ARTIST TALK: Latin American Collage with Enrique “Kike” Congrains

Saturday, August 15, 2020 2pm – 4pm

Advance registration required.

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516 ARTS and Kolaj LIVE Online present a special online talk with Lima, Peru-based Enrique “Kike” Congrains, who, since January 2020, has been reporting on collage in Latin America. In his fellowship at Kolaj Institute, Congrains has been surveying the history of collage, profile contemporary artists, and report on collectives, events, and galleries. When complete, Congrains will work with the Institute to publish a book about collage on the six countries he is focusing on: Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, and Brazil.

His work tells stories about how collage is made in Latin America and the role collage plays in various cultures. In Colombia, he traces how material created by the popular graphic workshop Molinari made its way into the paintings of Beatriz González and the collage of Álvaro Barrios and Juan Camilo Uribe. He reports on how the Chilean poetry collective Mandrágora, active in 1938 to 1943, cemented a long-standing relationship between poetry and collage. He writes about recent initiatives by artists and cultural spaces in Argentina that have led to a collage boom in the country.

A talented collage artist himself, Congrains has been on a mission to make collage popular in his home country of Peru. In 2015, he created CollageWave, an annual festival celebrating all things collage in Lima. Since 2016 he has been offering free collage workshops to children in rural Peru. Congrains treks out to the countryside, sometimes to the jungle, with materials and tools. “I saw the potential in teaching collage to kids as a way to stimulate their creativity and in turn improve their quality of life,” he said. For the past two years, Congrains has brought his dynamic self to Kolaj Fest New Orleans where he has presented on collage and community and his activities in Peru. His optimistic attitude and boundless energy make him a cornerstone of the international collage community and a true ambassador for the medium.

In an event co-hosted by 516 ARTS and introduced by Director Suzanne Sbarge, Congrains will speak about his fellowship at Kolaj Institute and the research he is doing on Latin American Collage. He will share some historic and contemporary examples and take questions.