Humberto Vélez

Vélez's performances actively explore the possibilities of working in collaboration with different groups (artists and handcrafters, special communities, athletes, musicians, and groups conformed especially for each project), in different places and cultures. The artistic projects are conceived from what he calls "the ability to create aesthetics" of, for, and with these groups, according to their different lifestyles, thereby managing different concepts and expressions of popular culture, power, and ethics. The human relations on which Vélez constructs his creative processes are as important as the final outcome, be that a performance, a film, an installation, or a photographic memoir. Vélez calls his practice "Aesthetics of Collaboration." In his work, as described by curator Gerardo Mosquera, "the community should be an active agent" at the same time as his art also "interweaves personal memories, dreams, visions, and the determination of pretending to invent new worlds." 0Exhibition: Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada (2011).