The Chilean art space Hofmann’s House is organising the first conference of independent art spaces (EiEi) in Chile in the beautiful port city of Valparaiso on the Pacific coast. Fifteen independent art spaces from Latin America, North America and Europe will present their projects to each other and exchange ideas. The symposium and discussions will take place at various locations throughout the city, and the individual art spaces will present themselves to the public in an exhibition and “In Situ Action” with live acts and performances.
Esther Eppstein travels to Valparaiso with a suitcase full of photos, flyers and other message salon souvenirs and presents a documentary message salon installation at the exhibition. At the conference, Esther Eppstein is accompanied by long-time message salon artist and friend Selina Trepp. The video artist has been living in Chicago for several years. As part of “In Situ Action,” she is developing an experimental video-audio show on site with sound artists she met at the conference.
“I’m interested in collaborating and improvising with the artists. My part of the performance consists of creating visual elements. With my computer connected to the MIDI controller keyboard, I can compose freely. I play my keyboard, but instead of music, I create images and videos. The musicians improvise with sounds on the laptop and percussion, and I improvise with them. We interact with each other, and the performance emerges in the moment.” Selina Trepp on “Valparaiso Experiment”
message salon presenta en vivo
Selina Trepp “Valparaiso Experiment”, 2005
Audio-video show, approx. 30 minutes
Live Video Keyboard: Selina Trepp (USA)
Live Music: Claudio Fernandez Sini (Chile), Pablo Mellado (Chile), Paulo Vivacqua (Brazil)
message salon would like to thank José Pablo Diaz, Rodrigo Vergara and Isabel Ibañez from Hofmann’s House for the invitation and hospitality, as well as Mara Züst, Zurich, for her support.
Art spaces participating in the EiEi conference alongside message salon: planet22 (CH), 24/7 (Eng), Freewaves (USA), La Rebeca (Col), Capacete (Bra), Trama (Arg), Duplus (Arg), La Nueva Grafica Chilena (Chl), Galeria Metroplitana (Chl), Galeria Chilena (Chl), Instant Coffee (Chl), Radio Ideal (Chl), Ex-Gremio (Chl), H10 (Chl).