Letters to Sebastian | Cartas a Sebastián
A memory rehearsal: (re) script – (re) stage – (re) enact
Poniendo la memoria a ensayar: (re) guionar – (re) escenificar – (re) interpretar
2014 – 2021
Letters to Sebastian is a project based and developed from a set of photographs and letters, in the awakening of time passing and, in the eagerness, to save and preserve memories and moments while these happened and left. Therefore, these photos and letters are the basis of the the whole body of work. Letters to Sebastian has its origin in the exact moment of loss and absence, when the moment in which realization that there are no more memories to create further, but only holding on and remember over and over the ones that already were created and existed, arises.
For the artist, memory can be understood as a mental state that involves the awareness of temporal becoming. When we remember we recreate here and now the outstanding characteristics of an event or experience, maybe past information: it is a characterization of events and not a duplication of events. The past is represented in the current present, and in this process is giving both – past and present – a new significance. Are hearing, seeing, writing reading and talking, valid ways of knowing and making known, and in turn, fighting a fight against oblivion and death? This intention puts in the work of the future into the past, and forgetfulness allows the re-creation of the past. It is the present and the future that determine the past. It is a transformative process of memory in which intentionality and inner time prevail. The duplicity which characterizes the temporary configuration of the project corresponds to this peculiar behavior of memory. It is not a vacuum of time, but a void of individual memory, filled by the collective re-enactment of memory, which knows no succession but selection and recurrence. After all, the more public and collective the personal – affective memory becomes, closer to the remembrance we will be, and we will have won the battle against oblivion and death.
In A memory rehearsal: (re) script – (re) stage – (re) enact this idea is tested and the experiment is set. Is Remembering the action of rehearsing memories? Each time we do it, do we re-script, re-stage and re-enact our memories all over again?
This exhibition project is part of the artist’s masters thesis, taken at Kunstakademiet i Trondheim – NTNU (Norway) between August 2017 and May 2019.
Cartas a Sebastián es un proyecto basado y desarrollado a partir de un conjunto de fotografías y cartas, en el despertar del paso del tiempo y en el afán de guardar y preservar recuerdos y momentos mientras estos sucedían y se iban. Por lo tanto, estas fotos y cartas son la base de todo el cuerpo de trabajo. Cartas a Sebastián tiene su origen en el momento exacto de la pérdida y la ausencia, cuando se hace evidente y se comprende que no hay más recuerdos para crear, sino que solo se puede recordar los que ya se crearon y existieron.
Para la artista, la memoria puede entenderse como un estado mental que involucra la conciencia del devenir temporal. Cuando recordamos, recreamos aquí y ahora las características sobresalientes de un evento o experiencia, tal vez información pasada: es una caracterización de eventos y no una duplicación de eventos. El pasado está representado en el presente actual, y en este proceso le da a ambos, pasado y presente, un nuevo significado. ¿Son oír, ver, escribir y leer son formas válidas de conocer y dar a conocer y, a su vez, luchar contra el olvido y la muerte? Esta intención pone en el pasado el trabajo del futuro, y el olvido permite la recreación del mismo. Es el presente y el futuro lo que determina el pasado. Es un proceso de transformación de la memoria en el que prevalecen la intencionalidad y el tiempo interior. La duplicidad que caracteriza la configuración temporal del proyecto corresponde a este peculiar comportamiento de la memoria. No es un vacío de tiempo, sino un vacío de memoria individual, lleno de recreación colectiva, que no conoce sucesión sino selección y recurrencia. Después de todo, cuanto más pública y colectiva se vuelve la memoria personal y emocional, más cerca de ser recordados y de recordar estaremos, y habremos ganado la batalla contra el olvido y la muerte.
En Cartas a Sebastián. Poniendo la memoria a ensayar: (re) guionar – (re) escenificar – (re) interpretar esta idea se pone a prueba y se establece el experimento. ¿Es recordar la acción de ensayar recuerdos? Cada vez que lo hacemos, ¿reescribimos, re escenificamos y re interpretamos nuestros recuerdos?
Este proyecto expositivo es parte de la tesis de maestría de la artista, cursada en Kunstakademiet i Trondheim – NTNU (Noruega) entre Agosto 2017 y Mayo 2019
Still I wait for you and still you don’t come (Todavía te espero y todavía no venís)
Performatic action / Site Specific / Urban intervention.
Waiting on a bench and/or other public space one hour per day every day. Register it with a permanent maker: date, time and phrase “Still wait for you and still you don ́t come”.
Variable measures
Montevideo, Uruguay
September, 2014 – June, 2015
Exhibited in:
Montevideo, Uruguay, public space (2014 – 2015)
Web site / Work in progress
Timers assigned to photos. Timers advance when the photos are not being viewed and regress when they are.
www.etdlm.com
Variable measures
2016
Exhibited in:
Material Thinking, Tsinghua University – Museum of Art of Tsinghua, Beijing, China (2021). Curated by Prof. Peng Gang, Prof. Hong Xingyu, Prof. Zhang Gan, Dra. Kelly Liang.
Simulacrum II: The territory of memory (Simulacro II: El territorio de la memoria)
Performatic action / Site Specific / Urban intervention / Work in progress
Stage 1: Twelve plates / commemorative landmarks of private memories in public space.
Variable measures
Montevideo, Uruguay.
2016
Exhibited in:
Montevideo, Uruguay, public space (2013)
Simulation IV: The layers of memory (Simulacro IV: Las capas de la memoria) Three Triptychs Collages of text cut into forty-one laser-printed text strips each, on Non acid free paper, where the missing strip is the one that corresponds to the title number.
43 x 32 cm each piece. 2018 – 2021
Exhibited in:
49 Montevideo Visual Arts Award, CME Subte, Uruguay (2021)
The things that were and the things that were almost (Las cosas que fueron y las cosas que casi fueron)
Performatic action / work in progress
Sitting on a chair in front of another chair in which any person could sit and hear from the performer a random memory told in the ear, as a whisper or confession.
Variable measures
2017
Exhibited in:
Performance Fest, KiT Galleri, Trondheim – Norway
Second Acquisition Prize at 49 Montevideo Visual Arts Award, CME Subte, Uruguay (2019).
Jury: Valeria González (Argentina), Fernando Gaspar (Chile) and Enrique Badaró (Uruguay).
What I don’t remember at all (Lo que no recuerdo en absoluto)
Digital photograph / Digital printing / Xerox
70x50cm
2018
Exhibited in:
Framed/unframed, KiT Galleri, Trondheim – Norway
Curated by Annett Busch (Germany).
Nice, clever and devastating (Bueno, inteligente y devastador)
Installation / Labels
Variable measurements
2018
Exhibited in:
Switch, KiT Galleri, Trondheim – Norway (2018)
Curated by Mika Haykowsky (Canada).
Selected for the 59th Margaret Whyte Visual Arts Award, EAC, Montevideo. Uruguay (2020).
The conquest of you
Installation / site-specific
2019
Exhibited in:
Bridges are burning, Trondheim Kunstmuseum Gråmølna, Trondheim, Norway (2019). Curated by Rike Frank (Germany). RKK Kunstfest , trondheim, Norway (2021)
Credits
Project tutors: Michelle Teran, David Rych, Alex Murray-Leslie
Performers: Jan Sthal, Nadia Navarro
Photography: Natalia de León, Santiago Decarlini, Flor Campi, Lili Zaneta
Graphic Design: Lía Miranda
Audiovisual realization: Ruben Etcheverry
Collaborations and acknowledgments: Carla Cassamanaghi, Joaquín Cámpora, Chris Hansen, Menini Nicola
Créditos
Tutores del proyecto: Michelle Teran, David Rych, Alex Murray-Leslie
Performers: Jan Sthal, Nadia Navarro
Fotografía: Natalia de León, Santiago Decarlini, Flor Campi, Lili Zaneta
Diseño Gráfico: Lía Miranda
Realización Audiovisual: Ruben Etcheverry
Colabraciones y agradecimientos: Carla Cassamanaghi, Joaquín Cámpora, Chris Hansen, Menini Nicola