Proyectos

"Exposiciones y otros proyectos innovadores que exploran temes relevantes para entender el mundo en que vivimos"

Peter Liversidge (Lincoln, UK, 1973) makes proposals. For the last ten years, the artist has been making proposals, which he has presented, amongst other places, at the Edinburgh Art Festival, at the Europalia Festival in Brussels or in the Unlimited section at the Art Basel Fair.

All his projects begin at the same starting point: a proposal consisting of the idea to write proposals. «I propose to write proposals for Montse Badia at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, during October 2007. Starting no sooner than the first of October and finishing no later than the thirty-first of October 2007». This was the beginning of the exhibition «Proposals for Barcelona» by Peter Liversidge in the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica.

Some of the eighty-eight proposals submitted by Peter Liversidge are utopical, others are impossible, others are poetical, others are of a practical nature and others are pure entertainment. From the absolute banal to transcendent, Liversidge’s proposals are more prescriptive than descriptive. Some of them have been performed and can be found materialised or documented at the exhibition iteself, others, on the other hand, open a space so that the spectator can interpret them as he may. Thus, in the Exhibition Hall we can find objects related to one of the proposals previously sent by Liversidge («I propose to place on the floor of Gallery 2 at Centre d’Art Santa Monica a bronze cast of the two elastic bands I found outside my front door this morning. The elastic bands were the red type often dropped by postmen. They were laying on top of each other, and this is how they will appear in the gallery space»), graphic documentation of actions performed by the artist himself («I propose to scatter Brittish wild-flower seeds in any broken ground in the city of Barcelona»), documentation of actions we’d all like to carry out («I propose to use the telephones at Centre d’Art Santa Monica to phone everyone I know») or proposals that the spectator can be endowed with more significant connotations («I propose to escape to the beach»).

Peter Liversidge sent by normal post 88 proposals, which had been typed previously and of which only one original exists. But his debt to conceptual art does not only fulfill purely formal aspects. Liversidge’s proposals are not a revivial of conceptual art. His closeness to historic conceptual practices lies in his starting point, in his attitude. Liversidge carries out an institutional criticism, which isn’t always obvious, as more than actually denouncing or demonstrating certain mechanisms or specific mannerisms, the artist makes us ponder on a series of processes or assumed roles. Liversidge does not respond to the organiser’s invitation with one or two proposals for the exhibition, but with many proposals (sometimes twenty, sometimes eighty and sometimes almost two hundred), in such a way that he begins a process of discussion, of exchange of view-points, of decisions and also of shared responsibilities which convert the preparation of the work into a climax of intensity which hardly leaves any trace once the exhibition “materialises”.

However, institutional criticism is means not an end for Liversidge. With his proposals, the artist invites us to rethink the roles but also he makes us rethink nature and our immediate surroundings, at the same time whilst opening a world of possibilities. And he does all this not as much from grandiose gestures but from small, concise actions, on a very human scale but that can make our perception of things change radically.

Liversidge confronts us with different conceptions of nature using his representations (he makes molds of a stone he found using different materials, he exhibits a dissected bird, shows films taped at the Zoo, shows winter drawings or presents a floral tribute of a place idealised by the artist); he confronts us with the perception of surroundings (via light, smoke, songs or noises); he sets himself personal challenges (learn Spanish, correct mistakes, make plans…); he offers services (manage a restaurant in the city centre, be a wedding-photographer…) or he proposes difficult ways to change our environment (put spotlights on the bottom of cable-cars to project light-beams over the city).

With some proposals more or less concrete, others more or less ambitious, more or less visionary, Peter Liversidge invites us to think that it’s possible to have a bearing on our surroundings. Starting from the most daily aspects that define our biographies, the artist proofs that it’s possible to appeal to the imagination and to other possible worlds, he chooses sense of humour as a trigger to raise essential questions on the human being. Peter Liversidge’s proposals are not written scripts, but unlimited possibilities.

Montse Badia

Peter Liversidge (Lincoln, UK, 1973) hace propuestas. El artista lleva diez años haciendo propuestas, que ha presentado, entre otros, en el Edinburgh Art Festival, en el festival Europalia en Bruselas o en la sección Unlimited de la feria de arte Art Basel.

Todos sus proyectos se inician en un mismo punto: una propuesta que consiste en la idea de escribir propuestas. «I propose to write proposals for Montse Badia at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, during October 2007. Starting no sooner than the first of October and finishing no later than the thirtyfirst of October 2007». Este fue el inicio de la exposición «Proposals for Barcelona» de Peter Liversidge en el Centro de Arte Santa Mónica.

Algunas de las ochenta y ocho propuestas presentadas por Peter Liversidge son utópicas, otras son imposibles, otras son poéticas, otras son de carácter práctico y otras son un puro divertimento. De lo más absolutamente banal a lo transcendente, las propuestas de Liversidge son más prescriptivas que descriptivas. Algunas de ellas han sido realizadas y se encuentran materializadas o documentadas en el propio espacio de exposición, otras, en cambio, abren un espacio para que el espectador pueda interpretarlas libremente. Así, en la sala de exposiciones podemos encontrar objetos relacionados con una de las propuestas previamente enviadas por Liversidge («I propose to place on the floor of Gallery 2 at Centre d’Art Santa Monica a bronze cast of the two elastic bands I found outside my front door this morning. The elastic bands were the red type often dropped by postmen. They were laying on top of each other, and this is how they will appear in the gallery space»), documentación gráfica de acciones llevadas a cabo por el propio artista («I propose to scatter Brittish wild-flower seeds in any broken ground in the city of Barcelona»), documentación de acciones que a todos nos gustaría llevar a cabo («I propose to use the telephones at Centre d’Art Santa Monica to phone everyone I know») o propuestas que el espectador puede dotar de connotaciones más transcendentes («I propose to escape to the beach»).

Peter Liversidge envió por correo postal 88 propuestas, previamente mecanografiadas y de las que sólo existe un original. Pero su deuda con el arte conceptual no atiende sólo a aspectos puramente formales. Las propuestas de Liversidge no son un revival del arte conceptual. Su proximidad a las prácticas conceptuales históricas radica en su punto de partida, en su actitud. Liversidge realiza una crítica institucional, no siempre obvia, pues más que denunciar o poner en evidencia unos mecanismos o tics determinados, el artista nos hace replantearnos una serie de procesos o roles asumidos. Liversidge no responde a la invitación del comisario con una o dos propuestas de exposición, sino que lo hace con muchas (a veces son veinte, a veces ochenta y a veces son casi doscientas), de manera que inicia un proceso de discusión, de intercambio de puntos de vista, de decisiones y también de responsabilidades compartidas que convierten la preparación del trabajo en un punto álgido de intensidad del cual queda poco rastro una vez se «materializa» la exposición.

Sin embargo, la crítica institucional es un medio y no un fin para Liversidge. Con sus propuestas, el artista nos invita a repensar los roles pero también nos hace repensar la naturaleza y los entornos inmediatos, al tiempo que abre un mundo de posibilidades. Y todo esto lo hace no tanto a partir de gestos grandilocuentes, sino de acciones pequeñas y concisas, de escala muy humana pero que pueden hacer cambiar radicalmente nuestra percepción de las cosas.

Liversidge nos confronta a las distintas concepciones de la naturaleza a partir de sus representaciones (hace moldes en distintos materiales de una piedra encontrada, expone un pájaro disecado, muestra films registrados en el zoológico, expone dibujos invernales o presenta un tributo floral de un lugar idealizado por el artista); nos confronta a la percepción del entorno (mediante la luz, el humo, las canciones o los sonidos); se propone metas personales (aprender español, corregir los errores, hacer planes…); ofrece servicios (regentar un restaurante en el centro de la ciudad, hacer de fotógrafo de bodas…) o propone formas difíciles de llevar a cabo para cambiar nuestro entorno (poner en la parte inferior del teleférico unos focos que proyecten haces de luz sobre la ciudad).

Con unas propuestas más o menos concretas, más o menos ambiciosas, más o menos visionarias, Peter Liversidge nos invita a pensar que es posible incidir en el entorno que nos rodea. Partiendo de los aspectos más cotidianos que definen nuestras biografías, el artista evidencia que es posible apelar a la imaginación y a otros mundos posibles, opta por el sentido del humor como detonante para plantear cuestiones esenciales acerca del ser humano. Las propuestas de Peter Liversidge no son guiones escritos, sino posibilidades ilimitadas.

Montse Badia

In the year 1996, Dora García carried out an installation entitled Perplexity, which consisted of cordoning off a space of an art gallery with a tape on which the word “perplexity” could be read. In this so simple manner (and in the case of the works of Dora there is an inversely proportional relationship between the ease with which her works may be described and their conceptual complexity), the artist was indicating the limits within which her work is situated: to present reality as multiple and questionable and to explore the relationship between the artist, the work, and the public. In other words, Dora indicates, she acts like a cinema director who tells stories (or simply selects them), unchains a situation, situates us in a scenario or makes us participants in a game the rules of which are very similar to reality and for this very fact allow us to question it.

Contes choisis is the title of this exhibition, which may be defined as miniretrospective, as it gathers together a selection of works that include the lapse of time between the years 1991 and 2007. Due to the marked procesual character of the works of Dora García, the presentation of these works is made in a format that the artist herself defines as «in off mode», that is to say, showing those elements that form a part of the works but in an “uninstalled” manner.

Contes choisis presents a passage over seven works: Contes Choisis (1991) is an installation presented in the De Appel Foundation in Amsterdam in which the portrait of Guy de Maupassant set off against two enigmatic sculptures define a narrative and fictional substratum. Todas las Historias (All the Stories) (2001- ) is a piece of work in process the ambition of which is to reunite “all of the stories of the world. The reader who may decide to read them out load becomes a performer of Todas Las Historias (All the Stories) and, whenever s/he may have finished, all men and women, all time and all places, will have passed over his/her lips. The difficulty lies in the fact that new stories are added to this list almost every day”. La Habitación cerrada (The Closed Room) consists of a room that must remain closed. Whenever anyone enters into the said room, it disappears and the work vanishes. The Crowd is a performance that is based on the need to create expectations and in which the public plays an essential role. The Prophets is described in this manner by the artist “[Prophets]… every day they enter into the museum and pick up the photocopies with the prophecies that there are for that day and which I had sent previously. For the next hour, they hand them out among the visitors of the museum and carry out the prophesized tasks which I wrote specifically for them on the papers that they are distributing. They never know beforehand which those tasks may be, nor in which form they will be presented to the visitors on the following day. The tension that these «prêt-a-porter» prophecies generate (…), the suspicion that the events that take place are part of a representation, and the constant threat of an uncontrollable reality…». The Beggar’s Opera is the project that García presented in the Skulptur Projekte Münster’07 and which consisted of a series of performances carried out by an actor who interprets a beggar, Filch, inspired on the beggar apprentice of the opera of John Gay, which in turn inspired Bertolt Brecht in The Threepenny Opera. Filch is a character who moves freely around the streets of Münster, sufficiently marginal in order to be able to say what he thinks at all times. His adventures, encounters and observations were noted down in the log book www.thebeggarsopera.org as well as a series of monologues that were represented in the Metropolis Kino of Münster and which now appear together in a publication. Finally, C (Film contado dos veces – told twice), a proposal created specifically for the CASM, is a commented projection from Film (1964) by Beckett which is based on the notion of a subjective camera. The commented projection will take place every Wednesday at 19:00 PM in the Auditorium of the CASM.

Moving constantly between the frontiers that separate fiction from reality, the performances of Dora García (performances with actors who follow a series of instructions) explore their limits, which are none other than the limits between what is real and the representation of the same. By means of the investigation of the construction of fictions, the work of Dora García offers an autoreflexive vision of the individual and of his/her environment, in which recognition plays an essential role.

“Art is for everyone but only a select few know it”, preys one of her ”golden phrases”, true statements or declarations of principles with which she makes her position public and with which it proves to be easy to identify oneself. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary lies in that little something extra”. It is precisely there where that extraordinary about her work lies.

Montse Badia

En el año 1996, Dora García realizó una instalación titulada Perplexity, que consistió en acotar un espacio de una galería de arte con una cinta en la que podía leerse la palabra “perplejidad”. De esta manera tan sencilla (y en el caso de los trabajos de Dora hay una relación inversamente proporcional entre la facilidad con la que pueden describirse sus obras y su complejidad conceptual), la artista señalaba los límites en los que se situa su trabajo: presentar la realidad como múltiple y cuestionable y explorar la relación entre artista, obra y público. En otras palabras, Dora señala, actúa como una directora de cine que cuenta historias (o simplemente las selecciona), desencadena una situación, nos sitúa en un escenario o nos hace partícipes de un juego cuyas reglas se parecen mucho a la realidad y por eso mismo nos permiten cuestionarla.

Cuentos Escogidos es el título de esta exposición que podría definirse como una miniretrospectiva, pues reúne una selección de trabajos que incluyen el lapso de tiempo comprendido entre los años 1991 y 2007. Debido al carácter marcadamente procesual de las obras de Dora García, la presentación de estos trabajos se realiza en un formato que la propia artista define como “en modo off”, es decir, mostrando los elementos que forman parte de las obras pero de una manera “desinstalada”.

Cuentos Escogidos presenta un recorrido por siete trabajos: Contes Choisis (1991) es una instalación presentada en la Fundación De Appel en Ámsterdam en la que el retrato de Guy de Maupassant contrapuesto a dos enigmáticas esculturas definen un sustrato narrativo y ficcional. Todas las Historias (2001- ) es un trabajo en proceso cuya ambición es la de reunir “todas las historias del mundo. El lector que decida leerlas en voz alta se convierte en performer de Todas Las Historias y, cuando haya terminado, todos los hombres y mujeres, todo el tiempo y todos los lugares, habrán pasado por sus labios. La dificultad estriba en que casi cada día nuevas historias se añaden a esta lista”. La Habitación cerrada consiste en una habitación que debe permanecer cerrada. Cuando alguien entra en dicha habitación ésta desaparece y la obra se desvanece. The Crowd es una performance que parte de la necesidad de crear expectativas y en la cual el público juega un papel esencial. The Prophets es descrita de esta manera por la artista, “[Los profetas]… cada día entran en el museo y recogen las fotocopias con las profecías que hay para ese día y que yo había enviado con antelación. Durante la siguiente hora, van entregándolas entre los visitantes del museo y realizando las tareas profetizadas y que escribí específicamente para ellos en los papeles que están distribuyendo. Nunca saben de antemano cuáles pueden ser esas tareas, ni en la forma en que se presentarán a los visitantes al día siguiente. La tensión que generan estas profecías «prêt-a-porter» (…), la sospecha de que los sucesos que tienen lugar son en parte una puesta en escena, y la amenaza constante de una realidad incontrolable…». The Beggar’s Opera es el proyecto que García presentó en el Skulptur Projekte Münster’07 y que consistió en una serie de performance realizadas por un actor que interpreta a un mendigo, Filch, inspirado en el aprendiz de mendigo de la ópera de John Gay, que a su vez inspiró a Bertolt Brecht en La Ópera de Tres Peniques. Filch es un personaje que se mueve libremente por las calles de Münster, suficientemente marginal como para poder decir lo que piensa en todo momento. Sus aventuras, encuentros y observaciones eran anotados en el cuaderno de bitácora www.thebeggarsopera.org así como una serie de monólogos que fueron representados en el Metropolis Kino de Münster y que aparecen ahora recogidos en una publicación. Finalmente, C (Film contado dos veces), una propuesta creada específicamente para el CASM, es una proyección comentada de la película Film (1964) de Beckett que se basa en la noción de cámara subjetiva. La proyección comentada tendrá lugar todos los miércoles a las 19 horas en el Auditorio del CASM.

Moviéndose constantemente entre las fronteras que separan ficción y realidad, las performances de Dora García (performances con actores que siguen una serie de instrucciones) exploran sus límites, que no son otros que los límites entre lo real y su representación. Mediante la investigación de la construcción de ficciones, el trabajo de Dora García ofrece una visión autoreflexiva del invididuo y de su entorno, en el que el reconocimiento juega un papel esencial.

“El arte es para todos pero sólo una élite lo sabe”, reza una de sus ”frases de oro”, verdaderos statements o declaraciones de principios con las que hace pública su postura y con las que resulta fácil identificarse. “La diferencia entre ordinario y extraordinario está en esa cosita extra”. Ahí precisamente radica lo extraordinario de su trabajo.

Montse Badia

“I seek intimate relationships with impersonal structures.” Jill Magid uses this plain, concise sentence to define her artistic work. “The systems I choose to work with, such as police, secret services, CCTV and forensic identification, function at a distance, with a wide-angle perspective, equalizing everyone and erasing the individual. I seek the potential softness and intimacy of their technologies, the fallacy of their omniscient point of view, the ways in which they hold memory (yet often cease to remember), their engrained position in society (the cause of their invisibility), their authority, their apparent intangibility and, with all of this, their potential reversibility.”

As «the protagonist of someone else’s novel», Jill Magid returns to her home city after having lived abroad for five years. Living in Brooklyn she often takes the subway and it never fails to amaze her when she hears the announcement over the PA that any passenger may subject to a search “for security reasons”. Without hesitation, Jill approaches a police officer and asks him to search her. The officer’s refusal leads them to reach an agreement: the opportunity for the artist to accompany the officer on his of late-night surveillance rounds. The worlds to which the protagonists of this story belong could not be more different: a young independent and enterprising artist and a Staten Island policeman who has only left New York once in his life to visit Disneyland. However, there is a mutual fascination between them: she writes a diary of all of her thoughts and impressions during the surveillance shifts; he goes about his daily routine reciting the names of all the presidents of the United States «because the world is the way it is thanks to them”. She represents interrogation and constant search, he represents continuity. She manages to understand his codes (the alphabet used by the police to spell out words); he senses that her complexity could be problematic. Lincoln Ocean Victor Eddy. L.O.V.E.

It looks like a love letter but it is actually a contract. “Make me a diamond when I die. Cut me round and brilliant. Weigh me at one carat. Ensure that I am real.” Meticulously introducing each of the clauses stipulated in the contract, Jill Magid writes a love letter asking to be turned into a diamond when she dies. The display cabinet shows the structure and setting of the ring but without the stone, the diamond required to complete this currently unfinished self-portrait.

Death, danger, insecurity and chaos are values that are unaccepted by society. We create apparently objective systems that protect us, that organize us, that pacify our fears, that stop us from asking too many questions, that transform the things we don’t dare to examine too closely into something pleasant, something that lasts forever, something material, objective. Jill Magid uses these systems to show to their internal mechanisms, to reveal their poetic potential and, ultimately, to unleash new forms of human interaction.

This exhibition is called Thin Blue Lines. The “thin blue line” is an Anglo-Saxon expression that defines the fine line separating police protection and anarchy. Magid also uses blue lines to underline quotes from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. “Let’s say I am protagonist from someone else’s novel.”

Montse Badia

“Busco relaciones íntimas con estructuras impersonales”. Con esta frase tan escueta como contundente define Jill Magid su trabajo artístico. “Los sistemas con los que escojo trabajar, como la policía, servicios secretos, la televisión de circuito cerrado y la identificación forense funcionan a distancia, con una perspectiva gran angular equiparan a todos y borran al individuo. Busco la suavidad y la intimidad potencial de sus tecnologías, la falacia de su punto de vista omnisciente, las maneras en que conservan la memoria (aunque a menudo dejan de recordar), su posición implantada en la sociedad (la causa de su invisibilidad), su autoridad, su intangibilidad aparente y, con todo eso, su potencial reversibilidad.”

Como “la protagonista de la novela de otra persona”, Jill Magid vuelve a su ciudad tras haber vivido cinco años en el extranjero. Como vive en Brooklyn coge el metro a menudo y no sale de su asombro cada vez que escucha por megafonía el anuncio de que “por razones de seguridad” cualquier pasajero puede ser objeto de un registro. Sin dudarlo, Jill se acerca a un oficial y le pide que la registre. La negativa del policía deriva en un acuerdo: la posibilidad que la artista lo acompañe durante sus rondas de vigilancia nocturna. Los mundos a los que pertenecen los protagonistas de esta historia no pueden ser más distintos: una joven artista independiente y emprendedora y un policía de Staten Island que sólo una vez en su vida salió de Nueva York y fue para visitar Disneylandia. Pero la fascinación es mutua: ella escribe un diario que recoge todas sus impresiones y pensamientos durante los turnos de vigilancia; él acompaña sus rutinas recitando los nombres de los presidentes de los Estados Unidos, “porque el mundo es como es gracias a ellos”. Ella representa la interrogación y la búsqueda constante, él representa la continuidad. Ella logra entender sus códigos (el alfabeto que utiliza la policía para deletrear las palabras); él intuye que la complejidad de ella puede ser problemática. Lincoln Ocean Victor Eddy. L.O.V.E.

Parece una carta de amor, pero es un contrato. “Haz de mí un diamante cuando muera. Córtame redondo y brillante. Pésame a un quilate. Asegúrate que sea real.”. Introduciendo minuciosamente cada una de las claúsulas que se especifican en el contrato, Jill Magid redacta una carta de amor para que cuando ella muera sea transformada en diamante. La vitrina muestra el arco del anillo y el engarce, pero falta la piedra, el diamante, para completar un autorretrato que, por el momento, está inacabado.

La muerte, el peligro, la inseguridad, el caos son valores que nuestras sociedades no aceptan. Para ello crean sistemas, aparentemente objetivos, que nos protegen, que nos ordenan, que apaciguan nuestros miedos, que evitan que nos hagamos demasiadas preguntas, que transforman lo que no nos atrevemos a mirar en algo agradable, en algo eterno, en algo material, objetivo. Jill Magid utiliza estos sistemas para evidenciar sus mecanismos, para desvelar su potencial poético y, en última instancia, para desencadenar nuevas formas de interacción humana.

Thin Blue Lines es el título de esta exposición. “Thin Blue Line” es una expresión anglosajona que define la línea que separa la protección policial de la anarquía. De color azul son también las líneas con las que Magid subraya las citas de la novela de Jerzy Kosinski. “Digamos que soy la protagonista de la novela de otra persona.”

Montse Badia

Afgang’06

„The biggest trip of my life was just going to start“
(Jack Kerouac)

Dejar atrás una etapa e iniciar otra. Enfrentarse a algo diferente. Vivir un proceso de iniciación, de transformación, de cambio. A veces se trata de cambios de gran transcendencia. En otras ocasiones, se trata sólo de pequeños ajustes vitales. Todos estos cambios y evoluciones conforman nuestra vida y este es un leitmotiv que se repite en el cine, en el arte, en música, en literatura… Todo cambio, o mejor dicho, toda necesidad de cambio lleva implícita una forma de descontento. Al igual que en todo trabajo creativo, repensamos el mundo y nuestra relación con él porque hay algo que nos irrita y nos molesta y, por tanto, deseamos modificar. A veces, el cambio es un viaje físico que se convierte en metáfora de una búsqueda, de una huída o del reencuentro con uno mismo. Esta es básicamente la base de todas las road movies, en las que el viaje se convierte en una metáfora de la transición a una etapa de madurez, de la búsqueda de lo inesperado, o quizás de la huída de algo. Así, para Jack Kerouac y otros iconos de la generación beat, el viaje suponía una búsqueda de respuestas al acto de vivir, al tiempo que una forma de huir de las responsabilidades…

„There is no place I’d rather be than this journey of discovery“
(Jamiroquai)

El viaje en un sentido físico o metafórico es un hecho indisociable del acto creativo. Uno de los hechos inseparables del arte moderno ha sido la búsqueda de sus valores en otros lugares, ya sean espaciales, geográficos, míticos o temporales. Todo viaje, toda partida implica una acción vital y una experiencia cognoscitiva. En este sentido, no es extraño que desde siempre forme parte del bagaje de los artistas. Así, en el siglo XIX el viaje a Italia con carácter formativo era para los artistas europeos una cita obligada. Más tarde, la fascinación por Oriente supuso la atracción por el exotismo. A menudo, el viaje hacia otros territorios se convierte en un viaje hacia el propio interior. El viaje puede ser un recorrido en solitario como via de autoconocimiento (Richard Long, Ulay/Abramovic); puede ser un estímulo, una provocación, una regeneración o el deseo de integrarse en un lugar diferente (Andreas Gursky, Beat Streuli); puede ser el detonante para perseguir ideas o proyectos que parecen imposibles (Joost Conijn, Simon Starling) o puede ser el definidor de una nueva clase social de nómadas o pasajeros en tránsito constante que ponen de manifiesto una implicación con el tejido social (como es el caso de la mayoría de artistas contemporáneos, cuyo estudio se sitúa en este ir y venir entre diferentes ciudades, países, proyectos y situaciones).

I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time

(“Changes”, David Bowie)

El viaje también puede referirse al fín de una etapa y al inicio de otra, a la experiencia vital de un final que conlleva un nuevo principio. Para los artistas, el paso por la Academia supone un período de formación, de discusión y de compartir con los compañeros momentos privilegiados y ajenos al rendimiento que más adelante la sociedad exige a sus miembros („Et in Arcadia Ego“, como lo definía con gran nostalgia Evelyn Waugh en Brideshead Revisited). El paso por la Academia y el fín de esta etapa supone también un momento de interrogación, quizás no tanto sobre uno mismo (no estamos hablando de estudiantes adolescentes) pero sí en relación al rol que como artistas deben asumir y a su posicionamiento en relación a la sociedad. El paso por la Academia podría encajar en la definición que el antropólogo holandés Arnold van Gennep da en su libro The Rites of Passage (1908), en el que examinó lo que él denominaba „crisis vitales“ y las ceremonias (o mejor fases) que las acompañan: separación, transición e incorporación. En la fase de transición, en la que el individuo no acaba de estar dentro ni fuera de la sociedad, van Gennep habla de estar en el „umbral“, y nosotros añadimos, en un momento de cambio, de indefinición, de cuestionamiento y de toma de posición personal y profesional.

Tine O. Jensen, Rikke Winther, Line S. Mengers, Kristian V. Svensson, Karen Petersen, Jesper Carlsen y Anders V. Hansen, los siete artistas participantes en la exposición Afgang06, se encuentran en ese “umbral” de interrogación y de toma de posición. The common denominator that unites these artists is that (apart from having done their education in the same art academy, Det fynskekunstakademi) from May onwards they will share the experience of leaving (the academy) and in a broader sense, the idea of departure. The spirit of the exhibition is summarized with the quotation of the beginning of the book of Jack Kerouac, On the road: „The biggest trip of my life was just going to start“ “: to accomplish a period of education, of training and starting a new period, which implies a decisive moment, a moment of looking for a place –a space of one’s own from which to take part in a given reality- and also a place in the art world and in society. It is also a moment of interrogation: how is the art world? What are the function of art and the role of the artists? Which is the social status of artists? Can art fulfill a social function?

Durante el proceso de preparación de Afgang06, los artistas no sólo han desarrollado sus trabajos individuales, sino que han discutido colectivamente todos estos temas personalmente y también a través de un foro en Internet, de manera que no sólo han ido articulando sus proyectos, sino que también han podido compartir e intercambiar con sus compañeros todas sus dudas e inquietudes. En las intervenciones que los siete artistas han ido realizando en el forum, han expresado sus ideas en relación al arte, a su papel como artistas, a sus proyectos personales, así como su preocupación en relación a algunos hechos que ocurrían a su alrededor y que han conmovido al mundo (como las reacciones de algunos sectores musulmanes ante las viñetas sobre Mahoma publicadas en el periódico danés Jyllands-Posten. Estas son solo algunas de las discusiones o intercambio de opiniones que han ido manteniendo durante todo el proceso de preparación de Afgang06 y que se han vertido en el forum: así, la situación de impasse que supone dejar la Academia, la resumía una de las artistas con la siguiente metáfora: „Maybe I’m more for going into something new than going away… but well, if you go out of a room you automatically enter a new one“. Los siete artistas participantes en Afgang06 entienden su rol desde el compromiso con la sociedad (“the role of the artist is a way to help people think in the real world. My objective is pretty simple I am trying to raise the level of consciousness in relation to esthetic consummation. I think good art can have the ability not only to raise questions about it self, but raise questions about the way we see the world. I see an artist’s practice as research, not only researching the subject matter, but also the surrounding phenomenon including ones own subject”). En consecuencia, para ellos la práctica artística es una forma de comunicación. Tal como lo expresaba otra de las artistas, “it´s a field where you can talk about things in a way that´s impossible with just words. The relation between society and art is very important. To be aware of what is going on around you. Then it might be possible to somehow add something that is «missing» in the world. I guess that´s what art is about” / “art has a social value and that it can fulfill this function. -it quickly becomes a discussion of inside/outside the institution, in my head it does, because clearly as an artist you talk to a small audience, but then you break that barrier when you interact directly with some from outside this circle, and then there are art in the public sphere which can be problematic. But sure, art has a social value when artists are somehow conscious of the choices she/he makes and consider the context”.

“Art is a way of thinking about the world, art questions society,
art challenges passivity and stimulates action” (Manifest Blue Dogma)

Hace mucho tiempo que los artistas no viven ajenos al mundo y aislados en sus estudios. Todo lo que ocurre a su alrededor les concierne, les afecta y les preocupa. En el año 1980 la UNESCO subrayaba la importancia del papel que los artistas desempeñan en la sociedad. En la actualidad, muchas prácticas artísticas contemporáneas trabajan con la realidad, se insieren en otros contextos y utilizan otras estrategias, mecanismos, dispositivos de producción y comunicación diferentes de los tradicionalmente artísticos. Sus trabajos abordan temas y situaciones que tienen una incidencia directa en la sociedad, tematizan, comentan y cuestionan, establecen modelos y prototipos, situaciones paralelas o tests sociales y económicos a pequeña escala, otorgan visibilidad a ciertas dinámicas, evidencian mecanismos, muestran contradicciones y, en consecuencia, cuestionan –o nos invitan a cuestionar- nuestro presente y nuestra relación con él.

Aunque sus intereses y sus trabajos son muy diversos, esta posición de compromiso es compartida por los siete artistas que exponen en Afgang06. Así, one of the main concerns of Tine O. Jensen’s work is the femenine identity. Su vídeo más reciente aparece poblado de imágenes y situaciones (un barco, una isla, una madre, su hijo) cargadas de significado y simbolismo. Las pinturas y dibujos de Rikke Winther deal with an inner world full of imagination and psychological depth. Line S. Mengers’ work deals with social structures. She uses a wide range of media (sound, video, questionnaires, among others) in order to relate to specific contexts. In light of the graduation exhibition, Line Mengers has developed a project about the relative (economic) value of art in society. In order to settle her studio after leaving the Academy, she has exchanged drawings for elements such as a desk, a computer chair, etc.). Kristian V. Svensson también utiliza diferentes medios (como el video o la performance) para desarrollar unos proyectos que utilizan la esfera pública como lugar de intervención. Utilizando aviones, Svensson realiza “pinturas” en las que el transeunte se incorpora, a menudo sin ser consciente. Las instalaciones, y sobretodo el sonido son el material de trabajo primordial de Karen Petersen, para hacernos replantear nuestros puntos de vista sobre las cosas. Jesper Carlsen muestra una naturaleza que responde a una meticulosa construcción. En las proyecciones, animaciones o mecanismos construidos de Carlsen, naturaleza y artificio se unen para evidenciar las contradicciones y la complejidad de significados de las cosas. Anders V. Hansen también trabaja en relación a la esfera pública. Para Afgang06, Hansen crea un videojuego que, reproduciendo la apariencia de un videojuego convencional, incorpora pequeños desplazamientos o “diferencias” que contribuyen a su cuestionamiento.

Esta es una aproximación muy breve a los sistemas de trabajo y los artistas que forman parte de esta exposición, Afgang06. Para estos siete artistas, Afgang06 supone un verdadero departure o cambio hacia una nueva situación en la que termina una etapa de formación y se inicia otra en la que deben asumir un rol activo como artistas. Y si al principio citábamos a Kerouac, nos parece relevante terminar con la letra de una canción de Björk que abre nuevas puertas y nuevas situaciones:
«Unthinkable surprises about to happen»
(Björk)

„The biggest trip of my life was just going to start“
(Jack Kerouac)

Leaving a stage behind and starting another one. Facing something different. Living a process of initiation, of transformation. Sometimes it is about changes of great importance. In other occasions it is only about small living adjustments. All these changes and evolutions shape our life. Every change, or more precisely, every need for a change means a way of discontentment. Like in every creative task, we rethink the world and our relation to it because there is something, which irritates us, bothers us and consequently, we want to modify. Sometimes, the change is a journey, which becomes a metaphor of a research, an escape or a rediscovery of the self. This is a leitmotiv, which repeats in cinema, in art, in music and in literature. Not by coincidence, this is the point of departure of most of the road movies, in which the voyage becomes a metaphor of the transition to a stage of maturity, of the research for the unexpected, or perhaps of escaping from something. Thus, for Jack Kerouac and the beat generation, the travel meant the search for answers to the act of living, and at the same time, a way to run away from responsibilities…

„There is no place I’d rather be than this journey of discovery“
(Jamiroquai)

The voyage, in a physical and metaphorical sense, is an essential trait of the creative practice. One of the landmarks of modern art has been the search for its values in other places, which may be spatial, geographical, mythical or temporal. Every departure implies an experience in terms of life and knowledge. This is an essential part of “artists’ baggage”. In the 19th century, the educational trip to Italy was a must for European artists. In the same period, the fascination to Orient meant the attraction for the exotic. Very often, to travel to other lands becomes a journey to the inner self. The voyage can be a lonely trip as a form of self-knowledge (Richard Long, Ulay/Abramovic); it can be an encouragement, a provocation, a regeneration or the wish to be integrated in a different place (Andreas Gursky, Beat Streuli); it can be the “detonating” to follow up ideas or projects, which seem impossible (Joost Conijn, Simon Starling) or it can contribute to define a new social class of nomads, artists as passengers in transit, who live and approach his or her projects in this moving “in between” different places, different societies, different situations and different commitments.

I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time

(“Changes”, David Bowie)

The voyage can also refer to the end of a stage and the beginning of another one. For artists, the time in the Art Academy means a period of education, discussion and sharing with the other pupil privileged moments out of the efficiency that society claims to its members („Et in Arcadia Ego“, called Evelyn Waugh this time with big nostalgia in his novel Brideshead Revisited). The ending of the time in the Art Academy is also a moment of interrogation –not so much about oneself (we are not talking about teenager students) but about the artist’s role and their position in relation to society. This time in the Academy could be defined with the words of the Dutch anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in his book The Rites of Passage (1908), in which he examined what he called “life crises” and the ceremonies (or better, phases) that accompanied them: separation, transition and incorporation. In the transitional phase when the individual is neither in nor out of society, he or she exists in what van Gennep called a “liminal” state, in the threshold. And we can add, in a moment of change, of in-definition, of questioning and taking position both in personal and professional level.

Jesper Carlsen, Anders V. Hansen, Tine O. Jensen, Line S. Mengers, Karen Petersen, Kristian V. Svensson and Rikke Winther, the seven artists participating in the exhibition Afgang’06, are in this “threshold” of interrogation and taking position. The common denominator that unites these artists is that (apart from having done their education in the same art academy, Det fynskekunstakademi) from May onwards they will share the experience of leaving (the Academy) and in a broader sense, the idea of departure. „The biggest trip of my life was just going to start”, a quotation taken from the book of Jack Kerouac, On the road, summarizes the spirit of the exhibition, which is about accomplishing a period of education, of training and starting a new period, which implies a decisive moment of looking for a place –a space of one’s own from which to take part in a given reality- and also a place in the art world and in society. It is also a moment of interrogation: how is the art world? What are the function of art and the role of the artists? Which is the social status of artists? Can art fulfil a social function?

During the process of preparation of Afgang’06, artists not only have developed their individual works, but also they have discussed all these issues in a forum in Internet, where they have expressed their ideas in relation to art, their role as artists, their individual artistic projects as well as their worries in relation to some situations happening around them (like the controversy in relation to the 12 Muhammad cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten). The following are just some of the points of view that have been included in the forum. Thus, the situation of impasse by leaving the Academy was summarized by one of the artist with the following metaphor: „Maybe I’m more for going into something new than going away… but well, if you go out of a room you automatically enter a new one“. The seven artists participating in Afgang’06 understand their role through the engagement with society (“the role of the artist is a way to help people think in the real world. My objective is pretty simple I am trying to raise the level of consciousness in relation to aesthetic consummation. I think good art can have the ability not only to raise questions about it self, but raise questions about the way we see the world. I see an artist’s practice as research, not only researching the subject matter, but also the surrounding phenomenon including ones own subject”). As a consequence, for most of them artistic practice is a way of communication. This is the way it was expressed by another artist: “it is a field where you can talk about things in a way that is impossible with just words. The relation between society and art is very important. To be aware of what is going on around you. Then it might be possible to somehow add something that is «missing» in the world. I guess that is what art is about”.

“Art is a way of thinking about the world, art questions society,
art challenges passivity and stimulates action” (Manifest Blue Dogma)

Since a long time, artists don’t live out of the world and isolated in their studios. They are concerned, affected and worried about everything that happens around. In 1980, the UNESCO emphasized the importance of the role of artists in society. Nowadays, many artistic practices deal with reality, they are involved in other contexts and use other strategies, mechanisms, production and communication means different from the ones traditionally artistic. Their works deal with issues and situations, which have a direct impact in society, they comment and question, establish models and prototypes, parallel situations or social and economic tests in small scale. They give visibility to certain dynamics, evidence some mechanisms, show contradictions and, as a consequence, question –or invite us to question- our present and our relation to it.

Although their interests and works are very diverse, the seven artists who exhibit in Afgang’06 share a committed attitude.

Jesper Carlsen presents a nature, which responds to a meticulous construction. In his projects, animations or mechanisms constructed by Carlsen, nature and artifice come together in order to show the contradictions and the complexity of meanings. In Afgang’06, Carlsen projects an animation, which with acid humour shows a fly deeply attracted by a Dan Flavin light.

Anders V. Hansen takes the political Danish context, and more specifically, the minister of culture Brian Mikkelsen, as a departure for his work. Hansen creates a sound sampling with some of Mikkelsen’ statements about a canon for Danish culture. The ideas of Mikkelsen are sampled and projected randomly by a computer programme. By doing so, Hansen wants to dissolve the mechanisms of this canon and at the same time makes evident how Mikkelsen’s discourse depends on “common places”, and its apparent “innocence” hides an implacable intention of segregation.

One of the main concerns of Tine O. Jensen’s work is the feminine identity. The video she presents on this occasion works with two images full of meaning and symbolism: a horse and a woman. The moments before a race begins, with two female riders, as a concurrent, are shown in detailed close up and making evident a constructed set up in order to reflect all its symbolism and connotations.

Line S. Mengers’ work deals with social structures. She uses a wide range of media (sound, video or questionnaires, among others) in order to relate to specific contexts. In light of the graduation exhibition, Line Mengers has exchanged her drawings for elements required to settle her studio after leaving the Academy, such as a desk, a computer chair, etc. With this non-commercial way of trading, Mengers’ project reflects on the relativity of the economic value of art in society.

Installations and, more specifically, sound are the main working material for Karen Petersen, to let us rethink our approach to things. The work Petersen presents in this exhibition deals with communication. Therefore, Petersen installs a telephone on a plinth. The artists herself is phoning everyday and talks to the person on the audience who picks up the telephone. Thus a direct communication is established between artist and public, a direct communication based not only in the exchange of general information, but which goes in an intimate level, through the direct communication of personal experiences.

Kristian V. Svensson also uses different mean (like video, installation or performance) to develop projects which use public sphere as a place of intervention. For Afgang’06, Svensson has created an “Art Dating Room”, anounced in Internet and newspapers. This art dating room consists on a space with a telephone, which offers the viewer the possibility to stablish personal contacts.

Rikke Winther’s paintings and drawings deal with an inner world full of imagination and psychological connotations. The drawings and texts that compose Winther’s project for Afgang’06 shape a kind of emotional landscape related to feelings, personal emotions and romance.

This is a brief approach to the works and artists that take part in Afgang’06. For these seven artists, this exhibition is a real departure towards a new situation in which an educational stage comes to an end and another one, which demands a clear position as artists, starts. The transition is for them not only personal but also a matter of commitment. They work with specific contexts and with many different media in order to rethink our present, with all its paradoxes and contradictions. Probably the awareness of being in a transitional moment is part of their role as artists. Because only by looking at things with new eyes, they can renew perception and stimulate new ways of thinking. In this sense we referred to “the biggest trip” of Kerouac. Thus, to quote Björk seems relevant to finish this text just where a new beginning starts for Anders, Jesper, Karen, Kristian, Line, Rikke and Tine:

«Unthinkable surprises about to happen»
(Björk)

Montse Badia