Down by the Nuclear Force (2016) is a visual and sound essay based on re-signifying and modifying archive images and sound editing of the scene from Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950) in which some soldiers sing Down by the Glenside. A loosely biographical piece that Polo made while he was undergoing tests to rule out possible cancer, it reflects on the human body’s potential for self-destruction. Images of missiles, nuclear explosions, bombings and destruction caused by humanity are interwoven with the sparing voices of the soldiers singing this Irish rebel song. All this makes Down by the Nuclear Force a contemporary vanitas. If the threat to humans was once the ruthless passage of time, now – and over the past seventy years – it is the metastasis of a humanity that for the first time has the capacity to self-destruct.
Marta Polo Ysalgué (Barcelona, 1979) has focused her artistic practice on exploring various narrative paths. Filmmaking (as director, editor or scriptwriter) has been one of her main means of research and she won the Visual Arts of Lleida award for her visual essay Charnega. La identidad como collage (2013) in 2015. She has recently been extensively engaged in writing and has published her first novel, Donde nunca ocurre nada (Ediciones Contrabando, 2020), and has received the Montserrat Roig 2021 writing grant to develop her second book, in which she will reflect on the language of film.
Last update 16th September 2021
Jordi Garrido (Barcelona, 1991) es crítico de arte y comisario independiente. Formado en Historia del Arte en la Universidad de Barcelona, compagina el estudio del arte de la segunda mitad del siglo XX con la crítica y el análisis del arte actual. Ha comisariado proyectos en la Fundación Arranz-Bravo, en el Centre Grau-Garriga de Arte Textil Contemporáneo y en el Museo de L’Hospitalet, entre otros. Escribe regularmente en los medios (El Temps de les Arts, Bonart, Hänsel & Gretel) sobre arte contemporáneo y también ha participado en libros sobre arte de las segundas vanguardias.
Última actualización: 16 de septiembre de 2021