The hegemonic, Eurocentric and patriarchal vision of the world has long been dismantled. The art history we studied in the 20th century has been called into question, precisely because it excludes the multiple narratives that were simultaneously generated from non-Western cultures and geographies. We live in a world that is still hierarchical, but in which, at the same time, there are channels for making peripheral, transversal and diverse voices and views heard. Knowledge is no longer transmitted, but has multiple levels and is generated in a collective and de-hierarchical manner, based on doubt, tensions, contradictions and rereadings.

In this context, museums can no longer be the guardians of the treasures of the past, but rather great archives, repositories of memory (following Walter Benjamin) whose collections change, evolve, emphasize complexity and open up to multiple readings. A good example of this was the exhibition La caja entropica by Francesc Torres at the MNAC, which was based on the museum’s collection, understood as an archive in which it is possible to investigate what has been rejected, what is archived but left aside, in order to offer a portrait of a given moment, as faithful as official history.

The emphasis on critical and peripheral positions, the recovery of forgotten or silenced narratives or rereadings of history, with the consequent creation of new maps, generates new networks of connections based on alternative, multiple and simultaneous narratives, which allow Barcelona to be connected with, for example, Abu Dhabi or Guatemala City. Thus, in the exhibition From Barcelona to Abu Dhabi (co-organised by MACBA and ADMAF, Abu Dhabi) we rediscover the photographs of the Emirati artist Ebtisam Abdul Aziz in which a female figure appears, dressed entirely in black (including the head and face) contorting inside a white ring that prevents her from moving freely, evidencing the conflict and the effort of women in the United Arab Emirates (and in the world, in general) to overcome the social limitations imposed. From Guatemala, Cuerpo sobrevuelto by Nora Pérez photographs women’s bodies that overflow (literally) the restrictions that girdles try to impose by following imposed physical and beauty canons. Completing this peripheral tour, in One Year Women’s Performance. 2015-2016, recently exhibited at the Virreina, Raquel Friera is based on the action of the Taiwanese Tehching Hsieh in which he clocked in every day for a year, in an attempt, naturally unsuccessful, to quantify artistic work. Friera asks a series of women to sign and photograph themselves every time they finish domestic tasks or care for family members, precisely to make them visible.

In short, three examples from geographically distant contexts, which share views and artistic discourses on the role of women in very diverse societies.

[Article published in Bonart, 2018]

Article in A*DESK

Every time I visit ARCO (or any other art fair) I can’t help but think about the difficult role of galleries at a time when artists, institutions, critics, curators and even collectors have long since redefined their roles. In a recent conversation, a German gallerist recalled how, in the 1990s, institutions and the market followed two parallel paths, with occasional exchanges. Right now, not only are they absolutely interconnected, but all too often, fairs and biennials end up exchanging roles. On the one hand, with artists’ projects that are shown at biennials, supported, financed and managed by powerful galleries with an influence and visibility in the market that few fair stands can offer. And, on the other hand, we also see the opposite path, curated programs at fairs, which become another workspace for independent curators, stars of this new social class of cultural precariats.

But if each fair has its own idiosyncrasy, ARCO has even more so, because it was born in Spain in the 1980s, a context and a moment of “modernisation of the country” (which we now see was not so much) and which has played a role in introducing contemporary art, creating a market, educating new professionals and being a meeting place (professional, social and fun – in that respect Madrid always has a lot to offer).

ARCO 2018 continues to promote this aspect of an indisputable meeting place that goes beyond the fair itself, with closed-door work sessions between heads of institutions and with debates and presentations open to the general public. In that sense, it is exhausting. Like a speed date, the gallery owners try to explain in a synthetic way the complexity of works that are impossible to get into in a few seconds. But, in reality, that is our present, an accumulation of inputs, images, ideas, news, novelties and events to which we often cannot devote more than a few minutes or a quick reading of headlines.

That said, the truth is that ARCO 2018 is not a loud or noisy edition, on the contrary, there is a certain moderation in the works presented and everything is very measured and ordered. While the spectacular and “unlimited” stands are left for Basel, at ARCO there are accessible works, in terms of size and also in terms of price. In its quest to find its place in the competitive world of fairs, ARCO has long been betting on future values, emergencies and curated spaces.

The future is precisely the guest country this year. Well, it is not exactly like that, but it does occupy a central and elevated space, designed by Andrés Jaque, in which the curators Chus Martínez, Rosa Lleó and Elise Lammer have commissioned new works from 19 artists. In a green space reminiscent of artificial grass where you can relax or play, but also of a chroma green, where you can project whatever you want, the artists show not just a future, but a present that would be worth projecting into the future. In the antipodes of Black Mirror, the works of Regina Giménez, Eva Fàbregas, Teresa Solar or Július Koller, among others, speak of nomadism, DIY, intergenerational relationships, sustainability, survival and creativity. And indirectly they speak of the need for the existence of art itself as a space of freedom if we really want a future to exist.

But we remain in the present and the tour of ARCO always brings gratifying moments. Here are some in a disordered way: the musical moments in Hauser & Wirth, courtesy of Dan Graham; the installation Extra in which Candice Breitz plays the role of Kow; Momu & No Es (Joey Ramone), the humanistic-scientific approach by Pep Vidal in ADN gallery and in Lmno; the inventory of elements of a woman’s wardrobe by Hans-Peter Feldmann (ProjecteSD); the comics that expand in the space of Francesc Ruiz (Estrany- de la Mota), the body-space relationships of Sigurdur Gudmundsson or the relatives of Ragnar Kjartansson (i8) or “the paintings made by others” by Ryan Gander in Esther Schipper and by Enric Farrés Duran in noguerasblanchard; among many others.

But ARCO is not an impregnable bubble and the controversy and irritation of the present have also crept into the fair, even before it opened. The controversy created by the withdrawal of Santiago Sierra’s work “Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain” is a symptom of a here and now in which freedom of expression is being violated and, what is worse, the denunciation of this fact can even be annoying or tiresome for many. The reality is much crueler because what is being dismantled is the recognition of human rights that cost so much to achieve. For some time now, no one has appeared in the controversial ARCO photo in the media. A work by Eugenio Merino, who, I believe, has produced the most faithful portrait of our present this year.

The coincidence in time of the 10th Biennial of Art Leandre Cristòfol at the Centre d’Art La Panera in Lleida, Matèria Prima at Fabra i Coats, Centre d’Art Contemporani and the current exhibitions at ADN Platform, in Sant Cugat, draw a “here and now” of the panorama of artistic production in Catalonia, as were in their day exhibitions today considered historic, such as Anys 90: Distància zero (1994), curated by José Luis Brea at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica; Vostè està aquí (2000), curated by Chus Martínez and Rosa Ferré at La Virreina or La Cuestión del Paradigma. Genealogies of the emergence of contemporary art in Catalonia (2011), curated by Manuel Segade at La Panera in Lleida and at the Capella in Barcelona.

Matèria Prima, curated by David Armengol, David G. Torres and Martí Peran, is a reunion with some of the most outstanding works of recent years, such as the “Robinson Chair”, the transformation of a table by Albers into a chair by Rafel G. Bianchi; the “Horizonts” and cartographies by Yamandú Canosa; the Mies van der Rohe wall in an inflatable version by Lúa Coderch or the video installation “Il linguaggio del corpo” by Joan Morey, to name just a few.

The 10th Leandre Cristòfol Art Biennial, curated by Cèlia del Diego, Oriol Fontdevila and Javier Hontoria, is committed to the hybridisation of disciplines with the incorporation of the performances of the dancer, choreographer and pedagogue Aimar Pérez Galí and the independent publishing house Cru, which highlights the importance of artist publications as spaces of independence and experimentation. The biennial also raises the debate about the patrimonialisation of practices that question material limits. An example is Anna Dot’s action “S’amagaven darrera els arbres” (2016) which is incorporated into the biennial through the story.

Anna Dot with her interest in language and Pep Vidal with his scientific approach and his research into infinitesimal changes are also featured in two of the exhibitions at ADN Platform, the space promoted by the gallery owner Miguel Ángel Sánchez that allows artists and curators to define and develop projects and pre-projects with a freedom that institutional premises often cannot offer.

Between the commitment to the “futuribles” of the Leandre Cristòfol Biennial and ADN Platform and the inventory of “mid-career” artists by Fabra i Coats, we can detect ways of doing things, interests or shared references, such as the emphasis on processes and immaterial practices, as well as their possible transfer to an exhibition format; a focus on the political and social present; the transformation of cities and personal relationships; text, narrative and language; transdisciplinarity and reflection on artistic practice itself.

[Article published in Bonart, 2018]

Iconic has to do with image and the creation/incarnation/representation of the Zeitgeist, the spirit of an era. An example is Just What is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? (1956), the small collage by Richard Hamilton that included some of the most representative elements of society in those years: the perfect housewife, the muscular man, the model, pre-cooked food, household appliances…

2017 could certainly be represented by many iconic works, which are still in artists’ studios, or which have been exhibited in museums, events or in the public sphere, but we are going to focus on one, by the Argentine artist Marta Minujín, which has been installed in Friedrichsplatz in the German city of Kassel, in the context of documenta 14, that great artistic event that legitimises and becomes a reflection (sometimes more theoretical than artistic) on the present. In the middle of the square, right in front of the Fridericianum museum, The Parthenon of Books has been erected for a few months. It consists of a metal structure measuring 35 x 70 x 22 metres that reproduces the Parthenon of Athens (a symbol of the aesthetic and political ideals of the first democracy) and is lined with hundreds of thousands of books that have been censored at some point.

The installation in Kassel is the second version of the Parthenon of Books, which was conceived by the artist in 1983 for Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires and included books banned during the Argentine dictatorship. In this context, the installation was conceived as a celebration of democracy.

Marta Minujín. The Parthenon of Books, 2017. Friedrichsplatz, Kassel. Documenta 14
Photo: Andreas M. Kaufmann

In 2017, the piece took on new interpretations. In a global scenario and a Europe suffering from inequality and an identity crisis, documenta 14 was articulated from the notion, Learning from Athens and was deployed in both cities, Athens and Kassel. The reference to the Parthenon is therefore no coincidence. On this occasion, the public, publishers and authors were invited to donate books that had once been the object of persecution. The location of the work is not a coincidence either: Friedrichsplatz is not only the most prominent location of documenta but in 1933, in that same square the Nazis burned more than two thousand books in an action called “Aktion wider den undeutschen Geist” (Campaign against the unworthy spirit). A few years later, the Fridericianum, which was used as a library, also burned down as a result of an Allied bombing.

Marta Minujín. The Parthenon of Books, 2017. Friedrichsplatz, Kassel. Documenta 14
Photo: Andreas M. Kaufmann

If in 1983, the Parthenon of Books was a piece of celebration, in 2017, a time of populism, fundamentalism, fear and violence, The Parthenon of Books becomes a wake-up call to the extremism, repression and loss of freedoms of our present. All this, together with its strong visual presence, makes it an iconic work today.

[Article published in Bonart, 2017]

Projects expanded in time

If this text had a soundtrack, it would begin with Time Is On My Side by The Rolling Stones (‘Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is. Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is’) because time is relative, experienced as subjective, a scarce resource that can be managed, administered, lost or enjoyed. When the temporal aspect in artistic projects expands beyond what would be considered ‘normal’, it becomes a theme in itself. We’ve seen this in the field of the cinema, not only in films whose length verges on what could be considered the limit of the endurable, but particularly in productions that transcend these standard limits (the shooting of Boyhood by Richard Linklater, carried out between 2002 and 2013, tells the story of a boy and his family, played by the same actors over the course of eleven years). We’ve seen the same in the field of the theatre, for instance, with marathon twelve-hour sessions such as that of Mahabharata by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière. In art, too, especially in the first performances by Ulay/Abramovic as a form of resistance, or barely a year ago, when Anna Dot was filibustering as she tried to draw out the talk that closed her exhibition at La Capella as long as possible in order to sabotage the closing time fixed by the institution.

Resistance is also that of tireless artists who obsessively devote their lives to their work, regardless of the recognition obtained. Musician Joaquín Orellana has spent decades composing and creating his own instruments in his studio in Ciudad de Guatemala and, about to turn eighty-seven, has only now been ‘discovered’ by a global audience after receiving an invitation to compose and present a symphony for documenta 14.

Artistic and vital is the project for an expanded performance by EVA & ADELE, a couple who transgress gender boundaries, impeccably and complementarily dressed and made up, who have been making continuous public appearances at the openings of the most significant artistic events since 1989.

In the development of artistic projects there is often a conflict between the time frame the projects naturally need, and the institutional time marked by the programming that requires that these projects – be they exhibitions, performances, presentations, publications, workshops or seminars – to have specific opening and closing dates that will not overlap with those of the following event organised.

In these days of maximum acceleration and speed, the artists and organisations that make projects possible show a long-term zealous commitment to accommodate the genuine needs of these projects and grant them the time they need to complete their processes.

Changing track (perhaps to a brass band), we shall now move on to case studies.

Jeremy Deller, Speak to the Earth and it Will Tell You (2007-2017) (c) Skulptur Projekte 2017. Foto: Henning Rogge

In 2007, Jeremy Deller began Speak to the Earth and It Will Tell You for the Münster Skulptur Projekte (another unique example, as the lapse of time between each of these sculpture events is ten years). Starting from his interests in working with groups and communities of people who share the same affinities, Deller gave the fifty associations related to community gardens and city allotments a series of leather-bound notebooks so that, over the course of ten years, they could use them as a diary (of their activities, news, actions, setbacks, etc.). Dove trees, that take ten years to blossom, were planted to make this time lapse visible, and in 2017, consulting the notebooks at the following Skulptur Projekte Münster, we have obtained a glimpse of the everyday activity of thirty of these associations. Besides focusing on horticultural issues, the diaries constitute a chronicle of society and an unmediated comment on the changes suffered by the city and its inhabitants and, to a certain extent, by the world at large.

No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow by Fela Kuti is the title of an intervention in public space in the city of Bergkamen, that began in 2004 and will conclude in 2028. The work consists of a cylindrical sculpture made of steel and acrylic glass made by artist Andreas M. Kaufmann, who won a competition organised by the city council calling for public projects for several roundabouts in the town. Inside the sculpture, four revolving projectors loaded with six slides each project mass-media images — portraits and gestures of prominent political, cultural and society figures. George Bush, Julian Assange, Halle Berry and Leo Messi, among others, tell a story of the present shaped by the media.

Foto: Roman Mensig

No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow (and the musical and political reference to Fela Kuti is no coincidence) is a media sculpture that welcomes the participation of the citizens of Bergkamen. Since the piece was installed in the roundabout close to the Town Hall, next to a coach station, it has prompted comments, questions and criticism and has been the object of an annual ritual in which one of the slides, and therefore one of the figures, is replaced by another. Aware as the artist is that the work occupies a public space belonging to the community, rather than being a unilateral gesture, the change of slide encourages communication with specific groups (different each year) who are asked to suggest who from among the most outstanding figures of the previous year could ‘leave’ and who could ‘join’ the piece, and to choose the specific image to be projected.

Since 2004, the entrance and exit of public and media figures such as Paris Hilton, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, Pope John Paul II or Steve Jobs have been discussed by a group of teenage students, a Turkish cultural association and a Russian folklore society, among other collectives, who have had full authority to make decisions related to public space in their city. Four projectors with six slides each add up to twenty-four slides, all of which will have been replaced twenty-four years after the installation of the sculpture, in 2028 — the year when No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow, in the most Beuysian sense of the term ‘social sculpture’ i.e., processual and participatory, will have drawn to its end.

Projectes expandits en el temps

Si aquest text tingués una banda sonora, arrencaria amb Time is on my side de The Rolling Stones (Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is. Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is…) perquè el temps és relatiu, experimentat com a subjectiu i un bé escàs que es pot gestionar, administrar, perdre o gaudir. Quan en els projectes artístics l’aspecte temporal s’expandeix més enllà del que es consideraria “normal”, es converteix en un tema en si mateix. Ho hem vist en cinema, no només en films el metratge dels quals frega el límit del sostenible, sinó especialment en produccions que van més enllà d’aquests límits estàndard (el rodatge de Boyhood de Richard Linklater es va realitzar entre 2002 i 2013 i explica la història d’un nen i la seva família, interpretats pels mateixos actors al llarg d’onze anys). Ho hem vist també en teatre, per exemple, amb sessions maratonianes de 12 hores com la de Mahabharata de Peter Brook i Jean-Claude Carrière. També en art, especialment en les primeres performances d’Ulay/Abramovic com a forma de resistència o, ara fa un any, quan Anna Dot feia un exercici de filibusterisme en intentar allargar al màxim la xerrada de clausura de la seva exposició a la Capella per sabotejar l’hora de tancament que la institució establia.

Resistència és també la de creadors que, incansables, dediquen tota la seva vida al seu treball de manera obsessiva, independentment del reconeixement obtingut. Així, el músic Joaquín Orellana porta dècades component i creant els seus propis instruments en el seu estudi de Ciudad de Guatemala i, a punt de complir 87 anys, acaba de ser “descobert” per un públic global, a partir de la invitació a compondre i presentar una Simfonia per a documenta 14.

Artístic i vital és el projecte de performance expandida d’EVA & ADELE una parella, transgressora de gèneres, sempre impecable i conjuntadament vestides i maquillades, amb contínues aparicions públiques en les inauguracions dels principals esdeveniments artístics des de 1989.

En el desenvolupament de projectes artístics, sovint s’estableix un conflicte entre el cronograma que naturalment necessitaria un determinat projecte i el temps institucional marcat per una programació que requereix que una proposta (ja sigui exposició, performance, presentació, publicació, taller o seminari) tingui unes dates d’inici i finalització clares que no se solapin amb el següent esdeveniment que ocupa l’agenda del centre.

En aquests temps d’acceleració i rapidesa màxims, acomodar un projecte a les seves necessitats reals i atorgar-li el temps necessari per completar els seus processos no deixa de tenir un component reivindicatiu i de compromís a llarg termini per part dels artistes i les institucions o organitzacions que el fan possible.

Jeremy Deller, Speak to the Earth and it Will Tell You (2007-2017) (c) Skulptur Projekte 2017. Foto: Henning Rogge

El 2007, Jeremy Deller va iniciar el projecte Speak to the Earth and it Will Tell you pel Skulptur Projekte de Münster, un altre exemple singular atès que el lapse de temps entre edicions és de deu anys. A partir dels seus interessos en el treball amb grups i comunitats de persones amb determinades afinitats, Deller va distribuir una sèrie de quaderns de pell a les cinquanta associacions relacionades amb jardins i horts comunitaris de la ciutat, perquè, al llarg de deu anys, les utilitzessin com a diari (de les seves activitats, novetats, accions, contratemps…). Per donar visibilitat a aquest lapse temporal, es van plantar Davídies, que triguen deu anys a florir, i el 2017, els visitants de la següent edició del Skulptur Projekte Münster hem pogut acostar-nos al dia a dia de trenta d’aquestes associacions consultant aquests diaris que, no només s’han centrat en temes d’horticultura, sinó que constitueixen una crònica social i un comentari sense mediacions als canvis de la ciutat i els seus habitants i, fins a cert punt, del món.

No agreement today, no agreement tomorrow de Fela Kuti dóna títol a una intervenció a l’espai públic, a la ciutat de Bergkamen, que es va iniciar l’any 2004 i acabarà el 2028. Es tracta d’una escultura de forma cilíndrica feta amb acer i cristall mat acrílic, realitzada per l’artista Andreas M. Kaufmann, després de guanyar un concurs de projectes públics per a diverses rotondes de la ciutat, convocat per l’ajuntament. A l’interior de l’escultura, quatre projectors llencen sis imatges cadascun, amb retrats i gestos de persones dels àmbits polític, cultural i social, extrets dels mitjans de comunicació. George Bush, Julian Assange, Halle Berry o Leo Messi, entre altres, es fan ressò del relat del present escrit pels mitjans de comunicació.

Foto: Roman Mensig

No agreement today, no agreement tomorrow (i la referència musical i política a Fela Kuti no és casual) és una escultura mediàtica oberta a la participació de la ciutadania de Bergkamen. Des que la peça es va instal·lar a la rotonda que hi ha prop de l’Ajuntament i al costat d’una estació d’autobusos, ha estat objecte de preguntes, crítiques, comentaris i d’un ritual que es desenvolupa anualment i que consisteix en el canvi d’una de les diapositives amb la substitució d’un dels personatges. Aquest procés no és realitzat per l’artista de manera unilateral sinó que, conscient d’ocupar un espai públic que pertany a tots, es transforma en un moment de comunicació a partir d’un treball amb un col·lectiu específic de la ciutat (que va canviant cada any) en el qual es fan propostes sobre quin personatge ha d’anar-se’n i quin, representatiu de l’any anterior, ha d’“entrar”, triant també la imatge concreta amb la qual es realitzarà la diapositiva i es projectarà a la rotonda.

Des de 2004, l’entrada i sortida de personatges de l’actualitat pública i mediàtica com Paris Hilton, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, Joan Pau II o Steve Jobs han estat debatudes amb un grup d’estudiants adolescents, una associació cultural turca o un grup de folklore rus, entre d’altres, que han tingut plena potestat per decidir en relació a l’espai públic de la seva ciutat. Quatre projectors a sis diapositives cadascun són 24 diapositives, que s’hauran renovat totalment 24 anys després de la seva instal·lació, és a dir, l’any 2028, quan el projecte No agreement today, no agreement tomorrow, en l’accepció més beuysiana d’“escultura social”, això és, processual i participativa, haurà arribat a la seva fi.

Projects expanded in time

If this text had a soundtrack, it would begin with Time Is On My Side by The Rolling Stones (’Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is. Tiiiime is on my side, yes it is’) because time is relative, experienced as subjective, a scarce resource that can be managed, administered, lost or enjoyed. When the temporal aspect in artistic projects expands beyond what would be considered ’normal’, it becomes a theme in itself. We’ve seen this in the field of the cinema, not only in films whose length verges on what could be considered the limit of the endurable, but particularly in productions that transcend these standard limits (the shooting of Boyhood by Richard Linklater, carried out between 2002 and 2013, tells the story of a boy and his family, played by the same actors over the course of eleven years). We’ve seen the same in the field of the theatre, for instance, with marathon twelve-hour sessions such as that of Mahabharata by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière. In art, too, especially in the first performances by Ulay/Abramovic as a form of resistance, or barely a year ago, when Anna Dot was filibustering as she tried to draw out the talk that closed her exhibition at La Capella as long as possible in order to sabotage the closing time fixed by the institution.

Resistance is also that of tireless artists who obsessively devote their lives to their work, regardless of the recognition obtained. Musician Joaquín Orellana has spent decades composing and creating his own instruments in his studio in Ciudad de Guatemala and, about to turn eighty-seven, has only now been ’discovered’ by a global audience after receiving an invitation to compose and present a symphony for documenta 14.

Artistic and vital is the project for an expanded performance by EVA & ADELE, a couple who transgress gender boundaries, impeccably and complementarily dressed and made up, who have been making continuous public appearances at the openings of the most significant artistic events since 1989.

In the development of artistic projects there is often a conflict between the time frame the projects naturally need, and the institutional time marked by the programming that requires that these projects – be they exhibitions, performances, presentations, publications, workshops or seminars – to have specific opening and closing dates that will not overlap with those of the following event organised.

In these days of maximum acceleration and speed, the artists and organisations that make projects possible show a long-term zealous commitment to accommodate the genuine needs of these projects and grant them the time they need to complete their processes.

Changing track (perhaps to a brass band), we shall now move on to case studies.

Jeremy Deller, Speak to the Earth and it Will Tell You (2007-2017) (c) Skulptur Projekte 2017. Foto: Henning Rogge

In 2007, Jeremy Deller began Speak to the Earth and It Will Tell You for the Münster Skulptur Projekte (another unique example, as the lapse of time between each of these sculpture events is ten years). Starting from his interests in working with groups and communities of people who share the same affinities, Deller gave the fifty associations related to community gardens and city allotments a series of leather-bound notebooks so that, over the course of ten years, they could use them as a diary (of their activities, news, actions, setbacks, etc.). Dove trees, that take ten years to blossom, were planted to make this time lapse visible, and in 2017, consulting the notebooks at the following Skulptur Projekte Münster, we have obtained a glimpse of the everyday activity of thirty of these associations. Besides focusing on horticultural issues, the diaries constitute a chronicle of society and an unmediated comment on the changes suffered by the city and its inhabitants and, to a certain extent, by the world at large.

No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow by Fela Kuti is the title of an intervention in public space in the city of Bergkamen, that began in 2004 and will conclude in 2028. The work consists of a cylindrical sculpture made of steel and acrylic glass made by artist Andreas M. Kaufmann, who won a competition organised by the city council calling for public projects for several roundabouts in the town. Inside the sculpture, four revolving projectors loaded with six slides each project mass-media images — portraits and gestures of prominent political, cultural and society figures. George Bush, Julian Assange, Halle Berry and Leo Messi, among others, tell a story of the present shaped by the media.

Foto: Roman Mensig

No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow (and the musical and political reference to Fela Kuti is no coincidence) is a media sculpture that welcomes the participation of the citizens of Bergkamen. Since the piece was installed in the roundabout close to the Town Hall, next to a coach station, it has prompted comments, questions and criticism and has been the object of an annual ritual in which one of the slides, and therefore one of the figures, is replaced by another. Aware as the artist is that the work occupies a public space belonging to the community, rather than being a unilateral gesture, the change of slide encourages communication with specific groups (different each year) who are asked to suggest who from among the most outstanding figures of the previous year could ’leave’ and who could ’join’ the piece, and to choose the specific image to be projected.

Since 2004, the entrance and exit of public and media figures such as Paris Hilton, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, Pope John Paul II or Steve Jobs have been discussed by a group of teenage students, a Turkish cultural association and a Russian folklore society, among other collectives, who have had full authority to make decisions related to public space in their city. Four projectors with six slides each add up to twenty-four slides, all of which will have been replaced twenty-four years after the installation of the sculpture, in 2028 — the year when No Agreement Today, No Agreement Tomorrow, in the most Beuysian sense of the term ’social sculpture’ i.e., processual and participatory, will have drawn to its end.

Books have always been related to knowledge and the transmission of knowledge. The loss and destruction of books (the disappearance of the Library of Alexandria, the burning of books by the Nazis or as a plot point in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, among others) has been identified with the end of a civilization or a dystopian future. Fetishism and freedom have always been close to books, from the instructions of the French resistance, which were transmitted hidden in books or the connoisseur fetishism of the disturbing character of Josep María Pou in the TV3 series Nit i Dia.

Since 1994, when graphic designer David Carson prophesied The End of Print, the debate on the disappearance of books has only reinforced their presence, their aura and freer ways of self-managing them. Publications are once again a space for the recovery of control for younger artists, just as it was in the 60s and 70s, in parallel with the emphasis placed on ideas, on the process and on the dematerialisation of the artistic object. Like Ed Ruscha, Muntadas, Matta-Clark or Baldessari, to name just a few, publication is for artists of these early 21st century one more means of artistic expression that allows them to express heterodox research methodologies, work processes that follow their own logic, apparently disordered in a trial-error process in which the artist is creator, editor, curator and manager at the same time.

Publications made by artists and various editions, which include inserts in books or magazines, posters, stickers, vinyls and a thousand defined and yet to be defined formats, thus acquire the category of work and can function as printed exhibitions that move through distribution channels that are not only institutional or commercial. We are talking about self-publishing and independent publishers, about book lovers who create their own publishing line, like the designer Alex Gifreu with Cru, for whom, rather than an artist’s book, we must talk about publications conceived as a piece, in the sense that the work does not exist in any other physical format than a publication. There are specialized bookstores like Múltiplos, with Anna Pahissa, a structure for the distribution and dissemination of artist publications that, as she herself has defined on occasion, “works with a material – publications and people – that has a great potential to generate other things and that goes far beyond the object and its commercial circulation.”

It is no coincidence that now that large corporations are literally eating up the world, there is a proliferation of initiatives for self-management and empowerment, for regaining control and giving value to idiosyncrasy from the publication format, as broad and versatile as each one wants it to be.

[Article published in Bonart, 2017]