Work

Acción / Intimidad Publica

Caption

Performance will be made on June 20th on the top of Palais de Tokyo

Artist

By

Text

Colourful explosions, dazzling energy, lyrical movement pervaded by a force absorbing all gravity, a random harmony, and a calm dispersion – there is nothing new about that, belonging to a language borrowed from abstract expressionism. However Intimidad publica by Juliana Iriart presents the world as a canvas, and the colours do not dissolve indelibly on a surface, but in our memories, our feelings and within ourselves. Very straightforward instructions: squares cut out of coloured paper are thrown from the top of a building, recreating the magical of a firework. The role of the ‘heroic’ artist may held here by anyone, generally a friend, a friend of a friend or a small group that deploys the colours at sunset.

The art originates as a social event. First of all group energy is generated and then freed. It all starts off with smiling faces, as even before the image is produced, people are gathered side by side: watching the street down below; awaiting the signal; their hands fumbling with the paper; arms half immersed in the bags bursting with colour; childish immersion in the materials, where art is more of a sensation than an idea. In the street below, some people realise that something is going to happen, and primitive curiosity glues them to the spot, eyes expectantly raised. Meanwhile others, several minutes before the event, are oblivious to the fact that a surprise is shortly forthcoming, their feet leading them exactly within range of Intimidad publica, and those who had not anticipated seeing any art that evening, will discover that it is more the art which will embrace them with open arms.

This festive confetti throwing is not in aid of any particular occasion or prestigious battle. The event in itself is the important thing and spectators are free to project their own justifications. It is pure aesthetical expression, but with more to it: to provide a happy moment; a positive feeling; The confetti is a way of celebrating this feeling, a message about the way to live everyday life, affirming the need to party even if there is nothing in particular to celebrate, that by taking part something is created and that we are free to make positive artwork. That is what I think about when I imagine looking at the confetti in the sky, the idea that each colour is floating like a grain that is willing to grow.

The pieces of paper are free, reacting to the wind, dancing in the sky as they fall. Once on the ground, each piece will be swept up thus becoming an invisible part of the town. Hence this new idea: to question whether other detritus, other smaller, isolated and humble materials that we encounter are not in fact part of some larger work, and to generously reconstitute these other works, because Intimidad publica may seem ephemeral, to exist for just an instant, but it also holds this other power, this potential development: to enable us to imagine other works of art and to see beyond the confines of a museum.

Translated from french by Louise Jablonowska