Colombian anthropologist and artist Juan Pablo Plazas is fascinated by the ability of people and communities to interpret the world in different ways. In his practice, he departs from everyday objects and raw materials that possess exceptional material or formal properties. With astonishment and a sense of humour, he removes these items from their ordinary context and transforms them into sculptures or assigns them roles in a performance. Through this act, Plazas breaks through the ‘perfectly normal’ and invites us to understand objects as animated, living matter.
Juan Pablo Plazas is currently working on a video project entitled ‘Hugo Bola, el Caldero Caliente y sus amistades’ (2020), in which he activates a series of sculptures based on their form, resistance and individual capacities. The project responds to the kind of credibility you find in puppet theatres but, at the same time, never tries to hide its artificiality. The names of the sculptures are inspired by modernist artists. For the soundscape, Plazas embarked on a remote collaboration with musician Pablo Escallón.
Watch an excerpt of ‘Hugo Bola, el Caldero Caliente y sus amistades’ here.
