PARALELO - 2021 | |
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| Alina, my mother, was a very intelligent and successful woman who built her life out of her own innate talents as a psychic. She wrote a book in the 1970s, entitled Paralelo, that never got published because of the catholic churchs censorship, and the pressure of conservative forces in Colombia, her native country. In this book, way ahead of her time, she explores the connections between the physical and spiritual realms. She left her country for security reasons and moved to Aventura, Florida, USA, in 1999. After the murder of my older brother Diego, in 2008, Alina fell into a deep depression, followed by a progressive senile dementia, finally diagnosed in 2017. Forgotten by most of her family, including those who lived only 20 minutes away from her, she had to be accompanied 24 hours per day by her loyal aids, who after 5 years of constant presence, became her faithful confidants. In July of 2019, Zuzel, her dearest and closest nurse, videotaped herself reading the prologue of her book to my mom, resulting in a very intimate look at the emotions and very last memories of my mother, as well as a very crude look into the nature of dementia. Alinas health kept deteriorating, and in September 2020 she was diagnosed with terminal colorectal cancer, she had a colostomy surgery, and, unbeknown to us, she caught COVID19 during her stay in the hospital. Asymptomatic at first, she infected her three aids when she returned home. In spite of helping her and spending countless hours with Alina, I did not get infected at all, which is still a mystery to me. Both Zuzel and Alina started showing symptoms at the same time, and Alina had to be taken to hospice to be treated for her cancer and the coronavirus infection, while Zuzel quarantined at my moms place to avoid infecting her own family. We managed to see her on Facetime every day, and we got to say our virtual goodbyes. Alina died on Wednesday, October 7th, the day after I finished editing the first cut this film. The video had been planned for a few months, seen as a time travel piece to the 1970s when as a queer kid, I would wear my moms wig, cape, boots, belt, gloves and accessories to pretend I was Wonder Woman. I shot the volumetric video the night when she had her colostomy surgery, almost one month before her death. The entire production of this film was marked by her cancer, her surgery, her increasing dementia, the COVID19 pandemic, the Trump nightmare, the American electoral process, my remote teaching, and a feeling of knowing that at the end my mom had always been my Wonder Woman, the most powerful woman in my life. After hiding for over 11 years, my drag alter ego, Patty E. Patétik, reappeared in volumetric form to sing with me Gloria Gaynors "I will Survive", a song that has unexpectedly become an anthem of resilience for those of us who have been abused, forgotten, or affected by the loss of a loved one. The slowed down song reminds us that regardless of the adversities and the amount of shed tears, we all will survive. | |
Artist/Research Statement
I grew up in Bogotá back in the late 80s and early 90s, when car bombs were shaking the city, the drug cartels ruled the headlines, the AIDS crisis was taking our friends, and being an openly gay kid meant living under constant threat. Hiding was never an option for me. Instead, I took a camera, grabbed the mic, and threw myself into making video art, doing queer performances, and creating work that pushed back against the fear and silence around us.
In 1995, I packed my bags for New York with a Fulbright grant to do my master's at NYU's ITP, right as the web was taking off. For me, the internet was love at first sight: a totally open canvas where I could bring together non-linear storytelling, digital poetry, creative coding, and pure activism. Over the years, my toolkit has grown from writing early HTML and JavaScript to playing with depth sensors, creative code, and generative AI—taking the work off the browser screen and throwing it onto theater stages and gallery walls.
Even though I've made my life in the United States, my heart and head are still deeply tied to Colombia. My work is really about how we see ourselves, reinvent ourselves, and survive in digital spaces—which is always, inevitably, political. Visually, I love the friction between the raw, messy pixel glitch and the sleek perfection of high-res 3D and volumetric imaging. It's all about putting our real, queer bodies back into the machine.
Like Christopher Isherwood's idea of being a living camera, I use technology—from early video to the latest AI algorithms—to capture our community's spirit, our looks, our defiance, and our memories, making sure we stay visible and impossible to erase.
Crecí en Bogotá a finales de los 80 y comienzos de los 90, en una época dura en la que los carros bomba sacudían la ciudad, el narcotráfico llenaba las noticias, el sida se estaba llevando a nuestros amigos y ser abiertamente gay significaba vivir amenazado todo el tiempo. Esconderse nunca fue una opción para mí. Al contrario: agarré una cámara, me puse frente al micrófono y me metí de lleno a hacer videoarte, performances queer y piezas que le hicieran frente a ese miedo y a ese silencio.
En el 95 empaqué maletas y me fui a Nueva York con una beca Fulbright para hacer la maestría en el ITP de NYU, justo cuando internet apenas arrancaba. Para mí la red fue amor a primera vista: un lienzo abierto donde podía cruzar la narrativa no lineal, la poesía digital, el código creativo y el activismo puro. Con los años, las herramientas fueron cambiando: pasé de escribir código básico en HTML y JavaScript a experimentar con sensores de profundidad, programación creativa e inteligencia artificial generativa, sacando el trabajo de la pantalla del navegador para llevarlo a escenarios de danza, teatro y salas de exposición.
Aunque he hecho mi vida en Estados Unidos, la cabeza y el corazón los sigo teniendo bien amarrados a Colombia. Mi trabajo gira alrededor de cómo nos vemos, cómo nos reinventamos y cómo sobrevivimos en los entornos digitales, lo cual siempre termina siendo un acto político. A nivel visual, me encanta la fricción entre el error crudo del pixel y la perfección pulida del 3D o las imágenes volumétricas de alta resolución: al final se trata de meter nuestros cuerpos maricas y reales dentro de la máquina.
Siguiendo esa idea de Christopher Isherwood de ser una cámara viva, uso la tecnología —desde el video análogo hasta los algoritmos de IA más recientes— para registrar el espíritu, las miradas, la rebeldía y la memoria de nuestras comunidades, asegurándome de que sigamos presentes y que nadie nos pueda borrar.
I grew up in Bogotá back in the late 80s and early 90s, when car bombs were shaking the city, the drug cartels ruled the headlines, the AIDS crisis was taking our friends, and being an openly gay kid meant living under constant threat. Hiding was never an option for me. Instead, I took a camera, grabbed the mic, and threw myself into making video art, doing queer performances, and creating work that pushed back against the fear and silence around us.
In 1995, I packed my bags for New York with a Fulbright grant to do my master's at NYU's ITP, right as the web was taking off. For me, the internet was love at first sight: a totally open canvas where I could bring together non-linear storytelling, digital poetry, creative coding, and pure activism. Over the years, my toolkit has grown from writing early HTML and JavaScript to playing with depth sensors, creative code, and generative AI—taking the work off the browser screen and throwing it onto theater stages and gallery walls.
Even though I've made my life in the United States, my heart and head are still deeply tied to Colombia. My work is really about how we see ourselves, reinvent ourselves, and survive in digital spaces—which is always, inevitably, political. Visually, I love the friction between the raw, messy pixel glitch and the sleek perfection of high-res 3D and volumetric imaging. It's all about putting our real, queer bodies back into the machine.
Like Christopher Isherwood's idea of being a living camera, I use technology—from early video to the latest AI algorithms—to capture our community's spirit, our looks, our defiance, and our memories, making sure we stay visible and impossible to erase.
Crecí en Bogotá a finales de los 80 y comienzos de los 90, en una época dura en la que los carros bomba sacudían la ciudad, el narcotráfico llenaba las noticias, el sida se estaba llevando a nuestros amigos y ser abiertamente gay significaba vivir amenazado todo el tiempo. Esconderse nunca fue una opción para mí. Al contrario: agarré una cámara, me puse frente al micrófono y me metí de lleno a hacer videoarte, performances queer y piezas que le hicieran frente a ese miedo y a ese silencio.
En el 95 empaqué maletas y me fui a Nueva York con una beca Fulbright para hacer la maestría en el ITP de NYU, justo cuando internet apenas arrancaba. Para mí la red fue amor a primera vista: un lienzo abierto donde podía cruzar la narrativa no lineal, la poesía digital, el código creativo y el activismo puro. Con los años, las herramientas fueron cambiando: pasé de escribir código básico en HTML y JavaScript a experimentar con sensores de profundidad, programación creativa e inteligencia artificial generativa, sacando el trabajo de la pantalla del navegador para llevarlo a escenarios de danza, teatro y salas de exposición.
Aunque he hecho mi vida en Estados Unidos, la cabeza y el corazón los sigo teniendo bien amarrados a Colombia. Mi trabajo gira alrededor de cómo nos vemos, cómo nos reinventamos y cómo sobrevivimos en los entornos digitales, lo cual siempre termina siendo un acto político. A nivel visual, me encanta la fricción entre el error crudo del pixel y la perfección pulida del 3D o las imágenes volumétricas de alta resolución: al final se trata de meter nuestros cuerpos maricas y reales dentro de la máquina.
Siguiendo esa idea de Christopher Isherwood de ser una cámara viva, uso la tecnología —desde el video análogo hasta los algoritmos de IA más recientes— para registrar el espíritu, las miradas, la rebeldía y la memoria de nuestras comunidades, asegurándome de que sigamos presentes y que nadie nos pueda borrar.
Bio
Santiago Echeverry is a Colombian-American New Media Artist and Educator specializing in video art, interactive media, performance, and generative AI. A pioneer in Net Art and Latin American LGBTQ+ filmmaking since 1989, he holds degrees from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and NYU's ITP as a Fulbright Scholar. Currently Professor and Chair of Film, Animation, and New Media at the University of Tampa, his creative research bridges creative coding, UX, and generative video workflows for live stage and screen. Recent milestones include permanent acquisition by SESI Lab Brasília and an upcoming comprehensive career retrospective at Galería Santa Fe, Bogotá. All his projects are available online at www.santi.tv
Santiago Echeverry es un artista de nuevos medios y educador colombo-estadounidense especializado en videoarte, medios interactivos, 'performance' e inteligencia artificial generativa. Pionero del 'Net Art' y del cine LGBTQ+ en América Latina desde 1989, es egresado de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y de ITP en NYU como becario Fulbright. Actualmente es profesor titular y director del Departamento de Cine, Animación y Nuevos Medios de la Universidad de Tampa. Su investigación artística articula programación creativa, UX y flujos de video generativo para artes escénicas y pantalla. Sus hitos recientes incluyen la adquisición por el SESI Lab de Brasilia y una retrospectiva integral en la Galería Santa Fe de Bogotá. Toda su obra se encuentra en su sitio web www.santi.tv
Santiago Echeverry is a Colombian-American New Media Artist and Educator specializing in video art, interactive media, performance, and generative AI. A pioneer in Net Art and Latin American LGBTQ+ filmmaking since 1989, he holds degrees from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and NYU's ITP as a Fulbright Scholar. Currently Professor and Chair of Film, Animation, and New Media at the University of Tampa, his creative research bridges creative coding, UX, and generative video workflows for live stage and screen. Recent milestones include permanent acquisition by SESI Lab Brasília and an upcoming comprehensive career retrospective at Galería Santa Fe, Bogotá. All his projects are available online at www.santi.tv
Santiago Echeverry es un artista de nuevos medios y educador colombo-estadounidense especializado en videoarte, medios interactivos, 'performance' e inteligencia artificial generativa. Pionero del 'Net Art' y del cine LGBTQ+ en América Latina desde 1989, es egresado de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y de ITP en NYU como becario Fulbright. Actualmente es profesor titular y director del Departamento de Cine, Animación y Nuevos Medios de la Universidad de Tampa. Su investigación artística articula programación creativa, UX y flujos de video generativo para artes escénicas y pantalla. Sus hitos recientes incluyen la adquisición por el SESI Lab de Brasilia y una retrospectiva integral en la Galería Santa Fe de Bogotá. Toda su obra se encuentra en su sitio web www.santi.tv