• Armando Andrade Tudela

CERCO

Upon entering the exhibition space, visitors encounter Cerco, a modular sculpture that cuts perpendicularly across the gallery. Positioned between sculpture and furniture, it functions as a wedge dividing the space into two contrasting zones: on one side, the film La Verdad ha Cambiado; on the other, a group of small and medium-format two-dimensional works. These wall pieces combine what the artist describes as “somatic diagrams” with a series of silkscreen prints. The diagrams, made with chalk and pencil on wooden panels, result from the superimposition of multiple layers of information—architectural plans of corridors, hallways, and archaeological sites; outlines of pan flutes and femurs; and an array of marks, annotations, and words such as sect, tunic, zone, gargoyle—. For the artist, these diagrams reveal the exhibition’s underlying narratives, rendering visible the elusive labour that precedes the emergence of material forms.

Alongside the diagrams are silkscreen prints derived from screenshots of La Verdad ha Cambiado. Through successive processes of printing and overprinting, the artist manipulates these images to generate new forms of visual montage. Silent, opaque, and fragmented, the prints distil the film’s actions into still-life compositions.

Presented for the first time on an LED wall, whose luminous surface alludes to the pictorial nature of the work, La Verdad ha Cambiado occupies a central place in this room. The film comprises seven performative sequences enacted by four actors, following a visual script devised by the artist. This script draws on archival images from the Catholic University’s Faculty of Arts in Lima, Peru, where the artist studied in the 1990s, interwoven with images of bodies subjected to extreme states of crisis or stress. The resulting juxtaposition produces a disquieting hall of mirrors, in which dynamics of submission, domination, and reassertion unfold through the performers’ actions. The film allowed the artist to revisit the complex entanglements of pedagogy, ideology, and indoctrination in Peru’s recent history—a recurring concern in his practice and one that remains acutely relevant to the country’s political present.

Andrade Tudela regards this film as the narrative and conceptual axis of the exhibition, from which the other works emerge. A clear example is Canto Hundido, located in the final room. Here, the artist reinterprets the set created for the film, transforming it into a sculptural model composed of three intersecting planes. The structure functions as a labyrinth of entrances and exits, openings and closures. Beneath the table, a subwoofer emits a musical composition by Sirag Sesestyan, based on a recording of Respuesta Funeraria, a traditional Andean chant drawn from field recordings made during Peru’s years of internal conflict. Designed as a low-frequency drone, the sound piece casts the sculpture as a resonant chamber or a burial site. As the sound of Canto Hundido overlaps with that of the film, the gallery itself becomes a breathing, reverberating space. Quoting Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel,” in darkness it is sound that threatens the order”.

The work of Armando Andrade Tudela oscillates between sculpture, video and installation and deals with the historical, political and cultural processes that shape our notion of identity. Recent exhibitions include: No Despide luz, Museo de Arte de Lima, Lima, Chosen Memories, MoMA, New York; Itinerarios XXVII, Centro Botín, Santander and Burlador Burlado, Proyecto AMIL, Lima. He represented Peru at the Gwangju Biennale in 2024. His work is part of some of the most important international institutional collections such as: Centre Pompidou, Paris; MALI, Lima, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; MACBA, Barcelona; MoMA, New York; Tate, London; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Guggenheim Museum, New York and most recently MAMC+ in Saint Etienne and Centro Botín, Santander.

Andrade Tudela lives and works in Lyon France where he teaches volume and installation at the Ecole National Superior de Beaux Arts de Lyon.

The artist would like to thanks Vincent Guiomar, Nick Oberthaler, Magalie Meunier, Studio Ganek, Bruno Silva, Franck Lestard, Morgane Roumegoux, Julie Kieffer, Amandine Mohamed-Delaporte, Sarah Breassier  and the printing department at ENSBA Lyon, Sirag Sesetyan, Samuel Nguyen, Daniela Sonnabend, Konrad Kaniuk, Sofia Zamanskaya, Ines Fontaine, Julio Lugon, Hannes Bock, Alessandra Minini, Francesca Minini and everyone at Francesca Minini gallery, Yorick Simon, Guillaume Seyller and Isadora Andrade-Mujica. The film La Verdad ha Cambiado was made with the support of the Becas Botín, Santander and the Fondation des Artistes, Paris