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Juan Downey

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Juan Downey (May 11, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was a Chilean artist who was a pioneer in the fields of video art and interactive art.

Early life and educationEdit

Downey was born in Santiago, Chile.<ref name="nytObit">Juan Downey, 53, A Pioneer Of Video as a Medium for Art - NYTimes.com</ref><ref name="DowneyRangel2005">Template:Cite book</ref> His father, David Downey V., was a distinguished architect in Chile, and following in his father's footsteps, Juan Downey studied to complete a Bachelor of Architecture in 1964 from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile.<ref name="CatlinGrieder1966">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="whitney">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1961, to further his studies and develop his artistic practice, Downey traveled to Europe. He spent a few months in Barcelona and Madrid, followed by Paris,<ref name="CatlinGrieder1966"/> where he lived for three years studying printmaking at Stanley William Hayter's legendary Atelier 17.<ref name="whitney"/> During that time, he befriended artists Eugenio Téllez, Roberto Matta, Julio Le Parc, and Takis.<ref name="whitney"/><ref name="Biennale_catalog">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="guggenheim">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="RiggsN.Y.2002">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1965, Downey traveled to Washington, D.C., at the invitation of the Organization of American States to present a solo show of his work.<ref name="States1993">Template:Cite book</ref> It was there that Downey would meet his future wife, Marilys Belt.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Downey stayed in Washington for a couple of years before moving with his family to New York in 1969.<ref name="guggenheim"/> Downey was an associate professor of art at the Pratt Institute in New York from 1970 until 1993.<ref name="guggenheim"/> He died in New York on June 9, 1993, as a result of cancer.<ref name="nytObit" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

CareerEdit

In New York, Downey would become involved with the groups Radical Software and Raindance collective, both of them early proponents of using video for artistic and political means.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="tate_bio">Juan Downey - Exhibition at Tate Modern | Tate</ref><ref name="Pijnappel1993">Template:Cite book</ref>

Downey is recognized as a pioneer and early adopter of video art,<ref name="nytObit"/><ref name="Burnham1987">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Carroll2016">Template:Cite book</ref> but during his artistic career, he created an extensive body of work that also includes electronic and video sculptures, photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, performance, installation, and writing.<ref name="nytObit"/> Downey's drawings are especially remarkable and remained a constant practice of his.<ref name="RamírezGibson1997">Template:Cite book</ref> All of his major works were accompanied by drawings. They reflect not only his “sureness of hand,” as curators David Ross and James Harithas noted,<ref>(Juan Downey: With Energy Beyond These Walls, p. 329)</ref> but also his compelling ideas and visions, and they reveal a sustained practice of drawing over a lifetime.

The early period of Juan Downey's artistic practice consisted of painting, drawing, writing, and printmaking. After moving to the United States in 1965, he began to experiment with numerous forms of art that included creating interactive electronic sculptures, performances, happenings, and, in the late 1960s, video art. He wrote: “The universe is not an assemblage of independent parts, but an overlapping, interrelated system of energy. All my work relates to this vision.”<ref name="Mesa-Bains1993">Template:Cite book</ref> These media permitted Downey to investigate ideas about invisible energy as well as to invite active participation by viewers of his work.

Two seminal series in Downey's career were Video Trans Americas, begun in 1971,<ref>Social Media: Juan Downey’S Video Trans Americas |</ref><ref name="HuffmanArt1984">Template:Cite book</ref> and The Thinking Eye, begun in the mid-1970s. Video Trans Americas (VTA.) is often divided into two groups: the first group was developed from 1973 to 1976, and the second from 1976 to 1977. The two series stress Downey's preoccupation with political discourse, the self, the history of art, Western civilization, and Latin American identity.

ExhibitionsEdit

Solo exhibitionsEdit

Solo exhibitions featuring Juan Downey's work include:

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Group exhibitionsEdit

Downey's work was included in numerous group exhibitions as follows.

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Selected worksEdit

Interactive artEdit

  • Against Shadows, 1968, is an interactive artwork that uses a grid of photo sensors to translate shadow thrown by the human body to a matching grid of wall-mounted lightbulbs.<ref name="LaBelle2015">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Popper1975">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Goldman1994">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Juan Downey | Frieze</ref>
  • In Invisible Energy Dictates a Dance Concert, 1969-1970, readings taken by geiger counters are sent by walkie-talkies to dancers in different rooms of the gallery.<ref name="LaBelle2015"/><ref name="Bizzarro2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Three-Way Communication by Light, 1972, used video, super 8 film and laser beams to join the actions of three performers painted in whiteface.<ref name="Bizzarro2005"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Plato Now, 1973<ref name="LaBelle2015"/><ref name="tate_bio"/>

Performance artEdit

  • Imperialistic Octopus, 1972<ref name="pacificTime">Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Energy Fields, 1972<ref name="RamírezGibson1997"/><ref name="pacificTime"/>
  • Video Trans Americas Debriefing Pyramid, 1974<ref name="pacificTime"/>

Video artEdit

Early worksEdit

Video Trans AmericasEdit

The Video Trans Americas (VTA) Series was a video-installation composed of videos recorded with a Sony portapak during Downey’s travels from North to Central and South America between 1973 and 1976.<ref name="Robshaw2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>MoMA | Juan Downey. Map of America. 1975</ref> The first complete screening of the VTA video-installation was in the exhibition Landscape Studies in Video curated by David Ross at the Long Beach Museum of Art in 1975.<ref name="HuffmanArt1984"/> The VTA video-installation in subsequent exhibitions at other museum institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art (1976) was exhibited differently. This was largely due to the spatial component entailed in the presentation of the work, a key concern for Downey, as well as his own artistic liberty to make changes or integrate other components in the installation. Therefore, there are a number of different versions in the way the VTA video installation was exhibited. The following videos were included in the installation:Template:Citation needed

  • Rumbo al Golfo, b/w, 27 min., 1973<ref name="Downey1998" /><ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Zapoteca, b/w, 27 min., 1973<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Yucatán, 1973
  • Chile, color, 13 min., 1974<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Guatemala, b/w, 27 min., 1973<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • New York/Texas I & II, b/w, 27 min., 2 channels, 1974<ref name="DowneyRangel2005" />
  • Nazca I & II, b/w 11 min., 2 channels, 1974<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Lima/Machu Picchu, b/w, 27 min., 1975<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Cuzco I & II, 1976
  • Inca I & II, 1976
  • Uros I & II, 1975
  • La Frontera I & II, 1976

Additional videos that are part of the VTA series:

  • Moving, b/w, 27 min., 1974<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Publicness, b/w, 30 min., 1974<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Central Zone, b/w, 27 min., 1975<ref name="DowneyChile)1987" />
  • Videodances, b/w, 30 min., 1975<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Inca Split, 1976
  • Bi-Deo, 1976
  • In the Beginning, 1976
  • Guahibos, color, 26 min. 1976<ref name="DowneyChile)1987" />
  • Yanomami Healing I, b/w, 1977<ref name="DowneyChile)1987" />
  • Yanomami Healing II, b/w, 1977<ref name="DowneyChile)1987" />
  • The Circle of Fires, 1978 (video installation comes in 2 versions)<ref>The 2017 Venice Biennale's Neo-Shamanism | artnet News</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • More Than Two, 1978 (installation)
  • The Abandoned Shabono, 1979<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The Laughing Alligator, 1979<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Chiloe, color, 18 min., 1981<ref name="RamírezGibson1997"/><ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • Chicago Boys, color, 16 min., stereo, 1982–83<ref name="editorialLordCochrane"/>
  • About Cages, 1986 (installation)
  • The Motherland, 1986
  • The Return of the Motherland, 1989

The Thinking Eye SeriesEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Electronic Arts Intermix: Hard Times and Culture: Part One, Vienna 'fin de siècle', Juan Downey</ref>

CollectionsEdit

Downey’s work can be found in private collections and in the collections of major museums. Selected museum collections include:

AwardsEdit

Downey was a Guggenheim fellow in the area of fine arts in 1971.<ref>John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Juan Downey</ref>

Selected bibliographyEdit

  • Valerie Smith, ed. Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect. Leipzig: MIT List Visual Art Center & The Bronx Museum, 2011.
  • González, Julieta, Nicolás Guagnini, Carla Macchiavello, and Valerie Smith. Juan Downey: el ojo pensante. Santiago: Fundación Telefónica, 2010.
  • Arévalo, Antonio, Marilys Belt de Downey, Juan Downey, José Goñi Carrasco, and Luisa Ulibarri Lorenzini. Juan Downey: La Biennale di Venezia, 49 Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Milan: Rodrigo Figueroa Schirmer, 2001.
  • Bonet, Eugeni, Douglas Davis, Juan Downey, Nuria Enguita, Coco Fusco, Juan Guardiola, John G. Hanhardt, James Harithas, and David Ross. Juan Downey: With Energy Beyond These Walls (Con energía más allá de estos muros). Valencia: Institut Valencià d’Art Modern and Centre del Carme, 1997-98.
  • Hanhardt, John G., and Ann D. Hoy. Juan Downey of Dream Into Study. Santiago: Editorial Lord Cochrane, 1987.

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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