice University, Houston, texas

1998-Living Between Cultures: Philosophical explorations in Self-Sociology, Self-Anthropology and Self-Etnography

By Abdel hernandez San Juan

The institute of hispanic culture of houston

This theoretical seminar of one year one lecture a week started with a conference lectured by abdel Hernandez San Juan at the hispanic institute of culture of houston, the first lecture focussed in discussing the senses, meanings, complexities and implications of subjectivities living in between cultures defined itself the emigrant, inmigrant and migrant ways to become permeated and transformed by a new culture in which one stablishes while it brings with itself the ways to both erase and rewrite under such a diasporic reconfigured subjectivity language, acervos and backgrounds from the cultures of origin and or from the various cultures in which the emigrant stablishes, starting from discussing, theoretically, the implications of this to cultural theory and analysis, the initial lecture evolutioned to be a one year seminar solicited by the audience composed by hispanics inmigrants in the city of houston. The one year seminar was thus reordered as an encompasing philosophical seminar about both the self and the social and therefore, on both too, the society and culture in which the inmigrants stablishes, here the united states specifically texas as a common experience to both the lecturer and the audience, --a full reconstruction of late XX century sociological theories on modern and advanced capitalism--and the societies and cultures from which the participants emigranted, the endeavor of the seminar, which included visual displays illustrations such as videos and film visualization and discussions, focussed later in appling the theoretically discussed to the cultural analysis of each one of the participant biographical and autobiografical experience, hispanics mexicans, argentinians, venezuelans, cubans, etc, to turn this way the secound half of the seminar evolutioned to be from the main classical philosophical approch around the self and the social --here the theories of philosophically phenomenological theories of Abdel Hernandez San Juan on the self based in alfred shutz and george helbert mead, to a self anthropology which from the moment started to be considered as individual self-narratives was defined as self ethnography, here the discussion of the lecturer focussed in how an individual narrative on living in between culture, funtions as a self ethnography kind of discourse, the point of departure to this consideration about considering narratives of the self as self ethnography was here applied as result of Abdel Hernandez San Juan previous workshops on this issue with Cristina jadick and surpik Angelini, in both case a development based on and explored in its full posibilities around the relation between self explorations of narratives, semiotic theory of installations languages in the art and cultural studies while it have precedents in caracas which consisted in writings Abdel explored about his own subjectivity as emigrant discusing venezuelan culture and cities during the mid-nineties, certain experimentals of urban sociology abdel developed under cultural theories in the late eighties as well as through art criticism essays Abdel developed discussing certain aspects of Luis Gomez Armenteros and Elso Padilla works.

The seminar was developed thanks to the coordination of argentinian pychoanalist diana gland and the dialogue with her pychoanalitic view must be defined as interesting and relevant too within the whole results of the seminar.
  

1999-Ah Dzib Pízté Exhibit: a perspective from art critique

By Abdel Hernández San Juan

Lake Forest College faculty of sociology and anthropology lectures auditorium, guest lecturer

This theoretical paper written by abdel Hernández San Juan in Chicago and lectured by him as a one hour conference at the faculty of sociology and anthropology of lake forest college lecture auditorium, discussed a semiótic theory análysis of the simbolism of the mask in posmodern sociocultural environments 

Abdel approached from hermeneutic and semantique cultural análysis the correlations between doing an exhibit focussed in museographizing the anthropology of tourism (quetzil Eugenio Castañeda anthropology) as well presenting maya artesaníes for tourism many of it consisting in maya masks in a high art institute exhibit gallery space as both

1)-a profussion of the curatorial/museographic practice identity, art or anthropology?, and 

2)-as a subtly, fine parody of the general sistem of axiologies of values regulates boths fields presuposicions and ideologíes on what is it or should be considered as "high" culture, "kitsh" cultural aesthetics reified massive codes from medias and tourism markets or "popular", "folklóric" culture 

In his paper abdel entailed a semiótic análysis of signs and a semantique one on culture (análysis on the mask simbolism as parody itself,etc), with the ways to understand the practice itself in the field of both anthropology and art.

Written in ocasión of an invitation of abdel from the lake forest faculty of sociology and anthropology to participate with his research in the áreas of the museum of anthropology and representatión of culture, curatorial practice and ethnography, under the ocasión on the touristic market of anthropology and maya art between united states and México, during the lecture reading his paper abdel focussed in discussing the spatial practice in which he coparticipated in conceptualizing the spatializations. 

 The paper focussed in theorizing and discussing one of the rooms in which abdel and quetzil unfolded visual references displays on quetzil eugenio Castañeda anthropology in Yucatán

The paper also focussed in theorizing and discussing an intermedia intertextual interfase proposed by abdel of presenting slides of stegerda archaeology gavinette in Yucatán during the 40s placed at the entrance of the maya collection secound room

Mainly the paper lectured discussed, on the one hand, intertextuality, and on the other hand, matters on the optical inconcient tend to be often at intercultural and transcultural anthropology regarding subjectivity on both sides, united states/México, (the gaze must be seen from one side or from the another?, or from both at the same time?), this as a major issues to be considered ethnographically, (anthropology/culture/representatión), to which the papers delivered análysis solucions attained through the know how of semiótic theory and cultural anthropology análysis developed in the paper as writing

 The paper proposed and discussed a genealógy theorization of this issues to unveil relations between subjectivity, markets of tourism, cultural identity, anthropology and representation. 

A semiótic theory one essay exploring semiótic theory and cultural anthropology in a same theorization

the paper included references to a conjuntion of texts from abdel Hernández San Juan often references in semiótic theory and analysis including his paper "The posmodern work", and references to Nestor García canclini book "The popular artesaníes in capitalism", to Rosalind krauss "The optical inconcient" and dick cushman and George marcus "The traffic in culture: refiguring art and anthropology.

1994-Contemporary sociology theory

By abdel Hernández San juan

Human research, central bank of venezuela

This three months theoretical seminar in theoretical sociology was lectured by abdel Hernández San Juan at the central bank of Venezuela. It was far to be related with financial, económic or bank comercial contents but instead full adressed to the human research internal order of the human groups and interactions and developed as a metatheoretical course in and on Sociological theory focussed in discussing the methodological and empirical implications to the análysis of human relations, performances, roles, capabilities, backgrounds, communications, functions and interactions inside a labor organization of the severals schools of sociology from comprehensive axiological sociology (weber) or sincronique sociology of awarness (durkeim),  positivist sociology (comté) to funcional (Parson), phenomenological (shutz), simbólic interactionism (George helbert mead), ethnometodology (garfinkel), pragmatist (Habermas) to structural simbolic (Bourdieu), and institutional ( Merton)

The seminar was developed and lectured by abdel Hernández San Juan as a metatheoretical seminary on sociology discussing how Sociological cutts of análysis (epistemology and method) must be thus translated to the comprehention of concrete human research empirical situations, during the seminar phenomenological comprehension, análysis of human groups considered both socially and culturally and simbólic interactionism dominanted over the another ways to the potencial of the specificities of human research sociology in fact it was a seminar clearing up the need and urges of a new sociology of human research, the seminar was developed thanks to and with bárbara Rodríguez and asotiates an adviser asotiation enterprise founded by Rodríguez to advise económic institutions, Caracas, Venezuela, 

1994-The Curator as creator

By abdel Hernández San Juan

Guest panelist lecturer, first encounter of curators, puerto la cruz

The Curator as creator was a conference lectured by abdel Hernández San Juan at the first encounters of curators of Venezuela, throught the lecture abdel theorized and analized the contigencies of Curatorial practice in the field as, on the hand, the result of a formation process sociologically discussed which progresibly started to relativize the disciplinary boundaries between the old producer and the old art critic, while on the other hand, the contigency evolves too interdisciplinary explorations such as for example jean fracoys  Lyotard exhibit  "the inmateriales" at pompidue about which abdel discussed both the catalogue and the exhibit focussing general posmodern sociocultural issues on scriptural economies, textual economies and in general the relation between the complejization of values formations at mediation and intermediation logics and the progresive evolutión of curatorial practices as a young field to become a sobreordinate supradiscursive practices of discourses and enuntiations production tends to transform the curatorial profesional profile (and the formation of curators) in a modality of creation or at least a domain of practices needed to be defined under theories of creativity.

The encounter included conferences by abdel Hernández San Juan, Rina Carvajal and María luz cárdenas between others and was promoted at the universal news paper, see quoted references, (En la jornada Abdel Hernández levanto la polémica con sus opiniones sobre la figura social del curador en el contexto del arte contemporáneo. Abdel Hernández habló del nuevo arte de los intermediarios. La Dimensión Económica de la Contemporaneidad entró de lleno en las discusiones del segundo día del Primer Encuentro Nacional de curadores de arte con la intervención del joven teórico cubano Abdel Hernández San Juan sobre el nuevo arte de los intermediarios, Diario El Universal, Caracas, 16 de Abril, noventa y cuatro, 1994 ), this encounter was coordinated by Venezuelan research and curator Vicky (victoria galarraga), from the sectorial direction of museums of the conac, ministry of culture of Venezuela, when Vicky worked as curator assistance of Roberto Guevara and the barro of america panamerican bienale, developed in puerto la cruz, Venezuela, 1994

1995-Curatorial Practices and the Museum Collection.

By abdel Hernández San Juan

 The petare museum of popular Art

1994-1995- Curatorial Practices and the Museum Collection. By Abdel Hernandez San Juan, Six month Series of Lectures discussing axiology’s issues in art critique and postmodern anthropology, (stephen A Tyler, James clifford), Abdel Hernandez San Juan, Peran Hermini and Fina Weitz (Museum director), spanish, The Petare Museum of Art, Caracas, Venezuela

In this theoretical seminar of six months abdel Hernández San Juan discussed a sociology of culture análysis of the current contemporary situation with the each time more difussed and blored relations between hight culture, mass medias culture and folklore culture, theorizing how to understand the codes of hight culture, mass medias/ consumering culture and traditional cultures at the análysis and interpretations of visual and material culture including museum practices and collectionism, something allow us as well as invite us to explore new interdisciplinary developments  between semiótic of art and culture, art critique and anthropology considered from the perspective of posmodernism, an spetial effort was dedicated during the seminar to discuss posmodernism in anthropology focussing Stephen A tyler and James Clifford

1993-The Art of the Intermediaries

By abdel Hernández San Juan

The Mario Abreu Museum of contemporary art lectures auditorium

1993- The Art of the Intermediaries. By Abdel Hernández San Juan, a three months course of one lecture a week discussed at the Mario Abreu museum of contemporary art, references at the Century news paper, Maracay, Venezuela

The art of the intermediaries was a 1993 theoretical seminar of one conference a week teached and discussed by abdel Hernández San Juan at the Mario Abreu contemporary art museum of maracay in Venezuela. This very exclusive seminar was focussed in developing the theory of the museum both the museum itself as a concept and as an idea of culture and cultural memory as well as a display of exhibiting cultural form, material and visual culture in between académic research endeavors and public culture, a public culture however highly mediated and affected by a progresive transformation of the espheres of values (axiologies), the seminar explored a unique conjuntion between a textualist semiological approach to the museum, a Sociological approach to the process of valious formation complexitations (axiological sociology) and semiological/linguistic/cultural anthropology análysis of the concepts of collection, curatorial practices and restauration, the seminar was promoted at the Century news paper and adressed to an audience of museum spetialists, museographers, curators and museum workers focussed in collection and restauration

1993-New Ways to Art genealogies.

By abdel Hernández San Juan

The Mario Abreu Museum of contemporary art lectures auditorium

1993- New Ways to Art genealogies. By Abdel Hernández San Juan, a three months course of one lecture a week discussed at the Mario Abreu museum of contemporary art, references at the Century news paper, Maracay, Venezuela

theoretical seminar of one conference a week durng three months teached and discussed by abdel Hernández San Juan at the Mario Abreu contemporary art museum of maracay in Venezuela. This very exclusive seminar was focussed in developing the semiological theory of narratology and genres discourse applied to both the theoretical and empirical análysis and development of textual narratives in museology and museography. The main focuss of the seminar was in semiótic theory análysis of the relation between alphabetic texts (the use of texts in museography and catalogues) and visual Icons and discourses ( the unfolding of visual culture, material culture and iconographic languages at the museum displays spatialities) or the diagramation and designs of catalogues.

The narratological profile of the seminar explored a unique conjuntion between análysis of the relation between textualists atomized micronarratives at the museum displays and relations between culture and narratives outside the museum displays socioculturality, contextuality or considered under periodizations, historicities narratives and how to explore genealógical perspectives avoiding linearities. The seminar was mainly adressed to museologists, museographers, currators and museum spetialists and was promoted at the Century news paper

1992-Aesthetics theory in the XX Century.

By Abdel Hernández San Juan

The Federico brand Institute of art lectures auditorium

1992- Aesthetics theory in the XX Century. By Abdel Hernandez San Juan, Serie of three months’ lectures in aesthetic theory discussed at the Federico Brand Art Institute, Spanish, Individual Attention: Sol Bendayan, San Bernardino, Caracas, Venezuela, 1992

Under this three months seminar of one lecture a week abdel Hernández San Juan discussed the evolutión and development of aesthetic theory in the xx Century from Praga school and frankford school including adorno and benjamín to aesthetic theory in posmodernism

1992-The Self-Conscience of Art.

By abdel Hernández San Juan

The Federico brand Institute of art lectures auditorium

1992- The Self-Conscience of Art. By Abdel Hernandez San Juan, Serie of three months’ lectures discussed in Spanish at the Federico Brand Art Institute, Individual Attention Sol Bendayan, San Bernardino, Caracas, Venezuela, 1992

Under this three months seminar of one lecture a week abdel Hernández San Juan discussed the evolución and developments of the sociology of art in the xx Century from Peter burguer to Pierre bourdieu

Workshops

1997-An experimental workshop for art and anthropology

By abdel Hernández San Juan and Surpik angelini

An experimental workshop for art and anthropology was produced and directed by abdel Hernández San Juan and Surpik angelini in Caracas 1996, this workshop consisted in a modality of cultural production of a curatorial practice adressed to build 7  exhibits by a convocatorial method asking to the choiced participants to proposes an exhibit affording the issue of the relation between art and anthropology free to which the cultural production consisted about providing the participants theoretical análysis on currents social sciences, each participant was convocated to react with a higly sited proposal toward a dialogue.

The experience have two precedents, a curatorial project of venezuelan contemporary art conceived by abdel as curator at mavao (Alejandro Otero museum of visual art), when the issue in question was to present exhibits on the relation between the high art museum and the distributional food market of coche as a community that surround the museum, one of the rooms anticipated at the curatorial project focussed as social science methodologies exploration evolving studies of markets spatialities which abdel later developed alone.

This one room was choiced from the general project as the basis to a later more letlee and límited versión to do the workshop, another earlier precedent in a remote past was abdel projects of social science in Urban and rural communities in Cuba 1988 (pilón), 1990 (hacer), the result of this workshop consisted in the 7 exhibits abdel and Surpik presented as co-curators at rice university campus exhibits spaces, rice media center gallery and lobby, farish gallery, Hamman Hall and back yard sewall Hall, the modalities explored in this cases evolved several major characteristics

1-highly propositionals thematically convoqued and higly sited/convoqued exhibits conceived toward dialogue

2- 7 modalities in response to abdel general curatorial project proposal of "unwriting the art institutional inscription to reinscribe, recodify or rewrite it in term of museography language, spatiality"

3-7 well diferienced modalities of antiart very sited convoqued proposals resulted from it

A)-antiart modality 1: the use of art to do self cultural research of biography in cultural memory and identity resonances ( Surpik angelini) unwriting the exhibits spatial codes to reinscribe it with a practice of self research, " pyche ethnography reports"

B)-antiart modality 2: the use of art to diagnosis the art institution reactions to the work presentation by using it as an inventary of reactions, "mental massage: currículum vitae", (Lázaro Saavedra), rice media center

C)-the use of art to do social work at the barrier community, installed ethnography of the barrio, (Juan Carlos Rodríguez), rice media center

D)--the use of art to illustrate how cultural representations are always inventions and how it is often made from the unknow, (Juan José olavarria and Ernesto leal), arguing with betara desa, farish gallery

E)--the use of art to comment issues of vernacular culture, alejandro López, Hamman hall

F)--the use of art medias such as installations to explore a museography of anthropology on the Urban popular markets of venezuela and it's folklore culture, proposing a work for the analysis of culture, art medias as means to do social science research. Abdel Hernández San Juan and Fernando calzadilla, the market from here, back yard sewall hall

The serie of exhibits was presented to the public from february 13 to aphril 16 ending the spring

Quoted and mentioned inside the exhibits works (Stephen a tyler by Abdel Hernández San Juan inside the market from here) and (gregory Bateson inside arguing with betara desa by Juan José Olavarría and Ernesto leal)

Major referential bibliography to seize the results are currently some of the abdel Hernández San Juan current essays and books, Thomas mc evilley lecture on the exhibits at the rice media center, Thomas mc evilley publication at art in américa on the exhibits 1998, Stephen a tyler paper evocation: the unwriteable/a response to abdel Hernández San Juan and Surpik angelini current answers to interviews

Semiotic theory and installation languages

By abdel Hernández San juan and Maria cristina Jadick

1998- semiotic theory and installation languages. By Abdel Hernandez san Juan and Cristina jadick, workshop meetings of one day a week during Six months, Cristina jadick and Mike jadick spaces, spanish, Houston, Texas
This interesting, fascinating workshop of six months one time a week focussed in discussing and theorizing semiótic análysis of art installation languages
The originally and unique high quality of this workshop consisted in how it provided to abdel and Cristina an unusual oportunity to discuss semiótic theory issues throught the cristina process of manufacturing and taking desitions, like for example choicing certain materials instead of anothers or choicing to build objects, or selecting it already made, or to made photos, etc, etc,
throught a unique process as such they decided to transform the meetings settings in a kind of lab in which cristina self narratives and conceptual purposivenes explanations  on motivacions and intentionalities and abdel extrinsecated semiótic análysis on signs, clues, simbols, Icons, materials etc, offered to both the oportunity to do and explore mutual reflexions on conexions between narratives of individual experiences, semiótic of language and cultural análysis
This workshop resulted in concluding how the semiótic análysis of language phenomenologically developed under the suspended time of process transform the workshop in a unique experiment to unveil, seize and discover interconexions between art, semiótic and social science
The workshop was a major experience to both, on the Cristina work side as conceptual visual artist author it acompanied the grow and born of three of her major exhibits cultural bodies at sicardy gallery, 98, conexions/disconexions at foley photofest 98 and the sound of silence at Texas art suply 99
While from abdel side perspective as theoretician and writer of books and essays it helped him to clarify, impulse and enrich some of his later theoretical development on the self, phenomenology, subjectivity and cultural analysis as explored by him from Houston writings

A Workshop of semiotic theory of installation language, narratology, and self anthropology.

By Abdel Hernandez San Juan and Surpik Angelini

1997-this workshop developed in riveroaks surpik angelini studio in houston was very similar to abdel and cristina jadick workshop while developed one year before, pyche ethnography report is nothing but the title of a surpik angelini exhibit as single author resulted from the workshop, however, the workshop itself was a self-validated experience. It consisted in theoretical analysis and discussion during several meetings of semiotic theory analysis of installation as language in conjuntion with theoretical analysis and discussion of narratology appling narratology analysis from literary criticism to the relation between self-narratives of experience or narratives of the self --autobiographical inquiries--and semiological objectifications of narratological issues at the installations language level, here the point of attention focussed in the relation between objects, simbols, visual signs and collected choiced materials and motivational narratives asociated by the subject around such objects so as to evaluate how to install a cultural study self anthropology through the semiotic of installation language. We both defined it as a self-ethnography.

The result of this mutual workshop considered one of the experiences attained from the experimental workshop for art an anthropology directed by Abdel, surpik and fran Rodriguez, was relevant to both individually abdel and Surpik, from Abdel perspective it attempted to constribute empirical posibilities as basis to his fulther theoretical developments about the philosophical posibilities of the phenomenology of the self at some of his essays and books, from surpik perspective, it resulted in an individual exhibit presented by both Abdel and Surpik at the rice media center art gallery during the spring of 1997, houston, texas