Documentaries have long been appreciated, not so much for their objective approach to reality, but for being formats that can play (in the broadest sense of the word) with truthfulness and, at the same time, approach the making of or reveal the mechanisms of systems.
The documentary genre (although it would be more accurate to speak of format rather than genre) can become an extraordinary approach to the work of artists. Whether through interviews, records of the creative processes, showing the story behind the works or from more speculative perspectives, documentaries become exceptional mediators that contribute to dissolving the damned “gap” that continues to exist between society and contemporary art.
At the end of 2020, the fourth edition of dart Festival Barcelona was held, “the first documentary film festival dedicated to contemporary art, the main objective of which is to intertwine culture and knowledge with the general public.” In this edition in the midst of the pandemic, dart has managed to find the best ally to make this year’s edition possible: Filmin, the digital distribution platform for audiovisual content that takes the greatest care to offer a catalogue carefully selected to avoid mainstreams and carry out impeccable curatorial work in the selection and presentation of its content.
From this year’s edition we would like a gem (literally) to not go unnoticed: The Proposal (2018) by the North American artist Jill Magid, a complex and ambiguous work, because it is a documentary but also an artistic project in itself. The story begins with Jill Magid’s fascination with the Mexican architect/artist Luis Barragán and the discovery, when going to his House Museum in Mexico, that only the architect’s personal archive is accessible, since the professional archive was acquired by Swiss collectors who keep it in a bunker and with extremely restricted access. After further investigation, Jill discovered that the Barragán archive was offered as an engagement gift by Rolf Fehlbaum, director of the Vitra Museum, to his future wife, Federica Zanco. With a narrative thread based on her correspondence with Federica, Jill traces a path towards making her a proposal: to offer her a ring with a diamond, made from the ashes of the architect Barragán (with the approval of the Barragán family) in exchange for returning the archive to Mexico and making it accessible.
In this way, issues such as the legacy of artists, control, ownership of copyright or access to knowledge are raised through this fascinating story, explained as if it were a novel using cinematic and epistolary resources.
[Article published in Bonart, 2021]
