Behold the object in all its splendor; an archive of queer bodies, an arsenal of dissident discoveries, a chapel of undermined entities, a cabinet of disobedient matter. The skepticism towards that which is called inanimate, –‘without a soul’-, artificial or immaterial is being revised in the age of agential realism; a field proposed by the physicist-theorist Karen Barad. Is digitality truely weightless? Do the object and the artificial not experience affect at all? Are they truly mute? According to physics, we are all beings subjected to the same fundamental forces, from elementary particles to elephants. The basic unit that existence —including solid/liquid/biological/gaseous/mineral— shares is vibration and, therefore, the malleability to mutate and to become. We constitute, therefore, a collective phenomenology cultivated by a common potentiality and affectivity, an incessant dialectical exchange, a frenzied and erratic latency. This dialogue is the friction, the incandescent rubbing between subjects, it is a choral phenomenon that occurs on levels that often go unnoticed. Notice how the neon caresses you, how the flashes strike you, how the object speaks to you.
The artist Agustín Ortiz Herrera and the curator Gabriel Virgilio Luciani invite you to a sensorial laboratory in which things communicate without being silenced. The exhibition hosts a newly produced audiovisual work accompanied by an installation composed of urban discoveries and other atmospheric elements that the artist has brought together. The installation also contains material contributions from the participants of the workshop Exanimate: Rethinking Objects organised by the Centre d’Art Maristany in Sant Cugat del Vallès in collaboration with the artist.
Agustín Ortiz Herrera’s artistic practice is developed in the fields of audiovisual art, performance and installation that he uses to activate Queer possibilities in a patriarchal-colonial context. He studied Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona (1998), and filmmaking at The New School University, New York (2003). After a period working as a screenwriter, he returned to artistic practice, completing the Master of Fine Arts at the Konstfack College of Arts, Stockholm (2016). His recent exhibitions include “Oblivion” at Kropp, Uppsala Konsert & Kongress (2019), “Konst tar plats” at Österbybruk, Sweden (2018), “Long Term Empowerment” at “The Spring Threshold”, Madrid (2018). He received the Barcelona Producció La Capella scholarship (19/20) in the category of artistic research and the Nils Johan Sjöstedt Award in Stockholm (2016). He is currently one of the long-term residents at Hangar Barcelona.
Last update: 22nd October 2020
Gabriel Virgilio Luciani (Atlanta, USA, 1995) is a curator, editor-in-chief of exibart.es and contemporary art history professor based in Barcelona. Their sphere of research is situated at a liquid intersection between neo-corporealities, poetry, queer theory, magic and objectual affectivity. Over the past eight years, they have curated shows in various galleries, art centres and alternative spaces in the Barcelona area, some within the framework of festivals such as LOOP Barcelona, Art Nou and Barcelona Gallery Weekend. They hold a Masters degree in Digital Arts Curation from the Universitat Ramon Llull – ESDi and a Bachelors degree in Fine Art from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Escola Massana.