SAN DIEGO, CA.- Muxima (2005), a 36-minute looping video, presents various iterations of a popular Angolan folksong. A cinematic elegy to the people of Angola, the video was inspired by Jaar’s interest in African music. During the process of organizing his extensive collection of recordings made in Africa, Jaar discovered that he had several different versions of the Angolan folk song, Muxima, and the idea for this video was born.
This work, discussing issues ranging from the remnants of colonialism to environmental destruction, is divided into 10 cantos, each defined by subtle differences in the interpretations of the song. Jaar found that the music evokes the experiences of the people of Angola with a communicative power that animated images alone could not achieve.
Jaar is a New York City-based artist, architect, and filmmaker born in Santiago, Chile. Using multimedia installations, photographs, film, and public interventions, Jaar’s work explores conflict and complex global social and political situations. His celebrated Rwanda Project (1994-1998) examines the genocide in Rwanda, and other works have focused on gold mining in Brazil, toxic pollution in Nigeria, and the border between Mexico and the United States.
One of the most important contemporary artists working today, Jaar’s work has been shown extensively around the world. He has participated in the Venice (1986, 2007, 2009, 2013) and São Paulo Biennales (1985, 1987, 2010), with individual exhibitions at the New Museum, New York; the Whitechapel Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome. He was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1985, a MacArthur Fellow in 2000, and received Spain’s Premio Extramadura a la Creación in 2006.
In 1990, MCASD presented the first U.S. museum exhibition of Jaar’s work featuring the artist’s light-box installations. MCASD holds several works by Jaar in its collection, including the major installation Gold in the Morning (1986), which was recently featured in Behold, America!, an exhibition organized by MCASD, The San Diego Museum of Art, and the Timken Museum of Art.
