Hugo Ares
My name is Hugo Ares. I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m an independent curator. I have been working in cultural management and programming for video and installations, film. I have a background in different kinds of art. I started taking courses in visual arts when I was a child. After several years working in visual arts, I decided to move to another part of the cultural sector, theatre and dance. After working several years in theatre and dance companies, I came back again to the visual arts. For me, it was very important to work on stage because working in art installations and video installations it is very important to work around the place and the venue for the exhibit.
Why did you come to Canada? Did you come with the intension to work in the visual arts?
I was living in Buenos Aires when I fell in love. My partner was living in Canada, in Toronto and going back and forth from Buenos Aires. I decided to keep going with my relationship and moved to Toronto. At that time, it was very complicated for me since I was working in Buenos Aires with a collective of artists. We had already opened an art gallery, Espacio Eclectico. It was a challenge to move to another country, to live in another language and in another culture, but after 5 years, I am very happy to be here. For me, it is very important to live in Toronto because it is a very multicultural city.
What would you say that it’s the main difference between your curatorial practice between here and Argentina?
My background in Buenos Aires, working as a curator, was working with emerging visual artists and more local artists in my city and my neighbourhood. The main difference when I arrived in Canada was that I had a new world to discover, different kinds of artists from different backgrounds. The artists in Argentina also work with more political issues because we have a long history of political and social difficulties. Not all the artists work in this way but maybe 60% of all artists work in a political way, more than in personal histories for instance. However, in Canada, I discovered that artists have more liberties to express themselves and take other topics other than social or political situations.
When you first came to Toronto how did you get involved with the Latino arts community? Was that difficult? Was it easy? How did you first get involved?
For me, it was easy in a sense. I found some Latin American artists in Toronto and had the opportunity to meet Jorge Lozano, and Juana Awad; they were the director and co-director of Alucine at that time. When I met them, they invited me to collaborate with the group as a volunteer. We tried to set up an exhibition with them. I think that they opened the door to new immigrants in order to insert them into the working world in the context of Canadian culture. For me, it was not difficult. It was a difficult move obviously to another country, to a new city, to a new language, and new friends. But on the other hand it was very easy because I met very open-minded people, and Latino Canadian artists as well. They gave me the opportunity to share my work and collaborate with them. It was really important to reach these people because I began to regain again my visual arts side, my profession in Buenos Aires. I began to rebuild my career as a curator. That was important for me as well. When you meet people who give you the confidence to do your job, for me that was great. I really appreciate that. <p>
know you do a lot of exchanges between Buenos Aires and Toronto and I wanted to ask you when you do those kinds of exchanges and bring work to Buenos Aires, what kinds of work do you look for? How do you feel about being a curator here but also having strong connection to Buenos Aires?
First of all, I think that Buenos Aires is very far away from Canada. We are almost the last city in South America. Very far away, very south! In spite of the fact that Buenos Aires is a huge city, it is isolated from the mainstream art culture of New York, Boston, Berlin or Paris. In the Latin American context, we have a huge wall like the wall of china with the United States. We go north up as far as the United States. Canada at least for Argentines is very far, a very northern country, and very cold. We don’t know exactly. And we don’t know so much about Canadian culture.
My first experience with a curated exhibition with Canadian work in Argentina was through John Tapper, curator for the Cooperation Centre in Price Edward Island. He brought to Buenos Aires, Ken Lum, a photographer and visual artists based in Vancouver. That was my first attempt to show a Canadian artist in Buenos Aires. For the public in general, it was quite important to show a different idea about Canadians, not only showing Anglophone or Francophone cultures. Ken Lum has an Asian background. He was living in Vancouver. He is a renowned International photographer. When we try to show Canadian culture in Buenos Aires, we try to show how diversity is the culture in Canada. I try to show Canadian artists that are Anglophone from different parts of Canada, Francophone, Native, and artists who are immigrants with different backgrounds. I feel that Canadian culture is a mix of this situation. I think that Canadian contemporary art is a result of this mix and the fusion of different kinds of culture. Normally when I work in Buenos Aires, I work with another curator in Argentina. I work with the other curator to ask her “okay will this kind of artwork work in Buenos Aires? Do you think the public will be interested in this type of work?” We try to exchange these kinds of ideas.
So you mentioned that you see a diverse tendency, a multicultural tendency in the Canadian contemporary art practice. So do you see any tendencies within the Latino Canadian artists that live in Canada? Is there a specific tendency that you would say that’s a Latino tendency here in Canada?
It’s quite difficult to try and frame all Latino Canadian artists with a certain tendency for art making. I think the most important thing that is happening here in Toronto is I feel that all the Canadian Latino artists show how diverse Latin America is. Because we have different kinds of organizations, Latino Canadian organizations. There are organizations that are focused in video and film. There are other organizations that are focused on visual art, other organizations that are more focused in performing arts, other organizations that are in craft and painting. But all of them have showed me, they show how eclectic and diverse is the culture of Latin America. I think it’s important the presence of Latino Canadian artists in Toronto. I’m very happy because there are new organizations, they are growing up and they dedicate their activities in different ways. For me, it is very important. I realized my Latin American identity when I arrived to Canada. When I was living in Buenos Aires, I was more focused in my own city, in my own neighbourhood, in my own ideas. When I arrived in Canada I discovered my identity as a Latin American in Canada. And I discovered more Latin American artists than when I was in Buenos Aires. When I realized that I was a little shocked. Wow, we have how many cultures in Latin America? How many languages? How many native people? How about African and European? Sometimes you have to step out of the situation and go far away in order to realize how eclectic we are and this eclecticism is in the Latin American artist living in Toronto… Recognizing this was very important. How can I show myself – with my background outside of my own context?
In terms of working with non-profit or artists run centres in Canada and working with artists run centres in Buenos Aires. What do you think are the major differences?
I think that we have huge differences. There are organizations such as the Canada Council. But we have only one in Argentina. They don’t really work in the right way. We know that we have bureaucracy in our centres. We have to look for own resources and support because we don’t have any organizations that support us.
It’s quite difficult to look for resource because in our country, developing countries, the social gap between the middle class and the lower class is huge. It’s quite difficult to find resource and some money to keep going with the project. In Canada, we have these councils that can help us rebuild our careers, we can apply for grants if you are an artist run centre, non-profit organization, or collective. This is a huge difference between how we can work in Canada with the councils, provincial, municipal and Federal. At least in Argentina, we don’t have these resources to work on projects. In Argentina, We don’t have support from the government. This is the huge gap.
Anything else, you would like to share with us?
Thanks for coming! It’s a pleasure having you guys here. It’s important for me, a Latino living in Toronto, realizing that in the last 3 or 4 years, there are different kinds of Latino organizations networking with each other, for instance, the LCCA, Alucine, E-fagia. It’s important to network between us and work together and be connected. It’s important to have a big connection between us.