STRAHOVPROJECT

Alberto Rodríguez Collía

alberto rodríguez collíaGuatemala City, 1985

Lives and works in Guatemala. With his work tries to explore the historical memory, sordid aspects of the human being and the ridicule of the societies that are imposed over others.

He graduated as Engraver from Art School no. 10 of Madrid, and with his final project received honorable mention at Aurelio Blanco awards. He has participated in residencies of casa of Oaxaca, Mexico; Des.Pacio of San Jose, Costa Rica, faap in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and ait in Tokyo, Japan. Also participated in the xvi and xvii Biennial Paiz of Guatemala and the vii Central American Biennial.

Along with Erick Menchú developed the project “La Favorita”, which is dedicated to the rescue of the Guatemalan folk graphic design, which has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Cultural Center of Guatemala in June 2008 and the Anthropological Museum of El Salvador in October of the same year.

Rodriguez also coordinated the Contemporary Film Festival (muca) and worked for the iv Memoria, Verdad, Justicia Film festival. He participated in the realization of the films «Even the Sun has spots» ((co-direction of Art with Julio Hernández) that won «Prix Espérance» and «Jury Award» in the fid of Marseille and also was screened in the Museum of the Moving Image of ny) and «Hopefully the sun will hide me» (co-direction of Art with Andrea Mármol) both films from Julio Hernández Cordón.

In october of 2013 he starts coordination the Arcalab of Mares Association, directed by Andrea Mármol. This program react towards the lack of good quality art formation in Guatemala, offering an updated, empirical-theoretical and de-hierarchised program. It´s the only one on the country so far.

His work can be found in the Obayashi Collection in Tokyo, the National Library of Spain in Madrid, in La Casa de las Americas, Havana, Cuba, in the Arts Center of San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico and in the teg of Guatemala.

individual exhibitions«El mico Sandoval, William Walker, Pedro de Alvarado, su hijo Álvaro Arzú y el Rayo Chapín contra la Reforma Agraria y la Conspiración Comunista». S1, Guatemala city, november 2013.“Estampida”, Des.Pacio gallery, San Jose, Costa Rica, september 2012.“Siempre Juntos”, Brita Prinz, Madrid, Spain, march 2012.“Hotel Pasabien”, El Attico gallery, Guatemala, september 2008.“El Cincel”, Metropolitan Cultural Centre, Guatemala, june 2007.

recent collective exhibitions«Ojalá el Sol me esconda», Teorética, San José, Costa Rica, march-june 2014.«Ante Ayer», Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City, december 2013-january 2014.«Tecún», La Erre, Guatemala City, september 2013.«Divided against ourselves», Yamamoto Gendai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, july 2013.«Pláticas», Art-Bus, New York, USA., november 2012.

DESCRIPTIONThe project consists in organizing a soccer match in the Strahov stadium in Prague. Given the dimensions of this stadium, the two football teams should be formed by 55 players each. 6 goals will be installed in the field ( each team will defend three goals) and 3 simultaneous balls will be used during the game.

The approximate field dimensions are 150 x 350 meters ( which already excludes the parking area and offices are within the stadium ), and each team will wear a specific uniform to distinguish but will also confuse, because they will wear the same colors but in different order.

The match will last 45 minutes, without breaks or second halfs. To document the event, multiple cameras will be placed in the stadium to capture the collective movement and certain details of the game.

The stadium bears a rich history, built in the early twentieth century, was home to the Slets mass demonstrations of gymnastics realized by the Sokol (a youth sport movement organization founded in 1862), which followed

aboveSketch of Strahov Stadium

earlier similar European movements that started in the late nineteenth century. In 1948, when communism is established , the Sokols had to flee because they disagreed with the regime change and were persecuted. During the communist era, the mass demonstrations were continued with a different name: Spartakiada. Important part of the actors were from the Czechoslovak Union of Youth (CSM).

The Spartakiada were held at the Strahov Stadium and became a symbol of the communist era in Czechoslovakia. Currently the Sokol continued with the Slets but in different and smaller fields, returning to the original pre-communist concept. And is until recently that Strahov Stadium has soccer-related function, as field of training for the Sparta Praha team.

The modern game has several historical influences between Calcio Fiorentino (which compared to others is the most orderly), the French Soulé and the English Shrovetide; In this last one, it highlights the massive participation of two entire villages, in which there is an unlimited amount of players, without a particular field, and anciently, with very few rules: not killing anyone.

In the second half of the nineteenth century soccer rules were defined, many are currently used . In the twentieth century sport became one of the most popular worldwide, and since 1930 (except 1942 and 1946 ) every four years the World Cup of national teams is held. The edition in Sweden in 1958, Czechoslovakia reached the final

aboveSketch of Strahov Stadium

of the tournament, which was defeated 1-3 against Brazil. It has historically been their better participation in the tournament. Exceeded only when they won in 1976 the European Championship.

The project takes the historical situations of the sport, coupled with the description of Canclini s “The void as heritage” and “The reinterpretation of the heritage”

“Soccer as a source of socialization and identity organizer generates festive rituals, theatricality interactions and social divisions. Its heritage is largely intangible . . Songs, costumes and short-living celebrations. Lasting buildings such as stadiums, and other class of appropriations which lie more in the field of intangible heritage, such as transient occupation of urban space in the media in which the show momentarily expands.”

aboveSketch of the pitch distribution: goals, goalkeaper areas and player postitons.

above and belowSketches of Strahov Stadium during Slets and Slavia Praha history team.