Alvaro Azcarraga was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. He recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a BA in both Art Practice and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Alvaro’s practice is highly interdisciplinary incorporating elements from ceramics, installation, performance, scientific research as well as new media. SEMO is a company founded in 2017, and is one of his most recent long term projects. To learn more about SEMO go to: semoproject.com
My work takes an interdisciplinary path, incorporating elements of sculpture, ceramics, performance, and installation. In my work I address themes related to a cultural identity and what it means for it to become global, the progress of technology, food systems, manufacturing, and scientific research, among others. I grew up in Mexico City and was enveloped in a global heavy environment, as a result of this my fascination and skepticism of global institutions began and especially on how they clashed with the rich cultural presence of Mexico. SEMO is a company I created that was originally made as a thought experiment in order to break down the complexity of the current foodscape we exist in as well as a critique on how we preserve culture in today's dynamic environment. Our current mission statement is: We document and protect community data worldwide. SEMO is a project that questions functionality and the role of a craft object. It raises issues with current scientific research, raises questions about the current global food system, and brings into conversation the role of technology in a contemporary landscape. The company has developed organically, but as of now we have 4 main sectors of research AGRODOC, BIODOC, SOCIODOC, and CRAFTDOC, which focus on agriculture, human biology, human social interactions, and human craft and building respectively. Through academic research and visual exploration, I have developed a way to create this questionably fictional company that bridges concepts from reality in order to question the foundations of this reality.