Words / Palabras... by Antoni Muntadas in ARCO 2020
28/02/2020.
[MAD] Spain
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Palabras... / Words... The power of words transits between their permanence and their volatility. Sometimes you need a scalpel and others so old and full of meanings that their own wealth makes them ambiguous, poetic, capable of suggesting hells and utopias.
Antoni Muntadas (Barcelona, 78 years old) has turned some of them into images and presents them at the ARCO fair, as a reflection on their use and the means of communication at the El País newspaper stand.
The artist's work, resident in the United States, continues an investigation into the language that began in New York and was presented in Spain in the Moisés Pérez de Albéniz gallery and in Artium.
Words ... is now presented at ARCO, with an ad hoc installation created by the artist in collaboration with the architect Juan Herreros. Words ... will travel in March and April in a new version of the series to São Paulo, Brazil.
Antoni Muntadas (Barcelona, 78 years old) has turned some of them into images and presents them at the ARCO fair, as a reflection on their use and the means of communication at the El País newspaper stand.
The artist's work, resident in the United States, continues an investigation into the language that began in New York and was presented in Spain in the Moisés Pérez de Albéniz gallery and in Artium.
Words ... is now presented at ARCO, with an ad hoc installation created by the artist in collaboration with the architect Juan Herreros. Words ... will travel in March and April in a new version of the series to São Paulo, Brazil.
Detail. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
DEBATE. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
DEMAGOGIA. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
DEMOCRACIA. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
FAKE NEWS. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
IDEOLOGÍA. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
MIEDO. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Antoni Muntadas y Juan Herreros. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
OJETIVIDAD. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
OPINIÓN. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
POLÍTICA. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
RESPONSABILIDAD. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
View of the architectural installation by estudioHerreros
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Antoni Muntadas y Juan Herreros. Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Palabras… for El País, by Antoni Muntadas
Floor plan of the architectural installation by estudioHerreros
The "fake news" have demonstrated more than ever the value, use and manipulation of words. Networks and new uses of communication, such as written messages, raise an intense reflection on their metalinguistic value. Muntadas has selected a series of words transforming them into images to accentuate a reflection on their semiological value, but especially their metalinguistic, typographical value, their translation, their obvious ontological character, in a process of loss of meanings or gain of others not established so far .
The project was initially presented in the Moisés Pérez de Albéniz gallery (Madrid, 2017) and Artium (Vitoria, 2019), pointing out the widespread wear of language in its classical sense due to its new social uses, especially through the repetitive recourse of certain terms by the political class and the media.
At the invitation of the newspaper El País for ARCOmadrid 2020, Muntadas has proposed a version of the Palabras... project that does take into account contextual conditions. First, the number of words is defined in relation to the exhibition space.
In the list of terms some have been introduced that did not appear so far in the project Words ..., which make direct reference to the media, such as OPINIÓN, OBJETIVIDAD, FAKE NEWS, RESPONSABILIDAD and MEDIA, in addition to POLÍTICA, IDEOLOGÍA, DEMOCRACIA, DEMAGOGIA and MIEDO.
In collaboration with the architect Juan Herreros, a temporary structure has been designed and built to host Palabras..., determining a specific display for the occasion.
The version of Palabras... for El País appropriates the characteristic typography of this newspaper, whose logo is part of the collective imaginary of print media in Spain since its foundation in 1976.
Muntadas has worked pointing out the invisible that, from the macro or microstructures, affects us without us being aware of its existence, as a «landscape landscape mediator dedicated to drawing relationships between things that remained hidden or silent», Fernández-Cañadas, 2017.
The project was initially presented in the Moisés Pérez de Albéniz gallery (Madrid, 2017) and Artium (Vitoria, 2019), pointing out the widespread wear of language in its classical sense due to its new social uses, especially through the repetitive recourse of certain terms by the political class and the media.
At the invitation of the newspaper El País for ARCOmadrid 2020, Muntadas has proposed a version of the Palabras... project that does take into account contextual conditions. First, the number of words is defined in relation to the exhibition space.
In the list of terms some have been introduced that did not appear so far in the project Words ..., which make direct reference to the media, such as OPINIÓN, OBJETIVIDAD, FAKE NEWS, RESPONSABILIDAD and MEDIA, in addition to POLÍTICA, IDEOLOGÍA, DEMOCRACIA, DEMAGOGIA and MIEDO.
In collaboration with the architect Juan Herreros, a temporary structure has been designed and built to host Palabras..., determining a specific display for the occasion.
The version of Palabras... for El País appropriates the characteristic typography of this newspaper, whose logo is part of the collective imaginary of print media in Spain since its foundation in 1976.
Muntadas has worked pointing out the invisible that, from the macro or microstructures, affects us without us being aware of its existence, as a «landscape landscape mediator dedicated to drawing relationships between things that remained hidden or silent», Fernández-Cañadas, 2017.
More information
Antoni Muntadas
Antoni Muntadas was born in Barcelona in 1942 and has lived in New York since 1971. His work addresses social, political and communication issues, such as the relationship between public and private space within certain social frameworks or information channels and the way in which they are used to censor or promulgate ideas. He presents his projects in different media, such as photography, video, publications, Internet, installations and interventions in urban spaces.
Muntadas has taught and directed seminars in various institutions in Europe and the United States, Latin America and Asia. His long career as a visiting professor of the Visual Arts Program at the School of Architecture at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, stands out from 1990 to 2014. He is currently a professor at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice.
He has received various awards and scholarships from institutions such as the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Electronic Arts in Linz, Laser d'Or in Locarno, the National Prize for Plastic Arts granted by the Generalitat de Catalunya and the National Prize for Plastic Arts 2005. One of the most recent awards is the Velázquez Prize for Visual Arts 2009, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
His work has been exhibited in several museums, including the MoMA in New York, the Berkeley Art Museum in California, the Musée Contemporain in Montreal, the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum in Madrid, the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires, the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro and the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. As for its presence in international competitions, it is worth mentioning its participation in the VI and X editions of the Documenta de Kassel (1977, 1997), the Whitney Biennial of American Art (1991) and the 51st Venice Biennial (2005), as well as those of São Paulo, Lyon, Taipei, Gwangju and Havana.
Muntadas has taught and directed seminars in various institutions in Europe and the United States, Latin America and Asia. His long career as a visiting professor of the Visual Arts Program at the School of Architecture at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, stands out from 1990 to 2014. He is currently a professor at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice.
He has received various awards and scholarships from institutions such as the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Electronic Arts in Linz, Laser d'Or in Locarno, the National Prize for Plastic Arts granted by the Generalitat de Catalunya and the National Prize for Plastic Arts 2005. One of the most recent awards is the Velázquez Prize for Visual Arts 2009, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.
His work has been exhibited in several museums, including the MoMA in New York, the Berkeley Art Museum in California, the Musée Contemporain in Montreal, the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum in Madrid, the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires, the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro and the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. As for its presence in international competitions, it is worth mentioning its participation in the VI and X editions of the Documenta de Kassel (1977, 1997), the Whitney Biennial of American Art (1991) and the 51st Venice Biennial (2005), as well as those of São Paulo, Lyon, Taipei, Gwangju and Havana.
Juan Herreros, Jens Richter. Estudio Herreros
estudioHerreros. In 2014, its Founding Partner Juan Herreros transformed Herreros Arquitectos into Estudio Herreros with the intention of opening up its practice to a partnership based configuration with which an international agenda can be approached while building on a solid national reputation. The first architect to become a partner is Jens Richter, who was Director of the firm after 10 years of collaboration with Juan Herreros.
Estudio Herreros is a Madrid-based architecture practice operating worldwide, employing about 20 architects from different nationalities, that has important achievements in the art world such as the Edward Munch Museum in Oslo, currently under construction, the re-qualification of the exhibition areas of the Reina Sofía Museum, the contemporary art space SOLO in Madrid and a number of designs for art fairs, galleries, exhibitions, or artist studios such as Luis Gordillo's.
The list of significant projects of estudioHerreros includes the intermodal station of Santiago, the Ágora-Bogotá event center in Colombia and the Tacubaya Strategic Plan in Mexico, along with achievements in Spain, Korea, Panama, Uruguay, France, Morocco, etc.
Estudio Herreros is a Madrid-based architecture practice operating worldwide, employing about 20 architects from different nationalities, that has important achievements in the art world such as the Edward Munch Museum in Oslo, currently under construction, the re-qualification of the exhibition areas of the Reina Sofía Museum, the contemporary art space SOLO in Madrid and a number of designs for art fairs, galleries, exhibitions, or artist studios such as Luis Gordillo's.
The list of significant projects of estudioHerreros includes the intermodal station of Santiago, the Ágora-Bogotá event center in Colombia and the Tacubaya Strategic Plan in Mexico, along with achievements in Spain, Korea, Panama, Uruguay, France, Morocco, etc.
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