VIS A VIS

Es Baluard organizes a new series of “Views of Es Baluard’s collection”. On this occasion, “Vis-a-vis” is from the reading of two external curators: Antoni Garau and Teresa-M. Sala. Views of Es Baluard’s Collection is a series of exhibitions with their respective publications that reflect the diversity of readings that can be made of all museum collections. Starting in 2009 with “80’s and driftings” and “Crossed Landscapes”, both curated by Cristina Ros, it was continued in 2010 by “The murmur of the world: from informalism to new abstractions, 1950-2010″, curated by the historian and art critic Juan Manuel Bonet.

“Vis a Vis. Views of Es Baluard’s collection”
The exhibition is a communicative genre which always involves an action of appraisal, an intention and a production with a sense of being staged. “Vis-a-vis” is a contrasting view of the Es Baluard collection, with a proposal for a route that is neither chronological nor thematic in character, but which tries to situate us in a significant context of expographic contrasts.

The display presents a confrontation between images and concepts, through highly diverse languages and procedures, including installations, sculptural constructions, photography, drawing, painting, visual poetry, conceptual and performance art, with the aim of arousing a multiple perception in the spectator. The way one sees the works is conditioned by how they are exhibited. The paths and poetries of the installations of Daniel Canogar and Juan del Junco confront the photographic image of Thomas Ruff and the amplified space of José Pedro Croft. Meanwhile, other artists portray ambiguous situations or visages of men and women, as we can see in the photographed sequence by Shirin Neshat, which faces the portraits of Roland Fischer and Toni Catany.

At the same time, a recurring theme throughout the history of art such as the representation of the female nude, naked beauty and ornamented beauty, can be approached from different viewpoints. Thus, the contrast of a woman painted in the traditional manner by Archie Gittes with what we could call an archetypal image of Salome from the 20th century, photographed by Alberto García-Aliz, is complemented by a performative self-portrait created by the artist Diana Coca.

Conceptual pairings and contrasts are also present in the tandem formed by Rebecca Horn alongside Antoni Miralda and in the object-based poetry of Joan Brossa and Perejaume.

Another proposed vis-a-vis is derived from the opposition of the architectural construction concept versus nature. The confrontation between the photographic sequence of Sean Scully, which captures the colour of time, contrasts with the proposals of Tadashi Kawamata, Aligi Sassu and Kcho (Alexis Leyva Machado) and the views of nature developed by Jorge Mayet, Chema Madoz and Joan Cortés.

Finally, the representation of the monster, horror and the sinister takes us to the very edge of art with the rat by Tim Noble and Sue Webster and a dual story of ravens, by Núria Marquès and Marcelo Viquez, both of which bring the itinerary through the exhibition labyrinth to a close.

Location-Hall: Floor -1.
Production: Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma.