Javier Peñafiel. ‘Perfeccionando muerte’
Saturday 28 May 2016, 12 — 2 pm
— A dramatised conference on the strange Idea of the death of cinema
- Artists
- Javier Peñafiel
- Curators
- Diana Padrón
- Venue
- Cementiri de Montjuïc. Colecció de Carrosses Fúnebres
- Price
- Free admission
- Language
- Spanish
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"Perfeccionando muerte" consists of the re-enacting of certain films that are part of our collective imagination and of the artist’s personal reflections. Halfway between a conference and performative poetry, this presentation will investigate the announced death of cinema, as well as the relationships between cinema and art.
The death of God, the death of the author and the end of history have left us uncertain in what concerns our place among so many corpses. This “post-” culture, from post-Fordism to post-politics and even post-film, is born from necrophilia. As a heterodox figure within this necro-culture, artist Javier Peñafiel (Zaragoza, 1964) proposes us to improve our death with an invitation to anti-speciesism , where the animot defined by Derrida appears as the pull of culture.
This proposal will be developed through a dramatised conference in which animalised gestures will be at the heart of a whispered reading of cinema quotes, suggesting films that have been forgotten by those who announce the death of cinema. Faced with this radical cemetery, we can only exclaim, like Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, “let animals guide us!”.
‘Perfeccionando muerte’ by Javier Peñafiel ©Ignacio Molteni
‘Perfeccionando muerte’ by Javier Peñafiel ©Ignacio Molteni
Artists: Javier Peñafiel
Diana Padrón is a researcher, critic and independent curator. She holds a B.A. degree in Art History from the University of La Laguna, M.A. in Advanced Studies in Art History from the University of Barcelona and a Ph.D. from the same university in Society and Culture: History, Anthropology, Arts, Heritage and Cultural Management. She has been a visiting post-doc researcher at the Università di Padova, Université de Lille and Goldsmiths College – University of London. She collaborates with several art, thought and politics journals, and has been co-editor with Martí Peran of the journal REG|AC (Scientific Journal of Global Studies and Contemporary Art of the Universitat de Barcelona). As an independent curator she has organised exhibitions for the San Martín Centro de Cultura Contemporánea, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Museo Picasso de Barcelona, Loop Barcelona Festival, 13th Havana Biennial, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporànea, Centro de Arte La Regenta and Casal Solleric. She is a member of the Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo (IAC) and the Associació Catalana de la Crítica d’Art (ACCA).
Last update 15th November 2021
