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Articles Tal Vez no Sepa Vd. que Yo También Pinto. Arnold Schönberg.
Carlos Velilla -.…….……………………..…...…………………..…..…...... 235
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Jaume Geli 1
To cite this article: Geli, J. (2018). L’Arbre Caigut, 2018. 2018. Barcelona,
Research, Art, Creation, 6(3), pp. 231-234. doi: 10.17583/brac.2018.3625
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Una bèstia de banyes damunt el tronc tombat rosega amb ganes la pell del pruner.
Senyals de serra; ferides de guerra; branques trencades, històries callades.
El cos de fusta es juga la vida en el zoòtrop de nits i dies. L’ànima, corcada; la
força, minvada; l’interior, habitat; el cor, foradat. Els genolls, amorrats a terra; les
espatlles, ancorades a l’aire; els braços, forques al fang.
Jeu, torçat en un llarg gest congelat. Els dies il·luminen la feina accelerada de les
nits. El sol es menja l’escorça; bilis sobre les darreres branques. El so pulsatiu
fa una pausa vegetal. L’arbre es deixa estimar per la terra. La bèstia de banyes
rosega, encara. Així és la mort.
Jaume Geli
L’arbre caigut
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Carlos Velilla1
To cite this article: Velilla, C. (2018). Tal vez no sepa Vd. que yo también
pinto. Arnold Schönberg. Barcelona, Research, Art, Creation, 6(3) 235-270.
doi: 10.17583/brac.2018.3364
The terms and conditions of use are related to the Open Journal System and
to Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY).
238
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Carlos
Creation. Vol.– 6Arnold
Velilla Schönberg.
No. 3, October
2018, pp. 235-270
Resumen
Este artículo hace referencia al trabajo de Arnold Schönberg1 (1874-1951)
como pintor, faceta poco conocida, pero si difundida a través de excelentes
exposiciones, tanto en vida como póstumamente. La última Arnold
Schönberg. Peintre l’âme en el museo MahJ de París en 2016. En Barcelona
se pudo visitar en 1992 Arnold Schönberg Pintures i dibuixos, exposición
que venía de Viena, Colonia, Manchester, Berlín y Milán. Schönberg
contesta a la primera carta de Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) para decirle
que también era pintor y que quería hablar de arte con él. Con especial
interés se tratan las relaciones que se establecen en su vida: pintura y
música, idea y estilo, arte y vida, tonalidad y atonalidad, lo establecido y lo
nuevo. Las dudas ante unos años dolorosos por el derrumbamiento del
Imperio y la aparente paz. El dolor en las vanguardias de este principio de
siglo XX. La importancia de los encuentros y la extensa correspondencia
con Kandinsky y otros artistas. La búsqueda del arte total. La relación entre
el libro de Kandinsky De lo espiritual en el arte (1912) y el que publica al
mismo tiempo Schönberg, su Tratado de la armonía (1911). A pesar de las
diferencias conceptuales ambos van hacia una misma intención, la creación
desde el interior del individuo. Nacen al mismo tiempo la música atonal y el
arte abstracto. Se aborda a Schönberg como músico, pedagogo, escritor,
inventor, escenógrafo, diseñador y pintor.
Palabras clave: Arnold Schönberg, música, arte, dodecafónica, atonal,
pintura, expresionismo, Kandinsky
E
l 2 de enero de 1911, se celebra en el Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten de
Múnich un concierto del músico austriaco Arnold Schönberg
(véase Imagen 1) y asisten entre el público un grupo de cinco
amigos pintores: Franz Marc que es quien compra las entradas,
Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter, excelente pintora y compañera de
Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, pintor ruso de origen aristocrático que
fue a Múnich para conocer a Kandinsky y su novia Marienne von Werefkin,
también rusa. Todos ellos serán componentes del grupo Der Blaue Reiter,
que pocos meses después crearán Marc y Kandinsky. Tras el concierto los
cinco amigos se van a tomar unas copas y hablan de lo que han escuchado
conmocionados. Conocían la música de Schönberg y habían leído Los
Aforismos publicados en la revista Die Musik a principios de octubre de
1910. Dice en el primero de los aforismos:
Imagen 2. Kandinsky. 1911. 1º boceto para Impresión III (Concierto). Lápiz sobre
papel. 10 x 14, 9 cm, Centro Pompidou.
242 Carlos Velilla – Arnold Schönberg.
Imagen 3. Kandinsky. 1911. 2º boceto para Impresión III. Lápiz sobre papel.
10 x 14, 8 cm, Centro Pompidou, Paris.
Estimado profesor
Disculpe que me dirija a Vd. De este modo tan simple y directo, a
pesar de no tener el placer de conocerle personalmente. Acabo de
escuchar su concierto y me he colmado de una profunda y auténtica
alegría. Vd., naturalmente no me conoce a mí, es decir, mis trabajos,
ya que no expongo mucho y solo expuse una vez brevemente en
Viena, ya hace años (Secesión). Sin embargo, encuentro tantas
coincidencias en nuestros afanes, en nuestros pensamientos y
sentimientos, que me siento con derecho a expresar mi simpatía.
En sus obras ha hecho Vd. realidad aquello que yo, de forma incierta
desde luego, he estado buscando en la música con tanto anhelo. Ese
caminar independiente de los propios destinos, de la vida propia de las
246 Carlos Velilla – Arnold Schönberg.
A mis obras les está vetado, de momento, ganarse a las masas. Pero
con más certeza conquistan al individuo. Y me colma de dicha ver,
que es un artista que crea en otra parcela del arte, quién encuentra
relación conmigo. Seguro que entre los mejores de los que hoy en día
se afanan en sus trabajos, existen relaciones y similitudes
desconocidas, que no son casuales.
(…) Lo entiendo perfectamente y estoy seguro de que coincidimos en
ello. Y, además, en lo fundamental. En lo que Vd. llama lo “ilógico” y
yo denomino la “eliminación de la voluntad consciente en el arte”.
(…) el arte pertenece al inconsciente, ¿Uno debe expresarse! ¿Hay
que expresarse directamente! Nunca expresar sus gustos o su
educación o su inteligencia, sus conocimientos y su saber hacer.
Jamás estas atribuciones adquiridas.
(…) Ya le dije que la carpeta me ha gustado mucho. Lo que de
momento entiendo menos son las fotografías. Habría que verlo en
color. Por eso me resisto yo a enviarle fotos de mis cuadros. Tal vez
no sepa Vd. que yo también pinto. Pero para mí tiene tanta
importancia el color (no el color “bonito”, sino el expresivo, expresivo
en su armonía), que temo me quede incomprendido al ver las
reproducciones. Mis amigos creen en ello, pero yo me siento inseguro.
Sólo si le interesa mucho le mandaría algunas cosas. Aun siendo mi
pintura muy distinta, estoy seguro de que Vd. lograría encontrar en
ella coincidencias. (Schönberg y Kandinsky, 1987, pp. 19-20)
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 247
Primera Exposición
(…) Usted sabe que pinto. Pero usted no sabe que mis trabajos han
sido alabados por expertos. Expondré también el próximo año. Y aquí
es donde pienso que quizá pudiera usted inducir a mecenas conocidos
suyos a comprarme cuadros o a hacerse retratar por mí. Con gusto
estoy dispuesto a hacerle a usted un retrato de prueba. Lo pintaría a
usted de balde, si me asegura que entonces me proporcionará
encargos. (Schönberg, 1987, pp. 25-26).
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 249
No tiene éxito con la propuesta, pero tal como le había indicado no tarda
ni un año en exponer. El 19 de octubre de 1910 presenta 47 piezas entre
óleos, dibujos y acuarelas en la Galería Heller, galería de gran reputación
entre la vanguardia vienesa. La exposición fue un auténtico fracaso, incluso
sus amigos se sorprendieron de que expusiera sus pinturas, pues pensaban
que eran trabajos de un amateur. Circulaba por Viena la frase “La música de
Schönberg y sus pinturas golpean los oídos y los ojos al mismo tiempo.”
Cuando Schönberg asegura que es pintor no hace mucho que se dedica
intensamente a la pintura. Su primer cuadro es de 1906, pinturas de
aprendizaje y dibujos para entender la forma. Más adelante los retratos que
pinta de su familia obtienen una consistencia mayor, pero todavía no es él.
Conservan cierta influencia de Richard Gerstl, aunque le hacen avanzar en el
conocimiento de la proporción y del color. Es un momento de decisión entre
dedicarse a la pintura o a la música. No pasan muchos años hasta que se da
cuenta de por qué medio necesita “hablar” y se decide por la música y
abandona prácticamente la pintura, aunque nunca del todo. Es conocida esta
cita de Schönberg:
Imagen 9. Schönberg. 1906-1907. Jardín. Óleo sobre cartón. 71,6 x 49,8 cm,
Archivo Arnold Schönberg Center, Viena.
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 253
Imagen 12. Foto anónima. 1910. Alban Berg en Viena 1910. Arnold
Schönberg Center. Viena.
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 255
Imagen 18. Schönberg. 1910. Autorretrato. 23,2 x 18,6 cm, Arnold Schönberg
Center. Viena.
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 261
Imagen 19. Vista de una de las salas de la exposición Der Blaue Reiter. Munich,
Galería ThannhauserSe. Diciembre de 1911. Se puede ver el Autorretrato de
espaldas de Schönberg. Fotografía de Gabriele Münter. Archivo Arnold Schönberg
Center. Viena.
Imagen 20. Schönberg. 1911. Autorretrato. Lápiz sobre papel 39,3 x 31,8 cm.
Archivo Arnold Schönberg Center, Viena.
Imagen 21. Schönberg. 1911. Autorretrato de espaldas, paseando. Óleo sobre
cartón. 49 x 44,9 cm. Archivo Arnold Schönberg Center. Viena.
parecía tan bello como si lo viera por primera vez. Todo lo que veía
me daba la agradable impresión de cordialidad, bondad y juventud.
Olvidé con rapidez que arriba en mi cuarto había estado hacía un
momento incubando, sombrío, sobre una hoja de papel en blanco.
Toda la tristeza, todo el dolor y todos los graves pensamientos se
habían esfumado, aunque aún sentía vivamente delante y detrás de mí
el eco de una cierta seriedad. Esperaba con alegre emoción todo lo que
pudiera encontrarme o salirme al paso durante el paseo. Mis pasos
eran medidos y tranquilos, y, por lo que sé, mostraba al caminar un
semblante bastante digno. (Walser, 1996, pp. 9-10)
Imagen 23. Schönberg. 1910. Mirada. (Mirada roja). Óleo sobre cartón de embalaje. 32,2 x
24,6 cm. Archivo Arnold Schönberg Center, Viena.
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 265
Imagen 24. Schönberg. 1910. Lágrimas. Óleo sobre tela. 29,3 x 23,4 cm.
Archivo Arnold Schönberg Center, Viena.
Imagen 28. Dos de las barajas diseñadas por Schönberg. Archivo Arnold Schönber
Center.
Última Entrevista
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274
BRAC -Puig & Ornelas–
Barcelona Indisciplinariedad
Research Art Creation.enVol.
el arte contemporáneo
6 No. 3, October
2018, pp. 271-295
Abstract
Errors, noise, accidents, interruptions, saturation, chaos, disorder are often
related to the results of questioning, just as they are difficult words that we
quickly identify as pejorative, which we do not understand or expect, what
we despise. Many artists refer to the world as human excretion, virus, vomit,
sterile, within the limits of institutional and governmental power. This
article aims to approach some artistic practices that have, under a
perspective of questioning the status quo of the system, dealt with the
multiform of what we have often called error.
Keywords: error, noise, serendipity, resignification, interference,
randomness, negation
Resumen
Los errores, el ruido, los accidentes, las interrupciones, la saturación, el
caos, el desorden son a menudo relacionados con los resultados de
interrogantes, de la misma manera son palabras difíciles que rápidamente
identificamos insertadas hacia a lo peyorativo, lo que no entendemos ni
esperamos, lo que despreciamos porque nos es ajeno. Muchos artistas nos
referencian el mundo como excrecencia humana, virus, vómito, estéril, en
los límites del poder institucional y gubernamental. Este artículo pretende
ser una aproximación a algunas prácticas artísticas que han abordado, bajo
una perspectiva de cuestionamiento del status quo del sistema, lo
multiforme de aquello que a menudo hemos llamado error.
Palabras clave: error, ruido, serendipia, resignificación, interferencia, azar,
negación
provocada. Algo que genera una tensión que eleva el objeto artístico a una
suspensión movediza y desnaturaliza la negación. Aceptar y convertir lo
adverso en potencia creadora y en metodología activa (como en el caso
paradigmático presente en el corpus de la obra de Fischli & Weiss).
Esto nos sirve para balizar un territorio en el cual un conjunto de
metodologías y prácticas artísticas logran establecer una contra-negación a
partir de los fenómenos de ruido, saturación, desorden, caos, error aleatorio
y lo accidental. Lo desechable o indeseable (incluso lo políticamente
incorrecto) se vuelve la piel renovada de propuestas que reaccionan al
desprecio por el error y reanudan vínculos insospechados.
Errare humanum es una expresión que no hace más que sumarse al
argumentario de nuestro vínculo natural con el error. Literalmente significa
"Errar es humano" usada por considerar que el equivocarse es intrínseco a la
naturaleza humana, por lo que hay que aceptar los errores, y aprender de
ellos para evitar que se repitan. La frase ha entrado en el lenguaje común,
como aforismo con el que se busca mitigar un fallo, siempre que sea
esporádico y no se repita. La expresión latina completa es: errare humanum
est, sed perseverare diabolicum; que traducida literalmente significa: "errar
es humano, pero perseverar (en el error) es diabólico."
“Fail again, fail better” propone precisamente aceptar el cambio y el error
como el principio de inevitabilidad de la naturaleza humana. Errare
humanum est pero también Errare machina est. Los sistemas informáticos
están organizados para eliminar el error pese a que la programación no es
infalible y los hackers bien lo saben que las brechas existen y qué hacer con
ellas. Como las brechas en los discursos (Roland Barthes o Umberto Eco y
otros autores más recientes han sabido identificar) el lenguaje es también un
virus (como lo entendía William Burroughs), una máquina procesual y
digerible y como tal sujeta a variables, alteraciones, cambios de percepción,
que han, a lo largo del siglo XX, atraído a artistas de variopinto origen.
También el cine ha buscado escenarios en las que el error de la máquina
supone un orden más allá de sus límites, hacia una máquina pensante.
Recordemos un diálogo de la película 2001. Odisea en el espacio de Stanley
Kubrick:
Resignificación
Imagen 1. John Hilliard. 1999. Off Screen (3), large study. Cibachrome on
museum board. 78 x 93cm. Recuperado desde
https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_460,h_360,c_fill,f_auto,fl_lossy/ws-
richardsaltoun/usr/images/exhibitions/group_images_override/36/hilliard2.jpg
Proceso
uso de captcha sirve a las compañías para poder identificar partes de las
imágenes borrosas e indefinidas que realizan las cámaras monitorizadas
usadas por ejemplo para GoogleMaps. De esta manera nos convertimos en
colaboradores sin sueldo de estas, cada vez más, poderosas compañías de la
virtualidad, empresas del abismo de la cerodimensionalidad.
Recordando a Antoni Muntadas en la entrevista del año 2012 de la mítica
y aún vigente serie de TVE, Metrópolis, nos explicaba de manera elocuente:
“Un proyecto define el medio que utiliza, nunca comienzo un proyecto
sabiendo el medio que utilizaré” (Muntadas, 2012). Anteponer la selección
de la tecnología a utilizar en un proyecto artístico parece no ser su método.
Estas palabras de Muntadas son realmente válidas para poder dar contexto al
mundo de las imágenes manipuladas. Conscientes pues de que las propuestas
artísticas conviven en una realidad de imágenes low-res, nos damos cuenta
de que este orden que marca el quehacer de Muntadas pierde su original
sentido, la producción de la imagen no es inocente. Por ello, ya nos es igual
iniciar un trabajo seleccionando su tecnología o no. La mayoría de las
tecnologías actuales determinan los discursos del arte. Podríamos afirmar
que el producto y la manera en que digerimos las imágenes está en continuo
movimiento y evolución.
Por último, podríamos decir que se trata de un planteamiento
suficientemente interesante como para animar una vez más el desarrollo del
arte a nuevas exploraciones, que no son simplemente técnicas, sino que
implican otra forma de entender la relación con la máquina desde un sentido
de originalidad, pedagogía e incluso espiritualidad.
Saturación
científicas empiezan a hacer tambalear los cimientos sobre los que la misma
ciencia se asentaba para controlar la realidad que rodea al hombre.
A principios del siglo XX la ciencia cuestionaba la causalidad
determinista con el azar del indeterminismo y el arte relativizaba la estética
académica utilizando "el anti-arte". La búsqueda del negativo del "anti" ha
llevado tanto al arte como a la ciencia actual a buscar registros de los estados
o procesos de lo que no es observable, como el inframince que Duchamp
definió como todo lo que no es medible y “escapa a nuestras definiciones
científicas” (Ramírez, 1993, p. 193).
En los tiempos que vivimos el método científico ya no nos resulta del
todo útil, nos ha resultado positivo cuando la realidad era fácilmente medible
con fórmulas matemáticas, pero si la complejidad aparece, o si no se nos
permite descomponerla para entenderla, o si no se nos presenta un modelo,
entonces no nos queda otro remedio que obviar los principios científicos y
aceptar la hipótesis, es decir, la comunicabilidad de complejidades
ininteligibles. Esta comunicabilidad la derivaremos por el canal del arte o, en
el caso extremo, utilizamos el conocimiento divino: “Sólo hay tres formas
fundamentales de Conocimiento: el científico, el artístico y el revelado.
Todo Conocimiento real es la superposición ponderada de las tres formas”
(Wagensberg, 1985, p. 163).
El posicionamiento del científico y filósofo Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003)
fue rompedor respecto a la tradición newtoniana y sus estudios como
precursor de las teorías del caos.
Imagen 7. Merzbow. 1996. Imagen de la cubierta del LP. Pulse Demon. Recuperada
desde https://www.discogs.com/es/Merzbow-Pulse-Demon/master/134227
No No No... (Conclusiones)
La patología de la comunicación no es sólo el hecho de la escritura.
También existe en la lengua hablada: tartamudeos, lapsus linguae,
296 Puig & Ornelas– Indisciplinariedad en el arte contemporáneo
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BRAC - Barcelona
300 Research
Isaac D. García Art Creation.aVol.
– Aproximación 6 No.de3,Llorenç
la obra OctoberBarber
2018,
pp. 296-321
Abstract
This article reflects on the nature of the creative act in relation to the everyday
world. In opposition to the formalist conception of the artistic work as an
autonomous object, during the 20th century various authors tried to spotlight
the dialectical relationship established between art and life. Particularly
important was John Cage, who started, from Dadaism, a profound
transformation in the field of experimental music. His thinking had a great
influence on several generations of musicians and sound artists. A case
particularly revealing is Llorenç Barber, interdisciplinary artist and composer.
Its proposals, which developed outside of the traditional concert rite, intend to
dilute the artistic work in its context. These are essentially shared listening
situations in everyday environments. From among its creations, the
‘plurifocal’ concerts for city stand out: gigantic compositions designed for
each urban layout, which acquire a dimension of art public. The objective of
the musician is to intervene artistically the common space to be returned to
the community in the form of collective celebration. Ultimately, through the
study of the work and thinking of Barber, this text aims to explore the
boundaries between music and life.
Keywords: soundscape, John Cage, Musical Graphism, Public Art, Llorenç
Barber
Resumen
El presente artículo reflexiona acerca de la naturaleza del acto creativo en
relación con el mundo cotidiano. Frente a la concepción formalista de la obra
artística como objeto autónomo, a lo largo del siglo XX diversos autores
trataron de poner en evidencia la relación dialéctica establecida entre arte y
vida. Especialmente relevante fue la figura de John Cage, quien, a partir del
Dadaísmo, inicia una profunda transformación en el ámbito de la música
experimental. Su pensamiento será enormemente influente en diversas
generaciones de músicos y artistas sonoros. Un caso sustancialmente
revelador es el del compositor y artista interdisciplinar Llorenç Barber. Sus
propuestas sonoras, que se desarrollan fuera del rito de concierto tradicional,
pretenden diluir la obra en su contexto. Son, en esencia, situaciones de
escucha compartida en espacios cotidianos. De entre sus creaciones, destacan
los conciertos “plurifocales” para ciudad, gigantescas composiciones
diseñadas para cada trazo urbano, que cobran una dimensión de arte público.
El objetivo del músico es intervenir artísticamente el espacio común para
devolverlo a la comunidad en forma de fiesta y celebración de lo colectivo.
En última instancia, a través del estudio de la obra y pensamiento de Barber,
este texto pretende explorar los supuestos límites entre música y vida.
Palabras clave: paisaje sonoro, John Cage, grafismo musical, arte público,
Llorenç Barber
Desde esta perspectiva, el arte se concibe como un orden utópico que nos
permite trascender nuestra realidad cotidiana. Como indicara Schloezer en su
intento por despojar a la música de su dimensión sentimental, “el compositor
produce en el tiempo una cosa que, por disponer de sentido, se vuelve
intemporal. Organizar musicalmente el tiempo significa trascenderlo”.
(Schloezer, 1961, p. 28) Este proceso de trascendencia provoca
inevitablemente la separación del objeto de su función cotidiana para
colocarlo en un plano ontológico distinto. En el caso de la música, el objeto
descontextualizado, despojado de materia, es el sonido. También la partitura,
como representación gráfica, sería un intento por concebir estructuras de
tiempo “fuera del tiempo”. Como acertadamente señala Miriam Arroyave
(2013),
El tiempo “aplanado” de la partitura es un tiempo objetivo e
independiente de cualquier situación subjetiva temporal, un tiempo
lineal, unidireccional y homogéneo. El tiempo-orden del escrito
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 303
Todo hecho sonoro puede ser considerado como una función lógica, en
el sentido de la teoría de conjuntos o de la lógica simbólica, del conjunto
de vectores del espacio vectorial (…) Así, una composición musical
puede ser vista, en primer lugar, como operaciones y relaciones
fundamentales, independientes del tiempo, es la llamada estructura
lógica o algebraica fuera del tiempo. (Xenakis, 1982, p. 28-29)
propio Barber: “(…) un día, buscando una salida de humos para mi estufa, me
topé con unas piezas metálicas en forma de ovni y con unas resonancias
maravillosamente parecidas a las de las campanas” (Barber, citado en López
Cano, 1997, p. 23). No se trataba estrictamente de campanas, sino de unas
estructuras en forma de plato invertido empleadas para construir bombonas de
gas. Resulta especialmente revelador que su interés por el sonido de la
campana se produzca a partir de un gesto tan cotidiano como hacer sonar un
objeto de nuestro entorno diario. Relata Barber (1997),
(…) aquellos hierros encontrados me sonaron a música celestial:
golpeando sus bordes mediante baquetas adecuadas, sonaban y
resonaban como campanas lejanas, de reloj, imponentes campanones
catedralicios, tibetanas, (…) Todo un mundo de ancestros sonoros se
hacía presente con sólo tratarlas adecuadamente. (…) Todo ello cambió
mi vida de músico, también mi concepto de composición-
interpretación-improvisación, relación con el espacio, con el público,
con los contextos connotativos del sonar. (Barber, 1997, p. 28)
con Cage es evidente. Del mismo modo que Cage va del happening al circo,
Barber va del evento a la fiesta. El propio Barber (1985) apunta acerca de las
obras para circo de Cage,
hasta el extremo del refinamiento fue en Bells and Boats, una música
acuática para enorme balsa y docenas de canoas, piraguas, botes y
318 Isaac D. García – Aproximación a la obra de Llorenç Barber
A Modo de Cierre
Referencias
Web:
https://universidadinternacionaldelarioja.academia.edu/IsaacDiegoGarc%C3
%ADa
http://brac.hipatiapress.com
Saioa Olmo1
The terms and conditions of use are related to the Open Journal System and
to Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY).
276 SaioaArt
BRAC - Barcelona Research Olmo – Transitions
Creation. in 3,
Vol. 6 No. participatory art.
October 2018,
pp. 322-349
TRANSART. Transactions,
Transferences and Transitions in
Participatory Art
Saioa Olmo.
Universidad del País Vasco. (Spain)
Abstract
This article centres on the exchange of necessities, projections, ways of
behaving and of establishing relations, of people involved in participatory art
projects and collective artistic practices. For that, we explore how these
exchanges happen, thinking about the transactions (from the point of view of
the Transactional Analysis), the transferences and counter transferences
(from Freudian Psychoanalysis), the concept of “habitus” (of Pierre
Bourdieu’s sociology) and the transitional phenomena (from Donald W.
Winnicott’s theory). We cross these concepts with the artistic fact and
specifically with ways of doing art usually appointed under labels such as
Participatory Art, Collaborative Art, Relational Art, Dialogical Art,
Community Art, Social Engaged Art, Artivism, New Genre Public Art and
Useful Art. We pay attention to artistic practices that specifically put the focus
of interest on exploring different possibilities of sociability that let people and
collectives make transitions (ideological, practical, emotional, material,
relational ones…) from one situation or position to another. We call
“Transart” to this kind of artistic practice that works under the idea that art is
a human creation that experiment with ways of exchange, that facilitate
transits and that can contribute to processes of transformation.
Keywords: participatory art, transactional analysis, transference, habitus,
transitional phenomena
TRANSARTE. Transacciones,
Transferencias y Transiciones en el
Arte Participativo
Saioa Olmo.
Universidad del País Vasco. (España)
Resumen
Este artículo se centra en el intercambio de necesidades, proyecciones,
maneras de actuar y de establecer relaciones, de las personas envueltas en
proyectos artísticos participativos y prácticas artísticas colectivas. Para ello
exploramos los modos en los que estos intercambios suceden, reflexionando
sobre las transacciones (desde el punto de vista del Análisis Transaccional de
Eric Berne), las transferencias y contratransferencias (desde el Psicoanálisis
freudiano), el concepto de “habitus” (de la Sociología de Pierre Bourdieu) y
los fenómenos transicionales (desde la teoría de Donald W. Winnicott).
Cruzamos estos discursos provenientes de la psicología y la sociología con el
hecho artístico, específicamente con prácticas artísticas que suelen designarse
bajo etiquetas tales como: Arte participativo, Arte colaborativo, Arte
relacional, Arte dialógico, Arte comunitario, Arte socialmente
comprometido, Artivismo Arte público de nuevo género, o Arte Útil.
Prestamos atención a prácticas artísticas que de manera específica ponen el
foco de interés en explorar las distintas posibilidades de sociabilidad que
permiten a las personas y los colectivos hacer traslaciones (ideológicas,
prácticas, emocionales, materiales, relacionales…) de una situación o
posición a otra. Llamamos “Transarte”, a esta clase de proyectos que trabajan
bajo la idea de que el arte es una creación humana que experimenta con modos
de intercambio, que facilita tránsitos y que puede contribuir a procesos de
transformación.
Palabras clave: arte participativo, análisis transaccional, transferencia,
habitus, fenómenos transicionales
Happy enough with the situation, we continue interacting with each other,
puzzling and pleasuring each other.
At some point, one of us perceives that this game is not only our game but that
it is orchestrated by someone else or something else, somewhere else.
The words in our mouths become jammed and some letters start coming out
of our jaws: “T” for tooth, “R” for roar, “A” for alphabet, “N” for naked,
“S” for snake... They slither like a sibilant rope among us, going through our
skins, crossing our holes, soaking through the ground, vanishing in the air.
I know he has something for me. That makes me happy. That makes me
curious. That is going to be something special for me.
I know he has something for me. Firstly, I wonder if I should accept it.
Secondly, I doubt if I want or need it. Finally, I accept it, just to be polite.
I know he has something for me. I have something for him, too. I have tried to
make it the best I could offer. I have expected him to do the same for me.
I know I have something for him. I don’t know if he will like it. I don’t know if
it will be enough. I don’t know if I am enough.
I know I have something to give. I know it has its own agency. I know it needs
to be exchanged. I know it will return to me somehow.
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 325
share information in a meeting, exchange gestures with the bus driver for her
to wait for you to catch the bus at the last moment, exchange body movements
while dancing in a party, swap fluids while kissing... If we look at them
focusing on the actions and the subjects, we will speak of interactions, but if
we focus on the object of these interactions (no matter whether they are more
or less tangible) we will refer to transactions. Transactions are basic in our
everyday life and a factor of social interweaving. We have needs (of many
kinds) and we try to satisfy them through our social interactions.
Transaction is a reciprocal operation between two or more parts. It is a
double-way or a multiple-way interaction. The idea of transaction relates to
verbs such as use, exchange, barter, swap, switch, trade, share or contract.
However, the concept of transference is a one-way action and we connect it
to actions such as give, provide or pass. Putting the emphasis on transactions
as exchanges of there and back, in this part, we will analyze participatory art
projects in relation to the concept of social transaction. To do so, we will first
mention some discourses from sociology and anthropology in relation to the
“gift exchange” theories, and secondly, we will focus on Transactional
Analysis from social psychology. Taking these theories into account, we will
cross their concepts with examples of participatory and collaborative art
projects.
We will use the term “relational art practices” to refer to art projects in
which the relations among people and the use of participatory and
collaborative processes are the nuclear aspects of the creation. We won’t use
the term “relational art” just for the artworks referred to by Nicolás Bourriaud
in his book Relational Aesthetics (2006). This publication meant the
beginning of looking at participatory manifestations with special interest,
though the artworks analyzed by the author share characteristics that do not
reflect the variety of present-day manifestations. They were also created and
read in a concrete way due to the moment in the art history when they came
out. Nevertheless, one of the most relevant aspects that Nicolás Bourriaud
pointed out in his book was the emergence of a kind of art that proposed
alternative “models of socialization”. We will examine them concretely as
transactions.
“Transaction” is a word that acquires different meanings depending on the
field in which it is used: transaction in laws, in finances, in computer science,
in anthropology, in social psychology, in art…
The sociologist Marcel Mauss’ book The Gift (2002) is considered the
foundation of social theories of reciprocity and exchange. He reflected on the
social function of gifts in indigenous cultures. Many authors from different
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 327
fields (anthropology, philosophy, art and politics) have been influenced by it.
In turn, Lewis Hyde has related the concept of “gift” with the world of art and
creativity in his book The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property
(2007), latterly published as The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern
World in which he considers artwork as the creation of a gift and reflects on
the ways in which its qualities as ‘gift’ can be preserved in its contact with the
market economy. More in relation to the kind of art projects that we are
pointing to, Roger Sansi connects discourses on the gift with cases of
relational art in Art, Anthropology and the Gift (2015).
When analysing participatory art, art critics have commonly centred the
debate about transactions in terms of economy (the capitalisation of
relationships and experiences). This is how Kaira M. Cabañas refers to this
fact:
Domain by Roger Bernat, there are also two things happening on different
levels at the same time: people wearing earphones are given instructions to
move in a certain way depending on their answers to some questions, but as a
group they are guided to shape a concrete choreography in the space, whose
narrative they do not control.
Intimacy is a state in which social and psychological levels are congruent,
there is intense ‘stroking’ and each person accepts their own responsibility
over their own necessities and the necessities of the other and it is an
unpredictable way of time structuring. The word intimacy should not be taken
in its dictionary sense but in a more technical way. If we try to find this kind
of relation promoted by some artwork, we could find it in Guided Visit by
Elena Alonso. In this piece, the artist places a sinuous handrail in the
manufacturing space of Abierto por Obras of Matadero Cultural Centre of
Madrid. The artist proposes a sensitive walk guided by this handrail of
different textures, which is installed in a space where some uncovered holes
in the ceiling light up, producing a semi-dark space.
A Life script would be a preconscious plan of life with which longer
periods of time are structured, filling them with rituals, pastimes and games.
Hamaika Urte Dantzan (Dancing 11 years away) it’s a project of compiling
biographical and professional material and trying to find lines of coherence,
visual similarities and patterns of strategies in it, and somehow, trying to find
some latent script in it.
Psychological Games
good games, as these are the most frequent fields in which they are found but
not exclusively. We will just mention some of them for revealing patterns of
transactions in art.
The most frequent transaction in art is under the scheme in which the artist
creates something special, and the public is amused, delighted or shocked by
it. This set of transactions (looking for reaffirming a position “I’m OK” doing
something exceptional and receiving a returning stroke of “you are OK” or at
least any other stroke) could be matched with “Look Ma No Hands”. This is
not properly a game but a pastime but let us easily see the scheme of hungers
and strokes to overcome the possible initial position of “I’m not ok.”. “Look
Ma No hands” could be exemplified in Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfall or
Chillida’s Tindaya project in a hyperbolic way.
Image 1. Renzo Martens. 2009. Episode 3: Enjoy Poverty [online, film still].
Recovered from http://www.artterritories.net/?page_id=3031
“I’m only trying to help you” is a kind of game in which the person in the
social scene tries to help, but at the same time there is an ulterior objective
that impedes her from achieving the social goal, which could be not having
success (as it could enter in conflict with parental introjected demands) or
reaffirming that you cannot rely on people (such as when a well-intended
action is answered with rejection). This game could be exemplified for
instance by Renzo Martens in Enjoy Poverty, where cynically he is supposed
to try train Congolese photographers to be able to make profit from the poverty
of their own country by giving them advice on what to shoot, and which
contacts of the NGOs and media companies to offer their services to, but
clearly what he is doing is a conceptual paradox in the shape of a vindication.
“Busman’s holiday” is again more a pastime than a game, which can become
a game if the work is secondary to another ulterior motivation and if it is
tackled only to achieve another thing. An example of this kind of game would
be literally some “artist in residence” projects in foreign countries.
enjoyed these “naughty” actions and then has been forgiven) or they show
their anger and then the initiator reasserts themselves by showing their resent.
In the case of art, one example could be Basquiat painting about his
relationship with his art dealer to whom he referred as “big pig”, for instance,
in his picture “Man from Naples” or Hito Steyer giving a performative talk on
the collusion of art biennials and weapons commerce while participating in
The Istanbul Biennial 2013.
The word “transference” also has different meanings depending on the field
in which it is used. We will use the meaning given to the words “transference”
and “counter-transference” in Freudian Psychoanalysis, and we will also refer
to the concept of “habitus” by Pierre Bourdieu, as something that is transferred
from one individual to another and that is also operative in art. Then, we will
look for transferences in participatory and collaborative art projects and
determine what transferences happen and how.
subjugated and something that others will see as denigrating. The transference
to the participants is: “I use you as if you were a disposable person” or “I have
the power and you are subdued”, as there is no further relationship with the
participants that might change the interpretation of the events. We cannot
deduce what the participants counter-transfer to the artist, but we come up
with the idea that the artist might be repeating a type of relationship that he
had also experienced previously, and that by repeating it, he might be trying
to elaborate somehow. Because of some of the materials on the artist’s
website, we wonder if he feels attracted by the idea of the participants finding
things that might not be foreseen in the beginning (like having a good time in
an apparently degrading situation —such as when people jammed into the
hold of a boat are having some kind of party inside—, or a participant asking
for a percentage of the income of the artistic piece —and therefore
understanding what the strategy was all about—). That could make us think
that the artist may be trying a kind of inverse psychology on the participants,
for them to have some kind of “wake-up call” but that surely would be going
too far in the suppositions from the information we have.
the present and past positions in the social structure that biological
individuals carry with them, at all times and in all places, in the form of
dispositions which are so many marks of social position and hence of
the social distance between objective positions, that is, between social
people conjecturally brought together (in physical space, which is not
the same thing as social space) and correlatively, so many reminders of
this distance and of the conduct required in order to “keep one’s
distance or to manipulate it strategically, whether symbolically or
actually, to reduce it. (1995a, p. 82)
which organises the ways in which the individual perceives the social world
around her and reacts to it). These dispositions make up a system that is
embodied by the person and that is the habitus, one of the central concepts in
Bourdieu’s sociological work.
The habitus is something that a person shares with other people from a
homogeneous social environment and that leads them to share similar
lifestyles. It also creates a “distinction” from others that do not share that same
habitus. It is, therefore, a structured structuring structure, meaning the product
of a structure of relations that at the same time structures relations. The habitus
operates in a way that the social order is progressively inscribed in the mind
of the people, and the person is not usually conscious of the way in which the
habitus conforms and limits their way of thinking, acting or interacting with
the world that surrounds them.
How is the habitus transferred from one individual to another? And more
specifically in relation to our theme, what are participatory artists transferring
to participants and to the public through their artworks?
We will specifically reflect on how the habitus is transferred through art to
subjects of the same class and conversely how it can be used to produce a
separation among people from different classes. Finally, we will suggest
intentional actions to counteract certain transmissions in art.
Habitus can be analysed in relation to three kinds of capital (the resources
and power that one can use): cultural capital, economic capital and social
capital.
In every artwork, there is something “thematic”, more or less explicit, and
there is something more latent, that transmits as much as the most obvious and
intentional part, which we will also refer to as habitus even at risk of being not
completely correct. An example of these embodied features in the artwork are:
the attitude that the artist shows through their work, the verbal and visual
language used during the process and in the communications, the ways in
which things are displayed, the quality and connotations of the materials that
are used, the quantity of time and resources that have been needed for doing
it, the places for which the work has been designed… All these things finally
shape a kind of “style”. This habitus has been adopted by the artist through
diverse ways:
− by contagion from other artists with whom they share a background or
relational experiences.
− by education: where there is a whole range of references, (by inclusion
and by exclusion) that facilitate knowledge and predilection for certain
things over others.
336 Saioa Olmo – Transitions in participatory art.
censorship between your own place and somebody else’s place is followed by
considerable effects” (2000, p. 42), that is, legitimising your own place in
comparison to other people’s. The mentioned effects would be: “the victory of
place over time” (when playing in your own field, it is easier to capitalise the
acquired advantages whatever circumstances happen), “a panoptic practice”
(when you establish the point of view, you transform the outside forces into
“objects” that are easier to control and include in your vision in a favourable
way for you) and “the power of knowledge” (power is a pre-condition for the
creation of knowledge and not only its effect, and therefore power imposes its
characteristics on knowledge in this way).
Another factor to be taken into account is that the habitus is transferred
among members of the same class but tends to mark a separation among
members of a different one. This is also what Jacques Ranciere explains in The
Ignorant Schoolmaster (2003): in the traditional education system, the
distance between the person who keeps the cultural capital and those who want
to get it is maintained, although some knowledge is transmitted, as the aspirant
doesn’t know the quantity of knowledge that is still lacking, and the teacher
maintains their role of lawful holder of the knowledge. In our case, this is also
the way in which the distinction between classes is preserved. In consequence,
certain habitus (embodied in artwork) are perceived as “desirable” but are
commonly not acquired, as there is a distance that is always preserved.
The distinctive characteristic of “Participatory Art” precisely tries to affect
that distance: creating artistic situations where people are part of the creative
process helps to bridge the gap between artist and public. This might mean
avoiding or at least minimising certain more obvious hierarchies in the usual
artist-producer and public-consumer pattern. Although that doesn’t mean that
the separation disappears as roles are maintained, there are different ways of
playing those same roles. It is also true that there are plenty of ways to perform
“Participatory Art”, and that some of them also satisfy the dominant classes,
entering into collusion with their interests, but it is no less true that structures
are not innocuous and are not simply waiting for one ideology or another to
use them. It is similar to what happens with technology: technologies are not
exactly neutral artefacts that become instruments for one ideology or another,
depending on who uses them. The train of motives and decisions that lead to
the construction of a certain machine structure that machine, which therefore
embodies a certain tendency. This is something that can be easily seen in the
case of a gun: a gun can be used to kill a person (which is normally ethically
reprehensible) or to prevent someone from committing a crime (which is
socially “desirable”), but it is also clear that the gun itself has a tendency
338 Saioa Olmo – Transitions in participatory art.
towards “having an extra power over the life of others” which is not
ideologically neutral. Something similar happens with a participatory artistic
format and representational artistic formats. Artistic formats as technologies
are not mere instruments (instrumentalism) and nor do they completely
determine peoples’ use (determinism), but they have a certain inbuilt tendency.
As a consequence, we assert that some artistic formats favour certain
dispositions and that others favour others. However, there are cases of
exceptions or uses that can turn intentions round, both in participatory art
projects and in other art projects too.
If we look at the other side of the coin, “Art for the art’s sake” (which is
frequently given as the opposite of “Socially Engaged Art”, “Participatory
Art”, “Dialogical Art” and “Community Art” forms of art, which are
considered too intentional and aligned with concrete moral positions or
ideological intentions) reinforces the habitus of the model in which the
economy (our current economic system) puts everything that is the contrary of
the economic strategy in art. This functions as a kind of smokescreen, as it is
presented as an unintentional, free and ideologically non-positioned activity
and far from economical motors. Bourdieu explains this paradox as follows:
There are objects and phenomena that we use for making a transition from one
state to another. Art can also work as an object or phenomenon for making a
transition, for travelling a “distance” from a situation to another, for being able
to carry out a transformation; firstly, a psychological transformation, which
can finally generate effects in a context.
There are several psychological theories that work on relations and objects.
The most significant one referring to this issue is the “Object Relations
Theory”. In this theory, objects are understood as “images of people and
events that are turned into conceptions in the unconscious of the person and
that remain there during adulthood, affecting the person’s social behaviour”.
When talking about “relational objects” in contemporary art, the term “object”
is used in its most common sense as “thing” or inanimate matter, although the
meaning of “object” as “matters, subject or issue” in a more intangible, broad
sense, could also fit in most works.
We will pay attention to these two concepts and try to compare and
interweave knowledge and experiences in some of these psychological
currents and contemporary art practices to talk about relational issues.
The object relations theory. The Object Relations Theory is a
psychological theory derived from Psychoanalysis, which focuses on the
process of developing our mind in contact with others during childhood. This
theory suggests that the way in which we have related to the primary figures
(mother, father, primary caretaker or even parts or symbols of them)
determines the way we behave during adulthood. An object is that to which a
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 341
close relation to the place in which it happens and considers that the way in
which art is integrated into society is a matter for the artist and affects the
nature of the very artwork itself.
Relational objects. “Relational objects” is a term that has been used in art
on several occasions to refer to objects that some artists create and through
which they hold significant relationships with other people.
For instance, Lygia Clark has a series of objects under the title Relational
Objects. She started creating these “relational objects” in 1966 and then in
1976 she began to use them in sensorial experiences, in a kind of individual
“therapies”. For her, these objects did not have a special interest on their own,
but in relation to the fantasy of the person that attended the session with the
artist. It’s the person themselves who loads the object with one or other
meaning.
Ricardo Basbaum, as well, on his behalf, with his project Would you like
to participate in an artistic experience? (1994-onwards), gives the possibility
of spending time with an object, the NBP, encouraging participants to have an
artistic experience with it, and to share it online.
344 Saioa Olmo – Transitions in participatory art.
What these objects have in common is that the objects by themselves are
not the “artistic reality”, but they are simply “triggers”, for an art experience
to happen.
These would be examples of taking the word “relational objects” in its
most literal sense as “things”, but as mentioned in the beginning, we can also
take the concept of “object” as “subject” or “phenomenon”, and therefore,
there would be also many other examples taking the object as “whatever is the
matter of our actions”. The catalogue Relational Objects. MACBA Collection
2002-2007, seems to be using this wider sense of the word “objects” for
compiling a diversity of artistic manifestations in their collection. From 2000
to 2008, MACBA-Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona was exploring
other possible relations between the institution and the citizens, and as a result
of that, several art projects took place, such as the workshop Direct action as
one of the fine arts (2000), the project The Agencies (2001), several
exhibitions such as Antagonisms. Case studies (2001), Documentary
processes. Testimonial Image, subalternity and public sphere (2001),
Relational poetics (2004), How do we want to be governed? (2004) and the
seminar The construction of the public (2003).
Image 7. Las Agencias. 2001. Pret à Revolter fashion show and presentation
[online image]. Recovered from http://www.sindominio.net/fiambrera/web-
agencias/paginas/show-bus/desfilebus/desfilebus6.hhtm
346 Saioa Olmo – Transitions in participatory art.
Now we will reflect on how the transitions from one psychic situation to
another can be made. To do so, we will set out the ideas on “transitional
objects and phenomena” during childhood described by Donald W. Winnicott
(paediatrician and psychoanalyst), in his book “Reality and Game” (1993, p.
17). Then, we will argue about artworks functioning as transitional objects in
adulthood.
From a psychological point of view, when a child is born, it is thought that
they don’t have the perception of being a separate unit from the rest of the
elements that surround her. They consider themselves one indivisible entity
together with their mother. But as they perceive the world around them during
their first year of life, they have other experiences that modify this perception.
Transitional objects and phenomena are things and actions that the child uses
to create the change that they experience from considering themselves part of
their mother to seeing themselves as somebody apart. A transitional object can
be a small soft toy, of the edge of a sheet, a piece of wool… any object that
the child uses for calming themselves down when for instance their mother is
not present. Examples of transitional phenomena are movements of
mastication accompanied by sounds like “mam-mam”; babbling; anal sounds;
the first musical notes; tearing a piece of wool and winding it into a ball or
taking or sucking a piece of fabric. However, Transitional space would be the
abstract territory in the mind of the person that is neither external nor internal
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 347
and that lets us use our creativity to perform a transition between conceptions.
Transitional objects theory is central to the labour of D. W. Winnicott
(1896-1971), who worked on the object relations from this approach. This
author, instead of explaining the motivation of the self through the Freudian
drives (sexual and aggressive drives that at some point must be repressed or
sublimated for the individuals to be part of the civilisation), centred on the
creative capacity of the child to “create” objects outside themselves by giving
significance to elements that appear close by. This creative act is performed
through play, and for Winnicott, this is a similar process to that used within
the arts, and religion during adulthood.
Winnicott also tries to find a “place” for this game, for this creative act,
which is neither inside nor outside the child or the adult and he calls it a
cultural experience, to widen the concept of the transitional phenomenon. He
uses the term “cultural” in relation to the common human heritage that is
transmitted between generations in all civilisations. He launches the thesis
that…
the place of location where the cultural experience exists is the potential
space that exists between the individual and the ambient (in the
beginning the object). The same can be said about games. The cultural
experience begins with creative living, whose first manifestation is the
game. (1993, p. 88)
For the author, this is a space where the game is played between the
position of feeling one with the ambient and feeling yourself out of control of
the context. He also explains that playing takes you easily to the cultural
experience. We wonder whether precisely the concept of culture can be
understood when one begins to drift apart from the context and therefore the
separation between culture and nature is possible in our mind.
For the author “there is no doubt that the cultural aspects of human life,
including art, philosophy and religion, refer to a great extent to those
(transitional) phenomena” (1993, p. 101).
References
Saioa Olmo Alonso: Artist and lecturer of the Art & Technology Department
at the Fine Arts Faculty of the University of the Basque Country.
http://brac.hipatiapress.com
The terms and conditions of use are related to the Open Journal System and
to Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY).
350 Natàlia
BRAC - Barcelona Research ArtLloreta – Eureka!
Creation. Panoramic
Vol. 6 No. Festival.
3, October 2018,
pp. 350-354
Review
Eureka! Panoramic Festival or the creative relationship between
photography and cinema
In our western collective imagination, we live on this romantic idea that the
great inventions of humanity are a result of a moment of divine inspiration
that makes the eureka echo throughout seas, mountains and valleys. And
maybe it's not like that. That moment of putting into practice that longed
invention, that ingenious idea, that moment in which everything works must
be wonderful, almost magical, but above all the sensation must be like that of
those who conquer the top of a mountain: yes, finally!
With photography and cinema something like that may had happened. The
technical and social advances –in the first third of the 19th century in the case
of photography, and at the end of the same century, in the case of cinema –
had left everything ready and worked so that stubborn and hard-working
minds found the right way to make this latent demand come true. That is why
the creators of each invention -or each discovery- are not univocal and
indisputable. The merit of having invented photography is attributed to the
French Joseph-Nicephore Niepce, who in 1826 managed to print a view from
the window of his room in a physical medium, after more than 8 hours of
exposure. But it is Louis Daguerre who spreads it and popularizes it in a
commercial way with the mythical daguerreotype; and the English have their
particular claim with William Fox Talbot’s calotype. Most unanimous is the
granting of the title of cinema inventors to the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and
Louis, even though the United States claims the podium to the inventor
Thomas Alva Edison.
In any case, these pioneers or others would have provided the solutions to
the great social needs of the nineteenth century bourgeoisie, photography and
cinema, which today have become indispensable heritage of humanity.
Photography and cinema are inseparable disciplines, although each one
holds a very unique language, style and technique. And it is striking that in
the 21st century, with such a never-ending proliferation of cultural
BRAC - Barcelona Research Art Creation, 6(3) 351
manifestations and festivals, there was still not one to deal with both at the
same time. It is Panoramic Festival, whose first edition took place in
Granollers from November 21st to December 11th, 2017, the one that
undoubtedly holds the authorship of this proposal. Eureka!
The Panoramic project starts as an initiative of Albert Gusi and Fidel
Balaguer, responsible for Grisart, and has the support of Joan Fontcuberta, the
complicity of Jesús Vilamajó and the curatorship of Fèlix Pérez-Hita and
Andrés Hispano (authors of the must SoyCámara), Laia Casanova and Joana
Hurtado. It receives the institutional and financial support of the City Council
of Granollers and of the Government of Catalonia.
Thematically, this first edition of the festival has been devoted to the film
stills –or the promotional image of a film, which, despite being born as a
support format for cinema has had a great influence on contemporary art- and
it is has been structured in three areas: screenings, exhibitions and workshops,
always giving space to both consolidated artistic proposals and emerging
voices.
The screening sessions of the festival featured a succulent program of
feature films and short films, including, among others, the legendary La Jetée
by Chris Marker, a 28-minute photo-story from 1962 that, through several
photos -all of them of intense monochromatic beauty- narrates a dystopia
about memoirs and journeys through time; the masterful Ilha das Flores, a 13-
minute short film, directed by Brazilian Jorge Furtado in 1989, who
punishably criticizes capitalism and consumerism based on intelligence and
sense of humor; and the very short film by the creative beast David Lynch
Premonitions Following an Evil Deed, which with 52 seconds shows 5 scenes
after a murder. The screenings were also complemented by La Porxada Doc,
which grouped documentary emerging authors of the territory.
In the field of exhibitions, Panoramic programmed Mites i Màscares
(Myths and Masks), which showed the creative worlds of filmmaker Albert
Serra and photographer Román Yñán; and La Tèrmica LAB – “the expanded
part of the festival”, called so by the same organizers– a collective exhibition
born from an open call to promote the work of artists using new media. The
exhibition was held in the tèrmica space, the machine room of the former Roca
Umbert cotton mill in Granollers, a space with strong power of attraction per
se that was intensified thanks to the works of the 15 selected artists.
The intense relationship between photography and cinema provides a
multitude of suggestive, interesting and inspiring themes that, if the
complicity with the public administrations and its financial support continues,
the Panoramic Festival is guaranteed for many editions.
352 Natàlia Lloreta – Eureka! Panoramic Festival.
Web: www.lloreta.org
Instructions for authors, subscriptions and further details:
http://brac.hipatiapress.com
Josu Rekalde-Izagirre
The terms and conditions of use are related to the Open Journal System and
to Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY).
356
BRAC -Josu Rekalde-Izagirre
Barcelona Research Art– Esther Ferrer.
Creation. Vol. 6Espacios entrelazados.
No. 3, October 2018,
pp. 355-359
Review
Título de la Exposición: ESPACIOS ENTRELAZADOS
Artista: Esther Ferrer
Fecha de la Exposición: 16 de marzo hasta el 10 de junio de 2018
Lugar: Museo Guggenheim en Bilbao
Referencias
Web: www.josurekalde.com