About
Residency Dates
  • February 2008 – February 2008
  • October 2013 – November 2013
Region
Mexico
Membership
Dignicraft

Figueroa is
founder of Dignicraft, a hybrid between a media production company, distributor
of cultural goods and contemporary art collective with over 12 years of
professional experience; finding inspiration on the artisanal process of
creation, human dignity and the potential of collaboration to achieve the
common good.

Previously he was
a founding member of the production company Galatea audio/visual based in
Mexico and the United States, meeting the media production, marketing and
branding needs of its customers.  On the
other hand, he has been an artist of the bulbo collective, creating content for
television, radio, press and the Internet, and producing contemporary art
projects in various countries in America and Europe.

Figueroa has law
degree from the Autonomous University of Baja California. He served as Trial
Attorney and Public Prosecutor in the Attorney General of the State of Baja
California. He teaches video and film production at the Faculty of Arts of the
Autonomous University of Baja California. At 15 years of age he moved to Baja
California and started surfing.

Currently he is
directing the feature length documentary titled “La Ola Perfecta” (The Perfect
Wave), that was awarded in
2011 the Mexican Insitute of Cinema’s
award for Development of a Feature Project.

Filmography &
projects:

2013, “Ísïch´e
Irekaska” (The Way We Live) short film produced as part of the one month long
collaborative/intercultural film production workshop titled “Imágenes Vivas”
(Vivid Images) made in collaboration with the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura
y las Artes [CONACULTA], via the Dirección General de Culturas Populares and
its Unidad Regional en Michoacán.  Santa
Fe de la Laguna, Michoacan, Mexico.

2013, “Pasajes”
(Passageways) short film documentary about the role of artists to reactivate
the city of Tijuana, Mexico, after a period of violent crisis. Produced for the
television program Artbound broadcast by KCET-Los Angeles, USA.

2013, “Cariz”
short film produced as part of the four month long collaborative film
production workshop with visual arts and performance students at the Arts
Faculty of the Autonomous University of Baja California.  Tijuana, Mexico.

2013, Workshop on
how to develop an idea for a documentary film project and use collaboration as
a means for production.  El Cuarto de Luz
gallery in Tijuana and Colegio de Michoacan in Zamora, Mexico.

In addition, José
Luis Figueroa collaborated in a wide range of media and art projects under the
bulbo art collective and the Galatea audio/visual company.  The following list is a selection of work he took
part in:

2011, “Brilliant
Soil” (Tierra Brillante) feature length documentary about the health problems
caused by the use of lead glaze in Mexican ceramics. Galatea audio/visual and
FOPROCINE-México (Grand Prix 8th Film Festival on Clay and Glass, France; Best
Film award International Festival of Indigenous Film and Video, Mexico;
Material Culture and Archeology Film Prize, 13th RAI International Festival of
Ethnographic Film, Scotland) www.tierrabrillante.org

2009,
“Tijuaneados Anónimos: Una lágrima, una sonrisa” feature length documentary
that portrayed how a group of citizens faced the unprecedented wave of violence
that erupted in the city of Tijuana and throughout Mexico. Galatea audio/visual
and FOPROCINE-México (Morelia International Film Festival, México, 2009; Gira
Ambulante de Documentales, Mexico, 2010; Best Local Film San Diego Latino Film
Fest, USA, 2011) www.tijuaneadosanonimos.org

2008, “bulbo, San
Jose: DIY Media Strategies from the Border” video workshop and gallery
exhibition with gang impacted youth to create self-representations of
themselves, families and community.  01SJ
Biennial / Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, San Jose, California, USA.

2008, “Don’t, a
reactivation of an Allan Kaprow Happening”, a collaborative project with The
Public Art Studies Program at the Roski School of Fine Arts, University of
Southern California, as part of Allan Kaprow – Art as Life, The Geffen
Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, USA.

2005, Production
of the short film documentary “On Translation: Fear/Miedo”, as a collaboration
with the Catalan artist Antoni Muntadas, commissioned as a piece for Insite05
and broadcast on network television through channel 12 Televisa in Tijuana,
Mexico, channel 15 KPBS in San Diego, USA and channel 22 CONACULTA in all of
Mexico.

2007, “Tianguis
de Diseño” graphic design and self-representation workshop with indigenous
youth, as part of Anni and Josef Albers exhibition at the Antiguo Colegio de
San Ildefonso, Mexico City, Mexico.

2005-2007, “La
Tienda de Ropa” (The Clothes Shop) workshop and community engagement
installation/performance reflecting upon the use, production, consumption of
clothing and channeling ideas through the design of original garments.
InSite_05, Cooper Union School of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and
swap meets, shopping malls and boutiques in the San Diego/Tijuana area.
Tijuana, Mexico; San Diego and New York, USA.

2000-2006,
Production of short film documentaries for the television show BULBO,
considered one of the 10 best programs in Mexico by Milenio’s newspaper critic
Álvaro Cueva in 2004. Galatea audio/visual produced over 80 documentaries about
daily life in the border region of Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, USA,
broadcast in all of Mexico and some parts of the USA via Canal 22 CONACULTA,
Channel 52 MX of MVS and Univision San Diego.