By Rose Picón, staff writer

If you’ve ever been to Point of Contact, you’ve probably noticed that it’s an intimate art gallery. While the gallery is smaller than most houses, the size actually works in the gallery’s favor. Its limited space and blank white walls have influenced artists to take their imaginations a few steps further. Tere Paniagua, the managing director and social editor of Point of Contact, explains, “Our gallery is very small, and the artists that we work with use the entire space to create an environment. I guess a small space lends itself to that quite well.” This March, internationally known artist Ana Tiscornia will present an exhibition called Time, Again Time that is uniquely designed for Point of Contact.

Originally from Uruguay, Ana Tiscornia creates abstract art to cope with the trauma that she experienced when her country was under a military dictatorship. Dictatorships “disappeared” (murdered) thousands of people in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay through mass murder and torture. They performed these horrific acts in order to eradicate alleged socialist and communist influences and ideas. Tiscornia will always remember these events, and she wonders how anyone could forget them. Many of her pieces are centered on the idea of memory to remind people of Uruguay’s horrendous history. “She works a lot with the idea of rescuing memory,” explains Paniagua. “One of my favorite pieces she did, for example, is a collection of photographs of portraits of people who disappeared during the dictatorships. The faces of these people are all blurred, conveying a blurred memory of their existence.”

The artwork in this series has definite political undertones. Tiscornia has used political themes in many of her previous exhibitions by focusing on issues such as homelessness, poverty, war, hidden agendas and refugees. Luckily for Paniagua, Tiscornia’s ideas keep growing as time goes by. “Her projects continue to evolve and develop,” Paniagua notes. “One idea doesn’t end with one show. Her point of departure for this exhibition will be displacement, but her previous work still relates to this concept.” With that said, a lot of her earlier creations will be in the exhibition. Tiscornia, however, does not want this exhibition to have any sort of particular theme, and does not want it to be political. Although displacement may have been her inspiration, she wants her work to be more poetic and open to interpretation.

And this abstract art is definitely ready to be interpreted! Tiscornia’s exhibition will create illusions of tree branches breaking through walls, chairs sinking into the ground and staircases busting through the ceiling: Things that are clearly out of the ordinary and out of place. Pedro Cuperman, the curator at Point of Contact, understands that this is pretty standard for a Tiscornia show. In an essay about Tiscornia, Cuperman explains, “The visual world of Tiscornia is made out of digitalized photography, intermingled with maps, fragmented objects, rolled pieces of paper and leftovers.  Her relationship with those materials is apparently distant, unemotional; it is more than anything an allegory in visual terms of what is dysfunctional.”

Tiscornia intends to create a large atmosphere that perfectly fits into Point of Contact’s concentrated space and hopes that people will allow their imaginations to lead them to this atmosphere. “Her work is site specific,” Paniagua explains. “She knows the dimensions of our gallery and she is using our space to create an environment. We show more conceptual art, and our gallery will be filled with objects that focus on her ideas.” This exhibition will be like stepping into the mind of Tiscornia, and will give you the opportunity to see displaced objects however you want to see them.

Artists at Point of Contact are imaginative and constantly exploring different ways to express themselves. Tiscornia has developed a unique technique to express the way she feels about social and political injustices in the world, and an exhibit in Point of Contact’s small space allows her artistic visions to come to life. Time, Again Time will open with a reception at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 23. To find out more about the exhibition, check out Point of Contact’s website, or head down to 914 East Genesee St., just steps off the Connective Corridor’s FREE bus service!