Vis.[un]necessary force_2

Multimedia participatory installation.
50+ additive (3D) sculptures, drawings, texts.

Vis.[un]necessary force_2 (V.[u]nf_2) explores the consequences of violence in daily life, especially among children and family members of missing individuals. The project is based on working with child victims of violence through artistic practices, the use of technology and the creation of safe spaces.

The creative interaction took place in a therapeutic environment under the professional practice of the psychologist Verónica Castillo Arnal, specialised in working with children with post-traumatic stress in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. In the 2017 art therapy sessions, Arnal used drawings made by the children as a bridge, in the absence of dialogue due to their age, at critical moments in therapy.

The project was originally conceived as an installation of up to 50 sound sculptures printed in 3D. Its development was suspended after the earthquake of 19 September 2017 in Mexico City, in which I lost my home and studio. Through the insistence of curator Ryszard W. Kluszczyński, I later completed the project in another form. Using the original photographic documentation of the drawings made in 2017, I reconstructed those 2D images as 3D sculptures of different sizes. On its later exhibition form, V.[u]nf_2 consisted of the reconstructed 3D sculptures, reproductions of the original drawings, and texts by Arnal that explained the therapeutic process. Arnal also contributed a chapter to one of the books I coordinated and published.

With deep gratitude to Verónica Castillo Arnal.

Website of project: https://www.vis-unnecessaryforce.org/

Video documentation, 2024. In the Absence of the State, 24 May–7 July 2024, Galeria Miejska Arsenał, Poznań, Poland.
Duration: 47 seconds.
URL: https://youtu.be/lvXCJJ_TGb0

Informative video.
Duration: 1:27 minutes.
URL: https://youtu.be/kq7UHyuwU8k