Carlos Motta, born in 1978 in Bogotà, Colombia, works primarily in photography and video installation. He uses strategies from documentary film and sociology to engage specific political events to observe their effects and suggest alternative ways to write and read these histories. For example, he traveled throughout Latin America, interviewing citizens of various countries about their opinions of U.S. foreign policy and its effect on democracy, governance, and leadership. The result was The Good Life, an online archive and search engine launched in September 2008 that not only allows the public to watch the interviews that Motta conducted, but to access them in various ways, such as by question asked, or by age, occupation, or residence of those interviewed. Motta’s artwork has been shown extensively around the world, in both solo and group exhibitions, at venues including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2008); Palazzo Papesse, Siena (2007); and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotà (2006). Similarly, his videos have been screened at a variety of international film festivals, including the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, 2007) in Germany; Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris (Festival of Different and Experimental Cinema, 2006); and Videobrasil (2005). Motta attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 2005-6, and holds a BA from the School of Visual Arts (2001) and an MFA from Bard College (2003). He is the editor of artwurl.org and a faculty member at the International Center of Photography and Parsons The New School for Design, both in New York.
Thu December 12th Open 11 AM–5 PM