The Wandering House

Dates and Times for this Past Event

• Saturday, Jul 16, 2022  1pm - 4pm
• Friday, Jul 15, 2022  1pm - 4pm
• Thursday, Jul 14, 2022  1pm - 4pm
• Saturday, Jul 9, 2022  1pm - 4pm

Location

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Details

"The Wandering House" at Rochester Art Center

Open Hours: July 7, 8, 9 and July 14, 15, 16 | 1:00 - 4:00 PM

Is home necessarily tied to a physical place or is it an overall feeling of having arrived? What does it mean, and what does it take, to belong to a place? What are the rights and responsibilities that come with being part of a community? How can we create spaces where all of us feel valued? These are some of the questions that artist Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo explores with her ongoing multimedia project, "The Wandering House," that she is bringing to the Rochester Art Center in July!

"The Wandering House" will be located on the patio, facing Mayo Park, and will offer an opportunity for Rochester residents and visitors to speak candidly and privately about their understanding of home and the hopes they have for their respective communities. This program is part of "home ~ exploring, mending, reimagining", an exhibition currently on view at the Rochester Art Center that features a multimedia body of work that the artist has produced since 2019 with the communities of Northfield and Lanesboro in southeastern Minnesota.

“The house is like a modern-day confessional,” explains Cecilia. “You go in alone. While there is always someone outside ready to help and answer questions, inside the house it’s just you.” Participants record audio only and are not asked to identify themselves by name. If participants prefer not to record their voice, they have the option to complete a written questionnaire and leave it in the house’s mailbox. The questions are posted and shared ahead of time to give participants a chance to reflect before recording. “This is about creating a welcoming space for introspection and for re-learning how to listen,” says the artist. “Similar to the act of ice-fishing, "The Wandering House" searches for the bounty that lies below the surface.”

Cecilia, along with a group of volunteers, will be collecting stories and testimonies related to “home” from visitors to the Art Center, Thursday-Saturday, July 7th, 8th, 9th, and 14th, 15th, 16th from 1:00 - 4:00 PM. We invite you to contribute your testimony to this growing archive, or to simply stop by and find out more about the project and its next steps.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo is a documentary filmmaker, artist, and educator engaging rural communities in southern Minnesota in a multilayered exploration of home. Locally rooted yet globally minded, her work examines notions of belonging and the immigrant experience while exploring the traces of historical trauma on people and places. Her experience growing up under dictatorship in her native Chile led her to develop an artistic practice that encourages community members to reflect in order to envision and generate paths toward collective wellbeing.

An inaugural recipient of the 2020 McKnight Fellowship for Community-Engaged Artists, Cecilia’s work has received support from Forecast Public Art (2022), the Minnesota State Arts Board (2016, 2018, 2020, 2021), the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (2019), the Jerome Foundation (2016), and the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (2014). Her film work, currently distributed by Women Make Movies has shown at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight, the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, Cine las Americas (TX), Lonestar Film Festival (TX), as well as internationally at L’Alternativa (Spain), Arsenale (Germany), InVideo (Italy), Melbourne Latin American Film Festival (Australia), Puerto Vallarta International Film Festival (Mexico), Festival Internacional de Documentales de Santiago (Chile), Festival de Cine Pobre (Cuba), Festival Internacional de Documental de Buenos Aires (Argentina), and more. Cecilia is an Artist Career Consultant with Springboard for the Arts and teaches filmmaking in Northfield, the occupied ancestral land of the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota Nation.

Exhibition Page: https://rochesterartcenter.org/.../home-exploring.../

Thank you to Ginger Holmes and Rochester Area Foundation for supporting this project.