Inspired by texts from Jorge Luis BorgesThe exhibition “Brief history of eternity” at the Recoleta Cultural Center, allows us to once again go through a space with a long history of good projects, which constituted a ground of consecration for artists. We are talking about the Cronopios room and its adjacent rooms J and C, which at the request of the curator, daniel fisherwere modified to free up a service center that would collaborate with the curatorial essay.
The sample hosts more than 40 artists of different trajectories and poetics, which address the issue of time from their own perspectives. Fifteen specific projects are distributed in the rooms, to which are added twenty emblematic works, donated by important collectors such as José Luis Lorenzo and Gustavo Vidal, the Oda Gallery and others.
Philosophical
Addressing a subject as complex as time, defined by Hegel as the mere form of intuited becoming, and playing with the concepts of brevity and eternity present in the title; From the beginning, it points to a search that goes through the gaze of the curator. In the introductory text, Daniel Fisher declares that “A Brief History of Eternity”“is a political poetic exhibition that addresses the idea of permanent ‘fullness’ in the face of the continuous and unfinished ideals of a society that sometimes expresses itself as tyrannical, intolerant and oppressive”.
If we consider eternity as a concept with more possibilities to define than to experience, any show that explores the theme requires an attentive spectator. There are some obvious winks, because it is a theme present in writers like Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar. Time is defined as simultaneous and expanding and also stressed by splendors and declines.
The list of artists is long. As soon as you enter, it is possible to visualize techniques such as photography or embroidery, in the work of artists such as Chiachio & Giannone or in the iconic photograph of Alejandro Kuropatwa, where it is evident that the continuity of life depends on a medication that stops AIDS .
The large facilities room, below, promotes a counterpoint of visual or visitor-activated experiences. A golden mantle of handmade paper over which smoke billows in “Not Too Far” by matilde marin, is a sign by the artist to talk about what vanishes in the fire. This installation dialogues with “Tension test”, a work by Luciana Lamothebuilt by walkable tubular structures that looks solid, but when walking forces the body to find stability.
A semicircular wall houses the enormous openwork “Tapestry of Eternal Attributions” by Paul Lehman, in collaboration with Jéssica Sandoval, made on a material that resists better than the paper she normally uses and providing a frame that forces her to go to the sides, where two large spaces stand out. One is “Archaeology of my body” by Nushi Muntaabski, which deconstructs a female body into huge blocks covered with tesserae. Another is a large, barely lit void, which reveals one of those pieces of furniture enclosed by iron harnesses by Eugenia Calvo, in the installation “Fortuna material” which, in the semi-darkness, is perceived as a dreamlike image.
Two spaces are opposed. One is interior and delimited by a circular segment that contains the video installation by Gabriela Golder, “Rebelliones”. There, the gesture and the movements are limited to barely perceptible changes. This work is contrasted with a complete circle, outside the projections, where Catalina León proposes “What can we build together? Rain, unpredictive astrology”. It is a floor worked with the idea of prediction, central to the use of horoscopes and runes, which enables a playful game for visitors, forced to read with their heads bowed as they move. As a frame, hanging on the wall, the piece “Circa” by Gabriel Valansi, a work made up of 102 disused computer motherboards, conveys a harsh and gray geography, without hints of human life.
all works
Two installations by Ana Gallardo describe the methods used to abort such as parsley and knitting needles in “Disposable material”. From Pablo Peisino, “Darth Vader from the Fan boys series”, it is a replica made of fleece fabric, with appliqués and visible seams, which fits into a hole, emptying the deadly and vengeful power of the Star Wars character. The series “The flowers are to blame”, with the threading of colored beads by Román Vitali, is associated with the “Feather Collection” by Sara Goldman, made with accessories and jewelry made from old feathers and metal nibs. The transience of the splendor of youth dwells in the photo “Ken Moody” by Robert Mapplethorpe and in one of Nan Goldin’s series “Valerie in the taxi, Paris”, an artist who for a long period documented his daily life full of fleeting moments and endless. The body and its appearances are revisited in Nicola Constantino and her “Dangerous Beauty” from the Peletería series, who together with “Soccer ball with male nipples” and “Covered male nipples” have a space in the show. Also curious is the photograph taken in the seventies by Leandro Katz, “Lola Pashalinski and Bob Sargent. Charles Ludlam´s ‘The Grand Tarot’, the Gothan Theatre”, or the video by Graciela Taquini “El mundo de”. And also one of Grete Stern’s emblematic collages, “Dream No. 11. A dream of danger”. A theme that also includes the two photographs by Asseff Ananké, “Antonella I and II”.
The landscape and the ways of representing it, both urban and open in nature, have interesting flashes in the photos of Hiroshi Sugimoto, or in Paula Toto Blake and “Crossings in the Río de La Plata”. But it expands in the great installation of Santiago Viale, “The furthest land”, a project that allows you to activate it to see it in motion. It contrasts with Andrea Alkalay’s photographic installation, which describes a counterpoint between the fixed and the mobile in a post-human landscape.
With a more political signal, time is the urban memory of a fight in the photo of Adriana Lestido, or the fleeting pirouettes of some wind-up dolls by Liliana Porter. Time is also extinguished, with the implosion of the Kodak film factory, which preserves the moment over and over again in Matilde Marín. It is about discovering a multiple plot of meanings and experiences that integrate the visitor into a game of experience and reflection.
Pilar Altilio
by Pilar Altilio
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