About this Event
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To close out the global symposium, we invite you to a conversation between author Juan Gabriel Vásquez, 2023 – 2024 Fellow of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and artist Christina Nakou, a current Fellow.
They will talk about their latest works, along with the ways literature and visual art engage with memory, materiality, and the creative process.
Speakers
Juan Gabriel Vásquez came to the Institute to write a book on the life of the Colombian artist Feliza Bursztyn, who died in Paris while dining with Gabriel García Márquez two streets away from Reid Hall. His telling of the story relies on a series of real events, carried out through interviews and journalistic work, but interpreted through the lens (the language, the strategies) of fiction. The book came out in January 2025 as Los nombres de Feliza, published by Alfaguara, and was just released as Les noms de Feliza in its French edition by Le Seuil, translated by Isabelle Gugnon.
Vásquez is also the author of two collections of short stories – Lovers on All Saints’ Day and Songs for the Flames – and of seven novels: The Informers, The Secret History of Costaguana, The Sound of Things Falling, Reputations, The Shape of the Ruins, Retrospective, and Los nombres de Feliza, which he wrote while he was a Fellow at the Institute. He has published two books of literary essays: El arte de la distorsión and Viajes con un mapa en blanco. His books are currently published in 30 languages and have won a number of awards and prizes.
Christina Nakou is a visual artist specializing in mosaics. Her work focuses on notions of time and physicality, and creates spaces of interrelation between solid matter, water, and light, inviting the audience to engage with her installations through diverse senses. She was a Visiting Artist in the American Academy in Rome and her work has been presented at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, the Gardens of the Embassy of Italy, and the Archaeological Site of Ancient Messini, in Greece, among others. She has collaborated with museums and institutions, highlighting creativity through handmade processes.
At the Institute, Nakou will be focusing on the creation of mosaics in the post-human era. The sense of touch allows us to connect with our environment, but as we move into the post-human era, tactile sensitivity atrophies, as the handmade objects that surround us are gradually withdrawn. What implications will this have on the formation of our ethics, on our contact with ourselves and with other people, on the sustainability of our natural environment? Nakou will be designing an experimental mosaic installation, exploring these ideas while focusing on tactility and on the experience of time.
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This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.
Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.
Event venue & nearby stays
Reid Hall, 4 Rue de Chevreuse, Paris, France
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