Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this article, Carlos Aldunate casts an eye on Juan Downey’s production, referencing some of his works. He recalls his connections with the artist and Machu Picchu, calling Downey a “true artist.” Aldunate explains that some of [...]

Mary Sabbatino discusses Juan Downey’s work in depth, paying particular attention to the connection between his drawings and his videos. According to Sabbatino, drawing formed the basis of Downey’s methodology. She notes that he was [...]

In this essay Pablo Oyarzún discusses the emancipating quality of Juan Downey’s work via paidéia (teaching). The essayist notes Downey’s constant focus on the creation, circulation, and meaningful social transmission of [...]

Néstor Olhagaray, the video maker and researcher, writes about the arrival of video in the Chilean art world. He refers to one of the essential characteristics of the medium, which is its ability to create both a personal and a social [...]

In this text the anthropologist Pedro Mege challenges the label of “documentary” that is frequently applied to Juan Downey’s work. He suggests that Downey is an artist who presents his specific and subjective images while actively [...]

In this essay Néstor Olhagaray writes about Yanomami, the video by Juan Downey, focusing on specific moments or scenes. He analyzes the role of the “creator of images” who addresses a proposed fictional reality and its viewers. [...]

In this essay Juan Downey describes what he experienced while immersed, with his camera, in several indigenous tribes in Venezuela and Brazil. His goal was to make recordings that would facilitate connection with such environments, claiming that the [...]

In this essay Justo Pastor Mellado discusses the autobiographical nature of Juan Downey’s work, referring to the links to that genre to be found in Chile and stating that this suggests the emergence of a lesser, secondary, and recently [...]

Justo Pastor Mellado discusses Juan Downey’s work in the audiovisual series titled Transamérica and Ojo Pensante (Thinking Eye). He believes it is especially necessary to view the video Moving (1974) and draws attention to several shots [...]

Diamela Eltit escribe sobre la obra de Juan Downey, a propósito de su exposición en Chile Festival Downey. El texto se articula en dos puntos: “La patria: todas las patrias” y “Todas las patrias: la patria” cuya [...]

In this article, Juan Downey alternates between questions and certainties as he writes about video, the medium he used to create his body of work. The title refers to a phrase attributed to Marcel Duchamp, who supposedly said that artists keep [...]

In this essay, Nelly Richard discusses some of the “art actions” that Lotty Rosenfeld—a member of the art action group known as CADA—created on public roads and highways in Chile. Rosenfeld altered traffic signage and lines on [...]

In this interview, the poet Soledad Fariña asks Juan Downey about his video work and its exposure in the United States and Chile. The Chilean artist, who lives in the United States, talks about his interest in video, electronics in general, [...]