Rafael Guendelman Hales’ work has focus on the research of certain contexts and stories, and the relation of humans with their territory in constructing identities.
Rafael Guendelman Hales is a chilean artist who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Universidad Catolica de Chile (PUC) and with a Master degree in Situated Practice at University College London (UCL). He has a diploma in Film Theory (PUC) on Contemporary Arab World at Universidad de Chile.
Rafael’s work has focus on the research of certain contexts and stories, and the relation of humans with their territory in constructing identities. In that sense, the projects have been linked to both political and social processes, and to personal memories and marginal events; and how they can be thought through art.
He completed a residency at ZK/U (Center for Art and Urbanistics of Berlin) and at Laznia in Gdansk, Poland. He has participated in different exhibitions and video festivals both in Chile and abroad, such as: Chilean Architecture Biennale; Chilean Media art Biennale, Todo va a estar bien, Metales Pesados Gallery; Visiones Territoriales, Centro Cultural La Moneda, Santiago; Sin tierra, Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende y Parque Cultural de Valparaíso; II Bienal de la Imagen en Movimiento, Buenos Aires; Influjos, Centro Cultural de España, Santiago; Planisferio, Matucana 100, Santiago; Un esquimal con un zorro blanco que acaba de cazar, Casa de las Américas, La Habana; Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin and Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and Annexation Wall: 10 years too long, Al-ma’al Lab, Jerusalem and Dar-Al Kalima, Bethlehem.
Rafael Guendelman Hales has received the National Art Funds of Chile (FONDART) several times; the Art Funding of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DIRAC) and the National Scholarship for Master Studies (CONICYT).
Two radishes is too much for one family
HD Video / 24:31 min / 2018
In the year 1985, the artist’s mother, Carmen Hales, was kidnapped by the DICOMCAR (Dirección de Comunicaciones de Carabineros, the Chilean police force’s Direction of Communications), one of the military dictatorship organisms for oppression. In spite of having a hood pulled over her face, she was able to recognize the route taken with her kidnappers through a specific counting system. This orientation and memory exercise is the starting point for reflecting on the differences that exist between hyper-connected times, such as ours, and a bipolar and linear past, exploring different ways of moving through and relating to space.
The Old dad and the Old mom
HD Video / 06:59 min / 2013
The video features my grandmother who suffers from dementia, relating one story over and over again which changes with each repetition. Her story begins as she recalls a family of her neighborhood that where photographers, who took pictures of her many times as a child. While my intent was to create a complete portrait of my grandmother, this story emerged again and again over the course of filming. The video documentation of this cyclical speech explores different perspectives in narration, language, logic, personal history, and mental illness. In parallel, the video explores how audiovisual documentation influences the creation of this story.
Sometimes in the night I lose my mind
HD Video / 11:48 min / 2011
“Sometimes in the night I lose my mind” tried to capture, by means of a trip, the marginal and unmediated consequences of the Chilean Tsunami, one year later it occurred. It’s a choral story of the experience from interviews with people who witnessed the wave. The video shows ideas, abstractions and derivations of what happened that night, putting the emphasis on the paradoxical perception of the people; between humor and tragedy. A fragmented narrative emerges naturally from the memory pieces of the people.