Jorge Manilla: Redefining Aesthetics – Unconventional Beauty

About Lecture

Ugliness is very present in the history of art. From profound rituals to the frightening approaches of the avant-garde of the 20th century, from the cabinet of curiosities to identities, the ugly has been as active as the beautiful, and often much more present… Why has it been so neglected then?

This conference seeks to explain a personal theoretical reflection on how I represent in materials and forms my cultural and personal references, how I translate the images and information that accompany me on the journey of my life, and how under the vision of a contemporary nomad I represent ugliness through my work in various historical and cultural contexts.

As a materialist artist working across disciplinary and cultural boundaries, my work is often defined as ugly and associated for millennia with negative categories ranging from sin to triviality yet remains central to art and cultural practice.

Born in Mexico City. He lives and works between Oslo, Norway and Ghent, Belgium. On his arrival in Belgium, he studied bachelor’s degree in sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent Belgium (KASK), once finished he enrolled in a second Bachelor degree program at St Lucas University College of Art and Design in Antwerp, Belgium at the end his second Bachelor degree Manilla decides to continue with the two year master’s program focused on art jewelry and three-dimensional objects which concludes in 2006.

Without abandoning his artistic practice, Manilla began his career as a teacher, he taught in different institutions in Belgium, in cities such as Brussels, St Niklas and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp where, parallel to his teaching work, he also carried out doctoral research (PhD ) between 2014 and 2018 under the name: “Other bodies-fragments are not just small parts”

From this moment Manilla has continued working as an independent artist and as Art educator in different universities and institutions in Europe (Italy, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Greece, etc.) Parallel to this, he works actively in independent projects with private organizations mainly in central and South America like Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
In 2016 Manilla obtained the position of Professor of the subject area Metal and Art Jewelry at the National Academy of Art in Oslo Norway. Position that he has held in recent years, dealing with applying different pedagogical and artistic methodologies, always under the philosophy of keep improving artistic education in Norway based on the needs of students.

Manilla is constantly active as a visual artist (in the Jewellery and fine arts field) and as guest professor in different official institutions, as well as private independent organizations, collaborating as a jury, critic and tutor for art programs and giving workshops on creative, technical and conceptual processes.

Manilla’s work has been acquired by various museums, collections, and private foundations around the world.