Nadia Granados

strikes in the Biennial of Bogotá

BY Jairo Obando

Arteria Newspaper, nº 45 AGOST-SEPTEMBER 2014, Bogotá colombia

printED edition

english translation.
Nadia Granados strikes in the Biennial of Bogotá
BY Jairo Obando

Arteria Newspaper, nº 45 AGOST-SEPTEMBER 2014, Bogotá colombia

Nadia Granados is on a stage bending forwards, dressed almost like a nudist. An image of her mouth
pronouncing incomprehensible words is projected on her buttocks while she moves them with her
hands. It’s the first part of her performance “With the devil inside”, one of the winning proposals of the
III Biennial of Plastic and Visual Arts 2014 granted by the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation (FUGA).
A prize that was shared with the piece “Support” by Mario Opazo.

Nadia’s work is made up of four equal presentations of 15 minutes each in which she proposes -accord-
ing to what she says- “a slap to the machist society that dominates Colombia”. The paradox is that to
do this she uses a body language that one could relate to a striptease session. “With the devil inside”
is composed of fragments of “The Cabaret La Fuliminante (The Immediate, Fatal, Detonator)” and
“Monologue of the ass”. The first is the longest piece of Granados (50 minutes). It’s worth mentioning
that the artist is widely known for her work with the body.

In the second part of her work, the artist impersonates a blonde that is not afraid of being explicit in
her sexuality: “La Fulminante”. That’s how a dialogue using a webcam begins, in which she shoots
questions like “What are you looking at?”. Lastly, she interpretates a dance to the song “Mía” by Eddie
Santiago; perhaps what catches most the eye is how she plays with her body.
Her back facing the audience, looking at a wall and with a videocamera in her hands, Nadia dances the
song while her face is projected in the forefront. “Whats most impressive is seeing her with a wig and
dressed up like a man” says Ricardo Arcos-Palma, associated professor at the National University of
Colombia and PhD in the Sorbonne University. Aspect that reinforces the work of the artist when pro-
testing against machism since, like Eddie Santiago’s lyrics say, women are objects: “Mía, even though
you want to deny it / you are mine even though my hands are empty / trying to feel your heat”.
Probably some don’t consider it appropiate, but others, assures Granados, “feel stimulated”. In re-
sponse to the first group, she says: “In tv you see asses daily, but if a regular woman undresses it’s so-
cially frowned upon”. This is, claims the artist, the foundation of my work which aims to protest against
the role that women are assigned to,
what she calls, a machist society, a society that she “frightens” without mercy.

Why she won the Biennial

One of the outstanding characteristics of Granados’ work is the adaption to different spaces. “In Fuga
there isn’t censorship” says the artist whom could adapt her piece to the colonial house, headquarters
of this foundation.
According to Carolina Ponce de León, member of the jury of the III Biennial Prize (the other two mem-
bers were Víctor Manuel Rodríguez and Natalia Guitiérrez Echeverri), one of the things that they took
into account for the verdict was the attainment of pieces concieved for the specific FUGA site.
“Site specific art’ -says Ponce de León- isn’t a new concept, actually it exists since the 70s, but it does
imply a challenge for an artist to find a new way of addressing this concept traditionally defined by
architecture (...). This is something that Nadia Granados’ work achieves: to approach the site with a
performance that opens the possibilities of interpretation beyond formality, architecture or history.
On his behalf, Rodriguez claims that they also looked for a piece that had a
“specific relationship with FUGA, not only or not as much with the architectural environment or
its hereditary character but, mostly, with all the foundation’s history as a cultural project affiliated
with the crossroads and political situation of the country”.
But the question is inevitable, does the work of the artist from Bogotá become so explicit that it
puts at risk it’s own artistical sense?
Ponce de León accepts that, from her perspective, “the sexual content of Nadia Granados’
work is explicit”, but adds that it displays a biting humor. “The scene of the projection of her
mouth on her anus, with furious cries and dispair in unintelligible tongues is rough. With this act,
she confronts and exposes the fetishization of the female ass, so indiscriminately current in the
hipersexualization of women in publicity or the music industry without it being considered por-
nographic. “In my opinion, this image in her performance attacks pornography created for men’s
pleasure, it uses the pornographic dimension to tear it up inside”, mantains the member of the
jury.
Rodriguez claims, referring to the recognition of the artistic content of the piece:
“Granados seems to fight, talking from her ass, with a masculine voice that invades the place
and asks her to be as “woman” as possible. I mean, she displays her subjectivity in terms of how
this male individual has constructed her.“
The empathy with Granados’ work doesn’t seem to be just a feeling of Rodriguez, neither Ponce
de León who claims that: “The three presentations of this piece had a good audience and there
was an immediate reaction of celebration when the prize was announced. But, yes, Nadia Grana-
dos’ work is transgressive. Irritating. Some people might think that her aim is to confront, that
her transgression is a purpose in itself”.