Sofía Córdova, Visiting Artist Lecture 2026

Sofía Córdova discusses her interdisciplinary practice which spans music, collaboration, installation, film, video, writing, and performance. A major theme in Córdova’s work is the exploration of her term, “socialist realism,” as it helps her confront a codex of ineffable encounters with truth, and with the perception of history. Córdova explains to the participants how she often works through series. Another theme in Córdova’s work is the loneliness of culture in a world subordinate to the cult of capitalism, alongside the hope that within knowledge new social conditions are possible. Córdova is interested in labor, particularly histories of labor organizing and the creative output that comes from these movements. She then talks about sound, as a component of her work that allows her to explore the phenomenological encounters between sound and objects. These phenomenological encounters lead to cerebral encounters with the contents of an object, which then manifests itself in her videos. Language is another concept Córdova investigates in her practice, recognizing the failure of inherited political taxonomies, while exploring a new form of language in sound and performance. She describes this combination of sound and performance as being in motion. Córdova understands her inherited language as one of fugitivity, which is a language of subterfuge, code, and of “under the table” communication as a means to avoid authority. Córdova constantly seeks to decentralize her work, which has allowed her to explore new forms of care. The form of care she describes allows her freedom to create work that feels far richer and closer to the world she is trying to envision, and also allows her to invite other people into the work. Córdova ends her lecture by describing her desire to convey discomfort in her work, as only by sitting in discomfort can we explore tensions and ultimately find resolution.