Souvenir Identities Catalogue (CAST. & ENG) by Miriam C.Cabeza

Identidades Souvenir

Souvenir Identities Desde la isla-continente a la isla-perifĂŠrica From the island-continent to the island-periphery

EXPOSICIÓN Y CATÁLOGO

Fernando Arencibia Hernández Julio Caubín Hernández Presidente José Barbosa Hernández Vicepresidente Ignacio Baeza Gómez Vocales José Luis Catalinas Calleja Teófilo Domínguez Anaya

Coordinación del catálogo Miriam Corredera Cabeza Alicia Batista Couzi Luz Marina Quesada Suárez Créditos fotográficos Sus autores Diseño gráfico y maquetación Eva Kašáková

Fundación Ignacio Larramendi

Textos

– Repre. Miguel Hernando de Larramendi –

Miriam Corredera Cabeza

César García Otero

Martí Manen

Santiago Gayarre Bermejo José Hernández Barbosa Miguel Herreros Altamirano

Traducciones Laura F. Farhall

Tomás Hidalgo Aranda

Montaje y transporte

Andrés Jiménez Herradón

ACOSERPA DIGITAL, S.L.

Filomeno Mira Candel Humberto Pérez Hidalgo Jorge Carlos Petit Sánchez

Seguros MAPFRE Seguros generales

Asunción Rodríguez Betancort

Impresión

Julián Pedro Sáenz Cortés

Gráficas Sabater, S. L.

Juan Francisco Sánchez Mayor Isabel Suárez Velázquez

Souvenir Identities

Créditos de la obra editorial Fundación Canaria MAPFRE GUANARTEME

Secretario

Calle Juan de Quesada nº 10

Jaime Álvarez de las Asturias

35001 – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Bohorques

ISBN 978-84-1564-27-8

Patronos Históricos

Identidades Souvenir

Depósito legal:

Manuel Jordán Martinón Silvestre de León García Santiago Rodríguez Santana Félix Santiago Melián Directora General Esther Martel Gil Directora del Área Cultural Alicia Batista Couzi

Desde la isla–continente a la isla–periférica From the island–continent to the island–periphery

Miriam C. Cabeza

Presidentes de Honor

Índice Identidades Souvenir .................................................... 7 Miriam C. Cabeza Los souvenirs, memorias, identidades, lugares, tiempos y detalles que perduran ......................... 15 Martí Manen English translation ........................................................ 23

Fase I. ........................................................................... 35

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres ..................... 41 Francisco Torres y Laura Gower ......................... 52 Inés Peña y Alex Howes / Inés Peña y José Jurado .................................................................................. 67 Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie ................................ 83

Fase II. ....................................................................... 113

Alejandro Gopar .......................................................... 117 Francisco Torres .......................................................... 123 Inés Peña .......................................................................... 130 Laura Gower ................................................................... 136 Oscar HR ........................................................................... 139 Samuel Hunter .............................................................. 145

Identidades Souvenir

Miriam C. Cabeza

Con la expresión “Identidades Souvenir”, título de este proyecto, se hace referencia precisamente a aquello que se construye en nuestra mente al pensar en un lugar ajeno a nosotros y a esas imágenes estereotipadas con las que construimos ese emplazamiento. Es interesante comprobar cómo el souvenir, tal y como ya afirmaba Fernando Estévez, acaba por ser una materialización de la naturaleza y de la subjetividad del turista. Se inserta en el proceso de construcción de las identidades sociales y culturales, al igual que en nuestra memoria de lugares, gentes y cosas, y adquiriendo diferentes “regímenes de valor” en función de sus poseedores. Dentro de la lógica cultural capitalista, el viaje y los lugares se empaquetan como turísticos, y el souvenir se convierte en la prueba de la imposibilidad del turista de escapar al permanente vaivén entre la seducción de lo exótico y los impulsos de posesión y apropiación del Otro y, en el otro extremo, a la nostalgia por su muerte y desaparición 1. El souvenir, probablemente fabricado en serie en Asia, y devuelto para ser adquirido en ese emplazamiento turístico, que con el tiempo, termina por definir en el ojo extranjero a ese lugar y lo que se espera encontrar en él, su experiencia, al final, termina incluso siendo recreado para el visitante, como ante lo reconocible — Tenerife – sol o Gran Bretaña – El Big Ben 2. Dicho esto, este proyecto se centra en el intercambio entre artistas de diferentes contextos locales, tratando de promover, a través de Internet, experiencias vinculadas a lo local, en el entorno global en el que hoy se desarrollan las prácticas

1 2

Estévez Gonzalez, Fernando, 2007, Souvenirs’ y turistas, http://elpais.com diario/2007/08/18/ babelia/1187391967_850215.html Dean MacCannell, 2012, Tourismology: to go and to stay; Morality and ethics in tourism’s subjective field, resvistal FLUOR, volumen 3.

artísticas, dando respuesta a la necesidad de establecer nuevas dinámicas relacionales y puntos de reflexión, a partir de miradas diversas. Rompiendo con los estereotipos fabricados respecto a esos lugares y las personas que en él habitan. El interés de la propuesta de intervención reside en la calidad de los procesos dialógicos. Se pacta y renegocia continuamente, adaptándose a las necesidades de cada momento. Nace del concepto de laboratorio, como espacio de investigación, estudio, proposición y acción. Partiendo del trabajo conjunto, se quieren establecer nuevas metodologías útiles, prácticas y críticas con los respectivos contextos. Siguiendo la dinámica ensayo-error, se trata de un proceso de tanteo que no espera resultados concretos a priori, sino procura el juego con los elementos y las dificultades que SE van presentando en el proceso, buscando soluciones y respuestas en cada momento. Siempre moviéndose entre lo experimental, lo procesual y la indagación; haciendo hincapié en las posibilidades que ofrece compartir esas diversas visiones sobre el trabajo artístico. Abarcando desde las preocupaciones sociales de cada país o enclave, hasta aquellas otras que afectan a la experiencia propia. El punto de partida inicial de cada artista, es diferente en función de las distintas influencias culturales y experiencias personales de cada uno. Pero ello no debía ser un problema pues es precisamente éste, el eje en torno al cual se mueve el proyecto. Ese “factor personal” que cada artista confiere al intercambio, es lo que lo construye, le da un carácter y un tempo. Las conversaciones, la confusión debida a la vía de comunicación empleada, el tiempo de espera, las limitaciones por el idioma - a pesar de las facilidades que ofrece la red para superarlas, siempre algo se pierde, se disloca, como un teléfono roto -, las ideas que se sugieren y se quedan en el camino, las que terminan por llevarse a cabo, las diversas formas de entender y trabajar, o incluso de ser. Todo tiene un valor, forma parte del viaje, de la experiencia, disfrutar del recorrido, de la deriva. Esta experiencia de intercambio parte de una dinámica de “ósmosis” relativa a lugares, de sencillo establecimiento y

acceso que, a partir de la transversalidad, abre la posibilidad de construir entramados artísticos locales complejos, críticos y donde el aire se renueva a cada paso, con las aportaciones de los diferentes agentes. Se desarrolla a partir de dinámicas de aprendizaje y trabajo conjunto que permiten abrir nuevas vías y definir herramientas alternativas para un uso profesional. Dentro de este nuevo paradigma de las experiencias mediatizadas por las TIC, se valora no solo la información o los contenidos multimedia que aportan las mismas, sino también la forma en que permiten que se establezca la comunicación entre personas y grupos, con sus las fortalezas y debilidades, desde el contexto del arte. Estas conexiones podrían ser infinitas si se quisiera, pero en este caso, el proceso por el que se establecen los nexos, responde a un itinerario biográfico, por el cual se conectan dos lugares en los que se ha habitado: el lugar del que se proviene, Tenerife, y el lugar que te acoge como estudiante ERASMUS, Manchester. Resultando el proceso enriquecedor: estudiar en otra universidad, en otro país, con otro idioma, con una visión distinta del arte y de cómo se configura; con una forma de entender la educación, el aprendizaje y sus objetivos diferentes. ¿Cómo traer algo de vuelta? ¿Cómo compartir algo del lugar de donde se procede con la ciudad que te acoge? Con este proyecto se pretende ofrecer a los participantes la posibilidad de trabajar con compañeros de otros lugares, que parten de una formación y una mirada distinta, pero con quienes se comparten intereses comunes, pudiendo por tanto aprender unos de otros. Este proyecto, a su vez, pretende también ser un mecanismo activador de la interacción, la negociación y el trabajo colaborativo. Ya existen otras propuestas de intercambio a diversos niveles, como por ejemplo Mobile Art School Athens en Liverpool, que durante una corta estancia en Atenas, intentó, a través de una serie de discusiones, debates, películas, fotografías, escritos, dibujos y online/offline derivas psicogeográficas, formular preguntas acerca de la posibilidad de la autonomía política y

artística en la actualidad. Esta experiencia fue realizada por personal y estudiantes del grado en Bellas Artes de Liverpool School of Art and Design en colaboración con la Biennal de Atenas, AllArtNow de Damasco y Grizedale Arts en Coniston. Mobile Arts School forma parte de la Fine Arts Public Platform ‘The Future of the Art School in Society’ impulsada por el Liverpool School of Art and Design, en un intento de redefinir la forma en que los programas de Bellas Artes y Escuelas de Arte podría funcionar en el futuro. Por otro lado, hay proyectos mucho menos ambiciosos pero igualmente interesantes, como puede ser Deriva Mussol. Iniciativa que se desarrolla desde el museo ACVic y que realiza derivas por la ciudad de Vic. Su propuesta que aún sigue en curso, tras ser contactados por The Walk Exchange – colectivo que hace paseos psicogeográficos por la ciudad de Nueva York -, consiste en que un grupo de personas realice una ruta juntos, a la misma hora y de la misma duración. Durante esta ruta se va recogiendo material visual y objetos, que luego serán enviados por correo ordinario al grupo de la otra ciudad. La caminata concluye con una pequeña puesta en común a través de Skype. Cada uno de los lugares se quedaría con la caja recibida como presente por la experiencia. Esta propuesta aún sigue en curso. Abandonando por un momento los intercambios entre personas de diversos países, encontramos Inter-Accions que es una propuesta de proyecto colaborativo entre estudiantes de la Facultad de Bellas Artes (UB) y de las escuelas de Arquitectura ETSAB y ETSAV (UPC) en la ciudad de Barcelona. El proyecto se basa en la organización de una actividad formativa dirigida a estudiantes de ambos centros, con el objetivo de crear una propuesta de experimentación colectiva, donde el intercambio de herramientas y de conocimientos interdisciplinarios sean la principal base metodológica, con el fin de diseñar interferencias en los espacios relacionales de la ciudad.

Desde la Isla-continente a la Isla-periférica. Manchester-Tenerife.

Las islas, sin importar sus extensión, siempre son unidades cerradas delimitadas, que acaban donde empiezan el mar y el aire. En ellas parece tenerse la sensación de estar aislado de la realidad continental y de estar en el centro de todo lo que le rodea, donde todas las cosas aumentan su importancia, triplican su talla aparente. Dos lugares que tienen como punto común el estar localizados en islas, pero perteneciendo, dentro de concepto de isla, a distintos tipos de ecosistemas. Una periférica, Tenerife, lugar sobre el que el ojo extranjero puede verter un sin fin de imágenes paradisíacas – arena blanca, agua turquesa y palmeras. Y la otra Gran Bretaña, cuyos habitantes la sienten como continental, a veces incluso, desvinculándola de Europa, hablando de ella como Otra, a la que ellos no pertenecen. Manchester, como ciudad para el intercambio, descentraliza toda esa cultura visual inglesa, vinculada a Londres – autobuses rojos, guardias reales y London Eye – donde el visitante espera encontrar todo ese registro visual inexistente y muchas veces reproducido solo para este – Manchester Eye. Este es un intercambio en el que se ponen de manifiesto dichos conflictos y muchos otros, con idiomas y culturas distintos, pero negociando un punto común. En cuanto a las especificidades de cada lugar, se podría decir que el arte en Canarias, y más concretamente en Tenerife, es un círculo pequeño, aunque recientemente se ha contado con exposiciones con artistas de talla internacional como Bill Viola en el SAC. Proliferan los espacios y las iniciativas jóvenes como es el ejemplo de El Polvorín, La Piscina Editorial o El apartamento esta ultima concluida hace solo algunos años; en este contexto, alberga diversas oportunidades para los artistas emergentes pudiendo adquirir cierta relevancia en el panorama local. Pero dichas oportunidades se agotan siendo aún muy jóvenes, viéndose obligados a emigrar a otros lugares. Por ello, los artistas isleños necesitan vínculos y espacios de debate

con agentes externos con los que puedan comparar procesos y formas de hacer, promover el pensamiento crítico e intentar encontrar la sostenibilidad a sus proyectos en su entorno. Como afirmó Arístides Santana, un joven comisario, escritor y artista procedente de Gran Canaria quizás el siguiente pasó puediera ser abrir las puertas a Latino América y África, con las que se comparten tradición y proximidad. Por el otro lado, en Manchester actualmente parece existir un gran interés por el encuentro entre culturas, países o localidades. Esto se ha reflejado en la organización de múltiples festivales e iniciativas llevadas a cabo en la ciudad, como Asian Manchester Trienial a manos del colectivo Shisha o Road Trip y M/R, realizados desde el espacio Lionel Dobie Project o con ayuda del mismo. En cambio, en el contexto universitario, los alumnos no suelen realizar intercambios en el extranjero debido, tal vez, a que los cursos de idiomas de la universidad se tienen que pagar a parte de la matrícula ordinaria y no cuentan para nota3. Además, normalmente, son solo estancias de cuatro meses. Aún así, existe interés por establecer contacto con otros contextos, como por el ejemplo Interactions – un intercambio entre artistas de Manchester y Edimburgo –, M/R – un intercambio entre artistas de Manchester y Rennes – como algunos de los participantes declaran, que puede ser no solo una buena oportunidad de aprendizaje, sino también una forma de aumentar su networking y promocionar su obra en otros lugares4. En este contexto, es importante señalar la importancia del papel desempeñado por Arts Council del Reino Unido, sin cuyo apoyo, no podrían realizarse muchas de estas iniciativas, desde las de mayor escala a las de menos. A todo esto podemos añadir que con motivo de los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres de 2012, también se sunbencionaron muchos otros proyectos que

3 4

Lencky, James; The Debut by James Lencky (Rennes Project Manager), 2013, http://man-renexchange.tumblr.com/page/3 Morrison, Katy; Manchester|Rennes Exchange: A Space where Art, Artists and Audience can meet, 2013, http://man-ren-exchange.tumblr.com/page/4

promovían el intercambio de culturas y la diversidad cultural, esto también hizo florecer varios eventos alrededor de la ciudad a lo lardo de ese año, como por ejemplo Cotton: Global Threads en la Whitworth Gallery entre otros. En la actualidad, los estudiantes y artistas emergentes al desarrollar y poner en práctica sus ideas y proyectos, con el fin de crecer como individuos y como profesionales, se encuentran con numerosos obstáculos. La austeridad, los recortes en cultura y educación, el coste cero o los trabajos mal remunerados, son premisas que parecen haber sido aceptadas como naturales tanto en el ámbito del arte como mundo laboral de hoy en general. En esta situcación los artistas se congelan en estado de “emergentes”casi de manera indefinida. Identidades Souvenir, es una iniciativa se presenta como una dinámica fácil de establecer, que no precisa de más infraestructura que aquella con la que ya cuentan los artistas que intervienen y que permite, mediante un intercambio telemático, reflexionar sobre las prácticas artíticas actuales, en una sociedad en la que existen tecnologías que permiten que, en segundos, se pueda establecer contacto con personas que viven a miles de kilómetros de distancia. Al mismo tiempo que permiten, poner en conflicto ideas preconcebidas y distintos puntos de vista. Vivimos en una realidad social y económica de grandes dificultades, en la que la creatividad y la colaboración pueden ser estrategias básicas para poder seguir avanzando5, aunque ¿hacia dónde? con la polvareda que está creando la crisis en el horizonte, pocas mentes privilegiadas lograrán acertar con la lotería del futuro. Pero parece interesante guardar en la mente el concepto de “avanzar” y preguntarse en de tanto en tanto hacia dónde, mostrarse críticos a cada paso, quizá eso permita por lo menos, avanzar con un paso pensado, consciente. Por

Selvas, Sergi; Arias, Nora; Carrasco, Marta y L. Fermoselle, Borga; Temáticas y conceptos; ¿Qué es Inter-Accions?, 2013, http://www.inter-accions.org/content/tem%C3%A0tica-i-conceptes

ello, son necesarias nuevas experiencias que, sin precisar grandes recursos, permitan desarrollar habilidades y herramientas desde la crítica y el análisis común. Por otra parte y para concluir, nos encontramos con que tenemos al alcance una gran cantidad de medios tecnológicos que ofrecen infinidad de posibilidades, pero ello no implica que vivamos en una diversidad de discursos. La capacidad de imaginar y reinventar pertenece a las personas. Al igual que la posibilidad de expresarse y buscar lenguajes desde los que poder hacerlo, son herramientas importantes para reflexionar, crear y cambiar nuestro entorno6. Por último, hay que señalar, que no se pretende sustituir las relaciones personales “cara a cara”, sino que lo que se busca es la indagación de otras posibilidades en un momento que se presenta hostil, con el fin de abrir un espacio donde poner en contacto nuestros pensamientos preconcebidos, y nuestras maneras de hacer y mirar.

Selvas, Sergi; Arias, Nora; Carrasco, Marta y L. Fermoselle, Borga; Temáticas y conceptos; ¿Qué es Inter-Accions?, 2013, http://www.inter-accions.org/content/tem%C3%A0tica-i-conceptes

Los souvenirs, memorias, identidades, lugares, tiempos y detalles que perduran

Martí Manen

Momentos Existen momentos complicados, sin normas, momentos con los que empezar algo que no sabemos qué será. Souvenir Identities proponía generar algunos de estos momentos. Puntos de partida, bases inestables desde las que ir hacia lo desconocido. Momentos, lugares, mapas. Y estar perdidos. Mapas Convertir un tejido en una abstracción de contenidos que relatan una secuencia espacial. El mapa ha definido la relación con los lugares. El mapa es ahora algo supuestamente inclusivo y pasa a ser una serie de localizaciones vía GPS actualizándose en tiempo real. Material objetivo, datos, información. Supuestamente. El mapa sigue siendo plano. La tierra sigue siendo plana. El tiempo, el proceso, los momentos perdidos se olvidan en el mapa y no tienen lugar de presentación. Lo estático gana, lo temporal terminará por desaparecer, los momentos definitorios no tendrán opción de ser mapa. El tiempo implica capas, implica dislocaciones, titubeos y dudas. No saber exactamente cuál es el lugar, cuándo es el momento, qué está pasando. El tiempo se vive y escapa. El mapa olvida a sus personas, sus emociones y sus dudas. Lugares Pensar en un lugar. Pensar en las imágenes asociadas a este lugar. Pensar ahora en dos lugares al mismo tiempo. Y las imágenes, entonces, empiezan a ser menos evidentes. La velocidad de acción, y de pensamiento, en un mundo donde las distancias digitales se cuentan en nanosegundos,

conlleva que el pensar en la fisicidad de un lugar obligue a plantearse, seguramente, una pausa. Un lugar no es su imagen, pero difícilmente escapamos de la etiquetación a la que estamos acostumbrados. Velocidad, necesitamos una respuesta, sea la que sea. Velocidad, el saber de qué estamos hablando sin perder la estela. La evolución de las redes digitales ha conllevado que las imágenes se llenen de señales, de contenidos textuales que faciliten su indexación. Antes las imágenes eran un sistema para entroncar el conocimiento, ahora parece que son el contexto adecuado para depositar tal contenido. La imagen pasa a ser un escritorio, un plano, un contenedor. La imagen digital abre su espacio a otras cifras que no son ya las posibilidades que se encontraban en la química o la física. La imagen contiene más que la propia imagen. No son ya las opciones de la imagen como imagen (como en los archivos RAW) sino que nos encontramos con imágenes que contienen historias, comentarios, nombres de personas, conexiones, deseos, bombas, todo aquello que queramos, todo tipo de contenido que manejamos ya sin control. Las imágenes son lugares donde incorporar información. Y en los lugares “reales” aplicamos el mismo sentido. Un lugar necesita de su identificación para ser algo. La etiqueta nos da la posibilidad al reconocimiento y, mediante el reconocimiento llega la tranquilidad. Un lugar, dos lugares. La relación entre los lugares se realiza entonces mediante el cruce de etiquetas. Ciudades hermanadas. Paisajes parecidos. Sensaciones comunes. Visitar un lugar con las referencias de otro. Sobreponer capas de lugares en otros lugares. En los lugares buscar sistemas para compartir las miradas, para que la comunicación fluya y la experiencia física tenga un sentido. La velocidad para el lugar implica que necesariamente partamos del conocimiento de otro. Esta plaza es como esa plaza. Este museo significa lo mismo que ese otro museo. Este edificio es aquel edificio en esa otra ciudad.

Procesos En el devenir de una obra de arte los procesos de definición y producción, así como su presentación, cada vez son menos exactos. La mezcla de situaciones, las distintas líneas temporales cruzadas, la necesidad crítica de redefinición constante conllevan que el proceso sea constituyente y que sea en la acción del trabajo en la que se genere la obra. Trabajo, producción, obra. Incidir en el proceso implica un cambio de registro en la obra. Proceso implica lo dicho, trabajo, pero también conexión con el contexto, necesidad de comprensión constante y posibilidad de evaluación. Nadie dijo que el salto a lo procesual fuera fácil. Tampoco a lo contextual. Cuando el arte quiere formar parte de su entorno, cuando lo que se ofrece es para todos, cuando el deseo es la generación de un diálogo aparecen una serie de interrogantes que conllevan una necesaria dosis de humildad. Humildad, ya que la figura romántica no nos respalda, ya que parte del proceso creativo será respaldado por otros y por los lugares. Souvenir Identities / Identidades souvenir Souvenir Identities es un proyecto que plantea la posible relación artística entre dos lugares, entre dos modos de entender la distancia. Miriam C. Cabeza define coordenadas, Manchester y Tenerife, y modos de ser, la isla-continente y la isla-periférica. El proyecto busca momentos, asume el riesgo del proceso y observa la aparición en el camino de otros lugares. También Berlín, por ejemplo, aparecerá en este mapa artístico mediante un eje entre dos puntos. Uno de los resultados, eso que siempre evitamos en todo proceso, tendrá forma de exposición pero muchos otros “resultados” aparecerán en el desarrollo. La definición de la identidad, sea personal o localizada. El diálogo como base para la definición. La direccionalidad en la mirada, sea interior o exterior. Entre muchos otros elementos que están en juego.

Tesoro La imagen literaria de la isla está íntimamente ligada a la de su mapa. Stevenson. Lo desconocido, el objetivo, el tesoro. Para que una isla sea literatura es importante que no sea demasiado grande. En las islas literarias se reconocen los límites terrestres. El mapa, el plano, es visible. Pero el tablero esconde sus fichas, sus movimientos, sus peligros. Imágenes Cruzar dos imágenes, volver a la idea de la imagen como contenedor, como lugar. Dos. Proponer un diálogo. Y, también, dos personas. En Souvenir Identities hay personas e imágenes. Si no es lo mismo. La imagen de uno mismo frente a otro, la imagen de un lugar “propio” y al que “se representa” frente a otro lugar “propio” “representado”. Explicarse al otro mediante lo común, mediante lo asumido, los tópicos, la superficie. Buscar a partir de la comunicación de lo primario. Entrar después en los poros, en los detalles, llegar a descifrar las capas de las imágenes. Yuxtaponer imágenes implica una acción de desmontaje y, también, una posibilidad narrativa. Cada una de las dos imágenes se contrapone a la otra y a partir de tal contraposición se genera un código de comunicación propio. A veces imposible, a veces más que factible. Momentos II Mi hermano, más pequeño que yo, ríe en la foto después de robar un gorro a un marinero en una terraza de un café. El marinero, y sus colegas, están sorprendidos. Mi hermano está actuando con el enorme gorro en su cabeza. Supongo que en la foto tendrá unos 4 años. La terraza del café está en una montaña. Los marineros están fuera de lugar. Se les nota fuera de lugar. Son marineros pero también son turistas. No recuerdo si aparezco en la foto, pero yo tenía más vergüenza que mi hermano y no me atrevía a robar gorros a marineros.

Conversaciones En el proceso de trabajo alrededor de Souvenir Identities las conversaciones han pasado a un primer plano. La conversación como sistema para tejer contenidos, la conversación como lugar de definición en proceso. Los artistas hablan y fijan al hablar, si es que es posible fijar algo. Go with the flow, que decían Inés Peña y Alex Howes sin encontrar un punto en común. Let’s see how it goes, que decían Oscar Hernandez y Jonathon Beattie sin estar muy convencidos. Los tigres en el zoo terminan por realizar recorridos idénticos y sin fin. Los mismos pasos, los mismos gestos, las mismas pausas intentando siempre que pase algo, encontrar algo, una sorpresa, un sentido. Las conversaciones son, a veces, como los tigres en el zoo. Intentos de llegar a algo sin saber muy bien si existe la esperanza. Y la distancia en una conversación conlleva que los códigos ocultos en los otros lenguajes no son tan reconocibles. Una conversación con un desconocido por correo electrónico. O mediante algún otro sistema de comunicación electrónica escrita. Los tiempos están rotos, no sabemos de las pausas, la ironía es difícil de reconocer. La dificultad es evidente, pero las posibilidades también. Sumemos dos posibles idiomas para la conversación. Sumemos el hecho de que usar uno de los dos idiomas implica la inseguridad en uno de los participantes en la conversación y cierta culpabilidad en el otro. Estas cosas pasan. Los tiempos de la conversación se ven también afectados, los tonos, los amagos, la simpatía y los deseos. Pero las posibilidades están, se tejen, se mantienen en ese primer plano hasta que es necesario dejarlo todo atrás. Aviones Aviones que descargan a turistas. Los mismos aviones que trasladan a trabajadores. Los mismos aviones en los que se vitorean a los equipos de fútbol que van a jugar su partido de competición. Cada vez es más difícil vivir en lugares donde el avión no sea un sistema de transporte normalizado, pero no

hace tanto tiempo que en algunos enclaves –como las islas– el avión cambió el rumbo de todo. Las islas dejaron, de algún modo, de ser un stand by para ser simplemente un pequeño desajuste temporal.

Memoria La documentación siempre implica cierto grado de ficción. Aceptar que la documentación es ficción libera en cómo trabajar con ella.

Souvenirs Podríamos hablar largo y tendido sobre la necesidad de los souvenirs. Sobre el quedarse con algo que quiere ser una imagen de un lugar sin ser realmente verdad. Seguramente uno de los elementos más interesantes del souvenir es su carácter de elemento construido. Como el paisaje. Como la mirada.

Velocidad La combinación de plataformas para la comunicación genera monstruos. No hablamos por teléfono, es demasiado directo, sino que combinamos un mínimo de tres vías para poder establecer un contacto indirecto. Y buena parte de ello con rastro. Buena parte del proceso comunicativo consiste en asegurarnos de que tenemos a alguien al otro lado. El sistema se rompe, las voces se pierden, los mensajes quedan en el aire. Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres hablan sin saber cuándo aparecerá el otro, preguntándose dónde estará el otro. A veces, en el mismo momento de escritura de un mensaje este llega a domicilio de su receptor, pero su recepción real queda en el aire. A veces, los mensajes se dejan en un espacio público (en Internet o donde sea) para que alguno de sus receptores sea aquella persona con quien realmente queremos comunicar. Y los tiempos de respuesta no son estables. La velocidad en la respuesta depende de la plataforma que se utilice, depende de la posibilidad de conexión a la red, de todos los elementos que conforman la vida y su tránsito.

Exposición La exposición como elemento construido. Como el paisaje. Como la mirada. La exposición como eso que queremos que quede, como el objeto que nos recuerda la emoción de unos momentos y unos colores especiales. La exposición como motivo para volver atrás, para recordar el camino, para volver a lo perdido. En Souvenir Identities la exposición era un objetivo pero también algo a evitar. Un miedo, algo a intentar abandonar mentalmente hasta el último momento. En procesos de trabajo colaborativo, cuando llega la exposición significa que se cierra un recorrido. Es necesario traducir lo intraducible para que empiece otro proceso fuera del descontrol primero. Primero dos artistas están hablando sobre qué hacer para, con suerte, hacer algo. El tiempo pasa y van ajustando sus voces, sus palabras, sus modos de entender el lugar. Van concretando, después vuelven a empezar otra vez y otra vez y otra vez. Pero la exposición está más cerca, como ese puerto o ese aeropuerto que indica que ya está, que todo terminó. Es entonces cuando puede aparecer otro proceso, pero será un proceso ya fuera del control de los dos artistas. Ya no será su proceso, ya no serán sus palabras, su tono, su intento de comprender. La exposición se abrirá a otros procesos, a otras palabras y, los dos artistas notarán que ya no están, que ya no son, que ahora lo que es es otra historia.

Islas Dos recuerdos relacionados con islas. El primero en una isla real, el segundo en una isla mental. En el primero hay una gaviota picando la cabeza de un niño. En el segundo hay el asumir por parte de un isleño que siempre necesitará de una isla para poder sentir su soledad interior como casa, como su máxima definición, sin escapatoria. La Red En la red quedan retazos, restos. La pesca de arrastre implica sorpresas y un mantenimiento constante de las redes para man-

tenerlas en condiciones aceptables para la actividad. Souvenir Identities está en la red de redes. En distintos emplazamientos, bajo distintas coordenadas. En contextos sociales como Facebook, donde Identidades Souvenir está etiquetado como artista. Como noticia sobre el premio otorgado al proyecto por parte de la Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme. Como contenidos específicos en Tumblr, en Cargo collective, en Youtube. Como conexiones entre los artistas participantes. Como imágenes etiquetadas. Como videos. Como material vinculado a instituciones participantes. Como barcos de papel. Como monitores. Como líneas en el suelo. Como ventanas abiertas que llenan espacios de luz. Como cartas escritas a mano. Como fotos carnet. Como voces. Como códigos. Como retazos, como elementos que se van uniendo ahora y que, en un futuro, generarán otras sumas. Como islas que se van conectando, como momentos flexibles. Aviones II Mi primer vuelo con Internet fue en un avión de Norwegian. Si hay lo utilizas. No hay discusión. Pero ese momento sin Internet ni teléfono que era el avión desapareció. Las islas desaparecieron. Los caminos desaparecieron. Los momentos, los mapas, los lugares, los procesos, las imágenes, las conversaciones. La memoria, la velocidad.

English translation

Souvenir Identities

Miriam Cabeza

The title of this project, “Souvenir Identities,” refers precisely to the perceptions that come to mind when thinking of a foreign location and to the stereotypical images used to construct said location. It is interesting to see how the souvenir, as Fernando Estévez mentioned, ends up becoming a materialization of the nature and subjectivity of the tourist. It is embedded in the process of constructing social and cultural identities, just as it is in our memory of places, people and things, and takes on different “value statuses” depending on its owners. Within the cultural logic of capitalism, travel and places are packaged as tourism, and the souvenir becomes the proof of the tourist’s inability to escape the permanent fluctuation between the seduction of the exotic and the impulse to possess and appropriate the Other and, on the opposite spectrum, the nostalgia caused by the tourist’s death and disappearance.1 The souvenir, probably mass-produced in Asia, and then returned for purchase to this tourist destination, ends up defining the tourist’s image of their destination and what they expect to find there. The experience ends up being recreated for the visitor using recognisable elements: Tenerife – sun or Great Britain – The Big Ben.2

Estévez González, Fernando, 2007, Souvenirs’ y turistas, http://elpais.com/diario/2007/08/18/ babelia/1187391967_850215.html Dean MacCannell, 2012, “Tourismology: to go and to stay; Morality and ethics in tourism’s subjective

That said, this project focuses on exchanges between artists from different local contexts, and uses the Internet to encourage experiences linked to the local within the global environment in which art is currently practiced, responding to the need to establish new relational dynamics and topics from a host of different perspectives. The project breaks away from prefabricated stereotypes of those places and their inhabitants. The interest of the intervention proposal lies in the quality of the dialogue process. Terms are agreed upon and renegotiated continuously, adapting to specific needs that arise at each moment. The idea emerged from the concept of the laboratory as a space for research, study, proposal and action. Taking collaborative work as the starting point, new methodologies are established that are useful, practical and critical with regards to their respective contexts. Based on a trial and error dynamic, this is a sounding out process that does not expect immediate specific results; instead it aims to play with the elements and difficulties that appear throughout the process, searching for solutions and answers as required. Always moving between the experimental, the procedural and the exploratory, focusing on the possibilities that arise from sharing different perspectives on artistic work and spanning everything from social concerns particular to each country or enclave, to other issues that affect each personal experience. The point of departure differs from artist to artist depending on their cultural influences and personal experiences. Yet that should not pose

field”, FLUOR magazine, volume 3.

a problem, given that the cornerstone of this project is precisely that individuality. That “personal factor” that each artist contributes to the exchange builds it, shapes it and adds character and tempo. Conversations, the confusion created by the channel of communication employed, the wait, the language restrictions –despite online resources that assist communications, means that something is always lost, distorted, like in a game of Chinese whispers–, suggestions and ideas that fall by the wayside, ideas that come to fruition, different ways of understanding, of working and of being, even. Everything has a value, and contributes to the journey, to the experience, to enjoying the route, the drift. Taking the dynamics of “osmosis” related to locations as a starting point, it was easy to set up and access the exchange. Furthermore, the transverse nature of the process enabled the construction of local artistic frameworks, complex and critical, which are constantly renewed, thanks to the contributions of the different actors. The experience is fuelled by learning techniques and teamwork that open new channels and define alternative tools for professional use. Within this new paradigm of ICT-based experiences, it is not only about the information or multimedia content they generate, but also, about the manner in which they allow communication to be established between people and groups, with their strengths and weaknesses in the context of art. Although these connections could be infinite, in this case the procedures implemented to establish them were based on a biographic itinerary that links two places of residence: the place of origin, Tenerife,

and the place of study during an ERASMUS grant, Manchester. The resulting process is extremely enriching: one gets to study in another university, another country, in another language, obtaining a different vision of art and how it is configured; with a different approach to education, learning and goals. How can one bring something back? How can one share something about the place of origin with the host city? This project aims to allow participants to work with colleagues from other locations, with a different background, education and approach, but who share common interests, with a view to learning from each other. In addition, this project also aims to trigger interaction, negotiation and teamwork. Other previous exchanges, carried out on other levels, include the Mobile Art School Athens in Liverpool, which, during a short residency in Athens, attempted to use a series of discussions, debates, films, photographs, writings, drawings, and online/offline psycho-geographical drifts to formulate questions about the possibility of political and artistic autonomy today. The experience was carried out by staff and students from the Fine Art BA Programme at Liverpool School of Art and Design, in collaboration with the Athens Biennial, AllArtNow (Damascus) and Grizedale Arts (Coniston). The Mobile Art School is part of Liverpool School of Art and Design’s Fine Arts Public Platform ‘The Future of the Art School in Society’ and aims to re-define how Fine Art Programmes and Art Schools might work in the future. Other projects are less ambitious, but equally interesting, such as Deriva Mussol. This initiative is developed by the ACVic

museum and offshoots of it take place in the city of Vic. This proposal is still underway, after they were contacted by The Walk Exchange —a group that organises psychogeographical walks in New York City—, and involves a group of people sharing the same route, at the same time, for the same duration. Over the course of the route, participants gather visual material and objects, which they subsequently send by regular post to a group from another city. The walk ends with a short Skype conversation. Each place keeps the box as a gift for taking part in the experience. The proposal is still underway. Leaving aside momentarily the exchanges between people from different countries, we find Inter-Accions, a collaborative proposal between students from the Fine Arts Faculty (UB) and the ETSAB and ETSAV schools of Architecture (UPC) in Barcelona. The project is based on the organization of an educational activity for students from both institutions in order to create a collective experience, with the exchange of tools and knowledge as the main methodological basis, with a view to designing interferences in relational spaces within the city.

From the continent–Island to the peripheral–Island. Manchester-Tenerife

Islands, regardless of their size, are always closed off, delimited units that end where the sea and the air begins. On an island one feels both isolated from the continental

reality and in the thick of everything that is going on in the island, where things are magnified and seem to triple in size. These two locations share the common denominator of being on an island, but within this concept of the island, each belongs to different ecosystems. One is peripheral, Tenerife, a location that conjures up endless idyllic images for the foreign eye – white sands, turquoise water and palm trees. The inhabitants of the other, Great Britain, consider it continental, often disassociating it from Europe, referring to it as something to which they do not belong. Manchester, as a city for exchange, decentralizes the visual references that spring to mind when thinking of the UK: London, red buses, royal guards and the London Eye. Visitors expect a whole visual register that is non-existent and quite often reproduced solely for tourist purposes – Manchester Eye. This exchange reveals these conflicts and a host of others, in different languages and cultures, although negotiating common ground. In terms of the specifics of each place, art in the Canary Islands and in Tenerife, particularly, is a small circuit – although there have been a number of exhibitions showcasing artworks by international artists, such as Bill Viola at SAC. There are numerous spaces and initiatives run by young people, such as El Polvorín, La Piscina Editorial and El Apartamento – the latter concluded just a few years ago. In this context, it accommodates a range of opportunities for emerging artists to acquire certain relevance in the local panorama. However, said opportunities fizzle out and force them to emigrate to other locations. Consequently,

island-based artists need connections and platforms for discussions where they can meet external actors to compare processes and procedures, promote critical thought and attempt to find sustainability for their projects in their environment. Young curator, writer and artist from Gran Canaria, Arístides Santana, commented that the next step may be to look towards Latin America and Africa, given the shared traditions and proximity. He may be right. Manchester currently seems very interested in establishing connections with other cultures, countries or localities. This has taken shape in the organization of several festivals and initiatives in the city, including Asian Manchester Triennial Shisha or Road Trip and M/R, carried out by or within the Lionel Dobie Project. However, university students do not usually travel abroad as part of student exchanges, possibly due to the fact that university language courses are not covered by regular registration fees and do not count towards the global grade.3 In addition, residencies are not usually longer than four months. Nevertheless, experiences have emerged in other contexts, for instance Interactions –an exchange between artists from Manchester and Edinburgh and M/R, an exchange between artists from Manchester and Rennes. Participants have commended these experiences not only from an educational perspective, but also as a way to increase their networking and promote

their work elsewhere.4 In this context, it is important to note the role played by the UK Arts Council whose support is instrumental to many of these initiatives, large and small. Furthermore, on the occasion of the 2012 London Olympics, subsidies were granted for numerous projects that encouraged an exchange between cultures and advanced cultural diversity. This led to the organization of several events around the city over the course of the year, including Cotton: Global Threads at the Whitworth Gallery, among many others. At present, students and emerging artists who develop and put into practice their ideas and projects with a view to growing as individuals and professionals are faced with numerous obstacles. Austerity, cutbacks in the field of culture and education, unpaid or underpaid jobs are premises that seem to have been accepted as the norm both in the field of art and in the contemporary job market in general. Given the current situation, artists are frozen in an “emergent” state almost indefinitely. The Souvenir Identities initiative was easily set up, as it did not require infrastructures beyond those owned by the participating artists and allowed them to converse, using the Internet, and reflect upon contemporary artistic practices in a society equipped with technologies that can connect, in seconds, people who live thousands of kilometres apart. They also allowed partici-

Lencky, James; The Debut’ by James Lencky (Rennes Project Manager), 2013, http://man-renexchange.tumblr.com/page/3

Morrison, Katy; Manchester|Rennes Exchange: A Space where Art, Artists and Audience can meet, 2013, http://man-ren-exchange.tumblr.com/page/4

pants to challenge preconceived ideas and different points of view. We live in a difficult social and economic reality, where creativity and collaboration can appear as basic strategies to move forwards,5 although the question that arises is ‘where to?’ The crisis is causing a great stir and only a few will succeed in their choices in this uncertain future. Nevertheless, it seems worth bearing in mind the concept of “moving forwards” and sporadically asking where to, questioning each step. Then, at least, the progression will be made at a planned and deliberate pace. Consequently, it is time to resort to new experiences that do not require major resources to develop skills and tools based on common analysis and criticism. Lastly, we have access to a huge amount of technological resources that open up infinite possibilities, although that does not imply we are surrounded by a great diversity of discourses. The ability to imagine and reinvent belongs to people. Similarly, the ability to communicate and to find languages to do so are critical tools that allow us to reflect upon, create and change our environment.6 To conclude, this experience does not attempt to replace “face to face” personal relationships; instead it aims to analyse other possibilities in hostile times with a view to opening a space where we can exchange

Selvas, Sergi; Arias, Nora; Carrasco, Marta & L. Fermoselle, Borga; Temáticas y conceptos; ¿Qué es Inter-Accions?, 2013, http://www.inter-accions. org/content/tem%C3%A0tica-i-conceptes Selvas, Sergi; Arias, Nora; Carrasco, Marta & L. Fermoselle, Borga; Temáticas y conceptos; ¿Qué es Inter-Accions?, 2013, http://www.inter-accions. org/content/tem%C3%A0tica-i-conceptes

preconceived thoughts and pool our different approaches to our doing and seeing.

Lasting souvenirs, memories, identities, places, moments and details

Martí Manen

Moments There are moments that are complicated, where no rules apply. Moments that trigger something unknown. Souvenir Identities aimed to generate moments like those. Starting points, unstable springboards from which to plunge into the unknown. Moments, places, maps. And being lost. Maps Transform a fabric into an abstract representation of contents that narrate a spatial sequence. Maps have always defined our relationship with places. Maps have become supposedly inclusive tools and have become a series of GPS locations that update in real time, with objective material, data and information. Supposedly. But maps are still flat. The earth is still flat. Time, the process and forgotten moments are lost on a map and cannot be depicted. What is constant wins, the temporary will end up disappearing; defining moments will not become a map. Time involves layers, it involves dislocations, hesitation and doubt.; not knowing the exact place, the exact moment, not knowing exactly what is going on. Time is experienced before it escapes. The map forgets its people, its emotions and its doubts. Places Recall a place. Recall the images that place

conjures up. Now recall two places at the same time and immediately images become less evident. In a world where digital distances are measured in nanoseconds, actions and thoughts take place at such speed that by considering the physicality of a place, one is surely forced to take a pause. A place is not its image, but we can hardly escape customary tags. Quickly, we need an answer, regardless of what it is. Quickly, we need to know what we are talking about without losing sight of the path ahead. With the evolution of social networks, images are now loaded with signs, with textual content to facilitate their indexation. Images were once a system used to embed knowledge; they have currently become the context in which to deposit said content. The image has become a desktop, a plane, a container. The digital image has opened up to other figures that are no longer the possibilities that resided in chemistry or physics. The image contains more than the image itself. Gone are the options of the image as an image (as in RAW files); these images contain stories, comments, names of people, connections, wishes, bombs, whatever we want, any type of content that we now manage without control. Images are places in which to stack information. This also applies to “real” places. A place needs to be identified in order to be something. Tags enable recognition and recognition enables tranquillity. One place, two places. The relationship between places is established by means of interconnecting tags. Twinned cities. Similar landscapes. Shared sensations. Visit a place

through another’s references. Layering places over places. In places we seek systems to share gazes, to help the communication flow and to make physical experience meaningful. Speed, in relation to a place necessarily involves starting from someone else’s experience. This square is like that square. This museum means the same thing as that other museum. This building is that other building in another city. Processes Throughout the evolution of a work of art, its definition, creation and presentation are becoming less exact. The combination of situations, different interconnecting time lines, the critical need for constant redefinition bring about a constituent process and result in the work undertaken generating the artwork. Work, production, artwork. Influencing the process involves a change of register in the artwork. Therefore, processes involve the work itself, but also a connection with the context, the constant need for comprehension and the potential for evaluation. Nobody said it would be easy to plunge into the process. Or into the context. When art wants to be part of the environment, when its offering is open to all, when it aims to generate a dialogue, a series of questions arise that entail a necessary dose of modesty, since the romantic figure no longer represents us and since part of the creative process will be backed by others and other places. Souvenir Identities / Identidades souvenir The Souvenir Identities project suggests a potential artistic relationship between two

places, between two ways of understanding distance. Miriam C. Cabeza defines coordinates, Manchester and Tenerife, and lifestyles; the continent-island and the peripheral-island. The project seeks moments, accepts the risks of the process and observes the appearance of other places along the way. Berlin, for instance, will also appear on this artistic map as an axis between two points. One of the results, which every process avoids, will take shape as an exhibition, but many other “results” will appear as the project evolves. The definition of identity, be it personal or localized; dialogue as the grounds for definition; the direction of the gaze, inwards or outwards, among many other elements at stake. Treasure The literary image of the island is closely linked to its outline on a map. Stevenson. The unknown, the goal, the treasure. For an island to become literature, it should not be too big. One can always make out the frontiers on literary islands. The map, the plan, is visible. The board hides its counters, its movements, its dangers. Images Interconnecting two images, returning to the notion of the image as a vessel, as a place. Two. Suggesting a dialogue. Involving two people. Souvenir Identities combines people and images. It is not the same. The image of one person opposite the other, the image of a “personal” place that “is represented” opposite another “personal” “represented” place. Explaining oneself to another using common ground, assumed ideas, clichés, su-

perficiality. It is set off by communicating the basics. Then, the focus is on the pores, the details, to decode the layers of the images. Juxtaposing images involves a disassembly and, also the possibility of a narrative. Both images are opposed, and that opposition generates an original communication code. Sometimes impossible, sometimes remarkably plausible. Moments II My brother, younger than me, laughs in the photo after stealing a sailor’s cap at an open air café. The sailor and his pals are in shock. My brother is clowning around wearing an enormous cap. He must be about 4 years old in the picture. The terrace is located on a mountain. The sailors are out of place. They look out of place. They are sailors, but they are also tourists. I can’t remember whether I’m in the photo, but I was shier than my brother and I wouldn’t dare steal a sailor’s cap. Conversations Conversations have occupied a prime position in the process of creating Souvenir Identities. Conversations as a system to weave content, conversations as a place to define the process. Artists converse and establish concepts as they speak, if anything can be established. Go with the flow, said Inés Peña and Alex Howes without finding common ground. Let’s see how it goes, said Óscar Hernández and Jonathon Beattie, far from convinced. Tigers in the zoo end up walking the same path over and over again. The same steps, the same gestures, the same pauses, attempting to

make something happen, to find something, a surprise, a meaning. At times, conversations are like tigers in the zoo. They attempt to find a meaning without actually knowing whether there is hope. Long-distance conversations imply that the codes hidden in other languages are not as recognisable. A conversation with a stranger by email. Or using any other electronic written communication system. We’re out of touch with time, we’ve forgotten pauses, we’ve lost the ability to recognise irony. The problems are evident, but so are the possibilities. Add two languages to the conversation. Add the fact that using one of the languages makes one of the speakers feel insecure and the other feel somewhat guilty. It also affects the duration of the conversation, the tone, hints, friendliness and wishes. Yet, the possibilities are there, interweaving, taking prime position until they need to be left behind. Airplanes Airplanes unloading tourists. The same airplanes that transfer workers. The same airplanes used to cheer on footballs teams heading out to play a competition match. It is becoming increasingly difficult to live in areas where planes are not a standard means of transport but it is not that long ago that in certain locations, such as islands, airplanes changed the way of life. In a way, islands were no longer on standby; they became a slight time gap. Souvenirs We could spend a long time discussing the need for souvenirs. About taking away

something that aspires to be the image of a place without actually being genuine. One of the most interesting elements of a souvenir is its nature as a constructed element. Like a landscape. Like a gaze.

Memory Documentation always implies certain degree of fiction. Accepting that documentation as fiction is liberating in the way we work with it.

Exhibition The exhibition as a constructed element. Like a landscape. Like a glance. The exhibition is what we want to remain, the object that reminds us of the emotion of special moments and colours. The exhibition as a reason to return, to remember the journey, to return to what has been lost. In Souvenir Identities, the exhibition was a goal, but it was also something to avoid, a fear, something that was pushed to the back until the last minute. When working on collaborative processes, the exhibition means the end of the journey. One has to translate the untranslatable to trigger another process beyond the former’s lack of control. First two artists talk about what they want to do before they hopefully get down to doing something. Time goes by and they adjust their voices, their words, their ways of understanding the place. They settle on things, and then they go back to the drawing board, over and over and over again. Yet, the exhibition verges closer, like that port or airport that indicates the end is near, it’s all over. Then, another process may appear; a process beyond the control of those two artists. It is no longer their process, no longer their words, their tone, their attempts to understand. The exhibition opens up to other processes, to other words and both artists will realize they are no longer there, they no longer exist; the story is now something else.

Speed Combining communication platforms generates monsters. We don’t speak on the phone, it’s too direct, so we combine at least three channels to establish indirect contact. A good part of them leave a trace. A good part of the communicative process entails making sure there is someone on the other side. The system glitches, voices are lost, messages are left hanging. AG and MT converse without knowing when the other will show up, wondering where the other is. Sometimes, a message is delivered to the recipient’s house the minute it is written, but its actual reception remains in the air. Sometimes, messages are left in public spaces (online or wherever) for one of the recipients to actually be that person we want to communicate with. Response times are not stable. The speed depends on the platform of choice, on the possibility of connecting to a network, on all the elements that shape our life and our day-to-day. Islands Two memories about islands. The former refers to a real island, the latter to an imaginary island. In the former, a seagull pecks a child on the head. In the latter, islanders assume that without an island they cannot feel at home in their internal solitude. The island as the ultimate definition of self. Inescapable.

The Net Nets collect remnants, remains. Trawling delivers surprises and involves constant maintenance to keep the nets in suitable working condition. Souvenir Identities exists on the Net, on the World Wide Web. In different locations, under different coordinates. In social contexts like Facebook, where Souvenir Identities is tagged as an artist. In the news, with a feature on the project winning an award from the Fundación Mapfre Guanarteme. In specific contents on Tumblr, Cargo Collective, YouTube. In connections between participating artists. In tagged images. In videos. In material linked to participating institutions. In paper boats. In screens. In lines on the floor. In open windows that shed light on spaces. In handwritten letters. In passport photos. In voices. In codes. In remnants, in elements that come together now and will trigger other combinations further down the road. In islands that connect, in flexible moments. Airplanes II My first flight with Internet onboard was thanks to Norwegian. If it’s there, you use it. No question about it. Airplanes are no longer spaces without Internet and without telephones. These islands have disappeared. Paths have disappeared. Moments, maps, places, process, images, conversation. Memory, speed.

Fase I. Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres Francisco Torres y Laura Gower Inés Peña y José Jurado / Inés Peña y Alex Howes Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

Fase I. En esta primera fase, el intercambio se plantea como una dinámica acción-reacción. De esta forma, a partir de un primer elemento detonante, se envía el siguiente en reacción. A su vez, el tercer elemento será en respuesta a éste anterior y así sucesivamente, estableciendo un diálogo. El factor de la acción-reacción, hace que el resultado no pueda ser controlado al cien por cien por ninguno de los artistas, por lo que permanece en estado de negociación y adaptación constante, y siempre en reacción a lo que les ha sido enviado. El intercambio dio comienzo tras concluir una convocatoria cuyo criterio de selección se basó en la posibilidad o imposibilidad de encontrar parejas afines, por su trabajo o intereses comunes. Esta manera de selección por generación de parejas, parecía la más adecuada para facilitar el establecimiento de unos puntos comunes iniciales entre los artistas, pues, dadas las circunstancias en las que se produciría el intercambio, éste podría resultar complejo al principio. En esta primera fase, las parejas que se establecieron fueron Mariana Torres, de origen portugués pero que vive y estudia en Machester y Alejandro Gopar, Jonathon Beattie y Oscar HR; Laura Gower y Francisco Torres, Alex Hower e Inés Peña, de Manchester, y Tenerife respectivamente. El intercambio en esta última pareja se interrumpió y a Alex Hower le sustituyó José Jurado. Hay que mencionar que el intercambio se realiza a partir de la disponibilidad de los artistas, permitiendo la entrada y salida del mismo siempre que sea necesario. De esta manera se garantiza el compromiso con la actividad y como consecuencia su calidad. El contenido, la cantidad y el planteamiento del diálogo, debe ser acordado por las parejas, y cada una de ellas le da forma a su intercambio según su interés.

Una vez creadas las parejas e iniciado el intercambio, se realizaron una serie de reuniones grupales con los artistas participantes de cada ciudad, con el fin de fortalecer las relaciones entre ellos, romper el hielo y debatir sobre lo que cada uno esperaba de la experiencia. En esta primera fase, fue crucial el apoyo a los participantes e invertir mucho tiempo en dinamizar las relaciones. En un primer momento, resultó difícil conseguir que las relaciones fueran fluidas y permitieran un buen ritmo de trabajo. Ello fue debido no solo al ya de por sí carácter impersonal de las relaciones por internet, al establecimiento de nuevas dinámicas de trabajo o a las dificultades a causa de la distinta lengua, sino que también trataban de resolver el ritual necesario de introducción, reorientarse dentro de una nueva situación, presentarse ¿quiénes eran?, ¿qué hacían?, ¿qué les gustaba?. E definitiva, establecer conexiones mínimas a partir de las cuales preguntarse qué hacer. Complementariamente, se creó un grupo de Facebook, con el fin de tener una espacio a través del cual comunicar la información que concernía a todo el grupo y, al mismo tiempo, cumplía la función de foro, donde se podían hacer sugerencias, preguntas, colgar links de interés, etc. Terminado este primer período, se realizó una exposición con los trabajos resultantes en Rogue Project Space en Manchester. Rogue Project Space, es un espacio expositivo situado en Rogue Artist Studio, uno de los centros de producción independiente más grandes del noroeste del Reino Unido, ubicado en Chapeltown Mill, antiguo edificio de la época industrial. Esta exposición además, estuvo adscrita al Free For Arts Festival de arte joven en la ciudad. En dicha exposición colaboró Sheila Hernández, artista participante, cuya pareja de intercambio en Manchester tuvo que abandonar tempranamente el proyecto. Además, Identidades Souvenir fue acogida como parte de la primera LDP Chalet Residency, en el espacio Lionel Dobie Project donde, a lo largo de tres semanas, se realizó una práctica

experimental que pretendió conectar obras producidas en el contexto tinerfeño y mancuniano, empleando los distintos elementos compartidos en el grupo interno del proyecto. El resultado, expuesto al público en general, fue un entramado de elementos, a modo de hipervínculos, en el que se entablaba un diálogo entre aquellos que se encontraban en el espacio cibernético – facebook y blog de la LDP Chalet Residency – y los que se encontraban en el espacio físico — Tenerife, Manchester, estudio y lugar expositivo. Se trataba de enlazar ambos lugares entorno al habitar en cada uno de ellos y su posible relación, en cuanto a historia y producción artística, tratando de situar el proyecto en un contexto teórico cambiante, ya que éste tiene un carácter vivo y procesual que se va adaptando 1.

http://ldpchaletresidency.tumblr.com/

Stage I: During the first stage, the exchange was tackled from an action-reaction dynamic. In other words, an initial element triggers a reaction. Then, the third element arises in response to the second and so forth, establishing a dialogue. Given the action-reaction factor, the result cannot be controlled completely by any of the artists and remains in a constant state of negotiation and adaptation, always reacting to the previous element. The exchange commenced after a selection process based on the possibility or impossibility of finding similar partners, in relation to their work or common interests. Pair-work was chosen as the most suitable scenario to establish initial common points between the artists since, given the circumstances in which the exchange was to take place, the relationship may be slightly complicated at first. The pairs established for the first stage were Mariana Torres, a Portuguese artist based in Manchester, and Alejandro Gopar, Jonathon Beattie and Oscar HR; Laura Gower and Francisco Torres, Alex Hower and Inés Peña, from Manchester and Tenerife respectively. The exchanges between the latter were interrupted and Alex Hower was replaced by José Jurado. All exchanges were carried out depending on the artists’ availability, with them being free to come and go as necessary. This method guaranteed their commitment to the activity and the quality of the results. The content, quantity and approach to the dialogue were agreed upon by

the pairs and each two artists shaped their exchange to suit them. Once the pair had been established and the exchange had begun, group meetings were set up with the artists from each city so as to strengthen relationships, break the ice and discuss their expectations. During the first stage, it was crucial to support the participants and spend a lot of time nurturing the relationships. Initially it was difficult to establish fluid interactions and set up a good work pace. This was not only due to the impersonal nature of Internet relationships, to having to establish new work dynamics and working in a different language, but also to having to find their bearings in a new situation, familiarize themselves with their partner, introduce themselves… Who were they? What did they do? What did they like? They had to establish a minimum series of connections that would trigger their interaction. A group was also set up on Facebook for participants to share information with the group, which also acted as a forum where they could make suggestions, ask questions, share links, etc. The artwork resulting from this initial period was showcased at an exhibition at Rogue Project Space in Manchester. Rogue Project Space is an exhibition space in Rogue Artist Studio, one of the largest independent production centres operating in the North West of the United Kingdom, located in Chapeltown Mill, an old industrial building. The show was also linked to the city’s Free For Arts Festival devoted to young art. Participating artist Sheila Hernández, whose exchange partner in Manchester had to pull

out of the project early, showcased her work at the exhibition. Souvenir Identities was also selected as part of the first LDP Chalet Residency, at the Lionel Dobie Project. Over the course of three weeks, the goal was to connect artworks produced in Tenerife and Manchester using the elements shared within the group. The result, which was exhibited for the general public, was a collection of elements, presented as hyperlinks, to strike up a dialogue between those located in the cybernetic space –Facebook and the LDP Chalet Residency blog– and in a physical space — Tenerife, Manchester, studio and exhibition venue. The objective was to link both spaces by inhabiting them and their potential relationship, in terms of their history and artistic production, attempting to situate the project in a changing theoretical context, given its nature as a living, procedural experience with the ability to adapt 1.

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres 9 de Julio de 2012

21:42 Alejandro

we got to find a solution to know when can u connect. And I will be

Hi! or Hola!?

try to be at the same as u.

How are u?

my site is working, but i also have

21:55 Mariana

a tumbrl like a teen, cause in my

hello!! im good thanks, how r u?

art school this and obligation u.u

do u have a site or some way i can

I will be uploading last works this

see your work?

week.

mine’s at marianatorres.co.uk

http://alejandrogopar.tumblr.com/

and i guess we can start from

dude, Mariana do u speak spanish?,

there?.. do you have any ideas of

where u from?

how we are going to do this? haha

well, what can we do to start ?,

im currently without net in my

http://alejandrogopar.tumblr.com/

house, i will try to keep contact as

alejandrogopar.tumblr.com

much as possible, but if i take a few days to answer - this is why but should be fine

http://ldpchaletresidency.tumblr.com/

22:37 Alejandro

16 de Julio de 2012

15:57 Mariana

hello, sorry again – i wont have

: ) Ok, no problem Mariana!, first,

internet for 2 more weeks... its

sorry for my english...

complicated!

I think, nobody knows how to do

i dont speak spanish no, im portu-

this! but we are very clever ^^

guese

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

to be honest i have no idea where to

statments and others works.pdf

6 de agosto de 2012

start :S

11:54 Alejandro

12:40 Mariana

hey i added a little something to

i can see you like video art? but

31 de Julio de 2012

blog

you also have some installation/

http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard

sculptural work right?

Hello

pass: togoart2012

hello!

i didnt find a statement in ur site,

Mariana have you seen the links that

mail

do you mind giving me an idea of

Miriam have post. Is this the way

exchangemanten@gmail.com

your less is so interesting

what your work is about?

that she want of us?...

pass: togoart2012

that we need blog.

No problem Mariana, im helping my

we are starting

21:16 Alejandro

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

19:28 Alejandro

I think

the blog

11:11 Alejandro

family in work and this is good

Ok, no problem Mariana, im making

10:49 Alejandro

yuihuu!!!

11:11 Mariana

this blog. But now im traveling un-

1 de agosto de 2012

for sleep and beach time. I made a

if i think of other things to add u

til tomorrow. Im going to Fuerteven-

blog, (tumblr) if you prefer wix or

dont mind that i do right? or do u

tura, have you ever seen Fuerteven-

heya im so sorry for not being in

another... I dont have any problem.

want me to wait that u add and then

tura anytime? you must come...

contact! having no internet at home

I also made a mail account for the

me?

a few days i will send you a text or

is really complicated!

because the more things we add, the

upload some texts into the blog. And

i agree, maybe we should do a blog,

I agree with you, is a good way to

more we have to “talk” about

im sorry , i havent seen your blog

and start writting ideas/adding im-

begin.

and my “less” is really limited haha

yet, because yesterday i finished an

ages and then we can reflect and make

Tumblr

expositive work. Tomorrow i will do

work from that.

www.tumblr.com

i dont mind you can add whatever u

everything.

For example, I make a piece of work/

want

idea and you do something in reac-

have you seen miriam text about Sou-

19 de Julio de 2012

tion from that, and then i go from

venir identities ...? i dont know if

brilliant

you made ... ?

she send you?

yes, we are finaly comunicating wohho

14:05 Alejandro

13:40 Mariana

13:09 Alejandro

11:13 Alejandro

11:13 Mariana

see u soon ! x

Hi! Mariana, im watching your wix

So we can start having some kind of

blog again. I think that both works

dialogue - could be photos or videos

7 de agosto de 2012

are easy to connect

from internet, anything we find in-

and all i add

is helping me to traslate my sta-

teresting: or actual pieces of work;

http://togoart2012.tumblr.com/

its only a idea

ment. I will send you soon.

and there will be a point were we

Exchange Man/Ten 12

find something interesting in common

togoart2012.tumblr.com

have u a nice day

My girlfriend

11:57 Alejandro

11:14 Alejandro might be question

bye

26 de Julio de 2012

and than we start working together

on that 1 idea/interest? So it would

14 de agosto de 2012

Hi! , i send a text of my work, but

be like an introduction for a few

i always try re-write because my

weeks to understand each other, if

Hello, I apologize once more...

position also is rethink, im not a

you know what i mean.

I’ve been with Miriam yesterday and

I didn’t see your answer sorry!!!

video artist, photo maker... i try

What do you think? We could try to

have some ideas now and will have

the my its a joke , but can u ex-

to use only the most approximate

add information to the blog eve-

internet from now on so will keep

plain something about your

kind kind of representation. Im

ryday (try! because my internet is

in touch! I’ll email u tomorrow

english is low for play with words.

reading all miriams texts of this

limited!) and start “communicating”

everything that I’m thinking about,

project and then i will write some-

ideas.

meanwhile if u want to add something

30 de agosto de 2012

thing to send you ok?. If you prefer

If you’re ok with it ill do the blog

to the blog? Then I can respond to

a specific kind of method or all you

and add something to it and then you

that xx

its just the word less ... ive ben

mean about this project...

can add something, and then me, etc

23:01 Alejandro

im lis-

tening. How was your holiday?

...

14:02 Mariana

29 de agosto de 2012 12:03 Alejandro

less? my

12:15 Mariana

thinking on how artists have this 17 de agosto de 2012

ambition to create and “add” infor-

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

mation to the world, but is it nec-

basic form of representation and

that? Why the alarm?

do u have any idea of what materi-

essary? most of the time i feel that

capitalism, a single dot “.” Box is

This is just an idea to answer your

als we might need for the show? coz

we just create for no purpose at all

a micro base structure braille. A

LESS and I ask that before you post

miriam wants to know already :S

- we know we want to create so we

compound sensory language minimalist

it? if you see something interesting

i was thinking maybe we should get 1

do, i guess its instinct, but right

paintings not say objectively, but

that we continue and but then noth-

or 2 projectors (or tvs, but i pre-

now im trying to make work without

suggests or activates an abstraction

ing happens;)

fer projectors), coz it might be the

doing much at all...

that can represent each one for him-

12:27 Alejandro

best bet for our work! (or not?) and

self, because there is no accurate

4 de septiembre de 2012

speakers too? what would you like?

Ups i forgot that i sent you the

reading (the image of the braille

and as well, are you coming? if you

text and i didn’t have that in mind.

word and image that receives a blind

heya! this is interesting! i like

are, would you consider doing a per-

i’m going to think something about

Braille that word has nothing to do,

this way of “hiding” meaning.

formance?

it now i have clear the meaning of

let alone experience this person has

i liked very much the

that LESS

with that word and what it repre-

sound piece but dont

sents)

understand how is re-

3 de septiembre de 2012

Another feature of this language is

lates to a mesostic ...

its contempt for conventional lan-

but u should definitely

Less

guage, full of connotations diputas

do more, the voice is a

The minimal representation. Since

to confuse their meaning and used

cold machines yes but

all of the performance limits were

in the day to influence the masses

also very poetic and

reached in the 70 would be absurd to

in the scurfy power struggle that

relaxing

continue dedicating delimiting the

keeps the world ensnared by the same

yes post it

language of art. Rather we should

disease that always Braille tube ...

use to expand our position to ef-

reminds me of visual poetry 60 70.

fect minimal. Ours is very specific,

As the “mesostic” of John Cage,

at least in the beginning. “LESS”

I have attached a sample audio of

Hello Mariana!, Last week I posted

25 de septiembre de 2012

a term that even ambiguous for its

your estate interpreted as a “mes-

the only sound I have to upload the

lack of context, specifically as art-

ostic” only now is the cold machine

image. . . Can you think of any

About the materials, i don’t care if

language representation of a map as

which reads, a voice translator

ideas to follow? And sorry for the

we use a projector or tvs...

if it were the initial conceptual

online.

waiting

i use low tech, but we can use the

reading welcomes visitors to our

http://www.fbu.edu.uy/alfabeto/

virtual space. Funny thing is that

alfabeto-online.htm

12 de septiembre de 2012

to represent...

when language is sparse (a short

Escriba braille online | FBU

that records audio and reproduce,

21:14 Alejandro

12:03 Mariana

11 de septiembre de 2012

12:03 Alejandro

Often

projectors if this is the best way 11:59 Mariana

hello! yes i saw it

phrase, word,...) tend to develop

00:13 Alejandro

made

I have a megaphone

in china (5€) that i can send

you by postal. Or we can use speak-

brain activity almost like a painting that invites you to look at

22 de septiembre de 2012

ers but the megaphone is like a syn-

their history, in their des-context.

dicalist way

21:11 Mariana

to reclaim free time,

Perhaps of all symbolic languages

www.fbu.edu.uy

hello! i added a video to the blog,

more holidays or rights...

in the form of writing that invites

My intention is not to deceive but

i did it when i was in portugal.

And about performance... I like so

more imagine, to be either the

to braille. Invite to read more

i guess in an underlying of the

much the idea of do a performance

Braille images, although many of

meaningless language own artistic

culture-clash of coming to englad

with you, but i didn’t have in mind

those who use it may be unable to

language. The computer read mesostic

and the over-working and so much

going there... but we can try do

create the images as we know that

also seem curious, dictate pauses,

information that the reaction is to

something with internet on live,

we can see. It’s funny that the

silences, morse, something .. but

stop and be with yourself

like a videochat. I like your video

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres 18:37 Alejandro

im thinking now next post

with your less

The “less” on the wall would be

26 de septiembre de 2012

What do you think about your queen,

in a similar color than the wall

almost invisible right? So that

and my king and them family’s¿??

de manera que apenas se pueda ver,

wouldnt attract to much attention

sea menos perceptible, luego un

Then the main pieces would be the

30 de septiembre de 2012

mensaje sin palabras que te envio en

videos, maybe at opposite sides of

boceto tambien podria pintarse en

the space?

hey hmm we could do the glue i guess

pared, tu video, y uno que te voy

And maybe i can use the megaphone at

im not quite sure what to think

a enviar de la reina desintegran-

the preview? Like a performance?

about queen/king, its pretty much a

dose en puntitos y pixeles en pleno

joke xD

mensaje(esto aun tienes que juzgarlo

im sorry i dont have much time now,

y verlo) luego te lo envio. El meg-

on tuesday i will be back to think-

aphono lo dejamos sonar todo el rato

ing!! i promise

solo que no encuentro por aqui 2

09:43 Mariana

baterias con el mismo conector, pilas tengo pero baterias no . ¿puedes

17:10 Mariana

conseguir alguna?

i LOVE THE MEGAPHONE idea!!

ups

eso era para miriam

17:13 Alejandro

its for miriam

what can i do with megaphone?

but i will translate this

want u send the mine to manchester?

and send u

is a good idea

is an idea

can u think in a performance on a

that she is askin anyone

few days?

just so that you can see, less no-

ah sorry

sorry

ticeable, then a wordless message

if u want

want u that i send the megaphone to

that you sent could also sketch

chami say that she has a work that

painted on wall, your video, and one

be interesting in this kind of

dont worry but only one more answer,

that I will send the Queen disinte-

wait

an address for send the megaphone

grating into dots and pixels in full

17:14 Mariana

sorry, send u what from manchester?

17:15 Alejandro

manchester via postal?

17:15 Mariana

oh yes yes i love the idea, i will

11:39 Alejandro

think about what we can do with it

14:19 Alejandro

idea

23:03 Alejandro

post (this even have to try him and

look this, what do you think ?

i like that it was made in china,

2 de octubre de 2012

see him) then sent it. The megaphono

On the Initial U.pdf

that is very significant when it

make it sound all the time just can

down is the same wihout the works,

comes to holidays and free time!

to be honest, im pretty lost, dont

not find around here 2 batteries with

in a fusion colors flag

28 de septiembre de 2012

have any ideas at all... a construc-

the same connector, but I have bat-

tion for the megaphone would be very

teries batteries not: (. Could you

difficult im sure. i need to think!!

get some?

16:56 Alejandro

Your “less” We can paint on the wall with glue or any product that is

14:03 Mariana

14:04 Alejandro

14:18 Mariana

almost translucent to invisible. And

hi!!

ok... i can see u have a lot of

perhaps a message ..; .. ,. out of

right now miriam is asking for our

ideas! very good!

our conversation too. What do you

work

and i like all of them, but would we

think?

be able to show all of it?

3 de octubre de 2012

umm

I like it! If miriam doesnt think

im thinkin in an installation

its too much Im happy!

hello! so what were you thinking

29 de septiembre de 2012

12:58 Mariana

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

hello! so do you know if francisco

the message and replace it or edit

about doing with this flag?

ality.

is coming to manchester?

it.

If you take a photo or draw, paint a

im not sure what we can do with it

if I think of something to do for

This is not a flag, is to turn to a

picture of the space from a concret,

but if comes i can still think

the performance ... but I’ve never

political speech, a few words and

you can also see how these cubes

how are we going to show your film?

been one just.

turn them into an image, almost

could well be a symbolic language,

can u send it to me somehow by web

The idea of removing paint like me,

altering his ssignificado visual po-

much like a morse or Braille, lan-

and i’ll put it on a dvd?

if you know how to do that is a good

etry, almost inverting ... Maybe it

guages that could almost be the

are we doing the ‘less’ on the wall?

idea.

sufieciente with imrpimirla in dinA4

limit of spoken .

if yes, i need to know what kind of

I do not understand what you want to

or A3 including the title of the

A cryptic ambiguity, a reduction of

paint to get. or glue

write ... About Our exchange??

speech and the issue that has been

languages, a break in the noise and

maybe just white paint with water

i will record u.u

... what do you think about this?

the formal expression, but induces

have you seen the video? and what we

silencing rethink the ease in and

mixed so there is actually less

14:09 Alejandro

14:52 Alejandro

paint than the wall in which it will

if one looks at a sculpture exhibi-

do with the “sculpture” to show you

open the mind to deal with the most

be painted on

tion minimalist, you can see how

the other day? need something? ship-

basic of our spacetime. We look

basic shapes interrupt our eyes in

ping or not?

again from the “less” to

15 de octubre de 2012

11:50 Mariana

space-time in which we find our-

18:10 Mariana

selves. These forms cut now and make

4 de octubre de 2012

oh my god so muh information xD

Hello! So the show is almost here!

a representation in the same place,

About the paint, thanks for your

doing cutting representative space

http://youtu.be/8DW3uLK94kc umm this

I think the projector can be most

suggestions but i have another one

for outside, turning the space time

is another idea, i need some hours

useful, but if we can only get a tv

xD what about if i sand off the

representation. The boundary between

to edit the audio. tomorrow i will

not matter. The megaphone I have

letters on the wall? so rather than

the spectator and is space-time, or

do. Like you? say me your opinion

a question. Signs? Recorded our

adding paint to it, we are minimis-

reality.

ing it. Getting the paint off. I’m

If you take a photo or draw, paint

just trying to think of a way to do

a picture of the view regular, you

less, rather than more

can also see how these cubes could

XD perdona pero pense que te habia

the second has to do with something

About the megaphone I am absolutely

well be a symbolic language, much

enviado ya el ejemplo del video a

that I have not even gone to the

lost to be honest! There’s an actor

like a morse or Braille, languages

ti. Se lo envie por error a miriam

blog, but I think I will pass on

that is happy to come but im not

that could almost be the limit of

u.u

pdf. Megaphone only records between

sure what to do :S Any idea wel-

spoken .

come!!

A cryptic ambiguity, a reduction of

sent the video example to you. Re-

And i will create a hand out with

languages, a break in the noise and

ferring you uu mistakenly miriam

ok, because i would prefer a projec-

statements about the couples/work,

the formal expression, but induces

could you send me up to 100 words

silencing rethink the ease in and

if one looks at a sculpture exhibi-

i will see today

about what you’ve been thinking

open the mind to deal with the most

tion minimalist, you can see how

im just wondering is there any need

about? And about the queen video.

basic of our spacetime. We look

basic shapes interrupt our eyes in

to record a message?

And then i will edit if t

again from the “less” to come back

space-time in which we find our-

i just emailed an actor, lets see if

to the needs.

selves. These forms cut now and make

he can do it.

a representation in the same place,

because if not, i dont know if i

doing cutting representative space

will :S

12:35 Alejandro

I will write to the megaphone Tony Blair’s speech on the invasion of Afghanistan that went up the blog

22 de octubre de 2012

11:02 Alejandro

00:04

less in a speaking youtu.be

12:33 Alejandro

conversation? silences or pauses recorded speech and signs tony blair on the invasion of Afghanistan ...

sorry but I thought I had already

12:47 Alejandro

10 and 15 seconds 12:37 Mariana

tor but im not sure theres enough :S

for outside, turning the space time

yesterday. If you want you can use

Thank you, I found very fracil work

representation. The boundary between

12 de octubre de 2012

that in some way, but you can delete

with you. I have seen little but I

the court and is space-time, or re-

22:42 Mariana

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres

like what I’ve seen. If you want to

Alejandro Gopar y Mariana Torres 11:06 Mariana

write another to add what we have

ah facil! thats great! i enjoy work-

done in total, and I’ll step you add

ing with u too

what you want and what we got. This

i have a show this week so will be

gives you a longer text if you need

very busy but next i will start

it for the blog. Is that okay?

thinking about new work and add more

Anyway you would have to correct me

to the blog x

that this text translated by google translator : P

11:04 Mariana

alright, so if its ok with you i will “edit” the text. i will correct and add more information x and what is ‘fracil’? xD

11:05 Alejandro

XD easy with mistakes

LESS Si uno mira una exposición de esculturas minimalistas, podrá ver cómo unas formas básicas interrumpen nuestra visión del lugar en que encuentran. Estas esculturas reducen a lo mínimo la representación material por medio de su forma, cortan la realidad de su corte ornamental hacia fuera convirtiendo lo real en representación. El límite entre el espectador y el espacio-tiempo, o la realidad, y su paralelo imaginario. Tomando una foto, dibujando o pintando un cuadro desde un punto de vista normal de la exposición, también se puede ver cómo estos cubos se asemejan a un lenguaje simbólico, como un morse o Braille. Lenguas que casi podrían ser el límite del lenguaje hablado. Esto supone una ambigüedad críptica, una reducción de los lenguajes, un descanso en medio del ruido y la expresión formal, que tal vez induce a silenciar, revisar lo simple, y abrir la mente para hacer frente a las más básicas problemáticas de nuestro espacio-tiempo.

LESS If you look at a minimalist sculpture exhibition, you can see how basic shapes interrupt our vision of the place where they are. These sculptures reduce the material representation to a minimum through their shape, cut the reality out of their ornamental cut representing becoming reality. The boundary between the viewer and space-time, or reality, and its imaginary parallel. Taking a photo, drawing or painting a picture from a normal viewing standpoint, you can also see how these cubes resemble a symbolic language, such as Morse code or Braille. Languages that could almost be the limit of spoken language. This is cryptic ambiguity, a reduction in language, a break from the noise and formal expression, which may induce silence, be it simple, and open the mind to deal with the most basic problems of our space-time.

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

Conversations

Laura Gower

Francisco Torres

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

I didn’t go to Manchester for the

few weeks of the year. That said,

year. But I don’t know if I could

Manchester have lived here all their

beaches because there aren’t any… I

the English are fantastic about

live in a place like this. It seems

lives, many still living at home

came for the city life on a smaller

complaining about the weather. As

sad. I like the cold and winter too.

with their parents in their twen-

scale (didn’t want to live in Lon-

soon as the sun comes out it is too

So I don’t mind living in a place,

ties, and people often ask me why

don…)

hot. The rest of the time it is too

at least I could try, but if it

I moved here: I’ ask them why they

cold, or too wet, or too windy. For

rains all the time it kills me.

haven’t left?

me, I quite like the cold. I like

Why did you not want to live in

dressing up in hats and scarves and

most talked about is that there is

London?

gloves and I love the snow – though

no money, no work, no one is fixed in

And what they respond when you tell

since it hardly ever snows when it

any job and now with Mariano Rajoy

them that?

does the whole country grinds to a

as prime minister, education will be

Too expensive in every way – rents

halt. The only thing I really don’t

only for the rich and the poor can’t

are ridiculously high, you have to

like is the rain. Look at me go-

afford it. In Tenerife we talk the

People say they like living at home,

travel on the bus or the underground

ing on about the weather – it’s so

same things that there isn’t aids

they get on well with their parents,

(which is not cheap) to get anywhere

English. Every time I speak to my

for people in need, and to get that

so why should they leave? Or they

and to travel home on the train would

parents in the phone we talk about

you have to fulfill a list of re-

can’t afford to, but many of them

cost a fortune unless I booked a

the weather – as if we had nothing

quirements. The world of culture is

run a car – which costs almost as

ticket three months in advance. Now

better to talk about! It just seems

wrong after deducting 63%. The exhi-

much as renting your own flat theses

that I am looking for jobs within the

an ingrained into English people to

bition halls don’t give you flyers or

days. I also get on with my parents

arts, and almost all the vacancies

talk about the weather to anyone and

invitation a drink on the day of the

and enjoy being at home – but I know

are in London, I try to remind myself

everyone.

inauguration. In universities tell

I can’t stay there forever, and the

that the number of people applying

us that we travel out, especially to

longer you leave it, the harder it

for these jobs in London (compared

and crystal clear water. Manchester

Germany.

becomes to leave. I was talking to

to Manchester) probably cancels out

has some beautiful architecture and

someone I work with and he said that

the benefit of there being extra jobs.

I think a lot of the city is beauti-

College of Fine Arts but I’ve also

Manchester was the only city he

Per person, there probably aren’t any

ful in its own way – but it can’t

heard workers and street people say

would want to live in. I asked him

extra jobs.

compare to the natural beauty of

that there is work in Germany.

if he had lived in any other cities

the coast in my opinion – even the

and he said no, but he had visited

English coast. I love the seaside.

chester have to be pretty. The pho-

other cities and he liked Manchester

But.. Are you working on store now?

(I will attach some pictures of the

tography where there is on a fore-

the best. I’m not sure what this

If not too much indiscretion, what

English coast). Wanting to go to

ground a tram with hints of blue and

means – in England a Goths is some-

is the store?

the seaside is another very English

the background a circular building

one who dresses in black clothes

thing because there aren’t many ma-

is awesome and beautiful. The photos

with studs, dies their hair black,

Sounds like paradise to me.

jor cities on the coast – so going

of the English coast are beauti-

wears black make up and listens to

( jajajajaja :P)

to the seaside is very traditional

ful, I never would have imagined. I

heavy rock music and is supposedly

holiday – though increasingly this

thought everything was building at

depressed all the time.

is being replaced by seaside holi-

least is I see when I see something

days abroad – particularly to Spain.

about England-London. By the way,

your photos of the canal are beauti-

Ok. This is true, but I’m talking

Francisco

Laura

Francisco

Laura

When you say there is sun all year

Also you talk about the beaches

round; that has to be paradise Francisco

Where I come from Jerez, the

I talking to you teachers of the

I see that the buildings of Man-

Francisco

Laura

Francisco

compared to here, where in summer

ful, I loved. Maybe the water is not

about other Goths.

the only difference is the rain is

I should go there to check the

clear but the walk through or near

slightly warmer. There is sun and

weather; I have never traveled to a

it must be beautiful.

been researching about it because I

warm weather for literally only a

place of rainy weather most of the

too have wondered.

Most of the people I’ve met in

I will try to explain it. I have

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

HISTORY

commonly known and reported in the

nary Islands.

The banana is the most important

The Goths were an East Germanic

Canary Islands came. This is a per-

crop in the Canary Islands and for

tribe whose two branches, the Visig-

son, usually male, from the “front

heard a fill his mouth mothers when

decades their industry was pro-

oths and the Ostrogoths, played an

Iberian”, by his own manifestation

their children were studying in ma-

tagonist of economic growth of the

important role in the fall of the

that enjoyed broad heritage: farm-

jor cities. People said that study

archipelago.

Roman Empire and the emergence of

houses, villas and castles… Also, he

to Madrid or Barcelona seems to be

Medieval Europe. Around 370, the

was the native of the Islands with

more important than in others Span-

Teide is a volcano located in the

Huns (a confederation of Eurasian

arrogance, superiority or imperti-

ish cities. But this not has to be

center of the island of Tenerife.

tribes) overran the Visigoths king-

nence, with certain arrogance and

really true. For example, I came to

With a height of 3.718 meters above

dom vast and scattered all Gothic

cockiness, especially according to

study Fine Arts at Tenerife and eve-

sea level is the highest peak in

tribes. From this moment, the

his position in the civil, military

ryone told me I was going to study

Spain. Currently this volcano is

Visigoths resumed their march west

or ecclesiastical and education of

to Seville. I’ve been studying first

considered the most emblematic

(Central Europe) and nobody could

the subject in question.

in Seville and later in Tenerife and

natural monument Canario. It is

stop them now: in 395 they began an

Seville is good but is very classic.

also a major tourist attraction

expedition against the Italian pe-

rich and powerful originally from

But the faculty of Tenerife, an un-

that attracts millions of people

ninsula arriving to sack Rome in 410

Iberian families that’s confused

known place to study, only known to

from around the world. The Autono-

and established five years later in

with the invading Goths, was part of

travel on vacation to the beach, is

mous Agency for Museums and Centres

the Roman province of Hispania (now

the nobility to be established the

a faculty from my point of view very

(OAMC) has been working for months

Spain and Portugal), founding from

Spanish nation.

good in contemporary art.

on a project that would enable

last for the next 300 years and end-

PHOTOS

as a testing ground for the study

ing disappearing by Arab invasion

So “Goths” are rich people? It

As I told you I went to Jerez and

of Mars. The similarity between the

and occupation in 711.

seems a perfectly acceptable state

two days ago later returned to Ten-

environmental conditions of Tenerife

of affairs these days to hate rich

erife to start the course and I ex-

and Mars has turned on the Canarian

de Castilla granted to Jean de

people – or posh as they are more

amine to the exam let me and a work

Island reference point for studies

Bethencourt military feudal privi-

commonly referred to. To be posh is

for the call now on September…

related to the red planet.

lege on the Archipelago, beginning

not a good thing in most circles,

In my time at Jerez I remembered

the conquest of the Canary Islands

and accent is very important. If you

how The Canary archipelago communi-

tant issue for the islands because

until then inhabited by the Guanches

are seen to have a posh accent a lot

cates with Spanish peninsula through

they receive a large influx of im-

Berber root people living independ-

of people will resent you before

planes and ships. I have gone twice

migrants every day. A sector of the

ently. Later the Crown of Castilla

they even get to know you – because

days in search of some boat… but it

Spanish disagrees with the number

recovered for itself the right of

you’re not “one of them”.

is curious I didn’t find any. Usually

of illegal immigration in their

I always look one like the photo

country, first because many of them

that I sent to the boat at the back

are unemployed and two, because im-

Meaning of Goth: It says the

Ever since I was little, I’ve

these facts, a kingdom that would

Then in 1402, King Enrique III

I also remembered the Teide. The

planetary geologists take Tenerife Laura

conquest over the islands which the feudal lords hadn’t been able to oc-

cupy. The sovereignty of the Canary

You could say that the Goths are

of the horizon.

migrants use many of the resources

Islands was recognized to Castilla

coming mainly from Madrid and Bar-

of the Spanish. Many foreigners get

in 1479, which delineated the Span-

celona, the cities “rich” in Spain.

boat that I not know where they go

jobs before the Spanish. Sometimes I

ish and Portuguese territories. The

But someone can be economically

with certainly but they depart from

feel like an immigrant when I’m in

process of incorporation of the Ca-

poorer fine talk and is arrogant and

the island and go to the peninsula.

the Canary Islands. Can you believe

nary Islands would be completed with

cocky and is considered a Goth. In

While I cutting fruits and veg-

they don’t want to attend me when I

the completion of the conquest of

conclusion, one could say that the

etables remembered the large banana

have to go the doctor? They tell me

Tenerife in 1496.

Goths are the peninsulars who come

plantations that I photographed in

that I have to pay to the healthcare

with an air of grandeur to the Ca-

one of the photographs I sent you.

for the being peninsular or make

It says that the “Goth” more

Francisco

Today, immigration is an impor-

So I decided to create a fantasy

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

appropriate papers to be cared.

me when they knew that I was liv-

And that I am Spanish. The cayucos

ing here.

and pateras are famous in Spain,

receive the name the various boats

of something that I didn’t seem

that are used by African illegal

beautiful but I didn’t find much.

immigrants trying to arrive to

Not everything on the island is

Europe through the Canary Islands

beautiful as always everywhere who

and Cape Verde from Morocco, Sa-

attacks the natural landscape. As

hara, Mauritania and Senegal. But

for example, remove endangered

being too fragile boats for open

species of Protected Species

sea occupants often die.

Catalogue Canario to carry out the

creation of an industrial port in

This does not mean that canar-

I wanted to take pictures

ies are not good people; on the

an area of marine and terrestrial

contrary, they are very friendly

biodiversity.

and very loving. Here, life is

lived to another rhythm, is much

Canary archipelago is a key factor

quieter, everything goes slower.

to be recognized as an intercon-

In my opinion, it does not mean

tinental logistics platform and a

that is good or bad. I have often

bridge of Europe with Africa and

heard to peninsulars the adjective

Latin America. So I came to take a

“aplatanados” to those living in

picture to an electricity tower.

the Canary Islands. They have told

The strategic position of the

Souvenir Identities Starting from the mass communication that provides new technologies in the twenty-first century through the network and its multiple connections to social groups of various kinds, it focuses an anthropological study of how, two people in different contexts but also joined and connected by a program of exchange of ideas and information, try to perform in order to create and develop a joint project. In this way, we try to break the individuality of the romantic artist who focuses their project on their own interests, to bring this new approach to a social field and collective, where what prevails is the communication flow between the couple formed, in this case, one of the various nodes that make up this ambitious project. Mancunians and Tinerfeños without being at the same time “converts” to inhabit and live in the key points that mark consecutively Island Continent and Island peripheral. Where emerging conversations and exchanges back and forth with the unknown, questions, worries, to a one ‘other’ different view of the commonly expressed by the indigenous inhabitants. Sending a row of such issues, coupled with the interpretation that each subject generated the shaping and arranging to statements posed, perhaps makes a romantic atmosphere communicative with the “Other.” But at the same time, this subject ‘B’, isn't very different from the subject ‘A’, since the two move in areas that one way or another have been displaced and therefore characterize conforming them as place a part of establishing the communication.

The vision from the point of view ‘Tinerfeño’, reconstructs the vision of an island in the vast desert ocean of the occidental world. One island, accused of mere distraction and getaway for leisure tourism by the most diverse minds that manage their description, is simultaneously bridge between continents.

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

Tenerife-peripheral island---------------- continents Europe-America-Africa This kind of Bermuda Triangle which become Tenerife, it sacralizes as an important policy area, economic and logistics. But to the same time the beauty, the change of pace, time, time zone, the tranquility of this heavenly place make up the force necessary to move this type of movement. But the atmosphere that surrounding this tourist area floods in one way or another small but great room of the individual, through a beam of light that bounces off the wall and make projections of the world, just as a pinhole camera allows obtain projections external images when processed. Thus, it takes just as if it were a dream, reality and fiction – its projection, its unreal side. And amidst this guidelines flight, the individual, leaving wet by back and forth elusive of the various forms of information that coming to him. The island within the send port, via networking with the global island. Send final to the ‘package’ that makes ‘Island within Island’, the outside is converted now in a strange souvenir. Finishing on the premise, “The Box” as a paradigm of Tenerife. It isn't used fetish as an consumer object from place of origin, but rethinks through its political and economic issues his situation as souvenir-place. The 1st Phase of the Project Souvenir Identities was in Manchester (UK), the island continent, with connections via peripheral island – Tenerife.

The ‘Mancunian’ (is in fact not a Mancunian) and thus in many ways also almost a stranger to its own cultural peculiarities and customs. Setting about to communicate only half known facts to someone else from a different culture and with a hefty language barrier would be an experience. The internet is a gift in terms of real time communication across multiple platforms, information and even translation; but it is an imperfect gift, one full of mistakes, (which of course makes it all the more fun) which draws the very nature of language and communication into sharp focus. Manchester is the spiritual capital of the North England, which in itself is almost an island, so obliterated as it is from sight in a world where London is synonymous with England. Though

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

culturally rich and boasting some stunning architecture, it still pales in comparison to the sunny island paradise it is pitched against in this project. Direct comparisons are not forthcoming, but paring the environment down to its very basics, the water is a consistent feature; and so too became three paper boats: being carefully folded in a student room in Tenerife, sinking in the canal in Manchester and finally flying on a plane between the two. A somewhat unlikely allusion to childhood, shipping, travel and imagination became a thoroughly romantic (but unexpected) souvenir.

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

Identidades Souvenir – Laura Gower – Francisco Torres – Laura Gower – Francisco Torres – Laura Gower – Francisco Torres – Laura Gower – Francisco Torres – Laura Gower –

Redes sociales – comunicación del siglo XXI Identidades Souvenir – Converso por el lugar en el que se vive y en el que se camufla Envíos e intercambios de ida y vuelta Idea romántica del envío de “x” desde una isla perdida a otra de tipo global Reconstrucción a través de la mirada de un converso Desde el exterior hacia una proyección y filtro en la intimidad. Vivencia y envío de la caja – habitación – lugar de conexión - “reconstrucción de” – “proyección de” – “filtro del exterior”..

Partiendo de la masiva comunicación que proporciona las nuevas tecnologías en el siglo XXI a través de la red y de sus múltiples conexiones de grupos sociales de diversa índole, se focaliza un estudio antropológico de cómo, dos personas en contextos diferentes pero al mismo tiempo unidas y conectadas por un programa de intercambio de ideas e información, intentan llevar a cabo el propósito de crear y desarrollar un proyecto en conjunto. De esta manera, se intenta romper con la individualidad del artista romántico que enfoca su proyecto hacia sus propios intereses, para llevar esta nueva propuesta a un ámbito social y colectivo, donde lo que prevale es el flujo comunicativo entre la pareja formada, en este caso, uno de los diversos nodos que componen este ambicioso proyecto. Mancunianos y Tinerfeños sin serlo pero al mismo tiempo “conversos” por habitar y convivir en los puntos clave que marcan consecutivamente La Isla Continente y La Isla periférica. De dónde van surgiendo conversaciones e intercambios de ida y vuelta con lo desconocido, de incógnitas, a preguntas, a simples inquietudes, a una ‘otra’ visión distinta de la comúnmente expresada por los habitantes autóctonos. El envío consecutivo de este tipo de cuestiones, sumado a la interpretación que cada sujeto genera a la hora de dar forma y formalización a los enunciados planteados, hace que se forme quizás, una atmósfera romántica comunicativa con el “Otro”. Pero que al mismo tiempo, este sujeto ‘B’, no es muy distinto del sujeto ‘A’, puesto que los dos se mueven en zonas a las que de una u otra manera han sido

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

desplazados y que por lo tanto los caracterizan conformándolos como una parte más del lugar en el que establecen la comunicación. La visión desde el punto de vista ‘Tinerfeño’, reconstruye la visión de una isla ubicada en el vasto desierto oceánico del mundo occidental. Una isla, que acusada de mera distracción y escapada para el ocio turístico por las más diversas mentalidades quienes manejan su descripción, es al mismo tiempo, puente de conexión entre continentes.

Tenerife-isla periférica----------------continentes Europa-América-África Esta especie de Triángulo de las Bermudas en el que se convierte Tenerife, lo sacraliza como una importante zona política, económica y logística. Pero al mismo tiempo la belleza, el cambio de ritmo, de tiempo, de zona horaria, la tranquilidad de este lugar paradisiaco conforman la fuerza necesaria para desplazar este tipo de movimientos. Pero la atmósfera que envuelve esta zona turística inunda de una manera u otra la pequeña pero gran habitación del individuo, a través de un rayo de luz que rebota en la pared y crea proyecciones de ese mundo, del mismo modo que una cámara oscura nos permite obtener proyecciones de imágenes externas cuando las procesa. De este modo, se recoge al igual como si de un sueño se tratara, la realidad y la ficción – su proyección, su lado no real. Y en medio de esta fuga de directrices, el individuo, dejándose humedecer por el ir y venir inasible de las diversas formas de información que llegan hasta él. La isla dentro del puerto de envío, vía conexión en red con la isla global. Envío definitivo del ‘paquete’ que conforma ‘La isla dentro de la isla’, el exterior ahora convertido en interior es a su vez un extraño souvenir. Finalizando en la premisa, “La caja” como paradigma de Tenerife. No se usa el fetiche como objeto de consumo del lugar de origen, sino que replantea a través de cuestiones políticas y económicas su situación como lugar-souvenir. La 1ª Fase del Proyecto Identidades Souvenir fue realizada en Manchester (Reino Unido), la isla continente, con conexiones vía isla periférica – Tenerife. El ‘Mancuniana’ (no es de hecho un mancuniana) y por lo tanto en muchos sentidos, también es casi desconoce muchas de sus propias peculiaridades y costumbres culturales. Estableciendo una comunicación sólo sabiendo a medias algunos aspectos de alguien con diferente cultura y con la que hay una gran barrera dada por el idioma, ciertamente puede ser toda una experiencia. El Internet es un regalo en términos de comunicación en tiempo real a través de múltiples plataformas, información e incluso de herramientas de traducción, pero este, es un regalo

Francisco Torres y Laura Gower

imperfecto, uno lleno de errores (que por supuesto hace que sea aún más divertido), pero sus precisamente esas dificultades la propia naturaleza del lenguaje y la comunicación. Manchester es la capital espiritual de la Inglaterra del Norte, que puede considerarse, en sí misma, es casi una isla, que permanece olvidada a los ojos de un mundo en el que Londres es sinónimo de Inglaterra. Aunque de gran riqueza cultural y con una arquitectura impresionante, parece palidecer en comparación con la soleada isla paradisíaca con la cual se conecta en este proyecto. Las comparaciones pueden ser odiosas, pero, reduciendo ambos lugares a los elementos básicos, el agua es una característica constante, y así llegaron los tres barcos de papel: desde su localización primaria, cuidadosamente guardados en una habitación de estudiante en Tenerife, hasta aparecer naufragados un canal de Manchester, para finalmente acabar volando en avión entre ambas situaciones (para acabar en la exposición de Manchester). Una alusión un tanto improbable de la infancia, el transporte, los viajes y la imaginación se convirtieron en un romántico recuerdo (aunque inesperado), un suvenir.

Inés Peña y Alex Howes

Alex

But I didnt forget our work, so I

Hi Ines!

have bring some images from one

Hope you are well. I had a look at

travel i have done two mounth ago

your website and I really like your

to england wich we could start our

work. Although we have very dif-

work, but i have left in my resi-

ferent styles I think there is a

dence and now i am in the academy so

certain quirkiness in our work which

far away from there.

will pull our ideas together.

So how shall we start things? From

dind’t forget you... I will send you

what I understand of the brief

my images this afternoon. I dont

you’ll send me some images/writ-

have internet in my house, I will

ings perhaps for me to react to and

find an internet point for communi-

things snowball from there?

cate us. I love your work too and I

I write you because you Know I

like that you like my work! I love

Inés

Hank and the Bear, which material

Hi!

did you use? or did you make it on

Sorry for the delay but this satur-

computer only?

day ihave justa arrive to London to

improve my english with a grant of

with the images, I thought that we

my university.

could make a blog because in my

So this week I have been looking for

email I have a lot of things and it

academy, accommodation...It wasn’t

is difficult to me find you when i was

easier...

looking something from the past.

Well, I’ll contact you early

Inés Peña y Alex Howes

I will probably create the blog

Inés Peña y Alex Howes

Inés

blogs name http://alexhinesp.blogs-

to upload the images. Are you agree

Hi!

pot.co.uk/

or are you thinking about another

I dont have so much time, sorry ...

and i didnt design anything of the

way to communicate?

I was thinking on you several times.

blog, is the simple template, if you

If you can open the blog please...I

want to change...may be when we have

looking forward to hearing from you,

dont have internet and for me it’s

more time...

bye!!!

so complicated to do.

ok see you!

I attach the images, I hope you feel

Try to enter in the blog and let’s

confortable whith them... I will

start to have the discussion

Hi Ines,

connect again this weekend with much

there...

No worries, you sound really busy.

time sorry

Really cool that you’re in London

to study English, I hope you have

to say me....

a great time. Perhaps that will

Good week! i could see all the

Well done on setting up the blog. I

influence how our exchange develops -

things

have got my computer back for a few

Sorry for the delay

Alex

I looking for whatever you want

Alex

slowly

Hey Ines! this weekend

looking at your experience of living

days and so I have uploaded some Alex

in London? It sounds like you are

thinking the same when you mention

Hi Ines,

the weekend.

having images from your past visit

No worries – i hope you’re settling

Speak soon.

to England?

in OK in London. I’m afraid I only

Alex

have internet at work at the moment

Thank you so much for saying you

paintings I’ve been working on over

like my work. I am currently trying

and so I won’t be able to set up a

to start a career in illustration

blog yet. If I do not have my laptop

------------------------------------

but it is a slow process and as I

back by the weekend I’ll go to a

Aquí abajo se detallan las conver-

have only just started it will be a

library and set a blog up there. Do

saciones, en fondo azul son las de

while before I can manage full time.

let me know if you manage to create

Inés Peña, en verde las de Alex

I work mostly in paint with ink

one first though.

Howes y en rojo son las respuestas a

nowadays.

las entradas de ambas.

for now I’ll start drawing in re-

I think you’re right that a blog

The images are great though and

http://alexhinesp.blogspot.com.es/

will be easier to keep track and not

sponse to them. I think that’s how

confuse with other things. If you

the next stage should work? Please

Friday, 20 July 2012

are happy to start it then let me

let me know if you think otherwise!

know when you have created it. re-

Speak soon,

First pictures

ally looking forward to seeing what

Alex x

you have and working from it. Do let Inés

me know if you need any help with

anything and I totally understand

Hello,,, Ive just set up the blog!

that you have a lot on at the mo-

I have had to open a gmail account

ment - happy to wait for you to send

before so fast...., i note here all

things through when you have time.

the things to Know:

Speak soon!

user: ***** login: *****

Inés

Inés Peña y Alex Howes

Friday, 20 July 2012

First drawings

leave me on those days, London, bar-

our project but We can not “put the

These images were inspired by the

celona, tenerife also...

cart before the horse.”(I’ve copied

Siguiente paso

photographs Ines took. Although

mmmm, let me think about this...

this sentence from Internet, in my

Hi! Its wonderful that you were

perhaps quite literal translations

This week I have been taking notes

language is something like that: to

drawing!

of her work, I hope as the project

about words surprised me on the

start the construction of the house

I sent you this pictures to break

progresses I will loose my automatic

street. I’ll write here.

with the roof)

the ice and because i didn’t have

‘illustrator’ thought patterns and

I dont have my camera here but i

Before, we have to start with the

so much time to think about the

think with a more abstract ap-

have bought a old camera and Im tak-

‘reason’ or the ‘meaning’ of our

project...

proach...

ing pictures but they are probably

project, where the research begin...

I dont have so much time as well,

“strange” ‘couse the camera, I’ll

We have some tracks, (some seems so

but i have been thinking a long the

see...

ridiculous but it can help to find

week...

Good work!

the directions to start)...

Yes, it may talk about my vision of

You are an illustrator and I am a

england but it might be other vi-

Thanks Ines! Sounds interesting - I

visual artist... :) we start the

sion...

think a broken camera will create

project with pictures and drawings

interesting images. I’ll wait for

You have drawings from the air

your post..!

(birds and dreams)

Inés

...after you send your drawings we might decide a topic to research

Alex

or perhaps it might be a emotion

I have pictures from the sea or

exchange betwen images producing by

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

ephemeral places? (boats, train,

each. I’m a little worried too about

Second post

hostel...)

the next step but i think that we

Inés

Your pictures seems happy and

have to relax and let’s just go with

Hi! Ooo ...

the flow. :)

anything to upload, I was writing

My pictures seems melancholic, poor

I dont Know if you can understand

some words or sentences... but I

...?

what i try to tell you...

haven’t got my laptop and in this

The islands are surrounded by the

Ok So i looking forward to hearing

computer I can not edit and save

sea and the only way for arrive is

from you...

documents... I would have wanted

from water and from air...

This is only the begining...

to do some visual texts, do you

We need to make the opposite things

salud!

understand?, draw with letters and

up, I dont know if i tell this well,

words...

I mean, need to find how to join the

Hi Ines! I’ve got a computer for a

One sentence that I have rescue from

opposite.

few days so I posted these pictures

the street and I like so much, (but

Fill in what you think on the

in response to your images.

after i know the meaning I don’t

list...

I don;t think there’s any right or

have the same impression,)

Some thoughts...

Alex

this week I don’t have

wrong so I think you’re absolutely

colored

I was thinking to do a book with

right in that we should just go with

“Improving the image of construc-

pictures and illustrations but I

the flow!

tion”

don’t Know what could we tell in the

Ines

story. Maybe the trip of someone or Inés

For me it’s like the moment we are

we could check better the topic,

Nice!! Before you put the drawings I

now, improving the construction

about the relationship between

Sunday, 22 July 2012

was thinking about the two first, be-

of image...well, don’t mind... I

the island and the sea... i don’t

cause the sounds of the gulls never

thought that it could be a title for

Know...or about our correspondence,

Alex

Inés Peña y Alex Howes

Alex

like a visual postal...

Thursday, 2 August 2012

http://www.photomonitor.co.uk/

Well, Miriam suggested me that I can

here, in essays, i have read an

talk about UK and you show me the

Hi Ines!

interesting issue about travel, the

things about your country, but we

It’s a shame we have both had prob-

first essay, about this artist;

can adjust the project as we like i

lems getting to a computer recently!

adam jeppesen

think...

Your post is very interesting - your

And I want to emphasize this

Well, these are “the flies flying over

words are very descriptive. It has

Artist book; Ori Gersht

my head”, the thoughts that i have

given me lots of ideas about the

Besides references, I’ m reading

been thinking about, not much but

theme of coming together through

this book “The songslines” of Bruce

let me know what are you thinking,

different approaches - whether by

Chatwin. Is a travel book. Chatwin

what do you want to do or what is

transport or thought processes. I

describes a trip to Australia which

Below are some images of Eric Car-

your impression of that...

really like the idea of a picture

he has taken for the express purpose

le’s contribution to the exhibition,

The next week i will be in my home,

book telling a story surrounding

of researching Aboriginal song and

but I can’t find details of the show

and I will have so much time to

this theme. A journey but not as

its connections to nomadic travel.

to post from the internet...

research and to decide or do some-

straightforward as it seems.

He want to write a book about no-

thing.

idea of an island being the central

madic and inside, it’ s possible to

Ah! I have broken the film which was

goal.

read some interesting notes he took

in my ‘new’ old camera, now, i don’t

I shall work on some drawings at the

for it.

have pictures from London... :(

weekend and hope I can post them by

I try to write here but I’ m going

I will try to buy a new film but i

the end of next week...

to do the translation with google

Alex

The

didn’t have these images...

traductor...

The last day I’ve been in Tate Brit-

Monday, 6 August 2012

Our nature lies in movement, complete

ain and I saw a exhibition that give

calm is death. (Pascal, Penseès)

me some inspiration. It was about

References

In The Descent of Man, Darwin noted

unseen scholar Robinson undertakes

Hello, I have already arrived to

that the migration of certain birds

exploratory journeys around England

Spain, home sweet home!

momentum is stronger than the mater-

mixed with contemporary works, and

Here some references that i found

nal. The mother will abandon their

the intention was explain the origin

online. They can help us for have an

young in the nest so as not to miss

of the crisis, i think. The display

idea of what is an artist book.

your appointment for the long flight

or the exhibition design it was ok.

I lay here only photobooks, if you

southward.

I was thinking in my first memory...

This is the link

find some illustration book that

Travel, meaning “journey” in Eng-

but it’ s so difficult.. I was think-

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/

you think are important to know I

lish is a word identical to travail

ing when i was a child, my first

tate-britain/exhibition/patrick-

will be grateful, i don’ t know

“physical or mental work,” “work,”

memories are fuzzy, they were non-

keiller-robinson-institute

much about contemporary drawings in

especially painful and oppressive

specific sites, a piece of a table, a

Also I find this illustartor, maybe

books.

nature, “effort”, “hardship”, “suf-

wall...but feelings are so strong...

you know him, i like his work! Mar-

I really like this book

fering.” A “trip”

i remember one time, my mum was

cel Dzama

vitamin D Phaidon

There are more but I think for the

holding me to up the stairs of my

and this just for fun!

but it isn’ t an artist book, is a

moment its enought.

house, maybe I was 3 years old, i

http://www.youtube.com/

general contemporary drawings book.

Im looking forward to hearing from

dont know, i was crying because I

watch?feature=player_

Look at this,

you, kiss!

was a very tearful girl, and I threw

embedded&v=SZt_d_4OV-

http://www.haveanicebook.com/blog/

Q&noredirect=1#!

Also I find this web

Inés

my mum’ s glasses steps in... I haThursday, 9 August 2012

ven’ t forgotten that feeling.

Inés Peña y Alex Howes

Also i remember when I was learning

photograph it this weekend. :(

I wan to recomended this film because

to read in the primary school.We

So I have to think another picture

It’ s about a man exiled and the

had a round table where some col-

for the proyect... I will try to

“travel” is treated with a different

Inés Peña:

leges snot beat underneath and then

post something this weekend

point of view.

Aquí terminó nuestro intercambio,

the dialogs of the film are se-

a pesar de que fue gratificante,

turned. You could have the snot of

--------------------------------

your college on your site. When we

Friday, 24 August 2012

cundary, It’ s a great visual poem.

no encontramos un punto en común

were reading they used to do this,

The end of the film has a poetic im-

para trabajar y decidimos para

because it was a boring and compro-

some images These are pages from a

age but I haven’ t wanted upload

el proyecto. A partir de entonces

mised when you have to read...

child exercise book that I found in

because maybe you want to watch the

comencé a trabajar con José Jurado

This thoughts away from the idea

london in my suburb

whole film.

estudiante español en Manchester.

Alex

of the travel, they are more akin

Perhaps you will find some tips to

to the journey of memory, this is

draw.

a huge issue, diferent, funny, in-

La presentación en Manchester recogió algunas ideas de las comentadas

teresting... but we should have to

Friday, 24 August 2012

start or look how to conect with

journey...Anyway we have 4 weeks for

I have been thinking about an anima-

make something, and I’ve begun to

tion short film

sobre el álbum de fotos de viajes.

feel the fear... i need a feedback,

Perhaps we could do an animation.

En los álbumes encontramos imágenes

an answer...I’ m looking forward

I have been thinking about the time

que conforman nuestra memoria, sue-

from hearing from you.

that we spend in the transport to

len ser lugares comunes que visita-

arrive somewhere.

mos varios de nosotros y en los que

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

It could be a metaphor of our con-

nos retratamos junto con los seres

tinuos search without find nothing...

queridos. Montamos la foto simulando

Hellooo,

Timeout that we spend to arrive to

lo bien que nos lo pasamos, lo fe-

Well, I have been thinking about the

somewhere with expectation...

lices que estamos para que quede un

Alex

en el blog.

Inés “Con esta serie intento reflexionar

book and may be is early to decide

Friday, 24 August 2012

The animation could be a foreground

registro de aquel momento.

what will we do. I think is better

of the character wating in dif-

Las fotos que presento siguen en

continue producing images each week

My lost Tesco Cake.... Seems an

ferents spaces...a lift, a tube,

el album tradicional pero muestran

and decide how will formalization it

island

a waiting room, a plane, a bus, a

imágenes vacías, con un aire nos-

later. It could be a book, it could

train... and he never arrives to

tálgico de aquel lugar ideal que

be a installation or pinted images

somewhere, always is on travel.

estamos dispuestos a visitar. He

Inés

contrasted... I don't Know.

querido registrar gráficamente aquel-

This weekend I’ll post you a pic-

los lugares de tránsito del viajero,

ture, I haven’ t already taken.

lo que hay después de retratarse

For the time being I’ve posted a

felizmente junto con el paisaje o

video where illustration/animation

monumento visitado.”

and art are mixed...

Friday, 24 August 2012

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

“voyage a cymera”

Inés

My boyfriend has just eaten the

Theo Angelopoulos film: “voyage a

tesco cake that i was saving for

cymera”

Inés Peña y José Jurado

Inés Peña y José Jurado José: Hola Inés! Se me ha ocurrido escribir alguillo comparando los panoramas artísticos de ambos lugares, son cosas que he estado prensado durante el tiempo que llevo estudiando y viviendo en Manchester, pensé que podría ser una buena forma de empezar nuestro intercambio, ya me contarás qué tal ;)

Precariedad y Art & Crafts “When I had a studio, I was working very little [and] I didn’t know what to do with all that time. (…) There was nothing in the studio because I didn’t have much money for materials. So I was forced to examine myself and what I was doing there. I was drinking a lot of coffee, that’s what I was doing.“ Bruce Nauman En España e Inglaterra lo que más diferencia los modos de hacer y trabajar para todos los artistas es el estudio. Sin estudio que el paso de madurez de todo artista cuando sale de la escuela de arte no se puede producir ya que el estudio es al mismo tiempo: lugar de producción, relaciones sociales (HUB) y da visibilidad a la obra (Open Studio). Dentro del estudio el artista puede mostrar su obra sin intermediarios en un cubo más o menos “blanco”. Esta pasión y necesidad obligada de tener estudio en

Inglaterra es algo utópico en España a no ser que vivas en un pueblo (nave taller) y también porque la especulación y gentrificación lo ha hecho imposible estos últimos años en las grandes ciudades. Los artistas ingleses están más enfocados en el objeto y en la producción comercial de obra tal vez influidos todavía por el art & crafts en cierto modo. Ellos son políticamente correctos y rara vez se ven obras que salgan de tono o de corte político y social como hacen por ejemplo colectivos como Democracia o Todo por la Praxis en España. Este año 2012 han sido los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres un gran escaparate internacional de visitantes a la gran metrópolis británica y las exposiciones que hemos podido ver a lo ancho y largo de todo el país han estado dedicadas en su mayoria a artistas británicos: Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Turner, Twombly, Jeremie Deller,… Este nacionalismo artístico según mis teorías de debe a la crisis y a que ellos no son tontos y si tienen la oportunidad de mostrar al mundo arte, el suyo siempre será lo primero y mejor. Todo el mundo sabe que la ropa de Primark es de calidad mediocre tirando a mala, discutiendo con una amiga inglesa sobre esto, ella decía que no de forma rotunda. Algo que ellos rara vez harán es tirar tierra encima de algo suyo cosas que nosotros hacemos sobre nuestros productos españolas con demasiada frecuencia. No sabemos vendernos y en eso ellos son unos máquinas de los cuales se puede aprender mucho. La crisis cultural llega a Manchester la ciudad donde he vivo de muchas formas, en el Cornerhouse este año una de las exposiciones ha sido la de una artista local que lleno la sala de exposiciones de instalaciones producidas in situ para ahorrar medios y costes. Los recortes culturales se vienen produciendo en Inglaterra desde los albores de la crisis allá por el 2008 y han sido bien fuertes. Los artistas en este país no cuentan con la red de becas y ayudas al arte contemporáneo que hemos tenido en España hasta hace nada y que ahora vemos menguar. En muchos premios ya el premio en sí es la propia exposición, esta decadencia y precariedad viene azotando a los jóvenes creadores en los dos países y es algo que nos iguala completamente. España tendrá muchas cosas en el terreno artístico pero al menos no hacemos todavía pagar a los artistas por presentarse a los concursos (fees) algo típico y normal en Inglaterra, de esa forma el premio se recauda con el dinero de los artistas que participan llegando a veces a pagar hasta 25 libras o más por obra presentada. Esto hace que se acoten los premios a solo aquellos que se puedan permitir pagar esas cifras y que rara vez se puedan premiar proyectos ya que aquí siempre prevalece la obra, sobretodo la pintura, ante otras modalidades artísticas. Durante este año en Inglaterra he podido viajar por toda Inglaterra visitando diferentes centros de arte (Baltic, Tate, Ikon, Fact, Cornerhouse,…) la característica común entre todos ellos es que son más pequeños y adaptados a las necesidades

Inés Peña y José Jurado

del lugar. No se construyen en Inglaterra grandes artefactos culturales para dar de comer a los amigos de los políticos con sus construcción (empresas a dedo que se lo llevan calentito) y recalificación de terrenos como se hace en España. La anécdota más peculiar de los centros de arte ingleses es que todos son polivalentes y multifuncionales adaptándose a una celebración de boda o evento de empresa por ejemplo, previo paso por caja, haciendo de esta forma rentable el espacio. Hay que copiar mucho de ellos en cuanto a gestión y actividades de estos centros de arte ya que si algo no falta y es primordial en todos ellos es el departamento de didáctica para la creación de nuevos públicos y el de actividades familiares con una fuerte dedicación. Yo siempre estoy a favor del I+P, como hacen los chinos, Investigación y Plagio, si algo funciona y se hace bien… ¿por qué no copiarlo?. En vez de eso lo que vamos a copiar de ellos es un sistema público adelgazado con todos los servicios básicos privatizados (más y más recortes). Para copiar las cosas malas somos unos linces en España, lo mismo hemos hecho con la arquitectura copiando modelos de casas y chalets adosados que son más propios de otros países y climas para homogeneizar todo el país. ¿Y las galerías? Las galerías comerciales de arte contemporáneo solo están en Londres y muchos artistas venden obra sin necesidad de ellas haciendo uso de otras vías como los Open Studio o representantes con una cartera de coleccionistas. Las galerías solo son útiles en las ferias de arte pero un artista hoy día puede vender su obra sin ellas, sobre todo si la obra es buena claro. El sistema inglés con sus fallos tiene algunas cosas mejores que el español pero lo bueno sería una mezcla de los dos modelos. Vienen tiempos donde se antepone colaborar, cooperar y hacer rentables todos los espacios posibles ya sea en una ciudad o pueblo. Para finalizar una frase que me dijo un buen amigo acerca del mundo del arte: “esto es como una carrera de fondo donde los que llegan a la meta no son necesariamente los mejores sino los más resistentes”. Inés: Resulta interesante, ciertamente es una carrera de fondo, últimamente he estado pensando mucho sobre este tema ahora que en España se ha reduciendo el dinero de cultura y educación, creo que quizás sería bueno que pudiéramos hablar por skype un día y viéramos que podemos hacer.

Inés Peña y José Jurado Esta es una de los chats rescatados

Aitor Saraiba José

durante una llamada por skype:

20:48 José

http://www.lefthandrotation.com/

20:29 Inés

museodesplazados/ficha_jurado.htm

¡Hola jojurgom! Me gustaría añadirte

a Skype. Ines

ese fue mi primer proyecto en Bar-

celona

20:32 Inés

20:49 José

*** Llamada a Jose Jurado ***

la ciudad del circo

20:32 José

20:50 José

has visto que ardillaca

ecobulevar

20:34 José

20:51 José

www.anarosahopkins.com

20:36 José

www.ruralc.com

*** Llamada finalizada. Duración: 24:23 ***

20:36 José

rural contemporanea

esto va fatal

20:36 José

20:56 José

campo adentro

mi cnexion es una mierda ys te

20:39 José

20:56 Inés

efti

dije... a ver..

20:39 José

20:58 Inés

iniciarte

m? yo no soy

20:39 José

20:59 Inés

MA Fine Art

o si

20:42 José

PhD

20:59 Inés

joder 20:42 José

21:00 José

by practice

http://www.museoreinasofia.es/exposi-

ciones/2012/haacke.html

20:43 José www.campecho.wordpress.com

20:43 José

21:00 José

si eres tu

www.puertasecat.blogspot.com

se va

20:44 José

21:00 José

www.josejurado.com

esa expo muy buena

20:44 José

21:00 José

Villacañas

de Hans Haacke en Madrid en el reina

20:45 José

21:00 José

ECAT

estaba vi´ndola

20:45 José

21:03 Inés

Fernando Sanchez Castillo

tiene buena pinta

20:47 José

21:03 Inés

Manu Arregui

me lo leeré con clama

20:47 José

21:03 Inés

Inés Peña y José Jurado

21:03 José

Inés Peña y José Jurado

21:05 Inés

mado por 54 apartamentos adaptados.

tengo muchos álbumes con fotos de

es pirata y no rula

Solo les falta poner los remates,

los sitios que he visto en mi face-

la fontanería y la carpintería del

book

de vez en cuando

complejo que este grupo de amigos

y vecinos de dos barrios de Madrid

21:03 Inés

21:05 Inés 21:05 José

se oye fatal hay un problema en el

llevaban tanto tiempo ideando. Un

*** La llamada a Jose Jurado no ha

micro no se

centro basado en la sostenibilidad,

sido respondida. ***

la actividad y la solidaridad. “La

21:03 Inés

21:08 Inés

joer salgo conectada pero se ha

cooperación es mucho mejor para

quedao pillao esto...

resolver los problemas que la com-

merda

21:03 José

petencia”, apunta Zugasti, técnico *** Llamada a Jose Jurado ***

de Madrid, Kassel, Londres,

21:03 Inés

de mantenimiento aeronáutico jubilado. Los socios de Trabensol afirman

21:16 Inés

que su idea no era sustituir los

no funciona

ahora eres tú

servicios que debe proveer el Estado

de bienestar. “Debe seguir propor-

21:04 José

21:16 José

puedes ver lo que se esta haciendo

ahora creo que soy yo

cionándolos, pero estos servicios

fuera din salir del ordenador

están muy burocratizados. La nuestra

no se

es una forma de tomar las riendas y

me gusta el montaje y ver las obras

atender de manera directa nuestras

in situ

estoy mosca

necesidades”, dice Zugasti. Cree que

su idea podría servir —eso sí, con

21:04 José

21:04 Inés

claro no tiene nada que ver *** Llamada de Jose Jurado ***

21:04 José

21:16 José 21:16 José 21:21 José

Land Escape

más apoyo institucional— como ejem-

plo para cubrir otras necesidades

21:24 José

www.culturapoligonera.blogspot.com

desatendidas, con más participación

ciudadana.

21:27 José

http://www.paraisosocultos.com/tu-

si me oyes

otro-banco/1413

Atenas

21:29 José

COOPERATIVA

jojurgom@gmail.com

21:05 Inés

21:05 José

21:32 José 21:33 José

trabensol.org

se entrecorta la llamada

www.trabensol.org

www.ruralc.com

21:05 Inés

21:34 José

http://sociedad.elpais.com/

problema de conexion

sociedad/2012/08/31/actuali-

bona nit

dad/1346434350_696600.html

21:05 José

imposible no la tienda sino la lla-

mada

En Torremocha del Jarama (Madrid)

faltan solo unos meses para que

21:05 Inés

soy yo

21:32 José

Antonio Zugasti, de 79 años, y el resto de socios de la cooperativa

*** Llamada finalizada. Duración:

Trabensol —todos pensionistas— se

00:42 ***

muden a su nuevo hogar: un centro de convivencia para mayores confor-

21:34 José

Inés Peña y José Jurado

Uno de los proyectos iniciados que no tuvieron desarrollo alguno fue la primera propuesta de recolección de imágenes de las pintadas de los baños de diferentes universidades de nuestra residencia. En el caso de José era en Manchester, en mi caso Barcelona. Estas fueron las imágenes tomadas en Barcelona en las facultades de Bellas Artes, Geología y Física.

WC BARCELONA UNI / WC MANCHESTER UNI Barcelona:

Manchester:

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

11 de Julio de 2012

PS: I’m also interested in self-

publishing and how to use desing to

13:05 Jonathon

Hello Oscar,

make easier to understand art, also

Nice to (virtually) meet you! Im

interested in music. I played the

looking forward to starting work to-

guitar for several years and lately

gether.

I like to jam over electronic bases.

How is your english? My spanish is unfortunately non existant. J.Beattie

23:24 Oscar

hahaha, I’m not bad in english and I want to improove it, so let’s start working! Unfortunatelly I’m so busy since Saturday because we have an exhibition on Friday. So I’ll start with this project on weekend. Ah,

This is the first object that appears a my journey, sometimes is not really important because of the new medias. My smartphone stores a little bith more information than this book, this photo was made with my phone also and an application to share it, but here you can sketch, write ideas and linked them to other stuff sticked into, and of course… you can touch it.

pleased to meet you too!!

I’ve seen many interesting things related on your site 24 de Julio de 2012

18:55 Jonathon

Hey! Yeah unfortunately im saving up back in the UK to move to Berlin permanently ( also learning german right now). But have an amazing time on your erazmus, I wish I had done the same at uni. Cool man, yeah I make a bit of music.

23 de Julio de 2012

It would be nice to incorporate some

sound into whatever we do.

23:46 Oscar

Hi dude! ok, as Miriam said and as I

I think the best thing would be to

could see on your website, you are

use skype every week and chat to each

living also in Berlin, rigth? I’ll

other about what we are doing etc

be there in Berlin from August 5th to August 26th. It could be great to meet us there, we could talk a long about what we want to do or just have a few impressions about us or maybe about what happens when you mix two different realities. Ok I’m just rambleling but lately I’m interested in the way that we can meet people, relations and how to create a net. I

Let me know when your next free and

Oscar: Inside mine, I wrote some notes about what could happen if you are traveling for a long journey far from your usual environment. In that point became very important Time, something that I don’t really know what It is, but I can hold it into my watch.

we can skype and form a starting point. Cool man what did you like??

20:22 Oscar

ha ha ha. Im also learning german and i have an exam tomorrow. OK, I agree in using skype, maybe we could talk on Friday or weekend, I’ll have

don’t know how to explain myself but

finished the german’s intensive course

I think that we could use our situa-

on thursday. Think also about an easy

tion as a working method. Please when

way to share things, but more in the

I work in group i like to speak a lot

line of a conceptual map, trumblr

and discuss about every point of view

maybe? what do you think?

to ensure that we are all working 100% on the same way, so if you dont

24 de Julio de 2012

understand me or just dont like it,

tell me. See you!

Yeah that sounds cool.

23:52 Jonathon

Algunos gráficos desarrollados en los primeros días de viaje. Reflexión sobre las condiciones y cambios en el ambiente y por ende, en el sujeto. Posibilidades de cambio.

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

Obviously I dont know how you work. I like to get stuck in and do random things to find inspiration around a certain topic.

00:01 Oscar

ok, I think we have to relax and focus on knowing each other , just as a random exercise, like putting what we are doing now or what we are interested in lately. You know, the project is suposed to be about breaking the isolation we have living in an Island, so simplifying... that means to meet people, for example you and me. We are our potential masterpiece, hahahah.

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

00:15 Oscar

in the free for arts space. I’ve

maybe I have to pick me a photo in

talked to Miriam, she likes the idea

the places you frequent in Berlin

but we have to work on it more, we

and then you do the same in a simi-

should have an special presentation

lar position when you get there,

and interview of the organisation,

we try to meet us but we cant, the

but we have to confirm Miriam that

place is the correct one but not the

we are going to do it before Sunday

time, the clash of thoose images

evening. Maybe a conference tonight?

could be interesting. what do you

but ill be on a friends house in

think?

Berlin so I need to know which time to take his computer.

16 de agosto de 2012

14:25 Oscar

Hey I m doing some things with those Photoautomat, they are great! Have you there Photoautomat in Manchester?? Could you send me one o try to imitate it and send me by email, i will try to printed here and do some photographs. I will try to upload some examples on trumblr.

14:54 Jonathon

cool i dont know what that is but i

know how to explain it

I started taking a photo almost everyday and putting them on the wall toguether, like in the photoautomat website are posted. Sometimes some pics interacs with the others beside. Of course some of them are just funny pictures, but sometimes there’s something else, It’s you changing every day but allways in a box, there’s no reference to time and space, just you, or your representation

28 de septiembre de 2012

29 de septiembre de 2012

will find out

14:56 Oscar

im taking one photoautomat picture per day, but yesterday i started taking pictures also of the strip of 4 photos in the place, soy i think you will be able to join. I dont

10:04 Oscar

10:35 Oscar

OK check the things I’ve posted in

Hey man where are u? Did you see the

the blog. I have the posibility to

post? We have to answer miriam

travel to Manchester few days before

the exhibition. I was wondering if

Yo sorry ive been working like a

I can stay at your home, but theres

madman, our stall at Manchester con-

not a problem because I’ve there a

temporary wasnt built so I had to do

friend doing erasmus semester. So

it, and then we got a leak through

the idea is to build in thoose days

the roof at our gallery. Its been

some kind of photo-souvenir studio

mental, Im around to skype tonight

13:28 Jonathon

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

or tommorw. Im still in work today

be a real journey symbolising a

though im afraid.

metaphorical one, who we are, or a

Ill look into your post etc and we

literall one to show where we have

can chat on skype. when is good for

been. Either way it would show a

you. tonight or tommorw and what

transition of information to each

time?

other hence the communication and

Yeah man you can stay if you want

that would also talk to the audi-

to! (although its my parents a lit-

ence. Its a good half way point to

tle outsude the city its nice and peacefull and just a trrain ride away). J

14:06 Oscar

Ok look at the stuff on the post and

we are going to do something special and in wich dates I have to buy my tickets. Then we have to inform miriam before tomorrow evening. So i ll be connecte via mobile and I will be dinning at a friends house, just send me a message on facebook and i will try to connect on skype. Good luck! See ya

15:24 Jonathon

Right im not sure what you mean. You want to get photos from the automat of others and create a big selection of thumbnails on the wall?

15:28 Oscar

Not selection. everyone can put his photo.but we are the photoautomat. A camera. Flash and printer.

15:42 Jonathon

Im not sure man, I get the idea it works well with the souvenir and journey themes but I dont think that it would be particularly strong visually. I think we can do better, it seems a little easy to me. Its like when you go on holiday do you allways want to do the touristy

scene for something to build upon later. We dont have to stick to photography, anyhting that is symbolic or

Reflexiones sobre el espacio-tiempo inherente a cada sistema fotográfico posible

dont worry, I know you must work. The important thing is to decide if

the project which would set the

Souvenir. The most popular photomachine in Berlin, If you don’t have a photo in one of them, you were not in Berlin.

stuff, looking at the same stuff

character of a place is and go to the places where tourists dont usually step..... Like I said its a bit too obvious for me and I think we can better. What are your thoughts?

15:42 Jonathon

do better*

15:55 Oscar

Oh man but did you see the photos i posted?. In a photoautomat is not a touristic place is just you inside a box. Maybe i ca upload more Of course I Want to do better that is to continue thinking in the idea

15:59 Jonathon

Yeah i saw them and i like the effect of lots together but, it just doesnt feel very strong, or serious and it doesnt ahve to be but it also has to kind of reflect some sort of work ethic in that I dont want it to look cheep. Do you get what im saying?

of us have been on to get to today. They could sit side by side or intertwined.

with a different skin every time? I dont I want to see what the real

otherwise about the journies each

16:01 Oscar

Not really. I dont understand

16:02 Jonathon

I think putting auto mat images on the wall, even if there are 500 of them, will not be a very interesting exhibition. Even if they do travel and the idea fitts I dont see it as a engaging piece of work

16:06 Oscar

Ok thats because it should not be the important piece. Just the cool stuff for the people. What else do you want to do? “15/04/2013 The important piece is the photobooth!!!”

16:08 Jonathon

Yeah its not the final work but i still want to produce something im vaugely proud of.

16:14 Jonathon

what about a visual diary of a journey? One that talks to each other symbolically about where we have come from to this point. It could

Jony: My neighbor lit a fire in his garden, hes had about four this week alone. I think he is some sort of pyromaniac and its driving my dad insane! The Journey of the smoke is beautiful, and before that. The carbon trapped in the wood, grew from a seed from another tree etc etc until we get back to the creation of the particles from a star. We can even go further back than that probably infinitely………

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

16:21 Oscar

project of some students taking

Ok. Tschuss

Do you have material to do that?

photos to the people who visit the

atelier. But the photos where of

ciao

16:26 Jonathon

17:05 Jonathon

well I have an idea for a journey

full body and the dont develop them

that i can illustrate literally

in the place. And the stand looked

30 de septiembre de 2012

which has taken place over the last

more like a photography estudio. We

few years.

dont have to do that

Yo,

I think coupling that with old pho-

Ok we can go ahead with the idea.

tograhps / fragments of the past.

Was that the huge format camera? I

BUt its going to be very expensive.

Old photos, imagery anything qwuotes

think I went ther

We will need a printer that is of

etc

I think it could work really well or

photographic quality, extra toner.

this would also act as an exchange

really badly.

Camera, Lighting, backdrop etc

between each other, as part of the

We have to work out what camera to

exchange and getting to know one

use, background, printer paper etc.

Dont worry we have 19 DAYS

another and to realize the next part

It will be very expensive

of the work

Its not easy to take a great por-

How much money can we use from the

was denkst du?

trait so doing a load in one go is

fund do you know?

not ggoing to be easy

16:37 Oscar

Oh Im not sure. The memory and all that stuff is very old and untrendy. I m going ro use my berlin material but i dont like the idea of using old photographs Every time a student do that kind of work whith old stuff the teachers get bored. So you have to be cqrefull

Experimentamos con fotocopiadoras. La imagen automáticamente se envía a una dirección de email. Podemos enviar nuestra imagen. ¿Viaje espacio-temporal? Fotografía a través de fotocopiadora Minolta. Video en HD. http://vimeo.com/53467447#

16:40 Jonathon

16:57 Jonathon

17:02 Oscar

Think it calm. Maybe just an inkjet

18:15 Oscar 18:16 Jonathon

18:21 Jonathon 18:26

whith photopaper and use a custom layer to seem like a photoautomat

-----------------

print. I dont know just see what is

15/04/2013: Teníamos la pieza desde

in the market and choose. Ok i have

el principio, hay que tener más de-

to go now. Think it calm and tell me

terminación cuando uno está seguro

something tomorrow morning. Can you?

de que es una buena idea para re-

solver una pieza.

17:02 Jonathon

yeah cool

-----------------

Ok its not cool but it illustrates a

journey.

I what to do it. Its not the first

does it have to be automat style?

1 de octubre de 2012

I dont have to use that I can just

time That someone does something

we could make up our own style

create the literal journey but i

similar. Quality portraits to the

Hey dude! I’ve my tickets to Man-

dont want it to be too dry

people who visit an open studio,ect.

But remember : we can do it! And...

chester, they are a little bith

hence a mix, but ive literally just

I know that it works, of course

Miriam is expecting. Talk to her!

more expensive than the last time I

pulled tht out of hat i need to

we have to work a lot theese days

Maybe she likes the idea and sup-

search in the internet but... (next

think through the idea

developing the idea, but it could

ports you

time I’ll buy it directly without

work.

16:43 Oscar

16:51 Oscar

18:10 Jonathon

speak soon.

17:04 Oscar

17:04 Jonathon

19:20 Oscar

thinkinng that much) So I’ll be

Ok but that is just continue talking

And combine it with our more serious

ok i will hjave a think

there from 16.10 to 22.10. I can

and watching material. First we have

project

etc.....................

send you the exact time. I was

to decide if we are taking photos to

peace out

thinking that maybe its not too late

the public and tell Miriam.

It has been done before or not?

to try sending an email or visiting

Yes of coursw it s our journey. Our

a canon shop there and ask if they

idea of photo journey

can lend us a printer for the exhi-

16:45 Jonathon

well what do you think?

16:53 Jonathon 16:56 Oscar

Not in the same way. There was a

17:05 Oscar

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

bition, it’s some kind of promotion

for them, or just see how much is a

I thought we were going with the

19:26 Jonathon

compact one. We have to decide how

automat idea?

they have to look like.

I have a camera we can use, cannon 5D. Im in the process of finding

3 de octubre de 2012

lighting, printer, computer etc.

Yeah lets have a chat, tommorow

10:52 Oscar

How is it going? we don’t talk since

night when i finnish work?

a lot of time. I’m working selecting

Skpe is best for me.

and preparing the material that Im

going to bring about the journey,

Oh yes of course! I was scared not

Ill put some in the blog as soon as

having news from you! Ok Im happy

I can. Do you have material about

to know you are looking for what we

19:31 Oscar

the journey yo told me? And how

need. Lets talk more abour it tomor-

about the self maid Photoautomat? We

row

need to decide how we want to look like, when can we talk about? Good

14 de octubre de 2012

luck!

14:16 Jonathon

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

Siguiendo los consejos de Bosslet, la investigación comienza a dar sus frutos descartando las típicas imágenes y quedándonos con las que intuimos que esconden algo más. Así es como comienza a introducirse una reflexión sobre la identidad.

Hey man, I dotn think doing this automat is going to work in the space. We dont have a huge area, and I have loads to do next week, Ive been working all of this week too. I think we should just prepare what we spoke about and exhibit that.

14:21 Oscar

Sure? Lets see how it goes Maybe just put all the stuff and at rhe end see if we ca do it very simple. Maybe just the camera and do some portraits. Dont worry we’ll see it there 27 de octubre de 2012

14:56 Oscar

Hey man, how do you do? Here is snowing!

16:30 Jonathon

WHAT in tenerife???!! Its a bit cold here but no snow wow

16:34 Oscar

jajjaj no in Dresden!!

Space-time traveller animated gif http://25.media.tumblr. com/tumblr_mdp1w0vscY1rjcijvo1_400.gif

16:35 Jonathon

haha ok

16:41 Oscar

I allready talked with my professor, he likes this idea of time space, of course I told him that I was more interested in the jorney and he said that I have to think about something

more complex

yeah

16:41 Jonathon

16:45 Oscar

And he told me that the fact is

lol

16:44 Jonathon

16:42 Oscar

that inside the photobox there’s no

yes he said that I do some things

space-time, its an isolated box, and

really interesting but at the moment

that point is interesting

I have the same souvenir photos that

so now I can use in some way this no

coukd do anyone

space- time inside or try to intro-

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

Free for arts results

21 de enero

10:37 Oscar

Hey man, HOw are you doing? I need to ask you something: Do you keep the photos we use in the exhibition in Mchtr? Could you scan for me the Photoautomat strip and send me by email. I need it in high resolution, almost 600dpi .tiff and whitout cutting the black edges. THanks a lot!

Investigando con los espejos para introducir el paisaje en el photomaton. Descubrimos un referente: Gabriel Litwin http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabriel_litwin/ sets/72157600143309986/

13:37 Jonathon

Yeah sure mate. Listen ive spoken to Miriam and Ive decided not to go ahead with the project. Im going to move to germany sometime soon after march time. Im just not going to have the time to work on the project. Im sorry to let you down like this and I hope you carry on the project.

duce it in the photo, putting inside with me some references of where I am. I was thinking in using a mirror inside and try to make a photo of the landscape outside the machine.

16:49 Jonathon

or use the relection of the mirror facing in on itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Creating an endless loop

16:50 Oscar

wowoowow fuck It’s like a time-machine hahaha

I hope we still keep in contact though and id love it if we met up in Berlin......

14:05 Oscar

Ja man, dont worry. Take care and just tell me if you are in Germany or Tenerif, maybe we can just have a beer!

18:50 Jonathon

sounds good man ciao

Finalmente y tras llegar a un punto medio con mi compañero respecto a sus objetivos y los míos optamos por cruzar sus ideas sobre el Campo Unificado usando una gráfica científica a modo de “timeline” donde se colgaban fotos sobre los experimentos realizados por ambos. Personalmente quedé contento con el resultado estético, pero no tanto conceptual, pues finalmente descubriría que mis intereses giraban más entorno al viaje y a la identidad del sujeto, o experiencia psicogeográfica y el souvenir. **Iba a poner un montón de imágenes de Manchester, pero creo que Francisko Torres tiene un buen álbum en Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= a.366395043446510.88553.100002280527566&type=1 Yo casi… que me quedo con este recuerdo:

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101

Fase I.

102

103

104

105

Marina MarinaTorres Torrese aAlejandro Alejadro Gopar

106

José Jurado

107

Inés Peña

Alex Howe

108

Oscar HR y Jonathon Beattie

109

Alejandro Gopar a Marina Torres

110

Francisco Torres a Laura Gower

111

Laura Gower

112

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Fase II. Alejandro Gopar Francisco Torres Inés Peña Laura Gower Oscar HR Samuel Hunter

Francisco Torres

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Fase II. “A distributed negotiation of knowledge can allow a community of people to legitimize the work they are doing among themselves and for each member of the Group” Dave Cormier, Extraído de MasterDiWO Después de la experiencia de la primera fase, se mantuvo la idea de realizar reuniones grupales, donde cada uno expusiera su trabajo y se analizara la obra en colectividad. Estas reuniones, serían similares a las que se hacen habitualmente en las aulas de Proyectos Transdisciplinares en la Facultad de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de La Laguna en Tenerife. Esta idea fue sugerida por Oscar HR que, tras la primera fase, lamentaba haber compartido profundamente elementos con solo otro artista. Por ello, se decidió que el intercambio se basara en reuniones grupales a través Skype, de manera que el intercambio pasó de bilateral a multilateral. Estas reuniones pretendían ser un espacio donde se asumiera, no solo un compromiso con el trabajo personal de cada participante, sino también con el de los demás. Aportando elementos que pudieran ser de interés, prestando nuestra colaboración o interactuando de algún modo con la obra de los demás. Dichas reuniones se realizaban cada quince días y, en cada una de ellas, uno de los artistas presentaba lo que estaba realizando, y los demás trataban de aportarle una reflexión o elementos que le pudieran servir, le prestarse ayuda o colaborar en su proceso. El procedimiento consistía en ir sugiriendo y participando de manera activa en la configuración del intercambio durante todo el proceso y de esta manera, ir adaptándolo a nosotros. Todo el material de intercambio se compartiría vía Dropbox con el grupo, de forma que si alguien

115

quería aportar cualquier elemento, pudiera acceder a ellos fácilmente, y el debate pudiera continuar en la red una vez finalizada la videoconferencia. De la misma manera, estas reuniones serían grabadas y colgadas en internet, por si fuera necesaria su revisión por alguno de los integrantes, o simplemente, por si alguien no podía reunirse y las quería escuchar. En la segunda fase, puesto que la propuesta era distinta y siempre dependía de la disponibilidad de los artistas para participar, de los participantes en la primera fase decidieron continuar Laura Gower, Alejandro Gopar, Oscar HR, Francisco Torres, Inés Torres, y se incorporó Samuel Hunter. En esta fase, el idioma jugó un papel crucial porque, al tener que expresarse verbalmente en tiempo real, ya no se contaba con la ventaja que, para la expresión escrita, ofrece tener más tiempo para pensar, traducir o buscar una palabra en un diccionario. Pero en cambio, la comunicación pasó a ser más directa y dinámica, aunque más trabajosa y lenta.

116

Stage II “A distributed negotiation of knowledge can allow a community of people to legitimize the work they are doing among themselves and for each member of the Group.” Dave Cormier, extract from MasterDiWO After the first stage, it was decided to continue the group meetings, where each artist could showcase their work and the other participants would analyse the artwork together. These meetings were in the vein of those held in the Transdisciplinary Project classrooms at La Laguna University’s Fine Arts School in Tenerife. The idea was suggested by Oscar HR, who regretted having only shared elements with one other artist during the first stage. Consequently, it was decided to base the exchange on group meetings using Skype, and the exchange went from being bilateral to multilateral. The meetings required a commitment not only to one’s own work, but also to the work of all the others. Participants were expected to contribute elements that were of interest, cooperating or interacting in some other way with the artworks presented by other artists. The meetings were held every two weeks, and artists would present what they were working on and the others would reflect upon their work or make contributions that could help the process. The work method involved suggesting and participating actively in the exchange throughout the process with a view to

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adapting it to our needs. All the exchanged material was shared via Dropbox with the whole group. This meant that everybody could easily access all the elements and the discussion could continue online after the videoconference. In addition the meetings were recorded and uploaded online so they could be watched again or to allow people to listen to them if they had been unable to attend the meeting. Given the nature of the second stage, which depended on the availability of the artists, Laura Gower, Alejandro Gopar, Oscar HR, Francisco Torres and Inés Torres continued from the first stage, and Samuel Hunter joined the project. Language played a crucial role during this stage, as participants were required to communicate in real time, without the advantage of being able to think, translate or look up a word in a dictionary. Nevertheless, this made communication more direct and dynamic, although it was also slower and harder work.

Alejandro Gopar Durante la primera fase del proyecto, la conversación con Mariana Torres se centro en la desmantelación del título del proyecto. Buscábamos un punto de vista arduo, lo bastante impreciso como para no formar parte del juego de fabricar el souvenir del souvenir, add-less. 30 de agosto de 2012

12:15

its just the word less ... ive ben thinking on how artists have this ambition to create and “add” information to the world, but is it necessary? most of the time i feel that we just create for no purpose at all - we know we want to create so we do, i guess its instinct, but right now im trying to make work without doing much at all...

El proyecto que había sido inicialmente una propuesta de intercambio cultural entre dos miradas del arte distantes, devino a un proyecto colectivo de investigación cultural que desde entonces se ha centrado en una propuesta existencialista entorno al arte, los souvenirs y lo que ambos dicen de nosotros. Al volver a analizar el termino less encontré una ambigüedad muy representativa de lo que buscábamos. Por un lado una reducción a la esencia de la idea souvenir, que refleja el mecanismo cultural que transforma la realidad en representación. Y al mismo tiempo pretendía no hacer mucho, o más bien no dar mucha forma, lo simple. Pero fué en el modo pensar y hacer donde representamos mejor una parte importante de nuestra mirada, dejamos de lado el Made in para centrarnos en el Make: “El souvenir fabricado al por mayor presenta un mecanismo bastante simple y, al mismo tiempo, de una eficacia aplastante: reducir la complejidad de un lugar (país, ciudad, entorno natural, pueblo o complejo arquitectónico) a iconos fácilmente identificables. El turista

118

Alejandro Gopar

dispone de poco tiempo para sus compras y, por lo tanto, no puede ni quiere perder tiempo en segundas lecturas, en descubrir aspectos inéditos.” Oscar Guayabero Entre las fotos del proceso de montaje de la primera exposición encontré una serie de fotos en las que Mariana aparece lijando la pared para conseguir un extracto de la sala, un modo de dar forma sin añadir. Recogimos restos de pintura que por accidente no permanecieron expuestos dejando casi invisible el trabajo realizado. De esta acción surge la forma que define mejor las conclusiones del dialogo y desarrollo del proyecto. El diseño de la muestra recogerá todo modo de proceder hasta la fecha, desde el inicio de las conversaciones con Mariana hasta las conclusiones individuales. Se trata de una instalación con un planteamiento muy poco objetual, a modo de mapa conceptual encriptado. En el aparecen conversaciones, formas de actuación, el planteamiento desde el blog compartido… Como si se tratase de la tapa de una maleta de viaje repleta de imágenes y recuerdos de su recorrido, que a su vez habla de si misma. Identidades Souvenir El proyecto escéptico en que el arte se asentó, devino en lo que Brea denomina “era póstuma de la cultura”. Hablar de cultura hoy es una manera más de existencializar, reflexionar la muerte y entretenernos en proporcionar sentido a nuestra existencia ¿ser o no ser… a pesar de la cultura? Vivimos interpretando el mundo a través de símbolos, convirtiendo cada gesto y pensamiento en una abstracción, dando forma a una estructura simbólica que nos sirve para dar explicación a nuestra existencia. Nuestro todo esta abarcado por eso que llamamos cultura, y en sus diferentes fenómenos nos fundamentamos para dar definición a lo que nos identifica. Seamos claros, es propio de los seres humanos tener una identidad, una condición que nos diferencia del resto de la especie y que nos hace fantasear con el ideal romántico de que somos únicos. Pero la palabra identidad muestra una dualidad. Su etimología proviene de ídem (lo mismo, sin diferencia). No obstante referencia a una característica que nos hace percibir a una persona como una, sola y distinta de las demás. En resumen: sin diferencia, aunque desiguales. Existe otro fenómeno que refleja este contrasentido, el souvenir. Los recuerdos que sugieren son versiones del original, una interpretación intrínseca de una realidad reproducida en serie. Esta condición otorga al souvenir una capacidad excitante y a la vez aterradora: redibujar los recuerdos, estandarizarlos:

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“…los souvenirs son, si cabe, más interesantes como materialización de la naturaleza y subjetividad del turista. Por un lado, constituyen metonimias de pasados y lugares distantes y, por otro, metáforas de narrativas personales y colectivas de viaje y apropiación cultural. Se incrustan de pleno en los procesos de formación de las identidades sociales y culturales, involucrados en nuestras memorias de lugares, gentes y cosas, y adquiriendo diferentes “regímenes de valor” en función de sus poseedores. ” Fernando Estévez González Simultáneamente esos objetos banales producidos en masas, fundamentan su eficacia en la reducción de la complejidad (ciudades, costumbres, paisajes…) simplificándola hasta mostrar un icono fácilmente reconocible. Los souvenirs no esconden segundas lecturas, tan solo tópicos triviales sustentados en el vacío de las mentes de los turistas. Este efecto podría entenderse hoy como un reflejo artístico de la era del fin de la cultura, una forma en miniatura tan solo reconocible superficialmente, y repetida una y otra vez haciendo insistencia en su forma definitoria vacía de contenido. Se da entonces otra metonimia, la de la muerte por el muerto, la forma queda pero no hay propósito de ser más allá del cadáver, somos porque estamos y en hacer eco de nuestra existencia reside nuestra identidad.

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Alejandro Gopar

Alejandro Gopar During the first phase, the conversation with Mariana Torres focused on the dismantling of the project title. We wanted an arduous view, vague enough to not be part of the game of making memories from the souvenir, add-less.

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encrypted conceptual map. Conversations appear, forms of action and the approach from the shared blog appear ... As if it were the top of a suitcase full of pictures and memories of her tour, but that at the same time speaks of herself.

Souvenir Identities 30 de agosto de 2012

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The project initially proposed was a cultural exchange between two distant art looks and became a collective cultural research project, which, since then, has focused on an existentialist environment to art, souvenirs and what they both say about us. Returning to analyse the term less was very ambiguous and representative of what we wanted. On the one hand a reduction to the essence of the memory idea, which reflects the cultural mechanism that transforms reality into representation. And all the while pretending not to do much, or rather not to give much shape, simple. But it was in the way of thinking and doing which best represented an important part of our vision, we ignore the Made in order to focus on the Make: “The wholesale manufactured souvenir presents a very simple mechanism and, at the same time, crushing efficiency: reducing the complexity of a place (country, city, natural environment, town or building complex) to easily identifiable icons. The tourist has little time for shopping and, therefore, does not want to waste time on second readings, on discovering unknown aspects. “ Oscar Guayabero Among the photos of the assembly process of the first exhibition I found a series of photos in which Mariana appears sanding the wall to get an extract of the room, a way without adding shape. We collected traces of paint that did not remain exposed accidentally leaving almost invisible work. This action is to better define the conclusions of the dialogue and project development. The sample design will collect all manner of proceeding to date, from the start of talks with Mariana to individual conclusions. It is a plant with a very little in terms of objects, like an

The sceptical project on which art is based, evolved into what Brea calls the “posthumous era of culture.” 1 At present, culture provides us with another way to existentialize, to reflect upon death and entertain ourselves by giving our existence meaning. To be or not to be… despite culture? We interpret the world through symbols, turning each gesture and thought into an abstraction, creating a symbolic structure that can be used to explain our existence. Our everything is monopolized by what we call culture, and we resort to the different phenomena to define what identifies us. Let’s be clear, human beings inherently aspire to an identity, a condition that sets us apart from the rest of the species, leading us to fantasise about the romantic ideal of being unique. However, the word identity reveals a duality. The etymology of the term comes from idem (the same, no difference). Nevertheless, it refers to a characteristic that makes us perceive a person as an individual, alone and different from the rest. In a nutshell: no difference, although different. Another phenomenon also reflects that contradiction: the souvenir: “…souvenirs are more interesting as the materialization of nature and the subjectivity of the tourist. On the one hand, they are metonyms of the past and distant locations and, on the other, they are metaphors of personal and collective narratives of travel and cultural appropriation. They are embedded in the processes of forming social and cultural identities, involved in our memories of places, people and things. They acquire different “value structures,” depending on their owners.” 2 Fernando Estévez González Simultaneously, the effectiveness of those banal, mass-produced objects is based on a reduction of complexity (cities, customs, landscapes), boiling it all down to an easily recognisable icon. Souvenirs do not hide second meanings, merely trivial clichés based on the empty mind of the tourist. This effect could be taken as an artistic reflection of the end of the age of culture, a miniature only superficially recognisable and repeated constantly, with an emphasis on its defining shape that is devoid of content. This leads to another metonym, that of death for the deceased, the shape remains but there is no purpose beyond the corpse. We exist because we are here and our identity resides in leaving traces of our existence.

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BREA, José Luis: Un ruido secreto: El arte en la era póstuma de la cultura. Ed. Mestizo. Murcia, 1996.

ESTÉVEZ, González Fernando is a part-time farmer and lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of La Laguna, where he directs a Master’s course in Museology. He also coordinates the Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife

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Francisco Torres Como decía el antropólogo Fernándo Estévez González en su ensayo Narrativas de seducción, apropiación y muerte o el souvenir en la Época de la reproductibilidad turística, anteriormente citado, ‘el turismo es una de las prácticas culturales más características de las sociedades contemporáneas, que ha venido ocupando un lugar secundario en las ciencias sociales, el arte y las humanidades. La relevancia del turismo como metáfora de la forma de vida contemporánea exige perspectivas que den cuenta de su carácter complejo y multidimensional. Hoy en día, en el reino del turismo posmoderno, en el que se han desvanecido las antiguas fronteras entre arte y artesanía, historia y relato, y realidad y ficción, los souvenirs se presentan como genuinas condensaciones de ese incesante tráfico transcultural en la era de la globalización.

Adentrándonos en el concepto de Souvenir, ahondámos en el ensayo, Estévez, nos apropiamos y partimos de una de sus tantas frases que citaremos durante todo el texto de que el Souvenir es el correlato de la experiencia del viaje. Un tropo privilegiado de esa vivencia móvil. Unas frases a las que ligadas a la del filósofo Walter Benjamin dará la dosis necesaria para abarcar los puntos clave en esta puesta en escena.: El souvenir, (el recuerdo) es la reliquia secularizada. Reliquia que proviene del cadáver, de la experiencia difunta a la que se le ha otorgado el nombramiento de vivencia.Y ese souvenir (souvenir) que es el complemento de la

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‘vivencia’, no es otro que el correlato de la experiencia intangible del viaje, el mediador del recuerdo, el que sedimenta el pasado humano, asimilándolo, realizando la fotosíntesis y transformándolo en saber. Ya no concibiendo que una mera prueba material del viaje pueda hacer referencia al lugar visitado, sino que se concebiría más bien como el viaje en sí mismo, el testimonio, más allá de la banalidad con la que su antecesor material es relacionado. El souvenir formará parte de la construcción de la experiencia del viaje. La materialidad del souvenir contribuye a definir, a congelar en el tiempo y a localizar, una experiencia efímera vivida en un tiempo extra-ordinario en un tiempo y espacio ordinarios. Así, trayendo al presente algo que proviene de un lugar extraordinario que es el destino turístico. Convirtiéndonos así, el sujeto propio en sí mismo, en cierta medida en algo extra-ordinario, acumulador de experiencias vividas en el espacio y en el tiempo. Adentrándonos por el segundo punto, el del privilegio. El turista ya no trata de identificarse con el turista de masas, sino que dedica más tiempo y dinero a la experiencia del viaje. Sirviendo de este modo el souvenir como un aval del conocimiento, experiencia y sofisticación. Aunque siendo un poco más ambiciosos, ya no se calificaría como turista, sino como un viajero individual con experiencia y conocimiento previo o sin él del destino turístico, pero que en cualquier caso su estrategia consiste en pasar por nativo, rechazando lo que los locales consideran soouvenirs para turistas. Él ya no es un turista. Este sujeto se encuentra en un proceso de refinamiento en el consumo turístico, la última categoría para el turistaviajero posmoderno, quién reflexiona, acumula experiencia, vive. El souvenir en los términos que se concibe en este texto también es mercancía inasible, pero que al mismo tiempo niega su status como tal. Es ‘algo’ que proclama su carácter único y exclusivo y que para persona será interpretado y vivido de manera distinta, pero subjetiva. De esta forma el souvenir intenta hacer presente algo que está ausente. Un mundo encerrado en otro mundo. El souvenir encarna un vestigio material y espiritual de sus orígenes y simultáneamente significa ausencia y pérdida, presencia y restauración. Llamando al recuerdo, el souvenir afirma nuestra fe y deseo de persistencia y significado y preservación de la vida. Susan Stewart ha captado esta dimensión de una forma especialmente penetrante. Bajo el mecanismo del consumo turístico, el trabajo se torna en abstracción, la naturaleza en arte, y la historia en naturaleza muerta, como los souvenirs de la naturaleza del siglo XVIII y los victorianos (conchas de mar, hojas, mariposas bajo cristal), que eternizan un ambiente cerrándolo a la posibilidad de la experiencia vivida. Niegan el momento de la muerte imponiendo el éxtasis de una muerte eterna.

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En el consumo turístico de los vestigios materiales del espíritu del Otro, éste es sacrificado para que nosotros podamos realizar nuestra relación con una autenticidad originaria y renovar nuestra fe en lo divino y en la continuidad del mundo. Como ha sugerido Jon Goss, esto es la Eucaristía. El souvenir realiza una eucaristía, celebra la muerte del “Otro” para asegurarnos la continuidad de nuestra vida. Sin embargo, el turista posmoderno, el turista reflexivo, quizá esté en condiciones de aceptar la irreductibilidad del “Otro”, pero sin el deseo de sacrificar su cuerpo y poseer su espíritu. Ahora que todo está turistizado quizá sea también el momento de introducir decididamente el turismo en las agendas de las ciencias sociales y las humanidades. Los anuncios son los que verdaderamente organizan esos pequeños pero efectivos microviajes psíquicos con destino a la propia biografía. Y eso porque ella, la biografía propia, como diría José Luis Brea en su ensayo Fábricas de identidad (retóricas del autorretrato), es en efecto el valor más en alza en el mundo contemporáneo, el producto mejor vendido y el que más escasea en los tiempos del capitalismo globalizado. Como decía Ulrich Beck, nada hay que se desee tanto en las sociedades actuales como lo que más falta, el tener “una vida propia”. Y no hay territorio de la autobiografía fuera del entorno de lo colectivo, de la comunidad, porque toda la pregnancia de una vida propia se gesta en efecto en los cruces con el otro.

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Francisco Torres In the words of anthropologist Fernándo Estévez González in his aforementioned essay Narrativas de seducción, apropiación y muerte o el souvenir en la Época de la reproductibilidad turística, ‘tourism is one of the most characteristic cultural practices in contemporary societies, despite it taking second place in the social sciences, art and humanities. The relevance of tourism as a metaphor of contemporary lifestyles demands perspectives that do justice to its complex and multidimensional nature. At present, within the realm of postmodern tourism, where the former distinctions have disappeared between art and crafts, history and narrative, and reality and fiction, souvenirs stand as a genuine distillation of that relentless transcultural traffic in this age of globalization. Analyzing the concept of the Souvenir in detail, if we examine the Estévez essay more deeply, we appropriate and take as a starting point one of the many lines we will quote throughout the text, which maintains that the Souvenir is the correlation to the travel experience, a privileged expression of that passing experience. Sentences, linked to the lines of the philosopher of Walter Benjamin, will provide the words required to cover the key points of this proposition: The souvenir (the memento) is a secularized relic. A relic that derives from the cadaver, from the defunct experience, which is referred to as the lived experience. The souvenir (souvenir) that is the complement to that “experience” is no other than the correlation of the intangible experience of the journey, a facilitator for the memory, a sediments of the human

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past experience, assimilating it, photosynthesising it and transforming it into knowledge. No longer is it considered as a mere material proof of the journey, a reference to the visited destination, but it is conceived as the journey in itself, the testimony, beyond the banality with which the material predecessor is related. The souvenir becomes part of the construction of the experience of the journey. The materiality of the souvenir helps to define, to frame-freeze and locate a fleeting experience that took place in an extra-ordinary time within ordinary space and time, thus bringing into the present an element that belongs to the extraordinary place that is the tourist destination. To a certain extent, it transforms us, the actual subjects, into something extra-ordinary, the accumulator of experiences lived in space and in time. Now exploring further second point, that of privilege, the tourist no longer identifies with mass tourism, preferring to spend more time and money on the experience of the trip. The souvenir, therefore, becomes an endorsement of his knowledge, experience and sophistication. Putting it more boldly, the term tourist would no longer apply. It would be more appropriate to use the term experienced individual traveller, with or without prior knowledge of the destination. In any case, the strategy involves blending with the natives, rejecting what the locals consider tourist souvenirs. He is no longer a tourist. The individual is immersed in a process of refinement in tourist consumption, the ultimate category for the postmodern tourist-traveller, who reflects, accumulates experiences, lives. In these terms, the souvenir as conceived in this text also stands as an ungraspable object, which at the same time denies its status as such. It is ‘something’ that proclaims its unique and exclusive character, which each person will interpret and experience differently, but subjectively. Thus, the souvenir tries to make present something that is absent. A world enclosed in another world. The souvenir embodies a material and spiritual vestige of its origins and, simultaneously, means absence and loss, presence and restoration. By resorting to memory, the souvenir reaffirms our faith and our desire for persistence and the meaning and preservation of life. Susan Stewart captured that dimension in a specially penetrating manner. Under the mechanism of tourist consumption, work becomes abstraction, nature becomes art, and history becomes still life, in the manner of organic souvenirs from the 18th century and the Victorians (seashells, leaves, butterflies in cabinets), which perpetuate an environment closing it off to the possibility of the experience. They deny the moment of death by imposing the ecstasy of an eternal death. By consuming the material vestiges of the spirit of the Other, the latter is sacrificed so that we can experience our relationship with original authenticity and renew our faith in the divine and in the continuity of the world. As Jon Goss suggested, this is the Eucharist. The souvenir performs a Eucharist, it celebrates the death of the “Other” to guarantee the continuity of our life. However, the postmodern tourist, the thoughtful tourist, may perhaps be in a position to accept the irreducibility of the “Other” without feeling the desire to sacrifice the body and

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possess the spirit. Now that everything, and everywhere, is overrun by tourism, it may also be time to make a firm commitment to introduce tourism into the agenda of social science and humanities. Adverts are what genuinely organize those minor, but effective mental micro-trips that become part of one’s own biography. Since one’s own biography, as José Luis Brea said in his essay Fábricas de identidad (retóricas del autorretrato), is in fact gaining popularity in today’s world, the best selling product and the one in most short supply in times of globalized capitalism. In the words of Ulrich Beck, there is nothing contemporary societies wish for more than what they most lack, to have “a life of their own.” There is no room for autobiography outside the field of the collective, of community, given that our lives derive their meaning from our interactions with others.

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Inés Peña

Inés Peña Lo que planteo con este trabajo es dialogar y reflexionar sobre conceptos asociados a la imagen y al acto fotográfico. Desde que comenzó la era digital, el acceso al uso de cámaras fotográficas se extendió enormemente, todo el mundo es fotografiado, fotografía y se exhibe continuamente. La versatilidad de las máquinas y las redes sociales abren una nueva mirada hacia nosotros mismos y hacia los demás. Todo el mundo dispone de una cámara en su móvil y la usa incesantemente, hasta el punto de convertirse en una acción cotidiana u obsesiva e indispensable para realizar un viaje. Ocupamos nuestro tiempo de ocio en tomar las imágenes, testimonio del lugar donde hemos estado, a veces sin permanecer mucho tiempo más del de la instantánea para observar el paisaje más allá del encuadre fotográfico, y la satisfacción no queda completada hasta que la exhibimos y sabemos que alguien la ha visto. Convertimos nuestra experiencia en imágenes sin hacer el esfuerzo de retener en la memoria ya que la cámara hace ese trabajo por nosotros. Guardamos imágenes que tomamos en nuestros viajes, eventos familiares, nuestros cambios de imagen, amigos, casas, lugares… imágenes que se nos olvidan, que recordamos, que protegemos y rechazamos, a veces hasta nos molesta ver algunas de ellas pero somos incapaces de borrarlas por miedo a perder esa porción de vida, ese vínculo con el pasado. El antiguo álbum de fotos ha pasado a convertirse en un disco duro clasificado por carpetas que guardan nuestras experiencias. La memoria tiene la capacidad de guardar fragmentos de los momentos vividos, igual que la fotografía, pero es capaz de reconstruir a través de sensaciones una narración de los hechos, mientras que la fotografía muestra lo que fue ese instante aislado. Carpetas llenas de imágenes, momentos aislados, que nos ayudan a reconstruir el recuerdo. Nos movemos dentro del terreno emocional a través de objetos que sin nuestro testimonio carecen de sentido.

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Lo digital nos ha permitido extender nuestra obsesión por retener las experiencias, cabe plantearnos pues, ¿qué hacemos con todas estas imágenes? ¿por qué esta obsesión?¿Qué representan para nosotros? ¿Qué es lo que recordamos de ese momento, la fotografía reconstruye nuestro recuerdo, lo sustituye o lo revive? ¿es así lo que fue? En la primera fase del proyecto tomé fotografías de los lugares que transitamos en un viaje, lugares comunes que no solemos fotografiar pero trasmiten la esencia del viaje, dejando fuera a las personas que habitaron ese lugar y el motivo del viaje. El formato se planteó sobre el álbum de fotos clásico para fortalecer la idea de objeto y recuerdo nostálgico del viaje, de la experiencia más que de la representación de lo usual del turista que sería la fotografía del protagonista con el monumento. En la segunda fase, sigo pensando en lo que nos queda después del viaje a través de la imagen fotográfica, no es el álbum si no el disco duro el que guarda nuestros recuerdos con su gran cantidad de imágenes, incapaz de decirnos ni enseñarnos nada. “En memoria” El tercer trabajo, “Ese momento” explora los diferentes testimonios de las personas fotografiadas por separado en imágenes tomadas a lo largo de sus vidas.

En memoria

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Ese momento Pantano de la Sotonera. Posiblemente hace más de 13 años. Algunos fines de semana nos íbamos los cuatro, a veces venían amigos, a pasar el día a este pantano en verano. Mi madre preparaba la comida por la mañana y mi padre conducía hasta un lugar dónde no hubiera gente pasando por caminos destrozados, llenos de baches y agujeros, peligrando la integridad de nuestro coche. Es una zona muy seca y las orillas del pantano y su fondo son barrizales, a menudo perdíamos la chancleta dentro y uno de nuestros pasatiempos era embadurnarnos con el lodo. Solíamos colocarnos en el único árbol que lindaba con el pantano, el que aparece en la foto de fondo, en ese árbol y al coche era dónde mi padre ataba varias telas para cubrirnos del sol. En ese momento estábamos comiendo patatas fritas antes de comer y me salió una patata enorme con la que mi madre nos quiso retratar. Acerca de la de la Sotonera: Que feliz se es de niño con poco! jaja. Aunque en casa no había presupuesto para irnos a la playa de veraneo, nosotros la encontrábamos en el Pantano de la Sotonera. Un pantano en el que hacíamos guerras de barro y la sensación de vivir! que era oír crujir el barro seco sobre nuestros pies, patatas el gallo rojo, una sombra y a disfrutar!

Visita en Portsmouth La mayoría de los días llovió y la ciudad no ofrece mucho que hacer y más con nuestros horarios españoles. Cuando terminábamos de comer casi todo ya estaba cerrado.

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Ese día salió el sol y anticipamos una barbacoa que íbamos a celebrar más tarde. En una hora preparamos todo, fuimos a comprar carbón y algo de beber, fuimos a por la barbacoa a casa de unos amigos suyos para disfrutar de las últimas longanizas, morcillas y el resto de carne que se habían traído de Zaragoza. Pedro cocinó, nosotras preparamos ensalada y comimos con su compañero de piso italiano en la terraza al sol. En Portsmouth Parece que es una versión del siglo XXI de la foto de la Sotonera. Un picnic con cuatro cosas en un ambiente ruinoso , pero el sol y la buena compañía lo hacen todo. También confirma que en Inglaterra, puede haber sol!

Inés Peña Bueno This project aims to discuss and reflect upon concepts linked to the image and the photographic act. With the dawn of the digital era, access to photographic cameras became widespread. Everyone takes pictures, has pictures taken and is constantly on show. Versatile devices and social networks open up a new perspective on ourselves and others. Everyone has a camera on their phone, which they use constantly, to the point of obsession. No journey is complete without it. We spend our free time taking photos that serve as evidence of the places we have visited, often without having been there longer than the time we spent snapping the picture, viewing the landscape only through the lens of the camera. Satisfaction is not complete until we upload the photo and know people have seen it. We translate our experience into images without trying to retain the memory – the camera does that for us. We keep the photos we take of our trips, family get-togethers, new looks, friends, houses, places... Images that we forget, remember, safeguard, reject. Some we dislike, but we are unable to delete them for fear of losing that part of our life, that link to the past. Photo albums have given way to hard drives that break our experiences down into folders. Memory is able to store fragments of our experiences, like snapshots, and is also able to reconstruct and conjure up a narrative of the events using sensations, whilst a photograph simply renders that isolated moment. Folders packed with images, isolated moments, helping us to reconstruct the memory. We journey through our emotional territory aided by objects that would be devoid of meaning without us having borne witness to it. The digital way of life has allowed us to extend our obsession with retaining experiences. The question that arises, is what shall we do with all those images? What merits that obses-

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sion? What do those images mean to us? What do we remember about that moment? Does the photograph reconstruct, replace or revive the memory? Is that what happened? During the first stage of the project, I took photographs in the places we visited on a journey, common places that aren’t usually photographed but do transmit the essence of the trip, leaving out the people who inhabited the place and the reasons behind the journey. I used the format of the traditional photo album to underline the idea of the object and the nostalgia of travelling, focusing on the experience and shied away from the typical snapshots of travellers with monuments. The second stage also touches upon what lingers on after the journey, in the shape of the photographic image. Hard drives, not photo albums, store our memories in huge amounts of images, without telling us or teaching us anything. The third project, entitled “Ese momento,” explores a collection of statements from the people photographed separately over the course of their lives.

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Laura Gower

Laura Gower Ahora nadie ve las noticias Durante estos años de recesión mundial, “crisis” se ha convertido en un concepto abstracto, una leyenda, casi un mito. Es algo que nos afecta a todos de muchas maneras distintas, pero al mismo tiempo su omnipresencia es tal, que parece comenzar a desvanecerse en el ambiente, tomando forma etérea. Se hace difícil determinar exactamente qué, cómo y por qué sucedió, contando solo con pinceladas sueltas de información que nos ofrecen los medios de comunicación y que hemos ido absorbiendo a lo largo de los últimos cuatro años y medio. En mi primer año de universidad, durante la primera clase, me sorprendí a mi misma distraída y recuperé la atención justo en el momento en el que se mencionaba la frase “el sentido de ti mismo”. Me había perdido la explicación de esto, pero lo consideré irrelevante ya que solo era un aspecto del tema que se trataba, que probablemente no fuera tan importante. Finalmente, resultó ser el tema entorno al que debíamos desarrollar un ensayo y me había perdido su definición. Tengo la impresión que la recesión es similar, no le prestamos mucha atención al principio y luego, cuando empezamos a prestársela, nos hemos perdido de qué se trataba. Sin embargo, los medios de comunicación nos bombardean con ella a diario, subministrándonos tanta información, que necesitaríamos mucho tiempo extra de nuestras vidas para empezar a tener apenas una idea aproximada sobre ello. Así que todo comienza a mezclarse convirtiéndose en un zumbido que se escucha de fondo y que inevitablemente, te cansas, comienzas a desconectar.

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Sesenta segundos para vivir Objetos recogidos, pensamientos, sentimientos y observaciones sobre lo que está sucediendo y que para mi están relacionadas con la recesión. Pues, constantemente, las noticias muestran historias de “gente común” y de la “vida real” de cómo la crisis nos está afectado a“nosotros”- intentan que empalicemos con ellas - pero tienden a elegir candidatos que no parecen nada comunes, cuyas vidas están muy lejos de cualquier tipo de realidad con la que puedes estar familiarizado, generalmente escogidas por su carácter sensacionalista, y como consecuencia frustran su objetivo, alienan a las masas apáticas, aún más.

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Laura Gower

No one watches the news now Over the years the global recession has become something of an abstract concept, a legend, almost a myth. It’s something which affects all our lives in a plethora of ways, yet at the same time is so omnipresent that it begins to fade into the background, and it becomes hard to pinpoint exactly what, how or why it happened, other than the sketchy details we’ve absorbed over the last four and a half years from the media. In my first year of university, during the very first lecture, I found myself getting distracted and tuned back in to catch the phrase “the sense of self”. I’d just missed the explanation of that, but dismissed it as just one point, probably not that important. It turned out to be the subject of an essay and I’d just missed the definition. I find the recession similar – no one paid much attention at first, then when we started paying attention, we’d missed out on what it was all about. Yet we are bombarded with it daily by the media, so much information that you’d need several extra life times to even begin to make sense of it, and it all begins to merge together into that buzz of background talk that inevitably begins to make you feel sleepy. Sixty seconds to life Collected objects, thoughts, feelings, and observations on things that are happening during, and possibly related to, this global recession. The news constantly features “ordinary people” and “real life stories” of how the recession is affecting “you”, but tends to pick candidates who are not ordinary, whose lives are completely removed from any kind of reality you are familiar with and who are generally just picked because they make for a sensational story, thus of course defeating the object and alienating the apathetic masses yet more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWeXdPuv94s

Oscar HR Sobre la segunda fase Tras comprender que me era imposible hacer un balance similar al de la primera fase y tras obligarme a reflexionar sobre las cuestiones planteadas por Miriam en Facebook he decidido resolver este texto como reflexiones y pinceladas sobre las sensaciones obtenidas durante el intercambio. La primera fase fue mejor y más productiva. El intercambio dependió de lo que se involucró cada uno con su pareja y personalmente con el proyecto. En mi caso personal me involucré mucho desde el principio con mi pareja, Jonaton Beatie, con el cual llegué incluso a entablar una buena amistad. Estuve con él en Manchester y por supuesto quedó invitado a venir a Tenerife cuando quisiera. Esto significa que, independientemente del trabajo que pudiese salir resultante, se crearon conexiones de forma espontánea con una parte del continente que jamás hubiera visitado sin una excusa como lo fue éste proyecto: Identidades Souvenir.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXB07sBq3Mw La plástica de las viejas nuevas tecnologías. Es casi ridículo decir que usamos las nuevas tecnologías cuando las webcams y las videoconferencias existen desde 1980, aunque si bien es cierto que no se popularizaron dichos servicios hasta la década de los 90’ y 2000, con la aparición de equipos con precios mucho más asequibles y software como Netmeeting o Skype en 2003. Y es que 30 años puede que no sean nada para un historiador, un geólogo o un paleontólogo, pero en la informática eso es una eternidad.

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Oscar HR

Es por ello que, con la tecnología avanzando a ritmos vertiginosos, a veces no advertimos que nuestros hábitos de comunicación han cambiado y los hemos asimilado con la misma celeridad que los desarrolladores lanzan nuevos productos a la red. Tampoco advertimos que nuestro cerebro ha absorbido una cultura visual que contiene una imaginería nueva, paisajes y encuadres nuevos a través de la ventana abierta de nuestro lado del computador. He identificado tras este proceso de trabajo y durante las diferentes situaciones de exilio en las que me he encontrado dos cosas importantes: 1. Que veremos cómo proliferará el desarrollo de proyectos artísticos, educativos, lúdicos o empresariales medianteel trabajo colaborativo de comunidades conectadas en Red, y que recientemente se ha bautizado como “crowdworking” .

Fotos expuestas en Manchester vuelven a casa por correo ordinario. Cortesía de Jonaton D. Beattie.

2. Que las necesidades de comunicación con las personas afines que encontramos en nuestro viaje biográfico fomentan un aumento del uso de herramientas como facebook, Skype o Dropbox. Intuyo que éste momento de crisis de todo nuestro sistema económico y de valores está truncando la percepción de comunidad y de grupo preconcebidas culturalmente y es ahora más que nunca que el individuo quiere, primero reivindicar su propia indentidad y segundo encontrar al grupo que de verdad le representa, aunque éste no esté ni siquiera en su misma ciudad, estado o nación. Sentimos la necesidad de construir nuestra identidad personal, decidir quiénes somos y compartirlo, comunicarlo. Para ello, las herramientas y posibilidades tecnológicas a través de internet nos ofrecen posibilidades que ni sus propios diseñadores imaginaron cuando las crearon. Los propios usuarios aprenden el manejo de las mismas, las moldean y adaptan a sus necesidades de comunicación. Tal es el punto que se pueden detectar a día de hoy procesos creativos exclusivos que los usuarios han creado para estas plataformas, convirtiéndolas en el soporte plástico final. Los usuarios se adaptan al tamaño del ‘banner’ de la portada de Facebook para crear microrelatos, hacen sus propios ‘colages’ usando ‘plugins’ o ‘apps’ gratuitas, crean un nuevo imaginario con los planos que ofrece un ‘netmeeting’ desde un ‘Ipad’ o más recientemente, hacen cortos de 15s como propone ‘Instagram’ a sus usuarios. Eso sí, sólo si dispones de la última tecnología.

Oscar HR

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“juntos” y cosas así, por si te in-

Bien, vamos a ver... tras numerosas

teresa

videoconferencias con E. Eisbein

(en Dresden) y puesto que Joni ya

ajaja, si esto tb lo he hecho. Y

no continuó en el proyecto y Sam no

quedar para comer o desayunar. Pero

podía, ella se convirtió en mi nueva

esto luego hay que traducirlo de al-

pareja en Identidades Souvenir.”

guna forma plástica. Gracias, yo voy

a seguir investigando en esta línea.

10:30 Miriam C. Cabeza

12:01 Oscar

jmmmm vale espera un segundo, lo

entiendo pero me perdí en una cosa,

si simplemente se grababan y la obra

E. Eisbein se convirtió en tu pareja

iba entre la performans y la imagen

de intercambio porque Joni se fue

plástica del documento resultante

y Sam no podía, pero eso como surge

que dialoga con el espectador que

la idea de establecer el intercambio

puede “empatizar con la historia”

con ella?

como en el cine, bueno esa es una

de mis lecturas. Ellos fueron los

11:48 Oscar

12:02 Miriam

Es un ejercicio más de intercambio

que me enseñaron el vídeo de justin

que surge espontáneamente y por

biever de la piscina que posteé en

iniciativa propia. Precisamente una

el grupo

de las ideas de este tipo de trabajo

colaborativo es que cada uno tiene

Ese video tiene más chicha de la que

la posibilidad de hacer y aportar

parece. Visualmente suceden cosas

cosas que crea oportunas, aunque no

significativas de lo que esta suce-

estén dentro del guión, es decir que

diendo.

las dinámicas se crean para fomentar

un trabajo que al final sea autónomo

por si te sirve yo una vez por el

y cree sus propias dinámicas. Vamos

cumple años de una amiga, lo que

no se, así lo entiendo yo.

hicimos fue ver simultáneamente

nuestra peli favorita (yo en granada

11:52 Oscar

12:04 Oscar

12:21 Miriam

Como son los procesos creativos?

ella en tenerife) y conectadas por

Nunca lo sabremos. Yo empecé a hacer

skype, nadie dijo nada o no mucho

fotos así con E. Eisbein, que es

en toda la película pero nos daba

artista tb, al principio era un

la sensación de estar más “juntas”

juego, luego me pareció que estaba

que solo quedando para ver la peli

todo relacionado y que las imágenes

simultáneamente.

eran potentes y decidí incluirlo como obra.

11:59 Miriam

ahhh ok ahora lo pillo, pues way, yo en barcelona conocía a una chica que hacía cosas con skype y su novio en plan, encender el skype y dormir

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Oscar HR

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Oscar HR

About the second stage Upon realising that it was impossible to make an assessment similar to that of the first stage and after forcing myself to reflect on the issues Miriam proposed on Facebook, I have decided to present this text as a series of conclusions and general observations on the sensations that I have felt during the exchange. The first stage was better and more productive. The exchange depended on the involvement of each artist and his or her partner and his or her own commitment to the project. In my case, from the get-go, I was committed to my partner, Jonathon Beatie, to the point that we became good friends. I travelled to Manchester and I, obviously, invited him to visit Tenerife. Therefore, regardless of the resulting work, I spontaneously created a connection with a part of the continent that I never would have visited without an excuse such as this project: Souvenir Identities.

The artistic style of old new technologies It sounds almost preposterous to call them new technologies, since we’ve been using webcams and video conferences since 1980, although these services didn’t become widespread until the 1990s and 2000s, thanks to affordable equipment and the launch of software such as Netmeeting and Skype in 2003. Thirty years may be of little significance to a historian, geologist or palaeontologist, but 30 years seems like forever in the IT world. Technology advances at full throttle, so much so that we sometimes don’t realize that our communication habits have changed. We have assimilated them at the same speed as developers release new products online. Neither have we realized that our brain has absorbed a visual culture containing a new imagery, landscapes and frames through the open window on our side of the computer. This work process and the various periods of exile I have experienced have allowed me to identify two main issues: 1. There will be a rise in artistic, educational, entertainment and corporate projects based on collaborative work between networked communities, recently coined as “crowdworking.”

Fotografía digital con Skype. Oscar HR, España. Elisabeth Eisbein, Alemania.

2. Our desire to communicate with kindred spirits that we encounter during our biographical journey encourages an increase in the use of Facebook, Skype, Dropbox and similar tools.

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Oscar HR

I believe that the downfall of our financial and value system is shattering our culturally preconceived perceptions of community and group, and now more than ever individuals want to, first and foremost, defend their own identity and then find a group to relate to, albeit it not in the same city, state or nation. We feel the need to build a personal identity, to decide who we are and share it, communicate it. Internet-based technologies and tools offer a range of possibilities that not even their designers could have imagined when they created them. Users learn how to use, shape and adapt them to their needs for communication to the point that, at present, we can detect exclusive creative processes that users have created for these platforms, transforming them into the ultimate artistic resource. Users adapt to the size of the ‘banner’ of the Facebook home page to create micro-stories, they create collages using ‘plugins’ or free ‘apps,’ they create a new imagery with ‘Netmeeting’ maps using an ‘iPad’ or, more recently, ‘Instagram’ users make 15-second shorts. However, you can only do all this is if you’re working with the latest technology.

Samuel Hunter Recently I developed a particular interest in how the Industrial Revolution determined the future of the north of England, both socially and economically. I was especially struck by the “visual evolution” of its landscape and in particular the urban space. Many factories, buildings and homes of the industrial age have been stranded, reformed for various activities (commercial or cultural), demolished or converted into residential ‘chic’ areas, creating a kind of patchwork that extends in many cities and northern people. Given that the purpose of Souvenir Identities was to promote the exchange and that I was incorporated late, in its second phase, which proposed that each would make a personal work and then share with our peers through Skype, I wanted to give my contribution to the project or by collaborative interactive approach. I would do this either with my fellow project peoples or people external to it, letting me experience an exchange during the time of producing work as they did with the other participants in the first phase. The result that was reached was not as important to me as an opportunity to explore, experiment and enjoy the process.

Sammy Hammy

Here I have a few links that I think will explain what it is I’m interested in a bit better than I did the other day… that is to look at the effects on agriculture, the post – Industrial Revolution, the way the spaces have been occupied since http://www.theshowroom.org/about. html?id=25 and in some cases the way they are being ‘reformed’ or upon distruction returning to agricultural land, as they were before the revolution, I think the link to the project here is that this is a good

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Samuel Hunter

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Samuel Hunter

With this in mind, I tried to participate in the ideas of my colleagues or make small collaborative actions within what I could. Below I discuss some ideas that were proposed and were not cultivated for various reasons, but interesting nonetheless. From a conversation that came up in one of our group meetings via Skype, where we talked about the food industry and food culture in the UK (takeaway food or ready meals) and in Spain as well as talking about the supermarkets and how traditional markets were disappearing, Inés Peña proposed to take pictures of the places in the markets where we are living each to compare them visually (Burnley, Tenerife, Barcelona, etc.). The idea seemed exciting because I was interested in being able to compare the cultural aspects

Samuel Hunter reflection of the North of England, particularly Lancashire and Yorkvisible places since the retraction of industry, and also that prior to the Industrial Revolution had an ‘Agricultural Revolution’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2010/oct/19/incredibleedible-todmorden I’ve also found this so you can read it in Spanish: http://www.elmundo.es/ elmundo/2012/06/01/econo-

small to sus-

tain anything afterwards and people find themselves trapped, this movement is a return to agriculture as

lar occurances elsewhere… This is just a brainstorm and a bit more information but it’ll become more focused and by the end of the week the idea will be clear

maybe video it? Not to use your own cake would be plenty full... let me know what you think

21:04 Sammy Hammy

Evening’ Laura, it’s funny you just posted that as I was on the cusp of propositioning you with something related very closely! I was wondering if per chance you’d like to work together on that question... if I can get the ingredients mixed down here, it’s just I work in a serviced office building with lots of small to medium sized companies within that, it also has conference space so I thought it could be cool if we unite forces and put that

Sharps’ Butchers- “We get our meat locally, from Skipton and Barrowford. Most of our customers are elderly and young customers seem to take more flavoured meats, Chinese pork chops, burgers etc. Our stall has regular trade but we know people are suffering and have seen a lot of stalls close, we’ve had the business for eight years and trade has built up year by year, though we use tactics like having eggs, flavourings or other everyday things on the front shelf to attract people.” Seatons Sweets- “I buy from a wholesaler in Preston named Hancocks, trade is steady and we sell every day, over the week roughly 70% of trade are elderly customers and at weekends it switches to mainly children. This stall has been in the market since it opened and it has survived well. I believe markets died for a simple reason, supermarkets took over. Like retail parks (Liverpool 1, Trafford Centre) have done in the high street with

Laura Gower

Haha that sounds awesome! Dunno if we would get it in time for the deadline for this project though, it’s the end of April isn’t it? I don’t think I’m gonna have much time

this town is one of the worst

it’s people and their are simi-

At this point I decided to walk around the market in Burnley, the town where I currently live. On this tour, I took several pictures to compare the visual composition of the small stalls and supermarkets. I talked to some of the shopkeepers which were very rewarding

J&A Fruit - “Most of our produce is grown in Lancashire and some from Lincolnshire, we try to get as much produce as we can from these areas, summertime is the best for that. We do get foreign produce from Spain, mainland and Canary Islands, America, Germany, Ireland and Egypt. They are all shipped to a wholesaler in Preston and we travel to buy them from there.”

mia/1338570979.htm cases, as it was to

question out to some of them and persuasive methods against you but

shire which seem to have become in-

a form of purpose for a town and

that revolve around the market and especially those that can be read (or not) in the images of each site, depending on who the viewer is (local or foreign).

and made me think, here I leave some of their testimonials:

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Oscar HR

Hey man, how are you? There’s meeting today?

Sammy Hammy

Ey Oscar man sorry I was having dinner!

Oscar HR

haha ok

150

Samuel Hunter

convenience for clothes shopping. People went to town to shop in the market, it was the centre, then supermarkets built up on the outside and put everything under one roof. Supermarkets became possible with the transport revolution, when transporting goods became cheaper and easier. In a town like Burnley, which was built on the cotton and coal industry, when you take these two big trades out and don’t replace it with anything it collapses, far eastern countries took these trades and made it cheaper, except coal, England focused on selling its cotton machinery to these countries, who with cheap labour could then sell back cotton products for less. And now it’s a mentality of ‘Once you pick up a basket, you’re going to fill it’ this is because supermarkets are so convenient or always display offers in bright lights, or even have shelves with sweets and chewing gum at the tills so you generally you buy more than you need. I think shopping in the market is cheaper because of this and on top of that you used to make a day of it. I remember the small personal service you used to receive at the market and the conversations you’d have with people. I work in an office building that is located in an old mill from the industrial age, by the Leeds- Liverpool canal where historically there were coming and going goods and raw materials from the ports that lead down to the sea and to each of the different cities and towns with their different factories. One day, whilst cleaning in one of the stores I found an old map of Burnley from 1936 where you could see that there were not as many houses and residential areas, but there were many more factories and farms. I took some time with it, comparing the differences with the present, most of the neighbourhoods where I have lived were fields in that map. There were many factories and rows of houses that were built close to them for the people working there, like the area where I work. I decided to take another walk of recognition, deriving from my workplace, taking pictures of the canal, factories, housing and the neighbourhood in general. Unconsciously I focused on

the houses, most of them were boarded up, ready to be demolished, being replaced by the social housing, although they’ll now have what I call a “friendly brick” visually, they’ll probably still be shoddy houses but made to look better with a more modern design. This appearance is not as aggressive or violent, reading that makes them no longer “this is a problematic area” and so it becomes silent. Walking through these boarded ghost streets I came to the area where they were starting to build the new houses, socially the neighbourhood still seems the same, same dog with a different collar. Through these two psychogeographical rides, I realised that thanks to them I was getting to “reknow” my town. Now it looked different, having walked the streets looking at the corners, in part I felt like I was discovering a new place, different from where I’ve been living. I looked at more rides I could make, I went to the tourist office to find out about tourist places to visit or routes that we can do, like pretending to be any other tourist in Burnley, “relearn” the town from that role.

So I decided to start doing interviews with various people who worked in my building and I felt that in an office I could find a variety of points of view that may offer a wide range of tours and experiences. Interview Questions:

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Samuel Hunter

- What is your name? - What is your job? - Can you tell me about where you live? - Can you draw me a map of a route through Burnley, of particular interest or pleasantness for you? - Do you have any memory concerning that route? From there I walked them, the idea was to explore the same place under different eyes, experiences and memories, to allow me to analyse it from different perspectives, follow and â&#x20AC;&#x153;reknowâ&#x20AC;? it over and over again, the same but different place

Fase II.

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Alejandro Gopar

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Francisco Torres

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Inés Peña

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Laura Gower

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Oscar HR / E. Eisbein

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Samuel Hunter

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Samuel Hunter

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Exposición

19. 12. 2013 – 31. 1. 2014 Fundación MAPFRE GUANARTEME La Laguna, Tenerife

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Alejandro Gopar

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Oscar HR

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Alejandro Gopar

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Oscar HR

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Inés Peña

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Laura Gower

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Inés Peña

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Laura Gower

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Francisco Torres

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Francisco Torres

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Francisco Torres