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FREDERIC MONTORNÉS AND MONTSERRAT SOTO
FROM A CONVERSATION ON THE BINOMIAL
ARTIST/CURATOR
ESCOLA MASSANA
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In March, on the occasion of the workshops ‘Visual Arts; Contemporary Practices’ the Escola Massana hosted an open conversation between Montserrat Soto and Frederic Montornés, curator of her exhibition in the cloister of the CASM. We reproduce below some excerpts from that conversation, in which artist and critic considered various aspects of the process of producing Place of Silences, the project by Montserrat Soto in conjunction with the poet Dionisio Cañas.
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Montserrat Soto: Speaking of the relationship between an artist and a curator, I would say that the ideal situation is when there is a harmony between the two based on mutual trust. My first solo exhibition was in Espai 13 at the Fundació Miró when Frederic Montornés was the curator there. The good relationship that —despite our not knowing one another— was established between us, led me to think that my future curators and exhibitions would be similarly satisfactory. But I soon learned otherwise.
It is very interesting, the link that is established with a curator when he or she is involved in a project all through the process of creation. If, on the contrary, the curator is not very clear as to why they want to work with an artist, or if there is not a certain relationship of trust between them, the curator can end up being an intruder, a person that, instead of accompanying you, is trying to modify your work. Of course, I am speaking here of projects in progress.
Frederic Montornés: Though I share the opinion that an exhibition is a place of confluence, I think that to this place is never arrived at with the same personages. An artist and a curator coincide in a given time and place. From this point on each of them must be free to go where they want. There is no obligation to be partners for life. That said, when Montserrat Soto and I coincided for the exhibition in Espai 13, the relationship that was established between us gave rise to an exhibition in which the lines of research that at a certain moment in time we had started on separately were reflected in equal measure. But there are points in the evolution of each of us with which the other does not identify. In contrast to what her work gives me when it is centred on questions relating to memory, recollection, the archive or her passion for the accumulation of documents, there is an aspect of her production with which I share her opinions — the one that comes to the surface when, in confronting a space, she puts forward a more personal and lyrical vision of the world. That is the reason why, before offering her an exhibition at the CASM I waited till she had finished doing Archive of Archives, a project to which she devoted a good number of years, and one that I understood to be a fundamental part of
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| Montserrat Soto/Dionisio Cañas, Lugar de silencios, CASM 2007 |
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her process of reflection. I didn’t want my proposal to interfere in her work or for Montserrat to offer me a version of her archives. I wanted it to be something new, a challenge. For her as well as for me. An adventure for us to set out on from the beginning to the end. Though the fact is that when I proposed it to her, she could have told me it wasn’t the right moment (two coincide; one, never), after taking the time she needed she accepted my proposal on condition that I considered the possibility of a poet featuring in her work. And though at first I wasn’t sure what she was saying to me, I then understood that what she was interested in was giving form in her piece to a precise moment: the instant in which a creative artist conceives her work. And she felt that a poet was the most suitable for this. Having accepted that the poet would be Dionisio Cañas (an old friend of Montserrat’s, whom she had been reading for some time and in whom she had sufficient confidence to propose a collaboration), we began to produce the work on the basis of two axes: the exhibition space and the place of the poet — two spaces that were to converge in the space that would in due course be occupied by the spectator, a complex and lyrical play of mirrors that Montserrat wanted to reflect by means of seven back projections. If what I wanted was to face up to a challenge, Montserrat’s project handed it to me on a tray. Aside from the secret reasons that inclined Montserrat toward this project, what persuaded me to accept it was the enthusiasm with which she outlined it to me, the possibility of taking part in a project in which a human being would appear for the first time, the sensation that once completed it would invoke the function for which a cloister had originally been conceived and the conviction that during the process of producing this work both she and I would have been learning. Once the work was finished and installed I saw that my reasoning was well founded and that the life of the work was completed with that of the spectator…
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MS: With regard to this aspect I wanted to say that, in my works, I am very interested in the spectator confronting the images alone — in the action of observing being carried out in solitude. In fact, with many of my video pieces I provide earphones in order to reinforce this individual aspect… There is a quote from Maurice Blanchot that served me as a guideline for Place of Silences: ‘without words between the words’. In this work I was interested not only in reflecting on the act of creation and the crucial moments that are experienced in the process but also in the fact of being able to do this through language of words. Ever since I saw Dionisio Cañas presenting one of his works in Quintanar de la Orden last year I had felt I needed to work with him, so I invited him to collaborate in this project. Dionisio is a person whom I admire very much, as a poet and a friend, so working with him has been very important for me. As a result, Place of Silences has to be understand as a collaboration.
As Frederic has already pointed out, it is the first time that I have introduced a personage in my work to share the lead role with the spectator. The poet is the personage whom the spectator observes and the spectator is the personage that, in the form of the shadow that appearing on the surface of the screen, observes him- or herself like a voyeur while the poet confronts his fears and words.
FM: Although in the beginning I didn’t very clearly understand the terms in which the collaboration between Montserrat and Dionisio was to be established, as we advanced in the project I understood that not only were their contributions oriented toward the same place, but that both were equally decisive for the attaining of the shared goal. Each one fed on what the other offered… similar, in a way, to what I said before in relation to the working together of artist and curator. In the last analysis it is always about human relationships, interferences, adjustments, encounters, differences…
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MS: …that’s why I was interested in working with back projections. The idea that the spectator intervenes in the work by way of her shadow has captivated me for some time. From the moment that I was offered the space of the cloister and I became aware of its dimensions I felt that the time had come to explore this avenue. The end result of the experience is that the spectator is faced with two itineraries: one, surrounded and enclosed between the projections, observing and following the poet in his process of creation and the other, exterior, which the spectator gains access by way of the spaces between the screens, on which she may or may not coincide with the movement of the poet, in the form of his shadow, though his voice or presence is heard at all times.
Although the idea of the piece is very simple —a poet talking to himself— its production has been very complex. They are seven screens synchronized with eighteen loudspeakers. And this entails the participation of sound and video technicians, software, maintenance... this whole process was carried out in Hangar: from the recording on the sound stage through to post-production and presentation…
FM: And all in less than a year. This is why you can only embark on a project of this kind when you work with someone you really trust or you know well enough...
MS: It’s the first time I’ve worked with so little time. Normally, when I address a project it’s because I’m interested in working on it, because I need to do it. For instance, with Archive of Archives —the work I presented last year in the Centre d’Art La Panera in Lleida— I spent eight years working on the different typologies of memory. The work in the CASM is situated, in time, between two research projects, Archive of Archives and Silent Murmurs, the work I’m engaged in now, the realization of which will take me another five or six years. For me, Place of Silences has meant a relaxation in comparison to that kind of research project, more complex and involving a longer process. Normally, when I’m invited to exhibit a work either it already exists or I’m working on it. In this respect, this exhibition at the CASM has been a little different. The trust between Frederic and me has been decisive in my decision to embark on this project.
FM: And there’s another factor that has worked in favour of the shortage of time at our disposal: proximity. We both live in the same city, and that favours the implementing of a project. When you work with artists that live far away and the distance does not allow direct contact you have to be very realistic about what can and cannot be done.
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| Montserrat Soto/Dionisio Cañas, Lugar de silencios, CASM 2007 |
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