Date: December 17th 2020 – March 21st 2021
Venue: Conde Duque. Centro de Cultura Contemporánea.
Curator: Pia Ogea
Organizad by: Conde Duque / Archivo de Villa / Ayuntamiento de Madrid
The Conde Duque barracks, a jewel of Baroque architecture in Madrid, an extraordinary ark and repository of the history of the city.
One of my fondest childhood memories is of the Patio de Conde Duque, where I discovered the performing arts and contemporary creation.
The history of the city and contemporary creation in the same ark.
The desire to merge contemporary art with the artistic and historical heritage that is housed in Conde Duque.
A paradoxical approach to the archive from its contemporary readings.
From the deconstruction of the image of an archive as a legitimate place for history and culture, to “the archival impulse” described by Hal Foster as the appropriation of the foundations of the archive by the artist, whereby the artist becomes an archivist.
All of this has culminated in this exhibition in which twelve contemporary artists invite us, from their sensitive, subjective and critical gaze, to discover their personal view of the Archivo de Villa.
These “Contemporary Readings of the Archivo de Villa” reveal architectures, monuments and places associated with past powers; they talk about memory, the interpretation of history, the aura of the original document and the author, the sensuality of paper. They create atlases and imaginary landscapes or insinuate possible histories that may lie beneath the kilometres of documents safeguarded in the Conde Duque basement.
It is a privilege to be able to dive into this deep sea where macro and micro histories are woven together into a fascinating journey. A visit to the everyday life of a city to help us learn, with the perspective of history, how to be better people, neighbours and citizens.
Pia Ogea.
PARTIPATING ARTISTS:
Ignasi Aballí / Marlon de Azambuja / Angela Cuadra / Carlos Garaicoa / Marla Jacarilla / Gema Polanco/ Ignasi Prat / Marco Prieto/ Fernando Sánchez Castillo/ Clara Sánchez Sala / Daniel Silvo / Françoise Vanneraud.
PRESS:
- Podcast RTVE. 25 min: https://www.rtve.es/m/alacarta/audios/palabra-de-arte/arca-archivo-villa-madrid-conde-duque/5810918/
- El cultural EL Mundo 15/01/21: https://elcultural.com/un-archivo-contra-la-memoria
- Masdearte.com 15/01/2021: https://masdearte.com/el-arca-conde-duque-exhibe-lecturas-contemporaneas-del-archivo-de-la-villa/
- Blog de Turismo de Madrid 21/01/2021: https://blog.esmadrid.com/blog/es/2021/01/21/el-arca-de-conde-duque/#
