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| Frederic Montornés has since January this year been a member of the board of curators of the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (together with Miguel von Hafe Pérez and Ferran Barenblit he is responsible for planning the Centre’s exhibitions programme). His first contribution here was a presentation of work by Marcel Dzama, and he is currently curating the exhibitions by Carles Congost and Sílvia Prada. To mark the occasion we are publishing his declaration of intentions with regard to his work at the Centre and, more generally, what amounts to a virtual statement of his position as a critic/curator. In addition we are also publishing the interview with Sílvia Prada that Joan Morey did for La Luna in February 2003. |
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FREDERIC MONTORNÉS
While there are some people who manage to get along alright, there are others who, in addition, have a very clear idea of where they are going: they want to continue doing what they are really interested in, what they really enjoy doing. And not only that: they fight hard to achieve this. For the opinions they receive from everyone else each time they actually do so are like new ways of approaching the work they have done. Which shows that, by remaining true to their convictions, not only are they not wrong but they ensure that what they do transmits a message, reaches the viewers, provokes them and sometimes even makes them think. So something is always learnt. From everything. From the easy-going people and from the fighters. And it is these people that we are going to consider: in other words, those who, irrespective of how easy or difficult things are for them, fight to achieve what they want. Because it is what they need.
Although man cannot live from pleasure alone, it would seem that the actions people take are designed to achieve certain ends that in some cases are reveal themselves quite clearly and in others require our participation. So if art is of no interest to us, there is no need to make any effort with it because we will never discover any meaning in it. However, if, on the other hand, art affects us because, by experiencing it, we have the chance to continue learning something about ourselves, our environment, our society, our world or whatever, we already have the necessary predisposition to be able to participate.
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| Sílvia Prada. Justin, 2005 |
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At a moment that is as particular as any other - because until now nothing has failed to interest those who find in art, or in artistic expression, something that they reject, that makes them think, that lifts their spirits or depresses them, in other words something that cannot fail to affect them - the level of involvement required from viewers depends solely on the value they attach to a work or a project or the ways in which artists express themselves, give their opinions and ensure that what they do is recognised as a sign of something that cannot be seen but is identifiable.
If we are able to see that a work of art is, in addition to this, a sign of something that responds to someone’s desire and need for expression, there comes a moment when, without intending to, we will find ourselves trying to ascertain the desires and needs of those artists whose works catch our eye and, through this portal, enlarge our mental space. But this does not mean that the artist is a genius, an oracle or a saviour. He or she is simply a person whose tenacity merits the same respect as that of any other person engaged in any other activity. Except that there are some people who notice them.
As a result of the bombardment of information that clutters up our hard disks, we are obliged to select what we receive. So while some people tend to attach importance to one kind of information, others find, in the love of things made by hand and with the sweat of the brow impregnated in an image, a sign that catches their attention and makes them want to explore its origins. And since it is very often difficult to check where these signs come from, we shall focus on those that are closest to us. For example, those who through a drawing are able to face in silence the noise of that seemingly endless bombardment.
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| Marcel Dzama. Untitled, 2004 |
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Like any other work, a drawing can be a sketch, a note, a declaration of principles, or the start – merely the start – of a story, a reflection. However, there is something in the way of writing these stories that brings them closer to the viewer. And it is the ability to maintain the immediacy of a line – another sign – that says so much about the person who drew it, when it was drawn and why it was drawn; about someone who, although it may not seem so, does not live alone and who, through this way of expressing themselves, is able to demonstrate the validity of a decision. Despite the fact that this decision may often collide with other perhaps more contemporary, more modern, less physical ways of understanding life or working in the medium of art, transmitting what they want or connecting with the trends of the time, it is merely the reflection of someone who is fighting to continue |
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doing what they want in order to find that pleasure they need, and that others perceive, so as to continue raising – in the minds of both those who appreciate it and in those who do not – questions of every kind or definitions of a situation as a prior step to providing solutions. In other words, what we all need, from the knowledge of our respective situations.
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“At
a time when curatorship is being put on trial for
the ineffectiveness or inoperability
of the patterns
it has followed, it is natural that what is required
of it is a commitment
in keeping with the requirements
of its time.” |
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At a time when curatorship is being put on trial for the ineffectiveness or inoperability of the patterns it has followed, it is natural that what is required of it is a commitment in keeping with the requirements of its time. However, if today’s time is defined by the constant search for solutions, this means that, together with the exaltation caused by the energy implicit in what is presumed to be new, problematic or questionable, we need to try and see how much of all this there is in the proposals that nonetheless not only continue to be produced but remain firmly entrenched in the attitude from which everything continues to be queried.
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From the attitude reflected in their work, what Marcel Dzama, Silvia Prada and Carles Congost contribute with their respective signs to the open dialogue that art should be is not only conviction; they also contribute some of the comments that can be made on the solutions that, aimed at a much needed reformulation of the system, promote the application of guidelines that, however understandable these may be, they do not share and nor is there any reason why they should. This does not mean that their works are in the nature of a swan song or reflect a terminal decline. They are the manifestations of a posture that will not give up fighting to achieve what it wants - through the oneiric line of a drawing, the impact of an image consuming itself in graphite or the metaphorical and visual narrative of a situation that, however much it may claim our attention, is maintained in a solid, changing, voluble and always radiant structure.
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| Carles Congost. Memorias de Arkaran, 2005 |
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