Said Dokins (México 1983)
Said Dokins (Mexico, 1983) Lives and works
in Mexico City. He studied in the School of Arts and
Design (ENAP) in the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and
did some courses of Philosophy and Art Theory. He
has also studied traditional calligraphy with well-known national and
international calligraphers and Japanese calligraphy. Since the 90s he started
doing graffiti and street interventions.
Said Dokins
explores formally, symbolically and philosophically the potentiality of words
and letters. In his work, they become gestures, traces that overlap creating patterns, textures, narratives; marks
that carve sites, drawing boundaries, producing meaning. In that sense, for Dokins calligraphy and graffiti are a way to
understand our relations with language, an action that stresses time, space and
memory, a political enunciation.
These reflexions become evident in Apparitions (2011), an installation that
explores with the tension between memory and concealment, regarding to
the victims of political “disappearance” (clandestine and unclarified
abductions) in Mexico. This piece, exhibited for the first time in The House ofIndomitable Memory, has been honored with the
Iberoamerican Award to Contemporary Artistic Creation Cortes de Cádiz, “Juan
Luis Vasallo” 2015.
Dokins has won
international attention for his monumental murals in the public space. One of the
latest is Chalchihuite (2017), a calligraphic intervention done for the
Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art, MUCA, the biggest mural in Munich, with over
1200 square meters. His mural interventions often address social
and political issues, like The Order Crumbles (2016), a graffiti bomb painted in Mexicali, at the
border between Mexico and United States or American
Women Fighter (2016), a mural for
Coachella Walls Festival, where he included the names of women and collectives
from the Americas that have fought for their civil rights.
He is best known
for his unique calligraphic style, which combines elements from Western and
Asian Calligraphic Traditions, with pre-phonetic writing references,
Mesoamerican Pre-Hispanic symbolic inheritance and Graffiti writing. However, his
artistic practice involves several disciplines and media such as calligraphy, graffiti, installation, performance and video
art, among others.
It’s worth to
mention his concern about light that has lead him to experiment with various
technologies and media, including Virtual Reality, through Tilt Brush a tool he explored in the Google Cultural Institute in
Paris. Another recent example is his project Heliographies of Memory (2015-2017), which examines the different levels in which
inscriptions operate through light calligraphy actions performed in
symbolically charged places, capturing the action of writing with long exposure
photography: invisible inscriptions of light resignifying the space they cross.
Dokins cultural
practice involves artistic creation, interventions in the public space,
research, curatorship and cultural management. As a curator, he has developed
diverse projects linked related to
urban art and contemporary art practices that address social and political
issues. Stand out VisibleInvisibilization. Approaches to the Subject of Violence (2013-2014), and UrbanInterstices, International Exhibition of Urban Arts, (2011), a paradigmatic show that depicted a
cartography of urban artistic practices in Latin America.
He is a member of recognized international
associations like Calligraphy Masters
and Calligraffiti. His work has been published in noted books
and magazines, like Re_form, OSTRALE Biennale
of Dresden Catalogue, The Art of Writing your Name, The Art of Rebellion, third and fourth volumes, or Letter Arts Review, a renowned calligraphy publication. It has been exhibited nationally and internationally, in countries as
Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Chile,
Brazil, El Salvador, Peru and others.
EDUCATION
2001-2004 Visual
Arts, School of Arts and Design, National Autonomous University of Mexico,
UNAM, Mexico City.
2005-2006 Philosophy,
School of Philosophy and Letters, FFyL, National Autonomous University of Mexico,
UNAM, Mexico City.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND MURALS
2017 Chalchihuite, Calligraphic intervention for
the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art, MUCA, Munich, Germany. Sponsored by the
National Funding for
Culture and Arts (FONCA), Mexico.
2016 Vesperide, Calligraphic intervention for
Atelier Les Sauvages, DARWIN Ecosysteme, Bordeaux, France.
2016 About
the memory, Ultraviolet
Light calligraphy intervention for Le MUR, Bordeaux, France.
2016 El orden se derrumba (The Order Crumbles),
Graffiti bomb at the border between Mexico and United States, Mexicali.
2015 Stolen Suns, Calligraphic intervention,
Camden, London, UK.
2015 Notes
about the Border, Calligraphic intervention, Cadiz, Spain.
2014 Taiyō
(Sun), Calligraphic intervention, Futurama Cultural Center, Mexico City.
2012 Apparitions, Ultraviolet light installation for The House of Indomitable
Memory, Mexico City.
SELECTED COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS AND FESTIVALS
2017 7th Annual PRHBTN Street Art Festival, Lexington,
Kentucky, USA.
2017 PRHBTN Exhibition, Loudoun House Galleries Lexington Art League, Kentucky,
USA.
2017 Street Art Today, Street Art Museum of
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2017 Stroke Art Fair for New Contemporary Art, Munich, Germany.
2017 IBUG Festival
for Street Art, Chemnitz, Germany.
2017 11th International
Exhibition, OSTRALE Biennale,
Dresden, Germany. [Opening performance]
2017 The Art of Writing, Museum of Urban and
Contemporary Art, MUCA, Munich, Germany.
2017 Letrastica Festival, II Conference of Type
Design, Calligraphy and Lettering, Innovation and Design Center, MIND,
Guadalajara, Mexico. Organized by Typos.
2017 WallDialogue2 Germany - Mexico, Artistic
Interventions in La Merced neighborhood, Mexico City. Organized by Neurotitan
(Ger) and Atea (CDMX).
2017 Go Back to School, Alphabet et sa signature, La Popartiserie Gallery,
Strasburg, France.
2016 Die verborgene Schrift, Freiraumgalerie,
Halle Saale, Germany.
2016 Interactos - Encuentros Públicos de Artes.
(Interacts-
Public Encounters of Arts), University of Arts of Ecuador (UArtes), Guayaquil,
Ecuador. Organized
by 400 Metros, (Urban Art Platform).
2016 //
NO FONT ((CODEX)…, Avantgarden Gallery, Milan, Italy.
2016 No Name, Dax Gallery, Los Angeles, USA.
2016 Lignes Urbaines, Cox Gallery, Bordeaux,
France.
2016 IBUG Festival
for Street Art, Limbach, Germany.
2016 The Design of Words, Aqua Sumarte, Milan,
Italy.
2016 Stroke Art Fair for New Contemporary Art, Munich, Germany.
2016 Street Art Evry Centre Essonne Festival, Paris,
France.
2016 Wall Exhibition, Nucleus, Labolic, Paris, France.
2016 Coachella Walls Festival, Pueblo Viejo, USA.
2015 Graffictti Exhibition – Said Dokins, Mazatl,
Fusca, Ácaro, London, United Kingdom.
2015 10x10 Poliniza, Vice-chancellorship
Office, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Curated by Joan Peiró and
Juan Canales.
2014 Tribute to Dr.
Atl in the 50th Anniversary of his Passing, Bernardo Quintana Art
Center, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico.
2014 Migrant
Suitcases/ Maletas migrantes, 50th Anniversary of Ford Foundation in Latin
America, American History Museum, San Diego, USA; Tijuana Cultural Center,
CECUT, Tijuana, Mexico; European Foundation Centre Philanthropy House, Brussels,
Belgium; National Museum of Anthropology of El Salvador Republic Dr. David J.
Guzmán, San Salvador, El Salvador. Organized by Ford Foundation and Ambulante
Documentary Film Festival.
2014 In Vitro, School of
Fine Arts’ Hall, Polytechnic University of Valencia,
Spain.
2014 Poliniza, IX Urban Art Festival,
Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. [Catalogue]
2014 International Award of Arts Caja de Extremadura
OBRA ABIERTA 2014 Exhibition, "Las Claras" Cultural Center, Plasencia,
Spain.
2013 Momento Cero (Zero
Moment), Ex Teresa Arte Actual, National Institute of Fine Arts, INBA,
Mexico City.
2012 Callegenera Festival of Urban Expressions, Council for Culture and Arts of Nuevo
Leon, CONARTE, Nave Generadores Art Center, Monterrey, Mexico.
2011 From Urban to
Contemporary, Urban Art EFX, International Exhibition of Urban
Artists, CBK, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2011 Siempre el mismo,
siempre otro. Una lectura sobre
resistencias (Always the Same, Always the Other. A Take on Resistance), Argentinian Workers Central, CTA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. [Catalogue]
2011 The Dumpster Biennale, Magazine Gallery,
Adelaide, Australia.
2011 The
Art of Rebellion #3, Helmet Gallery, Munich, Germany.
2010 Conspiración (Conspiracy), Cut Out Fest,
Queretaro, Mexico.
2010 No Local, International Video Art Exhibition, School of Arts, ASAB, Distrital
University Francisco José Caldas, Bogota, Colombia.
2010 Habitar. No Autorizado (Inhabit- Non Authorized). Public interventions in Mexico City’s Downton area. Sponsored by
Patronato de Arte Contemporáneo, PAC, Mexico City.
2009 A5IM´TRIA V Video Art International
Exhibition, Telefonica Foundation
Center, Lima; Peruvian North-American Cultural Institute Theater, Arequipa, Peru.
[Catalogue]
2009 IV Prague Biennale, Expanded Painting
Section, “One hundred years. Endogamic & exogamic pictorial practices in
México”, Prague, Czech Republic. Curated by Alessandra Poggianti and Juan Pablo
Macías. [Catalogue]
2009 Digital Graffiti, The World’s First Outdoor Projection Art Festival, Alys Beach, USA.
2009 Indoor, Urban Art from México, France and Chile, Trafixx Gallery, Santiago
de Chile.
2005 Reacción [1]. Performance. Ex
Teresa Arte Actual, National Institute of Fine Arts, INBA, Mexico City.
SELECTED COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2015-2017
Heliographies
of Memory series, Light
Calligraphy Photographs in collaboration with Leonardo Luna.
2016 Le
Message Secret (The Secret Message), Mural Intervention in collaboration
with MonkeyBird, Bordeaux, France.
2016 Devient
Animal (Become Animal), Mural Intervention in collaboration with
MonkeyBird, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
2015 Los
jóvenes no seguiremos siendo víctimas de su violencia de Estado (We, the Youth,
Won’t Continue Being Victims of your State Violence), Mural in memory of
Ricardo Cadena. Collaboration with Karas Urbanas and Sortek.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2017 Heliographies
of Memory series, Light Calligraphy, Heerlen Murals, Heerlen, Netherlands.
2017 Locatie Spatie, Arnhem, Netherlands.
2015 Encontro
de artistas novos (New Artists Encounter), Organized by the City of Culture
of Galicia and the Cultural Center of Spain in Montevideo, Uruguay.
2010 International Meeting of Art for Action and
Reflexion “ArtexParte”, Berazategui, Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
AWARDS
2015 Winner- Iberoamerican
Prize to Contemporary Artistic Creation Cortes de Cádiz, “Juan Luis Vasallo”,
Cadiz City Council, Spain.
2014 Winner- POLINIZA
2014 Competition of Urban Art, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.
[Catalogue]
2014 Selected Work- 3rd Edition of the Plastic Arts International
Award of Caja de Extremadura “Obra Abierta 2014”, Extremadura, Spain. [Catalogue]
2014 Selected work- 6th Art International Award of María José Jove Foundation, Coruña,
Spain.
2012 Honorable
Mention- International Competition of
Urban Art, Artaq Awards, Paris, France. Category: Experimental Video. [Catalogue]
2012 Winner- Youth Prize Federal District (Mexico
City). Category: Artistic and Cultural Activities.
2011 Honorable
Mention- International Competition of Urban
Art, Artaq Awards, Paris, France. Category: Public Art. [Catalogue]
2010 Selected
Work- DA FEST. International Digital Arts Festival, National Academy of
Art, Sofia, Bulgaria.
2010 Selected Work- 3rd International
Video Art Festival of Camagüey, Cuba.
2010 Selected Work- Entijuanarte Revoluciona,
Tijuana, Mexico.
2010 Winner- Education and
Culture Program Award, National Institute of Fine Arts, INBA, Mexico.
2010 Finalist- 3rd
Annual Digital Graffiti Art Festival Competition, Alys Beach, USA.
2009 Finalist- Cut out Fest. International Animation and Digital Art Festival, Queretaro,
Mexico.
2009 Finalist-
Arte 40, National Council of Culture
and Arts, CONACULTA, José Vasconcelos Library, Mexico.
2009 Finalist- 2nd Annual Digital Graffiti Art Festival Competition, Alys Beach,
USA.
2008 Winner- University of the Valley of Mexico, UVM Prize
for the Social Development, Mexico.
2008 Winner- Alternative Social Communication Award, General Direction for Equality and
Social Diversity (DGIDS), Mexico. Category: Poster.
2008 Winner- Alternative Social Communication Award, General Direction for Equality and
Social Diversity (DGIDS), Mexico. Category:
Book.
CURATORIAL
PROJECTS
2014 Visible Invisibilización. Aproximaciones en torno a
la violencia (Visible Invisibilization. Approaches to the Subject of Violence), Alfredo Zalce Contemporary Art Museum, MACAZ (2014); Museum of the City of Queretaro (2013), Mexico. http://visibleinvisibilizacion.org/
[Catalogue]
2013 Callegenera Festival of
Urban Expressions, Council for Culture and Arts of Nuevo Leon, CONARTE, Nave Generadores Art Center, Monterrey, Mexico. http://goo.gl/NNuiVK
2013 Fire
Camo. New Works by Benuz Guerrero, Anomalia Gallery, Mexico City.
2012 Obligado
a desobedecer, First Solo Show in LA of Satterugly, Crewest Gallery, Los
Angeles, USA. http://goo.gl/iXhVXO, https://alex-poli-8htn.squarespace.com/history-of-crewest
2011 Huele
a muerto (Smells Like Death),
Exhibition of the work of Alexis Mata "Ciler", Yautepec Gallery,
Mexico City. http://goo.gl/TMhJwd
2011 Intersticios urbanos. Muestra internacional de arte urbano (Urban
Interstices, International Exhibition of Urban Arts), Cultural Center of
Spain in Mexico, CCE, Mexico City.
SELECTED CRITICAL WRITING AND RESEARCH
2015 “Visible Invisibilización. Aproximaciones en torno a
la violencia” (“Visible Invisibilization. Approaches to the Subject of Violence”) in Martinez, Gabriela y Said Dokins, editors. Visible Invisibilización. Aproximaciones
en torno a la violencia. Mexico: Pneuma.
2012 “Teotihuacan a go gore! Aullidos y
disonancias de Tierra Caliente a la Patagonia”, Rufián Magazine, No.
12, December, Santiago de Chile. [Issue’s director and author]
2008 De la barda.
Women’s Participation in Street Art, Mexico: FLACSO, Latin American Youth
Collective, W.K. Kellogg Foundation. [Video]
2008 Desbordamientos
de una periferia femenina (Outbursts
of a Female Periphery), Mexico: Pneuma, Sociedad Dokins. [Co-author]
2007 La
calle es de nosotras: La participación de la mujer en el arte urbano (The
Street is Ours: Women’s participation in Urban Art), Mexico: Sociedad
Dokins. [Co-author]
SELECTED BIBLIOGRPHY
Print Media:
2017 Daniele Tozzy, Words into shapes. The Graphic Art of Calligram, Barcelona: Monsa,
104-113.
2017 Andrea Hilger, et. al., Re_form, Dresdren: OSTRALE Biennale, 140-141.
2017 Christian Hundertmark and
Patrick Hardlt, The Art of Writing your Name, Mainaschaff: Publikat, 60-67.
2016 Christian Hundertmark, The Art of Rebellion. Masterpieces
of Urban Art, IV, Mainaschaff: Publikat, 152-153.
2016 Kristel Pfeifer, edit., Arte Urbano
Latino, Santiago de Chile: Arte Al Límite, 44-53.
2016 Chrixcel, MonkeyBird, Singerie Oisive, Opus Delits
Collection No. 66, Grenoble: Critères Èditions, 44-53, 90-91.
2016 Christopher Calderhead, “Said
Dokins: An LAR Interview”, Letter Arts Review, Vol. 30, No. 2,
Greensboro: Letter Arts Review, 1, 40-59.
2016 Joan Peiró,
Poliniza Festival D’ Art Urbà, Valencia:
Polytechnic University of Valencia.
2013 Pedro Gadanho, coord., Performance –Architecture, Guimaraes:
Guimaraes 2012 European
Capital of Culture, Arts & Architecture Cluster, 95.
2013 Antonio
Luna, “Interview with Said Dokins” Ilegal Squad Magazine, No. 76, September, Mexico,
48-57. https://issuu.com/ilegalsquad/docs/ilegal_squad_issue_76
2013 Sara Afonso, coord., La Noche. Una cartografía de la ciudad de México (The night. A Cartogrphy of
Mexico City), Mexico: DGE Equilibrista, 18, 26, 170-171,
174-175.
2011 Maximiliano Ruiz, Nuevo Mundo, Latin American Street Art,
Berlin: Gestalten, 222-223.
2011 Julio García Murillo, “Alfabetos barrados. Acerca de la
obra de Said Dokins” (“Barred Alphabets. On the Said Dokins’ Work”), Revista Metapolítica, Vol.15, No. 73, April-June, Mexico. http://www.metapolitica.com.mx/
2010 Hundertmark, Christian. The Art of Rebellion. The Book About Street Art, Vol. III, Mainaschaff: Publikat, 152-155.
2009 Marc Wnuck, Latin America. World Wide Graphic Design. Cologne: Zeixs, Feierabend Unique Books, 133.
2008 Giovanni Troconi, México: Stencil: Propa, Mexico: Arts & Graphics, RM.
2003 Raquel Bialik, El humor en la ciencia (Humor in Science), Mexico: UNAM.
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