GUILLERMO ARANDA-MENA

 Cities in Transformation  Art exhibition by Guillermo Aranda-Mena.  UNESCO HQ Architecture Chair, Mantova, Italy. 2024

"Mi piace la mia città, ma non posso dire cosa mi piace di essa. Non penso che sia l'odore. Sono troppo abituato ai monumenti per volerli guardare. Mi piacciono certe luci, qualche ponte, le terrazze dei caffè. Adoro passare per un posto che non vedevo da molto tempo. Non dovremmo mai essere in grado di spiegare o giustificare la città. La città è lì. È il nostro spazio e non ne abbiamo altri. Non c'è nulla di disumano in una città, a meno che non si tratti della nostra stessa umanità."  George Perec. Questa è la mia città, la mia città adottiva, Mantova. Guillermo Aranda-Mena Me gusta mi pueblo, pero puedo decir lo que me gusta de el. No creo que sea el olor. Estoy demasiado acostumbrado a los monumentos para querer mirarlos. Me gustan ciertas luces, algunos puentes, las terrazas de los cafés. Me encanta pasar por un lugar que hace mucho que no veo. Nunca deberíamos poder explicar o justificar el pueblo. El pueblo está ahí. Es nuestro espacio y no tenemos otro. No ha...

Link into exhibition blog with detailed descriptions: https://citta2033.blogspot.com/ LA CITTA IDEALE 2033: Drawing Visions of Future Cities Through Personal Constructs by Guillermo Aranda-Mena Ph.D. The Exhibition I am an artist, an academic and architecture is my muse, I must confess, this affair has been going on for 30 years or so. When drawing my ideal city, La mia Città Ideale, I am not testing reality but creatively visualising future scenarios in a very personal manner. Academically I place my work within the theory of Personal Constructs and I will explain more on that later. This exhibition emerged from a personal sense of purpose and desire to imagine urban futures, and to draw and reflect on the fabric of our cities and what makes them thrive , by analogy, a positive psychologist would identify what makes a person tick . Cities are certainly the most complex and perplexing of all human inventions. As a species, we have engaged with the idea of cities for over 6,000 y...

Coming soon, my solo exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park!   1.      BLUE ZONE NEMESIS (L) 2.      URBAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (L) 3.      HYDROPONIC MEGALOPOLIS (L) 4.      LUNA PARK DYSTOPIA (L) 5.      CODEX ATLANTICUS MILANO (L) 6.      BABEL CACOPHONY 2033 (M) 7.      TERROIR DIG 3000 (M) 8.      PARALLAX BABYLON (M) 9.      MANTUA, CITTÀ ETERNA (M) 10. COSMOPOLIS MALMÖ (M) 11. CAVE PAINTING 2033 (M) 12. STRATI SFUMATI (M) 13. KOWLOON POST-EXODUS (M) 14. UBIQUITOUS PUBLIC HOUSE (M) 15. METROPOL COCOONS (M) 16. MAGRITTE'S SOJOURN (M) 17. COLLINS ST, 5PM 1955-2033 (Concertina) 18. GUADALAJARA 1542-2033 (Concertina) 19. TRAM ROUTE 96, ST KILDA (Concertina)  

Here is the land, here is the sky here are my friends and here am I. We would like to acknowledge the Woi-worung and Boon-wurrung people for the land on which we play and learn and promise to look after the plants and animals. Hands up, hands down, we are on unceded Wurundjeri land, it always was and always be, Aboriginal land.  (as I learned from a 5 year old). Red Landscape (W.A.) by Fred Williams (1961). Commissioned by CRA Ltd. Now Rio Tinto.  It denotes terra nullius as viewed from an helicopter. Emily Kame Kngwarray (1990's) Emily of Utopia Central Australia. Her art resists interpretation of any kind of map making, diagram or landscape. Instead, it is a daring from songs and musical sounds often found in nature. Emilie's prominence signalled the emergence of indigenous women in contemporary art.  Over 50 years later the perceived landscape of Australia has dramatically changed, not only physically but culturally. It continues moving towards reconciliation and integ...