IDENTITY CASE-D
Mano de Altares de Mano
by Fernando Calzadilla
June 2006
Artist’s Statement
My work (and almost everything else I do) is about performance.
May be performance as efficacy/efficiency/discipline, performance
as representation, or the performance of everyday life. Mano de
Altares de Mano addresses altars as performing objects, as markers
of belonging to an identity that is always on the move, always
changing and adapting to new circumstances. Since the beginning,
as a country we Venezuelans have faced north, opened to the sea
and to the exchange that the sea avails. We have had swarms of
people, customs, and things that have modified our identity. But
in that modification there is always a process of incorporation
and regurgitation that produces anew what was taken in. Call it
hybridization, mestizaje, or syncretism, one thing is for sure:
it’s a very resilient performance of what it means to be Venezuelan.
For those of us transiting the elusive path between religious
objects and artwork per se it is difficult to speak about performing
identity without connecting with our imaginaries, those that
have determined and bestowed my identity. I humbly present this
performance in full playfulness.
Fernando Calzadilla
June 2006
Fernando Calzadilla
A theatre practitioner, visual and performance artist, scholar with a multi-cultural
background, who weaves hands-on experience with theory to expand the scope of his art.
He studies communication processes from a performance perspective. He is presently a
Doctoral Candidate in Performance Studies at New York University, Tisch School of the
Arts, where he also obtained his MA, and previously, his BFA in Theater Design.
An active designer for more than twenty years, his career has centered on designing
the whole production: sets, lights, and costumes. Design practice branched out towards
ethnography, visual arts, theater directing, architectural and lighting design consulting.
Fernando has been awarded eleven times in Venezuela and abroad for his work in
theatre design and direction. His work in production design and long-standing love for
acting set the foundation for directing full-length plays while conducting theatre workshops
with both professional actors and community teenagers.
Ethnography and theater weaved and produced collaboration with artist Jacobo
Borges for Der Himmel Senkte Sich, an art installation for the Residenzgalerie, Salzburg,
1996, which explores the myth of the flood. With Abdel Hernandez produced The Market
From Here, an experimental ethnography/art installation for the Anthropology Department
at Rice University, Houston, 1997, based on fieldwork experience in the Venezuelan
popular markets. The Houston Chronicle named the installation "the most significant
contemporary work of art to come our way in many years."
Fernando developed Casa Sello in 1989, a studio to investigate and produce mural
paintings, furniture, and art objects. His work on murals, My Painting on Your Wall, developed
over a span of ten years in Venezuela and New York, produced a large nonexhibited
body of work of which art critic Abdel Hernandez said, “Las paredes de FC se
comunican secretamente con las historias de las paredes y con la historia del arte al mismo
tiempo. Este hecho le agrega a sus trabajos una dosis altísima de versatilidad y de posibilidades
hacia el futuro” (Fernando’s walls secretly communicate with the history of
the wall and with the history of art simultaneously. This fact adds to his work a high dose
of versatility and future possibilities).
Open Secret, his participation in OMNIART Miami 2005 and 2006, drew big attention
of audience and critics for its innovative way of urban intervention, in addition to
addressing a relevant subject matter for the neighborhood.
Fernando is a full-fledged artist whose production is only beginning to bloom.
Visual Arts and writing occupies most of his time these days.
Visit http://www.fernandocalzadilla.com to have a comprehensive view of his practice.
Fernando Calzadilla 
2
Honors and Awards
• 2000 DOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP
New York University, Performance Studies
• 1999 PAULETTE GODDARD SCHOLARSHIP
New York University, Performance Studies
• 1998 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Set Design for Acto Cultural
• 1998 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Director for Flor de Baile
• 1997 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for Esperando a Godot (Waiting For
Godot)
• 1996 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for La Señorita Julia (Miss Julie)
• 1996 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Set Design for Sonny, Diferencias Sobre el Otelo
de William Shakespeare
• 1994 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Set Design for El Pez que Fuma
• 1994 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Lighting Design for La Casa de Bernarda Alba
• 1994 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for Los Demonios
• 1994 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Costume Design for Los Demonios
1990 FESTIVAL DEL SIGLO DE ORO ESPAÑOL
El Paso, Texas. Best Lighting Design for El Acero de Madrid
• 1980 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for El Tartufo and Don Perlimplin
Publications
•
“Jacobo Borges: The Meaning of Presence,” Artlies, No. 28,
Fall 2000,
• “Identity Case-d,” Women and Performance, Vol 12:2 #24 2002
• “Performing The Political: Encapuchados in Venezuela” in TDR,
Vol 46 No 3 T176 Winter 2003
• “Artists in the Field: Between Art and Anthropology” Fernando
Calzadilla and George Marcus, in Contemporary Art and Anthropology,
edited by Arnd Schneider, London and New York: Berg
Publishers, 2005
• “Welcome to the nineteenth century: Venezuelan elections” in
e-misferica, electronic journal of the Hemispheric Institute
of Performance and Politics, http://hemi.nyu.edu, 2004
• “YocastaS” Theatre Journal - Volume 55, Number 4, December
2003, pp. 710-713 – Review
• “Los escritores, ¿nacen o se hacen?” Punto de Vista, TV
Latina, Julio 2005, http://www.worldscreen.com/tvlatina.php
Fernando Calzadilla
3
Exhibitions
• “Taking up the Body,” performance presented at Lims Mosaic
2004, Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies,
hosted by Friedrich Petzel Galley, New York, NY, October
2004.
• “Open Secret” and “Skypanels” Urban Interventions presented
at OMNIART I, The neighborhood as a work of art, in honor
of Art Basel 2004, Miami, FL, December 2004
• “It’s the Cart” site-specific installation in OMNIART III,
Miami, FL, December 2005
• Auction 05, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA.
Conferences and Seminars
• “Migrating Religiosity” at Spectacles of Religiosity, Hemispheric
Institute of Performance and Politics, New York,
NY, July 2003, performance and Teaching Assistant
• "Migration, Cultural, and Identity," Globalization, Migration,
and the Public Sphere, Hemispheric Institute of Performance
and Politics, Lima, Peru, July 2002, paper presented
and workgroup chair.
• "Performing Political Identity: Encapuchados in Venezuela,"
Memory, Atrocity, and Resistance, Hemispheric Institute of
Performance and Politics, Monterrey, Mexico, June 2001, paper
presented and panel chair.
• "Identity Case-d," Performance/Paper delivered at the VI
Performance Studies International conference, Arizona State
University, March 2000
• "De La Representación a La Participación," paper presented
at the Espaço da Cena Latino Americana conference,
SESC/Memorial da America Latina, Sao Paulo, Brazil, November
1997.
• "The Market From Here," art installation/experimental ethnography
presented in Artists in Trance seminar at Rice
University, Houston, Texas, organized by the Transart Foundation
and Rice University Department of Anthropology,
April 1997.
2
Honors and Awards
• 2000 DOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP
New York University, Performance Studies
• 1999 PAULETTE GODDARD SCHOLARSHIP
New York University, Performance Studies
• 1998 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Set Design for Acto Cultural
• 1998 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Director for Flor de Baile
• 1997 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for Esperando a Godot (Waiting For
Godot)
• 1996 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for La Señorita Julia (Miss Julie)
• 1996 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Set Design for Sonny, Diferencias Sobre el Otelo
de William Shakespeare
• 1994 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Set Design for El Pez que Fuma
• 1994 NATIONAL AWARD “CASA DEL ARTISTA”
Caracas, Best Lighting Design for La Casa de Bernarda Alba
• 1994 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for Los Demonios
• 1994 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Costume Design for Los Demonios
1990 FESTIVAL DEL SIGLO DE ORO ESPAÑOL
El Paso, Texas. Best Lighting Design for El Acero de Madrid
• 1980 MUNICIPAL AWARD - THEATRE
Caracas, Best Set Design for El Tartufo and Don Perlimplin
Publications
•
“Jacobo Borges: The Meaning of Presence,” Artlies, No. 28,
Fall 2000,
• “Identity Case-d,” Women and Performance, Vol 12:2 #24 2002
• “Performing The Political: Encapuchados in Venezuela” in TDR,
Vol 46 No 3 T176 Winter 2003
• “Artists in the Field: Between Art and Anthropology” Fernando
Calzadilla and George Marcus, in Contemporary Art and Anthropology,
edited by Arnd Schneider, London and New York: Berg
Publishers, 2005
• “Welcome to the nineteenth century: Venezuelan elections” in
e-misferica, electronic journal of the Hemispheric Institute
of Performance and Politics, http://hemi.nyu.edu, 2004
• “YocastaS” Theatre Journal - Volume 55, Number 4, December
2003, pp. 710-713 – Review
• “Los escritores, ¿nacen o se hacen?” Punto de Vista, TV
Latina, Julio 2005, http://www.worldscreen.com/tvlatina.php
Fernando Calzadilla
3
Exhibitions
• “Taking up the Body,” performance presented at Lims Mosaic
2004, Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies,
hosted by Friedrich Petzel Galley, New York, NY, October
2004.
• “Open Secret” and “Skypanels” Urban Interventions presented
at OMNIART I, The neighborhood as a work of art, in honor
of Art Basel 2004, Miami, FL, December 2004
• “It’s the Cart” site-specific installation in OMNIART III,
Miami, FL, December 2005
• Auction 05, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA.
Conferences and Seminars
• “Migrating Religiosity” at Spectacles of Religiosity, Hemispheric
Institute of Performance and Politics, New York,
NY, July 2003, performance and Teaching Assistant
• "Migration, Cultural, and Identity," Globalization, Migration,
and the Public Sphere, Hemispheric Institute of Performance
and Politics, Lima, Peru, July 2002, paper presented
and workgroup chair.
• "Performing Political Identity: Encapuchados in Venezuela,"
Memory, Atrocity, and Resistance, Hemispheric Institute of
Performance and Politics, Monterrey, Mexico, June 2001, paper
presented and panel chair.
• "Identity Case-d," Performance/Paper delivered at the VI
Performance Studies International conference, Arizona State
University, March 2000
• "De La Representación a La Participación," paper presented
at the Espaço da Cena Latino Americana conference,
SESC/Memorial da America Latina, Sao Paulo, Brazil, November
1997.
• "The Market From Here," art installation/experimental ethnography
presented in Artists in Trance seminar at Rice
University, Houston, Texas, organized by the Transart Foundation
and Rice University Department of Anthropology,
April 1997.
