(Mexico)

In November we welcomed Mexican artist, Erick Meyerberg, a multimedia artist interdisciplinary artist.

In his work, he explores the aspects of diffused contemporary reality, problematizing concepts such as history, gender, race and modernity. Erick uses investigation to find specific contexts that allow him to inquire about the construction of local identities. The complexity and particularity of the sociopolitical origins of San Pancho awake in him a great curiosity.  Since his arrival, LILHA introduced him to the members of the Banda Turquesa.

“Music and culinary traditions reveal the identity of each place as well as their social reality, identity, and strength. I see the music as a model of society working for a common purpose.”

When interacting with the band he raised the possibility of a collaboration where the artist could record their music and performances on video.  

The beginning of his residence coincided with the annual Day of the Dead festivities. Erick documented the procession that toured the streets of the town of Sayulita. From that moment Erick was welcomed into a dream world. His camera lens was always aimed at musicians with their instruments, who played funeral marches mixed with the gallop of horses and riders, who faced death itself, dressed in mariachi, and painted Catrinos. 

Erick kept watch recording the celebration, ending in the cemetery at the beach of Los Muertos, in an intimate meeting of friends. They remembered a deceased colleague through the light of the candles, laughing, and cries intermingled with the sounds of the tuba, trumpet, guitar, and accordion.

Another moment happened when he was invited to a roast typical of the Charro community in San Pancho.  He shared with them a taco, and alongside stories, many laughs and hugs. 

He captured local children in a  small improvised staging in the courtyard of the Tallerera, disguised with horse puppets made by local artist, Ariel Sainz.  Erick shared ideas, experiences and reflections with Ariel. Collaboration and exchange are a hallmark of Erick’s creations. Immersed in the experience, he assigned symbols and meanings to the colors and the names of the streets absorbing everything with his lens, to shape his Anthem for the Third World.  

*Third World is the main street that runs through San Pancho.

With these activities, and through the fusion of formal, conceptual and cultural elements, Erick sought a portrait of the identity of San Pancho and the concerns of the inhabitants in the midst of the growth and abrupt changes that have been taking place in the last years. He presented his work and professional career as the closing of the Academic Symposium “1,2,3 by artists and all their colleagues: discussions around socially committed art”, a LILHA project, which brought together curators, critics and teachers from contemporary artistic practices as well as members of the artistic community of San Pancho, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara in a peaceful gathering atmosphere that persisted in conversations about social practices in art and circuits of production and contemporary art in residence.