“Running with History – D.C. Travel Journal” by Verena Gaudy and Martín Rodríguez (Closing Reception) (1)

Un Grito Gallery is pleased to present “Running with History – D.C. Travel Journal” by Verena Gaudy and Martín Rodríguez. The exhibition will open Thursday, February 29th and Friday, March 1st, 2024, from 7-10 pm with a closing reception held on March 14th, 2024. 

Running with history is an ongoing performance project first initiated in 2019 during a five-week journey throughout parts of Europe. The first run occurred at the Berlin Wall, in former East Berlin. This sparked a series of runs in front of monuments, historical buildings and iconic locations in Berlin, Vienna and the countryside of Styria.  

In 2023, during a trip to the only Austrian embassy available for passport renewal for Austrians residing in Texas, a new series of runs was born in our nation’s capital, the District of Columbia. These runs were heightened by the accidental encounters with the multitudes of national and international tourists, day tripping school children, writer’s guild protesters, all with the backdrop of neoclassical architecture. Running is a simple act we all enjoy and practice as children but soon discontinue unless for exercise purposes. 

An act that takes a few seconds to occur is manipulated with the time-based technique of super slow motion creating an art form that combines visual art with dramatic performance. Can we run away from our past? Where are we running to? Shifting the speed of time by filming in slow motion, one thing becomes clear: We can only run with history.