TheCube Project Space is proud to present the third installment of the thematic exhibition Re-envisioning Society, featuring /Venezuela From Below/ with artists Oliver Ressler (Austria) and Dario Azzellini (Germany/Venezuela). This curatorial project aims at manifesting and reflecting on the characteristics of contemporary life, as well as individual or collective life experiences and their changes, in order to construct a new vision and imagination of the contemporary society we
are in. In particular, in view of the present “society of the spectacle” produced as a result of the power distribution of neo-liberalism, it explores how we can discover the genuine relationships between people, between man and place and between places hidden behind the “spectacle” with a critical eye.

Venezuela From Below

After Hugo Chávez Frías was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, in a process of continuous interaction with the population, his government implemented a series of democratic socialist policies known as Bolivarian Process.  Its central ideas include anti-imperialism, participatory democracy, economic self-sufficiency and eradication of corruption. While Chávez’s anti-neoliberal and radical leftist polices are popular among grass-roots Venezuelans, they face a strong rejection by the owners of enterprises. In 2002 the opposition staged a coup, a “entrepreneurs strike” in 2002/2003 and a recall referendum in 2004.
With the support of the grass roots population, Chávez weathered all three crises, solidifying his political position and becoming a hero of Latin America. On the other hand, his provocative stance towards the US and his move to increase the presidential term by changing the constitution have made him a controversial political figure in the international media discourse. Contrary to the biased reporting of the media in general, this exhibition Venezuela From Below directly presents the Bolivarian Process through the views of grass-roots Venezuelans. The three documentaries by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini shown in the exhibition, /Venezuela from Below/ (2004), /5 Factories - Worker Control in Venezuela/ (2006) and /Comuna Under Construction/ (2010), interviewed and recorded those who found hope thanks to the “Bolivarian Revolution”. Through their own oral testimony, the films meticulously portray how the development of a democratic socialism, participatory democracy and autonomy of workers that emerged over the past decade have changed the Venezuelans’ envisioning of politics and the social structure.
During the exhibition period, in order to provide viewers with background information on the show, TheCube Project Space, the Graduate Institute of Studies in Documentary & Film Archiving and the Doctoral Program of the Graduate Institute of Art Creation and Theory at the Tainan National University of the Arts will jointly invite senior journalist and political critic Chui-yung Cheung, who has done in-depth reporting on the state of the socialist revolution in Latin America, to hold a talk. The date and details of this talk will be announced in the coming days.