Opening November 13th
Visits: Tuesday to Sunday from 12pm to 6pm.
Within the framework of the curatorial axis Ways of inhabiting, a distinctive feature of this third edition of BIENALSUR, Jordi Colomer presents Anarchitekton, one of his most representative projects. Three large scale images from the videos in this proposal portray Idroj Sanicne's wanderings through the streets of Barcelona, Bucharest, Osaka and Brasilia, in which the artist wields a series of scale models of iconic buildings of these cities. The real architectures and their simulations are superimposed on the cross fading still images on the screen, which hark back to silent films and the world of animation. The coarse finish of the cardboard and wood scale models is suggestive of Colomer's caricature-like and ironic approach, as he revisits, to contradict them, Kazimir Malevich's Architectones, geometrical and abstract constructions without any reference model or scale, produced between 1920 and 1925. The Spanish artist's scale models, on the other hand, not only refer to a specific model but also create parodies of it, presenting themselves as wandering and poor - namely anarchic - versions of the monumental originals that appear in the background. Displayed as banners at public protests, the scale models also allude to the tradition of Russian constructivism, whose architectural projects were assumed to symbolise a renewed society.
A famous example is the Monument to the Third International by Vladimir Tatlin, who in 1926 paraded through the streets of Leningrad carrying a scale model of his project. Emerging from their static hieraticity, the buildings chosen by Colomer take to the streets and blend into life, condensing in their replicas the imaginaries, wishes and illusions that inhabit contemporary cities.
Benedetta Casini
Anarchitekton
Barcelona/ Bucarest/ Brasilia /Osaka
Jordi Colomer, 2002-2004
Video and projection room Master: BETACAM digital
Barcelona : 5’, Bucarest : 3’, Brasilia : 3’49”, Osaka : 1’49”
Colour
Mute Produced by: MARAVILLS (Barcelona) In collaboration with: Embajada de España en Brasilia, Ecco Brasilia, Generalitat de Cataluña. Departament de Cultura, Fundación Marcelino Botín (Santander). Performed by: Idroj Sanicne Photography: Marc Viaplana (Ramone), Ichiro Guerra, Jordi Colomer
Models: Barry Paulson, Alberto Peral, Jordi Colomer, Jordi Encinas, Koichiro Togita Production: Bucarest: Radu Brasilia: Luiz Fernando Campiello Osaka: Shigefumi Sato, Koichiro Togita Tokyo: Pablo Taché Translator (Osaka): Koichi Hamajima Post-production video: Adolf Alcañiz / Metrònom-lab Thanks to : Cosmin Samoila, Mircea Cantor, Wagner Barja, Joana Prado, Alex Gabassi, Roberta Oliveira, Léa Gauthier, Keiju Kawashima, Lluís Sans, Montse Marí et Centre Català de Kansai, Koh Ishikawa, Yuri Ishikawa, Inter Idea Project, Akihiro Kuroda, Takashi Kojima, Yasumasa Otani, Takahiro Higa
Photo: Anarchitekton de Jordi Colomer
