* The works exhibited in Impromptu were produced in Buenos Aires, 2014, in collaboration with students from the National University of Arts and teachers and students of the Municipal Institute of Ceramics of Avellaneda.
The works belong to the artist's collection.
Room 4
Proyectos de explosiones nocturnas 1990–2014
20 minutos 51 segundos. Videografía: Araki Takahisa, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, y Chen Lei; edición: Araki Takahisa, Hong-Kai Wang, Mathias
Nyholm Schmidt, Simon Weyhe, Chen Lei y Cai Studio
Proyectos de explosiones diurnas 1990–2014
6 minutos 11 segundos. Videografía: Araki Takahisa, ADabisc, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art,Mathias Nyholm Schmidt, Simon Weyhe, Aspen 82, 33 Studios NY; edición:
Araki Takahisa, Hong-Kai Wang, Zhang Keming, Chen Lei, Wu Lingzhi, y Cai
Studio
Proyecto para Extraterrestres 1990–2002
6 minutos 20 segundos. Videografía: Araki Takahisa y Cai Studio; edición: Cai Studio
“Explosion projects are fleeting and disappear in an instant. Spectators on site use their bodies and minds to register the energy and comprehend the things that touch them about the work. Although video documentation cannot completely and perfectly re-create the experience of watching the work unfold on site, it helps people who have seen it explain to others who have not seen it what touched them the most. Then, those who have only seen the video are given the chance to imagine, and thus, they are more able to understand what transpired. The video documentation itself is not video art, but when I place several videos together, they form a spatial relationship and become an installation work. Here, I try to divide the explosión events into daytime explosions that take place under the sun and are made with smoke; night time explosions that rely on light; and those at dusk between day and night – primarily from the Projects for Extraterrestrials series that were made with primitive gunpowder and fuse, creating chaos within time and space. In the gallery space, the videos depict day, night and the transition between the two, forming a new time-space relationship. This marks the first time I am using this concept and method of display.
La vida es una milonga: Tango de fuegos artificiales para Argentina, 2014
4 minutos. Videografía: Fernando Molnar
My first visit to Buenos Aires took place in March of 2014. The history of Buenos Aires as a port deeply inspired me, specially the immigrant legacy of the neighborhood of La Boca with its rich cultural traditions. The idea of creating a tribute to Argentinean history and tango immediately emerged. La Boca’s creative past still reverberates at each street and corner. It is my hope to use this opportunity to invite the public of Buenos Aires to tap once again this rich vein; hence my proposal combines the power of history, dance, and contemporary visual art. Using my signature aesthetic language, the artwork will use fireworks as a médium and will actively engage the public as participants.
For Tango Fireworks, I am using a brand new approach to pyrotechnic design. During the creative process, I invited experts such as musicologists, choreographers and dancers to collaborate with me. I used video to record the dancers’ movements, and the movement of the bandoneón from many different angles, so that I can use the dancers’ steps and body movements to design the fireworks. The Fireworks will appear on the water of Vuelta de Rocha, imitating the dancers’ and the bandoneón’s motions. On January 24, 2015, the public will be invited to watch, and to dance along to Tango Fireworks in front of Fundación PROA, transforming Vuelta de Rocha once again into a pulsating hub of creative energy.
Vuelta de Rocha was one of the earliest ports of entry for immigrants in Buenos Aires, and it bore witness to the new migrants’ hope, disillusionment, anxieties and excitement. Different cultures interwove to generate new traditions and artistic creations at this port, and Tango is a great example of such an extraordinary phenomenon. Through presenting the chronological development of the music and the dance, Tango Fireworks also attempts to reflect upon the sea changes endured during Argentina’s history as a nation over the twentieth century.
By encouraging public participation, the project aims to strengthen communities by enlivening public spaces and nurturing openness to new ideas and cultural exchange. Contemporary art can reaffirm the local communities by connecting them to their past, and inspire them to become active agents in their future.