Art Lies, Volume 28, Fall 2000 Page: 36
112 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Horse). As a result of the contact, the museum proposed an
exhibit with the work of 40 artists working with the
inmates. Twice a week, the artists went into the prison.
Power struggles and economic forces operating among
prisoners and authorities provoked the dismissal of the
Troy Horse plan to reform the prison along with director
Carlos Sarmiento. The visits were cancelled and the exhib-
it postponed for lack of resources. A year later, the exhibit
under the name of Troy Horse opened in the museum to a
massive audience. The museum felt that they could not
abandon their involvement with the prison and the com-
munity. Jacobo and the museum engaged in a campaign to
have the prison removed from its present site to a more
modern building outside of Caracas. A campaign to raise
consciousness among the authorities and Congress began
until the removal was accomplished. The next decision fol-
lowed suit, what to do with the empty buildings? A con-
sensus was reached and implosion of the structures and the
annexation of the land to the park were decided.
As a symbol of the triumph it meant, a reminder that
a situation like that should never happen again, and the
marking of a space gained for the community, the ark was
installed over the prison's ruins before their removal. With
the help of a mechanic shovel, we cleared a space in the
debris and raised an ark similar to the one we constructed
in the mountain. In order for the people to access the ark,
a raised runway peregrinated for 500 feet from the entrance
to the exhibit. The installation acquired new meaning in
this site. Many of the people who now came to visit the
exhibit had previously been here visiting imprisoned rela-
tives. Now, it was an enlightening experience that saun-
tered between the political and the aesthetic; an assertion
of the people's will to actively participate in the betterment
of their social conditions; a memorial to those who died
and suffered unjust imprisonment, and above everything, a
journey to the present time of myths and legends, the pres-
ent time of that avoidable repetition, the present time of
desiring a different future. A journey through the unques-
tionable presence of the work of art transcending its own
space, something impossible to experience unless you hap-
pen to be where the work 'happens to be.'
' Benjamin, Walter, Illuminations, New York, Shocken Books, 1964 p. 220
2 Jacobo Borges, (b. 1931, Caracas) "In the iconography of this artist, we dis-
cover an investigation of the supposed elements that conform reality; time,
space, depth, perspective. Through images, ambiguous to a certain point,
one can recognize the search to represent not only the interior and the exte-
rior of objects but also the transitional ground between internal psychic
reality and exterior reality. This search reaches its limits in the important
project Der Himmel Senkte Sich completed in Salzburg, Austria, in 1996."
Iberoamericapinta.org.mx/borges.html
"[Jacobo Borges] is in fact one of the most impressive figurative
painters modern Latin America has produced. As a student at the Escuela
de Artes Plisticas y Artes Aplicadas Cristobal Rojas in Caracas, having
rebelled against the academic nature of the instruction at the school, he was
expelled. At the same time, however, he won a prize offered by the Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer in connection with the film An American in Paris, which
enable him to make his way to Paris, where he spent four years.Borges hated the complacent capitalism of the Romulo Betancourt
government, which has succeeded the Perez Jimenez dictatorship. He was
concerned with what he called 'the tropical problem'-the temptation to self-
indulgent lushness. He was also worried by what he saw as the essential iso-inici6 el contacto con el museo y despleg6 un plan de
reforma, al que llam6 Caballo de Troya.
Como resultado del contacto, el museo propuso hacer en
sus espacios una exposici6n que inclufa el trabajo de 40
artistas en colaboraci6n con los prisioneros. Dos veces por
semana los artistas estuvieron visitando la prisi6n, pero
luchas de poder y fuerzas econ6micas que involucraban a
prisioneros y a autoridades provocaron el fin del plan de
reforma Caballo de Troya, y la destituci6n del director del
reten. Las visitas fueron canceladas y la exhibici6n poster-
gada por falta de recursos.
Un afio m~s tarde, se inaugur6 una exposici6n de
homenaje con el nombre Caballo de Troya para una audi-
encia masiva, pues el museo consider que no podia
abandonar su compromiso con la prisi6n y la comunidad.
Borges y el museo se involucraron en una campafia para
reubicar la circel en un edificio mis moderno en las
afueras de Caracas, y se inici6 un esfuerzo para concien-
ciar a las autoridades y al Congreso, hasta que se logr6 el
desalojo. La siguiente decision era que hacer con los edi-
ficios vacfos, y se lleg6 a un consenso para efectuar la
implosion de las estructuras y anexar el terreno a benefi-
cio del parque.
Como un simbolo del triunfo que esto signific6, como
un recordatorio para que no se vuelva a repetir una
situaci6n similar y como demarcaci6n de un espacio gana-
do para la comunidad, el arca se instal6 sobre las ruinas de
la prisi6n antes de que 6stas fueran removidas. Con la
ayuda de una pala mecanica, abrimos un espacio entre los
escombros y levantamos un arca similar a aquella que
habiamos construido en La Montafia. Para el acceso del
piblico, edificamos una rampa elevada que se extendi6
por unos 150 metros desde la entrada hasta la instalaci6n.
La obra adquiri6 otro significado en este nuevo contexto.
Muchas de las personas que vinieron a la exposici6n ya
habian estado en este mismo lugar visitando a familiares
presos. Ahora acudian a una experiencia iluminadora que
mediaba entre lo politico y lo estetico; una aseveraci6n de
la voluntad de participar activamente en las mejoras de las
condiciones sociales; una conmemoraci6n de aquellos que
habian muerto y padecido injustamente su condena en
semejante prisi6n, y sobretodo, ahora esas personas venian
para hacer un viaje al tiempo presente de los mitos y las
leyendas; al tiempo presente de esa evitable repetici6n; el
tiempo presente del deseo por un future diferente. Era una
trayectoria a trav6s de la incuestionable presencia de la
obra de arte que transciende su propio espacio, algo
imposible de experimentar, a menos que uno est6 "en el
mismo lugar donde de hecho se encuentra".
SBenjamin, Walter, Illuminations, Nueva York, Shocken Books, 1964, Pag.
220 (traducci6n del autor)
2 Jacobo Borges, Caracas 1931
"lJacobo Borges] es uno de los ms impresionantes pintores figurativos que
la moderna Latinoambrica ha producido", segun se expresa en LatinAmerican Art in the 20th Century por Edward Lucie Smith, Thames and
Hudson, 1993, Pag. 162-3
"En la iconografia de este artista descubrimos una indagaci6n de los
elementos que conforman la realidad. Tiempo, espacio, profundidad, per-36 1 ARTL!ES Fall 2000
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Angelini, Surpik & Hernández, Abdel. Art Lies, Volume 28, Fall 2000, periodical, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228058/m1/38/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .