Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
The Derivatives project, that I don't consider to be a work of its own but an experiment on autorship, represents what I'm currently interested on, regarding artistic practices: to reach some delicate balance or coherence between form and concept, trying to overcome that contradiction of criticising the functioning of the art institution and yet making works of art and exhibiting them as such. Its format is... an idea, because, starting from a proposal of mine, a group of artists made derivative works from other works that were put under a creative commons license (also on my request).
The production process was basically taking some decisions regarding the implementation of the experiment, some rules that I imposed to the artists (the work to be an object, and preferably a hanging object -for they were going to be exhibited in a museum-) and others that I left unspecified (such as the fact that not every participant understood what a 'derivative work' was).
This project is contingent in relation to certain discussions about free culture and the redefinition of the concept of 'author' that it proposes: a sort of dialogue in the form of an experience, a rehearsal using these ideas.
The subject of the work is the question on autorship, made from a canonical institution: the Museum of Fine Arts. Derivative works dialogued with original ones hanging in the same hall, and that had a special meaning in such context, where it is supposed that we aspire to be recognized for our originality; or, if the procedure is the quotation, this is made by quoting the classics, not one's own colleagues. The boundaries between 'simple copy' and 'derivative work' was resolved by means of the license's proposal.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
As an attempt to explore that what is discussed in the name of creators outside the world of art (law, computer sciences) and that has very few examples of real implementation.
The work seeks to bring as near as possible the concepts of poetics and politics; form and content: it is a reflection on artists' autorship made from inside the museum as an institution of legitimization, but using a tool that is available to anyone, for works under creative commons licenses can be copied or derived by anyone. Such is the 'form' that I consider that brings the 'idea' closer and seeks to trascend the protected environment of an art hall, where almost everything can be said or done because it bears no practical consequences: quotation and appropriation are current practices within contemporary art, however, only artists are allowed to make them, and only starting from other artistic productions. A mere copy violating copyrights is permitted as long as the artist who does it has a certain acquired status as such, and only if it's done within the frame of an institution.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
Internationally, I recognize myself as a part of the critical tradition that began with the historic avant-garde movements, and also as a part of conceptual art, specially artists working with gender issues. More recently, my influences are activists of net.art, whose concerns are related to the participation of the recipient, or viewer, the circulation of works of art, the social function of art, and so on. All of this connected with the technical form of internet and the social phenomenon that its use has generated.
Nationally, my reference points are located in works like Tucumán Arde, artists like Luis Benedit, León Ferrari and Víctor Grippo, and also some more immediate ones, both in time and space, like the art collectives Etcétera, Urbomaquia, Planeta X and many others.
4. Choose works or exhibitions from the last ten or fifteen years which in your opinion were very significant and explain why
1998 - The exhibition "La piedra en el infierno" (The stone in hell), by a group of young artists from Córdoba. The group association in order to manage big spaces and produce directly in them, as well as the diversity of languages present in their works has deeply marked a generation of artists in Córdoba.
1994 - Aníbal Buede'x exhibition in Medida x Medida. In a big individual exhibition, Buede spread the rumour that he was quitting art (he wasn't even 40, and he did count with local recognition).
1995 - The exhibition by Chancho Bono Cobral. An urban installation in the middle of the demonstration surrounding Governor Angeloz’s end of government.
1996 - Benedit's exhibition in the MNBA. It was a way to put a value on his work, and the possibility for younger generations to get to know him.
2005 - The oeuvre and exhibition by León Ferrar in the CC Recoleta. Same as Benedit, with the added value regarding the historic relevance of its controversy, as a symptom.
5. What tendencies or groupings from common elements do you see in argentine art of the last ten or fifteen years?
As big tendencies, I believe that production is divided between those who use traditional languages (taught in art schools and workshops), and those experimenting with other languages, getting in and out of the world of art as a part of their experimentation or criticism (the latter as a result of the lack of understanding from fellow artists). This is a 'grouping' that has that sole element in common (the lack of understanding and absence of proper critical reception) that has proved to be very present in the interior of Argentina. Formalist tendencies on the one side, fully inserted into the world of art in its particular way of being, in Argentina, coexist with other type of production, very diverse one from the other, but generally more concerned with the communicative effects of their works: in general, I think that artists that go on creating art after their 30th anniversary find recognition in works that satisfy them more than just seeing their name written on a catalogue.
