As part of his residency at UQAM’s Decolonial Art and Research Laboratory (LabARD), Mel Izanami is continuing to develop his project Portales a Pasados por Venir : an exploration of uchrony in science fiction as a speculative tool for challenging the hegemonic narratives of Western cultural history.
In collaboration with TOPO - Centre de création numérique and Perte de Signal, the artist will present the progress of his research in two parts.
In collaboration with TOPO - Centre de création numérique and Perte de Signal, the artist will present the progress of his research in two parts.
Talk : Speculative worlds outside the hegemonic perspective of the story
May 28th, 5:00pm
TOPO – Digital Creation Centre
The artist proposes a talk of approximately one and a half hours (with Q&A) at the TOPO Digital Creation Center. There, he will present his current work on creating an alternative world through a uchronic vision, the tools and theoretical framework that led him to create this universe, and the various references that led him to create narrative microfiction. He will then explain how we can use these tools to reconstruct the processes of colonial indoctrination through decolonial epistemology, science fiction, and augmented reality.
Language: In english
TOPO – Digital Creation Centre
The artist proposes a talk of approximately one and a half hours (with Q&A) at the TOPO Digital Creation Center. There, he will present his current work on creating an alternative world through a uchronic vision, the tools and theoretical framework that led him to create this universe, and the various references that led him to create narrative microfiction. He will then explain how we can use these tools to reconstruct the processes of colonial indoctrination through decolonial epistemology, science fiction, and augmented reality.
Language: In english
Workshop : Augmented reality as a decolonial tool
May 31th, from 2:00 to 5:00 pm
Perte de signal
In this workshop, participants are invited to create a simple augmented reality experience using web markers.
On the programme :
1. Introduction to the process of the work.
2. Reconstructing the processes of colonial indoctrination through decolonial epistemology, science fiction, and augmented reality. (includes a Q&A session)
3. Introduction to MindAR and its libraries (A-Frame/Three.js).
4. WebAR creation lab + contextual discussion.
Pre-required :
• Laptop and mobile phone
• Basic knowledge of animation or digital design (not compulsory)
Language: In Spanish (with English and French translation)
Perte de signal
In this workshop, participants are invited to create a simple augmented reality experience using web markers.
On the programme :
1. Introduction to the process of the work.
2. Reconstructing the processes of colonial indoctrination through decolonial epistemology, science fiction, and augmented reality. (includes a Q&A session)
3. Introduction to MindAR and its libraries (A-Frame/Three.js).
4. WebAR creation lab + contextual discussion.
Pre-required :
• Laptop and mobile phone
• Basic knowledge of animation or digital design (not compulsory)
Language: In Spanish (with English and French translation)
About Portales a Pasados por Venir
What would Mexico look like in a world where the Spanish conquest never happened? Based on this approach, Mel Izanami has explored various expressive possibilities. The first one is an Augmented Reality (AR) experience, where phones and tablets become portals to alternate pasts and presents, offering audiences a futuristic vision of how pre-Columbian technology might have evolved in the contemporary world. This experience was disseminated through QR codes installed in public spaces across several countries in the Americas (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Brazil,
Mexico, and Canada).
In parallel, he developed a speculative microfiction that explores the turning point that gave rise to this new timeline. It is presented as a NetArt Fakeweb piece that reinterprets the period known as the conquest of Mexico.
Mel Izanami considers it essential to spread these disruptive narratives to other regions as an act of resistance against hegemonic discourses, breaking with the Eurocentric paradigm and inviting reflection on the cultures of Indigenous peoples.
In parallel, he developed a speculative microfiction that explores the turning point that gave rise to this new timeline. It is presented as a NetArt Fakeweb piece that reinterprets the period known as the conquest of Mexico.
Mel Izanami considers it essential to spread these disruptive narratives to other regions as an act of resistance against hegemonic discourses, breaking with the Eurocentric paradigm and inviting reflection on the cultures of Indigenous peoples.
Mel Izanami
Mel Izanami was born and raised in Mexico, where he became aware of deep contradictions in his identity—contradictions that, over time, shaped not only his academic development but also his experience as an immigrant in Argentina. These experiences have influenced his thinking and his ongoing quest to rethink the structures we take for granted as Mexicans, Latin Americans, or inhabitants of a colonized continent.
Mel Izanami currently resides between Argentina and Mexico, creating and collaborating on multidisciplinary audiovisual projects. His work explores themes related to memory, technology, and decolonization.
