Rodrigo Azaola

Rodrigo Azaola https://nothingenduresbutchange.net Rodrigo Azaola Sat, 21 Mar 2026 16:57:48 +0000 https://nothingenduresbutchange.net en MMT http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/MMT Sat, 21 Mar 2026 16:57:48 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 459326 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Mystical Monetary Theory 2026 - upcoming Mystical Monetary Theory (MMT) is a conversational system powered by generative AI that seeks to blur the lines between monetary authority and philosophical imagination. This system self-generatively produce a poetic, unsettling, and oracular discourse based on two corpus. The first corpus, corresponding to the AI agent that questions, is the poem The Conference of the Birds by Persian mystic Farid ud-Din Attar, written in the 12th century. In this work,  a group of birds traverses seven valleys representing the stages of the mystical path. The poem concludes with the revelation that the seeker—the human, represented by the birds—and the sought—the divine— are one. The second corpus, corresponding to the AI agent that formulates the responses, speeches database of the Bank for International Settlements. This entity, popularly known as the "bank of banks" and headquartered in Switzerland, has shaped contemporary global finance since World War II through reports, regulatory standards, and academic research. Its database contains around twenty thousand speeches delivered by hundreds of officials from over a hundred central banks from 1976 to the present. This installation interrogates contemporary finance as acts of faith. Ultimately, MMT represents a symbolic space of confluence (questionable due to its reliance on AI systems) that demands a critical reflection, not devoid of humor, on current narratives of financial power and their quasi-sacred character. <img width="640" height="640" width_o="640" height_o="640" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/fc6e9ac7de881aec08718150e96d9af87e5e79bf2b065ed4a39f34ba6e971bb9/output-2.jpg" data-mid="1434663" border="0" /> Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Mystical Monetary Theory 2026 - upcoming Mystical... raise http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/raise Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:39:29 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 459146 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Raise your arms2026 - upcoming <img width="3156" height="1766" width_o="3156" height_o="1766" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/238ac1dd5196d7ce9d65ea2f271484e093425b753c5cd76cdab7f04aa986b837/Untitled-1.jpg" data-mid="1432024" border="0" /> Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Raise your arms2026 - upcoming p http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/p Thu, 15 Jan 2026 15:14:20 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 458897 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News download portfolio  (password for all videos: fairlydifficult) download CV <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/ed660e4bfbfa369da9bdc52af76e7b017f8f65093b611ead5b9394032383b992/IMAGEN-4.jpg" data-mid="1429430" border="0" data-scale="65"/> Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News download portfolio  (password for all videos:... time http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/time Thu, 04 Dec 2025 19:17:25 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 458670 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News                                                                                       Impunity Landscapes V, Merchants of time 20253D playable game. Merchants of time is a 3D interactive game that explores the disproportionate power held by central banks and the vulnerability of individuals to their disciplinary technosophy. The environment is set against the backdrop of the 2019 Lebanese financial crisis, triggered by systemic corruption, embezzlement, and outright theft orchestrated by the highest ranks of Lebanon’s central bank in coordination with a loosely regulated banking sector. Sonic and visual cues —such as Lebanese bank logos, news footage, sound bites from banks mission and vision statements, and protests soundscapes— are dispersed throughout the cave, interwoven with admonitions from the Merchants of Time, fictional entities that guard its depths. Modern central banks rely on the supposedly apolitical independence and expertise of unelected and unaccountable techno-servants. At best, this is a constructed narrative about the true value of time and, critically, who is entitled to define it. At worst, these narratives mask decisions, sometimes criminal, with the potential to plunge entire societies into crisis for decades to come. Merchants of time places the player alone in a vast, unmapped cave system existing outside any specific place or time. Empty, hostile and devoid of emotions, the environment is marked by traces of both past and future ruins. Player mechanics are intentionally limited to endless roaming, observation, and enduring an unknown path with no clear beginning or end — mirroring the minimal agency and understanding that citizens have over how central bank policies shape our present and future lives. This work, the last of the Impunity Landscapes series, is both an archive and a sacrificial altar confronting the entanglement —anchored in fragile systems of trust and collapse— between modern finances and faith. This work was first developed during an art residency at Takeover, Beirut. <img width="3198" height="1564" width_o="3198" height_o="1564" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/a9f9ce0b085b43338fc9ef6d3840808970555e07ae5b5ee5a5c5c479df5071ed/150229.png" data-mid="1426829" border="0" /> Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News                ... prevnews http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/prevnews Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:14:28 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 457268 Rodrigo Azaola Other work           About          News Rodrigo Azaola Other work           About          News teaser http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/teaser Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:20:25 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 455986 https://nothingenduresbutchange.net/ImpII https://nothingenduresbutchange.net/ImpII rya http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/rya Wed, 09 Oct 2024 17:48:30 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 454496 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Raise your arms 2026 Single channel interactive videoinstallation Raise Your Arms is an interactive video work where the audience’s movements unravel the stream of thought of an anonymous ex-climate diplomat, relying on filmed barren landscapes captured over the last five years. Through a lifeless panorama, we accompany the diplomat's remembrances—from the first climate conferences to the appearance of green financial instruments (green bonds, carbon credits, green ETFs, and so forth), to the complete takeover of climate change negotiations by big capital. Here, the horizon of a planetary ecological future became a tradable derivative, alongside the weakening of state sovereignty through its de-risking. These memories move alongside past climate conference logos and video-game-like sounds that evoke a playful yet pointless course of action. Circular narratives and a lack of action amount to nothing but empty promises that certainly outweigh Earth's natural reserves. <img width="3199" height="1800" width_o="3199" height_o="1800" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1c4dda5176b12ea5fc11fa4e6da91b7649cad153857a51fd223657e9e1e15cf7/Raise-your-arms___3.png" data-mid="1433120" border="0" /> Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Raise your arms 2026 Single channel interactive... Bbl http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/Bbl Sat, 31 Aug 2024 04:48:12 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 454127 Modelab bibliography ·      Mark Amery, Amber Clausner, Sophie Jerram, “Surveillance Awareness Bureau” in Urgent Moments (Wellington: Massey University Press, 2023), 150-151. ·      Mark Amery (ed.) “Surveillance Awareness Bureau” in Brokered Dreams: 98 Uses for Vacant Space (Wellington: Letting Space and Wellington Independent Arts Trust, 2020) p. 92. ·      Reviews of “Transient Flows” by Zoe Yeh and Rikey Cheng, Taipei, June 2019. ·      Ica Rivera, “Hole in the Wall” Rogue, March-April 2018. ·      “Visual artist represents Mexico at Biennale” BusinessMirror, February 28, 2018. ·      Tania Puente García “Dibujar fantasmas. Apariciones, contracartografías y disputas en el espacio público en dos obras de Carolina Andreetti y Sandra Calvo”, Programa de Artistas de la Universidad Di Tella. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018 ·      “Al-Mutanabbi Street,” What’s On Sydney, February 28, 2017. ·     “Lo más esperado del mes de marzo,” Revista Código, March 1, 2017. ·     “Instalación cuestiona guerra contra las drogas,” El Porvenir, February 2, 2017. ·      Simon Schatzberg, “Ghost Walker Project Seeks to Uncover Part of Mexico City’s Past” The News, July 31, 2016. ·     “Ghost Walker”: Una Caminata Imposible por la Historia de la Ciudad de México” Canal 22, August 17, 2016. ·     “El pasado según Ghost Walker” Luces del Siglo, August 3, 2016. ·     “Evoca Ghost Walker el pasado de la urbe” Reforma, August 1, 2016. ·     Manuel Rocha, “Proyecto Ghost Walker: el ruido urbano como constructo antropológico estético (guía mínima para entender los sonidos de la ciudad)” Ixaya, año 5, no. 9 (jun.-nov. 2015), Departamento de Desarrollo Social - CUCSH, Universidad de Guadalajara, Rodrigo Azaola bibliography Monographs and Exhibition Catalogues (Selection) HCRH: 1947-2017, Mexico: Fundación Alumnos 47, Mexico, 2019. 1812-2016, Mexico City: Muca Roma, 2017. Azaola, Phantom Pain, Bolivia: SIART Bienal, 2017. Arriola, Magalí, Prophets of deceit, San Francisco: California College of the Arts, 2006. Ulrich Obrist, Hans and Pamela Echeverria, Do It / Házlo, Mexico City: Museo Carrillo Gil, 2002.   Selected Publications I. Conference Papers and Peer-reviewed publications   ·        R. Azaola, “Impunity landscapes: SIBs”, Débordements: Lettres, Arts, Cinéma, Université Paris-Diderot, Paris, 2024 (July) ·        R. Azaola, “A little better: Emotions in the age of cryptocurrencies”, 26th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Montreal, 2020 (presentation: 13.10.2020). ·        R. Azaola, “Phantom Pain: From Absence Dearest Memories Are Born”, 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Durban, 2018.  ·        R. Azaola, “Share or Divide? Brazil and Mexico as the Emerging Artistic Powers of Latin America” 10th Association of Iberian and Latin American Studies of Australasia [AiLaSA] 2012.   II. Thesis Azaola, R. “A Banquet of Seaweed: Contemporary Culture and Politics in Egypt,” MPhil diss. IR-Asian and African Studies, El Colegio de México, Mexico, 2007.     III.Magazines and Newspapers (Selection) R. Azaola, “Visiones desde la cuarentena: Sydney”: [Visions from lockdown: Sydney] Letras Libres, 10 April, 2020 R. Azaola, “Irán: El juego de la paciencia”: [Iran: The patience game] Letras Libres, 8 October, 2019 R. Azaola, “Por qué Christchurch se va a repetir”: [Why Christchurch will happen again] Letras Libres, 30 April, 2019 R. Azaola, “En Hungría, Frida Kahlo es el enemigo” [In Hungary, Frida Kahlo is the enemy], Letras Libres, 19 November, 2018 R. Azaola, “La criptoeconomía de una generación perdida: [The cryptoeconomy of a lost generation] Letras Libres, 21 August, 2018 R. Azaola, “Irán y Estados Unidos: el ajedrez nuclear” [Iran and the United States: Nuclear chess], Letras Libres, 15 May, 2018 R. Azaola, “Refugee Artists Take Control of their Representation in a New Exhibition”, Artslant, October 18, 2017 R. Azaola, “Filipinas: la otra guerra contra las drogas” [Philippines: The Other War on Drugs] Letras Libres 14 November, 2017 R. Azaola, “A cien años de la revolución de Octubre: Vietnam” [One Hundred Years After the October Revolution: Vietnam] Letras Libres, 17 May, 2017 Complete list (link) Modelab bibliography ·      Mark Amery, Amber Clausner, Sophie Jerram, “Surveillance Awareness Bureau” in Urgent Moments (Wellington:... roads http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/roads Sun, 23 Jun 2024 13:49:32 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 453527 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News                                                                                        Impunity Landscapes VI, Open roads 2024Two-channel HD video with sound. 6’34’’. This video work examines what may be the largest financial fraud ever committed in Mexico. It traces an intricate path built on more than three years of research through financial and legal sources, court proceedings, and numerous freedom of information requests. From more than a decade (BBVA, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and Santander) manipulated billions of dollars in Mexican government bonds. Thousands of clients and institutions all over the world were systematically overcharged or underpaid. In sum, for more than ten years, Mexican debt was bought low and sold high. An Oklahoma firefighters' pension fund, which held Mexican debt, found the fraud and sued the banks. Further investigations confirmed that banks manipulated Mexico´s sovereign debt prices and availability. In late 2023, I finally received over 500 pages related to the case from Mexican authorities. Most, if not all, were heavily redacted. The opaqueness of the case was more than literal: it was visual. I used these involuntary geometric motifs to create a landscape —an animated grid connecting semi-fictional, testosterone-fueled chats among traders with financial architectures built on opacity and risk. Open Roads is a portrait of the casino capitalism behavior of unchecked financial institutions as they shatter the sovereignty of states and jeopardize the economic future of millions. This work was exhibited at Casa del Lago, Mexico City, January 2025; Captive portal, Copenhagen, May 2025; Brick City gallery, Springfield, Missouri, Autumun 2025; selected for 4TH-WALL International Video Art Biennial 2027. <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/797541a0647ad2670faa4e6ae8934d0a3fa3eb8c2ed09a1ea8c175c10ffe67e7/30012025-DSC02719.jpg" data-mid="1401097" border="0" /> Installation views. Casa del Lago, Mexico City. Photography by Maya Ortega. <img width="1536" height="2048" width_o="1536" height_o="2048" src_o="https://cortex.persona.co/t/original/i/1868a657c0cf6a7c4bc7b39c9586d9ed9a5582e46ca870fef3373c03f4eab4d2/WILL-DO-end.jpg" data-mid="1429058" border="0" /> Installation views. Brick City gallery, Springfield, Missouri. Photography by Erin  Tyler. Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News                ... prev http://nothingenduresbutchange.net/prev Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:21:33 +0000 Rodrigo Azaola 453473 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Installations  1812-2016 - Muca Roma  Armida - C3 Melbourne Black sites - Cité Internationale des Arts Museum of good - Jumex Museum Phantom pain - SIART Biennale Founder   Modelab - Nomadic initiative exploring historical narratives Radio Ensayo - Decentralized web radio station HCRH - Philantropic foundation established in 1947 Rodrigo Azaola Work           About          News Installations  1812-2016 - Muca Roma  Armida...