EIELSON 100: THE FESTIVAL THAT CELEBRATES ARTIST JORGE EIELSON IN PERU

This year, 2024, Jorge Eduardo Eielson will be 100 years old, a reason for celebration and recognition that has brought together various institutions and galleries around the world to launch a series of events in tribute to the life and work of the singular Peruvian artist.

The Eielson 100 festival at the Pontificia Universidad Católica opened with a symposium that brought together three renowned specialists in Eielson's work: Professors Martha Canfield (Director of the Centro Studi Jorge Eielson, Florence), William Rowe (Birkbeck, University of London) and Luis Rebaza Soraluz (King's College, London) on Monday, April 8. The documentaries Vivir es una obra maestra (2007) by Gaby Yepes and Eielson des/nudo (2014) by Patricia Pereyra were also screened on Tuesday, April 9.

This festival opens the opportunity to continue the study of Eielson's wide-ranging production, to rethink already established ideas about his work, and to propose new perspectives on the place of one of our country's most versatile artists. This meeting is a special moment to conceive Eielson as an individual and to meditate on the relevance of his life in Lima and his early work, the implications of his exile in France and Italy during the postwar period, his interaction with European culture, the continuous geopolitical reflection that he traced of Peru and Latin America in his work, among others. Finally, this gathering represents an opportunity to think about the impact of Eielson's visual and literary work as a referent of current Peruvian art.

The festival also features two exhibitions curated by Carlos Castro Sajami and Mariana Rodríguez Barreno. On the one hand, on Wednesday, April 10, Canto abierto. Homage to Jorge Eduardo Eielson open at the PUCP Cultural Center. It is an exhibition that brings together eleven Peruvian artists whose works dialogue with Eielson's creative legacy. As part of this event, a discussion moderated by Paulo Dam will be held together with artists Carlos Runcie Tanaka, Ricardo Wiesse, María José Guerrero and Alejandra Ortiz de Zevallos.

On the other hand, the exhibition Habitación en Roma opens its doors on Thursday, April 11 at the Alberto Flores Galindo Library on campus presenting an unpublished, mechanoscribed version of this poetic set, which has been generously donated by Matteo Lorenzelli recently to the university. This important document opens new reflections on Eielson's creative process during his early years of residence in Italy in the 1950s. This occasion will be accompanied by the presentation of the facsimile edition of the mechanoscript along with essays by specialists.

In addition, the presentation of a recently published volume prepared by Andrea Guardia entitled La supervivencia de la palabra. Immanencia, intertexts and surfaces in a selection of poems by Jorge Eduardo Eielson (2024) will be held on Thursday, April 11 at the PUCP Bookstore. On this occasion, the author will talk with Rodrigo Vera about the ideas that make up this new contribution to the bibliography on Eielson. Finally, Prof. Luciano Boi (EHESS, Paris) will offer a seminar on April 12 and 15. These sessions will be devoted to discussing the original link between Eielson's art and science. Specialists in art history, philosophy, literature, physics and mathematics will meet to discuss their perspectives and unveil the complexity of the Peruvian artist's creative conceptions.

Throughout the month of April, the PUCP Cultural Affairs Office has designed a series of workshops and mediations to accompany the festival with the support of teachers from the Faculty of Art and Design of the same university. These will be held on campus, at the PUCP Cultural Center and the Plaza San Miguel rotunda. Among them is the Eielsonian quipus workshop directed by Alejandra Ortiz de Zevallos and Andrea Tapia, and the intervention prepared by Mila Huby.