Nicolás Paris

Born in 1977 in Bogotá, Colombia
Lives and works in Bogotá

Nicolás Paris creates collective spaces of exchange that can generate various aesthetic and social experiences. On the occasion of his exhibitions, he regularly devises workshops involving diverse disciplines, aimed at a wide range of participants, inspired both by the apprenticeship dynamics of the Companions du Devoir (translator’s note: an ancient system of apprenticeship still practiced in France in which young people acquire diverse manual skills by visiting different parts of the country), Joseph Jacotot’s educational method and anarchist tactics employed in Argentina in the early twentieth century by the bakers’ union. At the same time, Nicolás Paris has always been interested in drawing as a learning tool. In the history of Latin American conceptual art, the use of language, drawing and dematerialized participatory forms echoed certain pedagogical practices as a form of institutional critique and ways of rethinking the relationship between knowledge and power. Aware of the social role of art, the artist analyzes the type of society in which the education system is produced and seeks to shift art and pedagogy from their usual domains. Having been a teacher before becoming an artist, Nicolás Paris combines these experiences in order to encourage unexpected encounters and mutually evolving knowledge systems based on equality.

Ha has done sev­eral solo shows in Mex­ico, Colum­bia and Spain. Recent col­lec­tive show include: “Model Kits,” Museo di Arte Con­tem­po­ranea, Castilla e Léon, Spain (2010); “A Ter­ri­ble Beauty is Born,” 11th Lyon Bien­nial, France (2011); “The Peri­patetic School,” the Draw­ing Room, Lon­don, Eng­land (2011); and “Illu­mi­na­tions,” 54th Bien­nial of Venice, Italy.(2011).

Pecu­liar is his para-exhibition activ­ity in Mex­ico, that con­sists in set­ting up small tem­po­rary exhi­bi­tions in which stu­dio ses­sions and mate­ri­als are sup­plied to attract the pos­si­ble user to a con­crete and par­tic­i­pa­tory art.

Source: cease and Looklateral