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Rojo Art Space
Via Tortona, Milan, Italy
January 15th – February 28th 2009
In Pubblico project, the public is the protagonist of the work. The final result of the artworks will depend on the spectator. The experiment plays with the interactivity that exists in the street and wants to study how outer and uncontrolled factors can affect the works installed in the street. This way, the artist reflects on the sacred aspect of art leaving his creations to self-evolve and generating an uncertain final result.
Video:
Pictures:
Preparation
I made 48 posters, each one unique and I pasted them in the neighbourhood around the gallery three by three in 16 spots.
I left the corners of the posters without glue on purpose and then I waited patiently…
Some were peeled in less than 24h and for others it took five days.
I made a control tour (“il giro”) of the 16 posters every 2 hours and when I decided that the result of one of them was interesting, I removed it and brought it back to the gallery.
I rescued 8 of the 16 posters and shown them in the gallery. About the other 8, 2 of them got stolen, 2 were destroyed and I left 4 in the street.
The result
Details
Pasted: Date and hour – Rescued: Date and hour – Place
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Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico
October – November 2008
Project produced with the great help of Nrmal
It was first presented during the Mutek Festival in Mexico City.
The Autotono is a mobile installation built in order to explore how people can interact with an artwork in a public space. My idea was to create a kind of puzzle with 3 designs mixed-up and observe how the people can change them trying to find the original designs (or not!). What I was interested in was not to see people completing the puzzle but to register all the intermediate compositions that were created without my control during the process. My idea with this experiment was essentially to observe and learn.
I was interested in observing the results of the Autotono in different situations, so we build it with wheels to be able to move it easily. We installed it, in busy streets, touristic squares, in parties, in a design fair, in a park, in a school…
The name “Autotono” states for automobile (“un auto” is “a car” in Spanish) and automatic (automaticly created compositions, without the intervention of the artist).
Thanks a lot to Ofimodul for letting us use their spare wood, their installation and for the great help of their workers. Pictures by Rafa, Lalo, Nrmal and Eltono.
During August and September 2008, with my friend and artist MOMO, we have been setting up, without any kind of permission, kinetic sculptures in the New York waterways.
Plaf is a word for splash in both Spanish and French and relates to the on-going project that features kinetic sculptures that have been placed and fastened in several locations in the New York Waterways. Constructed from used materials, the work will be left to the elements as a way to explore the force and power of water that goes unused and unnoticed in New York City. Using the rivers water, wind, tides, and currents, the sculptures will shift and decay, leaving the work just as it is without comment on form or representation.
An indoor exhibition happened at the same time at the Anonymous Gallery.
You can find the complete documentation on the blog of the project: www.eltono.com/plaf
List of the installations we did during the project:
Astillas se pretende como una experiencia creativa compartida entre Eltono y el espectador. La instalación irá adquiriendo las formas que el público desee darle al mover las piezas de lugar y establecer todas las combinaciones posibles e imaginables, la instalación irá adquiriendo también la forma de los deseos de todos los participantes. Y a través de ese sencillo modelo de armado y desarmado permanente, la obra dejará de pertenecer a una sola persona, se hará literalmente astillas y será parte de todos. Empiece a mover las piezas y déle rienda suelta a su voluntad.
Video:
Pictures:
When the gallery opened, the walls were empty.
This is how the entrance of the gallery looked at the opening hour.
And then, the public started to act…
Pieces # 1, 2 and 3 in the first room, at 20h20
Piece # 3 in the first room, at 20h29
Pieces # 4 and 5 in the second room, at 22h36
Pieces # 4 in the second room, at 22h47
Pieces # 1 and 2 in the first room, at 23h04
Pieces # 6 in the second room, at 23h10
Piece # 3 in the first room, at 22h55
Piece # 2 in the first room at 23h15
The entrance, 21h45La entrada, 21h45
Pieces # 5 in the second room, at 22h10
Pieces # 4 in the second room, at 22h40
Piece # 5 in the second room, the day after, 20h33
The entrance at 00h10
Finally, the public went much more creative than I expected, Amazing!
Piece # 6 in the second room, at 00h30.
Pieces # 4 and 5 in the second room, the next day at 10h22
Barranco son dos pasos: Bodega “Juanito” para los sanduches y “Trapiche” para el “Arde Papi”.
I spent one day to clean the dust on the 101 boards, Lima is crazily dusty!
I love Barranco… and you?
First step, as usual, the local hardware store!
Second step, find wood in the streets around the gallery. We found a lot on a friend’s aunt rooftop.
Too much wood to carry it walking so guess who helped us...
The friendly Policia Nacional with their brand new pick up!!! They brought everything to the gallery door,
helped us to unload the car, shook hands and kissed girl’s cheek and went back on their night patrol.
The harvest of the night!
Pacific Ocean view from the gallery
Ready to start working.
Lima by night!
I painted during four days.
And used a looooot of masking tape!
Working on the hanging system.
Six hanging systems were installed in the two rooms.
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Tate Modern
London, U.K.
May 23rd – August 25th 2008
Curated by Cedar Lewisohn and Rafael Schacter
The Street Art Walking Tour:
An urban tour of site-specific art from a group of five Madrid-based street artists: 3TTMan, Spok, Nano 4814, Eltono and Nuria Mora.
For the Walking Tour, I painted four pieces in the streets around the Tate and did the Public/Private signboards installation in collaboration with Nuria Mora.
Especially for the event, I designed a 9 colours silkscreen print, edited by the Tate Modern, you can see it in the Boutique here: www.eltono.com/en/boutique/patchwork-print
Preparing the “Public/Private” signboard project with Nuria Mora.
“Dear Visitor,
This signboard is part of Eltono and Nuria’s artwork presented with the Tate Modern.
If you want to actively participate in the installation and keep the placard, please bring it to the Tate Modern during “The Long Weekend” on the 24th, 25th and 26th of May between 14.00 and 18.00.
It will be signed and numbered by the
artists and given back to you with its certificate at the end of the weekend.
We kindly ask you to leave the signboard in its place in case you are not interested in this project, allowing someone else the possibility to participate.
Thank you,
Eltono and Nuria”
The McAulay Studio B, in the basement of the Tate, headquarter of the Madrid crew
50 signboards were assembled.
Ready to invade the streets around the Tate Modern.
Mint Park
Our desk at the Tate, where we were waiting for the people to come back with the signboards to get them signed and numbered. A certificate of authenticity was delivered and the signboard was given back to its finder.
At the end of the third day, 47 signboards out of 50 came back to be signed.
In the beginning, the city was without form and void. Then the streets became a gallery, the gaps filled up with art and life: Over 21 days we will create an exhibition about Street Art which will develop along with the city itself. Planet Prozess invites everybody to take part in this dynamic exhibition and to celebrate the finale.
About our artwork:
The project consists in place out around 50 painted signs on public places around the exhibition space. The audience is invited to take a walk, find and bring the artworks back to the gallery. With this work we are reflecting on the limit between public and private space. Each placard that came back to the gallery was signed and numbered by the artists and at the end of the show it was given back to its finder.
This practice questions ownership and authenticity and uses a kind of artistic guerrilla warfare which seeps through cracks where value and ownership crumbles in the busy and gentrified city centers around the world. It also raises questions to the significance and value of artwork depending on the context that it is presented in (gallery – virtual space – public space).
The signs were made one by one in the work and exhibition space and everyday new signs were planted in the streets around the space. The signs were manufactured everyday during the show and all the action was documented. The space faced the same artworks in two different phases: Before and after its installation in public space. This meeting will highlight the thin line between public and private and will try to indicate where is the limit that defines if an artwork is public or private. The public created the indoor exhibition; its evolution depended on the public response.
Text on the signs:
Hello! This placard is from Nuria and Eltono and part of their artwork at “Planet Prozess”.
If you want to participate actively in the exhibition and afterwards keep this placard please bring it to the Senatsreservenspeicher in Kreuzberg as soon as possible. Your placard will be signed and numbered by the artists and it will be given back to you at the end of the show.
Planet Prozess, Senatsreservenspeicher, Cuvrystrasse 3-4, Berlin, KreuzbergJuly, 20th till August, 19th 2007 – 14h to 22h
If you’re not interested in participating, we kindly ask you to leave the placard in its place giving someone else the opportunity to take part.
Eltono and Nuria
– This text was silk screen printed on the back of each sign in German and English.
Preparation of the signs (silkscreen printing, painting and screwing)
Installation of the signs in the neighborhood around the exhibition space
People brought back two or three signs a day.
Everytime a sign came back to the gallery, we filled a form and gave a certificate to the finder, signed and numbered the board and installed it on the wall.
On August 19th, at the end of the show, people started to come back and pick up their signboards...
Final Score: 23 signboards came back out of 44, 52% average!!!
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Galleri 54
Kastellgatan 7, Gothenburg, Sweden
January 12th – February 8th 2007
Per Hüttner (SE), Nuria Mora (ES) and Eltono (FR)
Privé och público (“Private and public”) by three artists from Sweden, Spain and France that all in various way work with and in the public space.
Eltono and Nuria Mora will place out 10 painted signs on public places around Galleri54 in Gothenburg. The audience is invited to take a walk, find and bring the artworks back to the gallery. With this work Eltono and Nuria are reflecting on the limit between public and private space. At the end of the show, each placard will be signed by the artists and given back to its finder.
Per Hüttner shows four new photographs he took at night in Spain in collaboration with Nuria. The pictures were taken on public places and show items that are normally found in private spaces. This genuine, but nevertheless absurd situation is stressed by the night light and the long exposure times. Hüttner also will present a sculpture that links the gallery space to the photographs.
El Valor Del Signo (Text in Spanish)
“Ningún sonido es inocente” T.W. Adorno
Desde hace un tiempo, los andenes del metro de la ciudad de Madrid, se inundan de monitores que ininterrumpidamente generan imágenes en movimiento. Incluso en algunas estaciones, grandes pantallas colocadas entre las vías, separan la vista de un andén al contrario. No basta ya con el abuso de imágenes de la publicidad estática de las paredes, la arrogante vulgaridad del libre mercado, trata de dificultar al ciudadano la sencilla operación de pensar, de reflexionar en la quietud de la espera, generando un feroz ruido informativo que trata de impedir reflexionar, en un claro uso político de las imágenes.
La utilización que hace eltono de la imagen es sin duda también de carácter político, primero porque donde se desarrolla es en la ciudad y luego porque interviene en los asuntos públicos con su acción. El resultado que se obtiene con esas acciones va en sentido contrario a las del mercado narcotizante: los signos de eltono invitan a la reflexión, a la quietud. Quizás sean más interrogativos que afirmativos, de ahí su fuerza, su capacidad de sugerencia. El signo que utiliza en sus trabajos parte de un esquema geométrico definido, tal vez inspirado en la figura del diapasón, pero con posibilidades cambiantes infinitas, debido a que se inscribe en la geometría de la superficie elegida con gran sensibilidad y se deja llevar por su forma abarcante. Frente a otros artistas de calle influidos por la imagen espectacular de la publicidad, los sobrios trabajos de eltono son pura geometría interrogativa, que plantean un serio diálogo con la arquitectura que los soporta. Tal vez por eso el signo pierde fuerza cuando no elige el lugar de su escritura, y aparece en un lugar sin límites, fuera del marco de la calle. Descontextualizado de “su sitio” el signo carece de uso. Es en la calle, en la arquitectura de la ciudad donde se hace efectivo.
Cuando hace ya años, descubrí las primeras pintadas de eltono y su compañera Nuria, paseé durante meses con una pequeña cámara fotográfica en el bolsillo, para guardar sus pintadas en un archivo de memoria. Para mí, aprendiz de paseante ocioso, fue un placer ir descubriendo poco a poco los lugares elegidos para colocar su escritura. Porque sus lugares nunca son inocentes, están cargados de intención, en un afán cuidadoso por mejorar el espacio elegido y por acoplarse a él, por dialogar con su geometría. Cuanto más silencioso y oculto es el trabajo, mayor resulta la sorpresa en el desvelamiento y mayor su potencia reflexiva. El descubrimiento de una pequeña pegatina en un cierre metálico que se mimetiza con las comerciales de los cerrajeros y que anuncia un servicio 24 horas (año 2002), o el más poético de sus trabajos: el reflejo de un “espejo preparado” colocado junto a una farola de la calle Lavapiés y que ilumina su signo en la pared de enfrente, solo durante la noche, superan la oposición estéril entre forma y contenido, y proporcionan gran satisfacción al espectador cuando los descubre. Y es que la obra de eltono siempre requiere la participación del espectador, porque es una invitación a la acción. En sus acercamientos al mercado del arte, su preocupación ha sido siempre acercar la calle al consumidor, para incitarle a percibir la ciudad de un modo mas intenso.
En sus últimos trabajos con esculturas esta participación del espectador se hace aun mas evidente. Además de demostrar la versatilidad de su escritura (el plano se convierte en volumen sin merma comunicativa), el acto de dejar las piezas abandonadas a su suerte en la calle, mientras observa la reacción del que pasa cerca de ellas, demuestra su interés por el valor de uso frente al valor de cambio, y el intento de convertir al espectador en un colaborador. Las acciones de eltono y Nuria, autenticas productoras de oportunidades públicas de experiencia estética, están llenas de vida, amplían el sentido del arte y reafirman la cita de Robert Fillou: “el arte es lo que hace que la vida sea más interesante que el arte”.
