CONFLUENCE - ENDEZO
11 OCT - 05 NOV. 2023 & EVENT 19 OCT.

Confluence is a curatorial project by Tsering Frykman-Glen in collaboration with CasCaDas Artspace.

A confluence is where waters from two or more sources come together. This mixing of moving bodies can alter pace, energy, and chemistry. This place where liquids and sediments gather, mingle, and flow on, is a transitional in-between space. It is here where elements converge, intersect, and negotiate. Cross-fertilising and emerging as something new and of its own, yet always connected to its source. Unstable and fluctuating, it is a place filled with uncertainty but also filled with endless possibilities.

Within the context of this art project, the window at CasCaDas Artspace represents the point of confluence where the artspace (located behind it) and the street (situated in front of it) come together. This is also reflected in the project, the artist and their work, and the physical space itself.

The first in this series of site responsive projects is Endezo by Patricia Encarnación.

"In Haitian Kreyòl, "to live between two waters" is one word, Endezo, and I find that beautiful.
The Scholar Jerry Philogene expressed "living in endezo - that in-between space, the hyphen, the space of negotiation."
Does the diaspora exist on the other side of the hyphen? Or is the hyphen itself?
The motherland is on the other side of the sentence, regardless of the diaspora positionally.
Will I always be living in Endezo?
The in-between waters feel shallower with time.” - Patricia Encarnación

Endezo represents the idea of "living between two waters" encapsulated in a single word, which conveys a sense of beauty and complexity. Scholar Jerry Philogene has articulated the significance of "living in endezo" as the experience of occupying an "in-between space," analogous to a hyphen, wherein negotiations take place. One could question whether the diaspora is situated on the other side of the hyphen or if the hyphen itself embodies the in-between space. Irrespective of the diaspora's positional location, the motherland exists on the other side of the sentence, emphasising its distinctness from the in-between space.

This concept of "Endezo" in Haitian Kreyòl and the notion of an in-between space offer valuable insights into the experiences of the diaspora, shedding light on the complexities and negotiations involved in navigating multiple cultural and societal contexts.

Patricia Encarnación

Patricia Encarnación (she/they) is an Afro-Dominican interdisciplinary artist and scholar. Her work depicts the effects of colonialism on different socio-cultural strata within Afro-diasporic communities with a special focus on the Caribbean and Latin America. She explores being from the Caribbean by recontextualizing quotidian objects, landscapes, and aesthetics she was exposed to while growing up in her homeland.

Patricia was a Van Lier fellow during her residency at Smack Mellon and has participated in multiple residencies such as Museums Quartier Vienna and Kovent Catalonia. Her artwork has been exhibited on platforms such as Documenta 15, the Tribeca Festival Artist Program Award, NADA Art Fair, Afro Syncretic at NYU, and I am New Afro Latinx at MOLAA, CA.

Patricia has been selected twice in The Centro Leon Jiménez Biennial (Santiago, DR), obtaining the prize bestowed by the city of Cádiz (Spain) for cultural immersion and a special invitation to a fellowship sponsored by the French consulate in Martinique as part of a Tropiques Atrium Caribbean art program. Recently, she participated in the 2021-2022 cohort at the Silver Arts Project residency at the World Trade Center.

Besides being an actively exhibiting artist, Patricia has also delved into curatorial practices in spaces such as ChaShama and alternative galleries and community spaces in NYC, Dominican Republic, and Miami. She received an AAS degree in Illustration and Fine Arts from Altos de Chavon, the School of Design. This led her to receive a full-tuition scholarship to complete her BFA at Parsons, The New School of Design, New York, in 2014. She was recently awarded a full-tuition scholarship for the graduate program in the Caribbean Studies concentration in Museum Studies at NYU, where she graduated in 2022.

Patricia is currently based in The Bronx.

Tsering Frykman-Glen

Tsering is the founding director and curator of Tangent Projects.

She is a highly experienced curator with over 18 years of experience working in alternative and independent artspaces, projects, and galleries. Originally from Britain but now residing in Barcelona, Tsering has gained recognition as a highly skilled curator due to her collaborations with numerous talented artists on a wide variety of exciting projects throughout her career.

Tsering was the New Media Director of Phatspace Gallery in Sydney between 2004 - 2006. After returning to London she co-founded The Spare Room, a one- year curatorial project that brought art into non-gallery spaces (2008).

On moving to Barcelona she set up the purely internet-based curation project Remote (2011 – 2013), inviting artists, creatives and curators to create online exhibitions, which was very much unexplored exhibition territory at that time.

Tsering co-founded Tangent Projects in 2015, which for 3 years was an itinerant

curatorial project before it became a cultural association and independent artspace in early 2019. As the founding director and curator of Tangent Projects, Tsering oversees the small project-based gallery and seven artist studios in the L'Hospitalet de Llobregat area of Barcelona.

Tsering continues to be an independent curator and arts writer.

Image credit: Jorge Sánchez