Figueres, Abel

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

DOSSIER 
BOTES 1 RKUFJATORI AME CASC 1 SABRE ( 1  9691 BY MIRALDA 
ON CATALAN 
CONCEPTUAL ART 
- 
COR (1 969) BY MIRALDA 
IN SPITE OF ITS UNDENIABLE IMPORTANCE, THE LAST OF 
THE AVANT-GARDE MOVEMENTS ARISING IN CATALONIA 
HAD NOT BEEN ASSESSED AND EXHIBITED IN ITS ENTIRETY. 
THE WORK OF PILAR PARCERISAS, CURATOR OF THE 
EXHIBITION IN BARCELONA, WAS THE FIRST SERIOUS 
ATTEMPT TO DEAL WITH THE ISSUES RAISED BY THE 
CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS, AS CAN BE SEEN IN THIS INTERVIEW. 
D O S S I E R  
he exhibition Idees i actituds. 
Entorn de I'art conceptual a Ca- 
talunya, 1964-1980 ..., held at 
the Centre d'Art Santa Mdnica in Barce- 
lona from 15 January to 1 March, was 
the first and most irnportant historical 
.approximation to the art that appeared 
in Catalonia during this period, outside 
the commercial circuits. 
This leading movement, the most recent 
avant-garde movement to arise in our 
country, had not been properly as- 
sessed or exhibited in its entirety in spi- 
te of its undeniable importance. 
After today, the history of our country's 
most recent art will have to be revised if 
the reality is not to be concealed or dis- 
torted. 
The work of Pilar .Parcerisas -curator 
and organiser of the exhibition- was 
the first serious atternpt to bring to the 
surface, through an institutional organ- 
ism, al1 the issues raised by our 
country's conceptual artists. 
The extensive catalogue is  an indispens- 
able publication for al1 those inter- 
ested in the true history of Catalan 
art. 
On al1 this and because of al1 this we 
speak to Pilar Parcerisas on Catalan 
conceptual art. 
-What were the main problems in the 
selection and compilation of the work 
for the exhibition? What criteria did you 
use? 
- The main problem was that this period 
hadn't been written up, researched or 
interpreted, and al1 o f these things had 
to be done at the sume time. It had to 
be written up and it had to be inter- 
preted. It was a question of chronicling 
and at the sume time assessing. So the 
main problem was reconstructing un 
overall vision of a period of history. 
My criteria were, on the one hand, to 
reconstruct -materially and concep- 
tually- what 1 knew, and on the other, 
to show those works that could be a 
testimony to that period or that could 
be an aesthetic contribution. 1 was es- 
pecially concerned that the works 
should be as fresh as possible. That 
doesn 't mean to soy that I also mude a 
critica1 selection giving a view of the 
work from a standpoint that neither in- 
creased nor diminished its value, but 
that it should be possible to reassess it 
on the basis of its own presence. In 
some cases the works had to be re- 
peated, as al1 that was left of them was 
a photograph. That was the only possi- 
bility of their being seen again. 
-0f course, the reconstruction of these 
works is also coherent with the issues of 
conceptual art. 
DOSSIER 
- Yes. A very common mistake is to think 
that conceptual art is only an ephemeral 
art. This is especially true in the case of 
action art, but in other cases they're 
proiectual works that can be repro- 
duced. These artists were against the 
artkt's touch, against the personal, sub- 
jective imprint of the artist's genius. The 
artists themselves had no obiection to 
having their work repeated, because it 
wasn't their intention to sublimate the 
creative act either. They were proiec- 
tual works that could be produced in 
series and therefore reproduced. 
What was perhaps surprising was that 
the most indicative works, the ones most 
closely linked to a specific historical and 
political moment, are the least durable, 
and the ones that were more poetic 
-more telluric, if you like- are the most 
durable. 
1 also tried to make each work as repre- 
sentative as possible of the artist at his 
best moment. Each artist had a different 
tempo, they didn't al1 evolve at the 
sume time. Some finished their concep- 
tual work very early and started doing 
installations and other things -that was 
the case with Francesc Torres, for 
example. On the other hand, there 
were some who reached their peak in a 
more post-conceptual period. 1 tried to 
take the best of each of them and also 
what could be related to the rest of the 
work, so as to allow an overall reading 
of the exhibition. 
-Following the exhibition, what conclu- 
sions have you drawn about Catalan 
conceptual art? 
-1 think it was the last utopia, the last 
avant-garde to have been lived as 
such, and that it was an experimental, 
utopian laboratory that still needs to 
develop. A study of this period seems to 
me to be fundamental for providing a 
whole ne w interpretation o f contempo- 
rary Catalan art. Without conceptual 
art, we could be left with a totally com- 
monplace interpretation of the Catalan 
art of the twentieth century. 1 think that 
Catalan art has sacrificed whole gen- 
erations in favour of a few individualities 
and that this has taken a heavy toll. 
If we don't start revising it, we'll 
have neither individualities -who have 
only worked for themselves- nor 
history. Conceptual art is the key to 
reinterpreting the recent history of 
Catalan art. 
There are some obvious constants in 
Catalan art and conceptual art. First of 
al/, the telluric line, which goes back to 
Miró and Tapies, and then the realist 
line; the conceptuals also work with real 
obiects. And avant-garde art is also 
closely tied up with popular culture. This 
link could already be seen in the work 
of Miró and Gaudí. 
Catalan conceptual art belongs to the 
Europe of the south, to the Mediterra- 
nean, and it has to be accepted as such, 
with its own characteristics. 
-Which work, ideas andlor attitudes 
would you pick out? 
-For example, at the entrance to the 
exhibition there was the piece by Mun- 
tadas on subsensorio1 experiences. 1 
think it's a very interesting systematic 
work, a great vindication of the sub- 
senses fsmell, touch and taste). Also, it's 
a primitive act of creation that doesn't 
use brush, paint, pencil, or any other 
system of representation, but goes di- 
rectly to action as a vindication. 
I'm interested in specific works by No- 
guera, his approach to conceptual art 
applied to the obiect, the installation La 
visita ets tu ..., which is the negation of 
an exhibition. The works of Xifra, like 
Klein's suitcase, the luminous obiects, 
the impossible irreversibles. The more 
symbolic works by Fina Miralles, like 
covering her body with straw, replacing 
the painter's palette with elements from 
the landscape, grass chairs. The pieces 
by Miralda. The work of Jordi Pablo, 
which 1 think is fundamental to what 
DOSSIER 
pure investigation of the world of forms 
should be. 
1 think the works of Rabascall have 
stood the test of time very well. Spain is 
different is a piece that simply and 
straighforwardly continues a criticism of 
aspects that haven't changed very 
much. Reprise, by Eugenia Balcells, 
which represents the stage in her dev- 
elopment when she moved from the cin- 
ema to the world of installation. Voy a 
hacer de mí una estrella, by Paros, a 
key work in his production and in Cata- 
lan conceptual art. In the case of Torres, 
Almost like sleeping, which is the final 
piece of his most conceptual period, etc. 
-How do you place and value Catalan 
conceptual art as regards its interna- 
tional counterparts? 
-The Idees i actituds exhibition was 
also intended to suggest that Catalan 
conceptual art should become one of 
the concerns of international conceptual 
art. I'd like it to be accepted as the 
conceptual art of the south. If ltaly con- 
tributed arte povera, the conceptual art 
of the south is the contribution that can 
be mude from this country. Conceptual 
art here wasn't a trend, but a real 
avant-garde movement, because be- 
fore that there was no debate on the 
artistic avant-garde. Ours is a concep- 
tual art of the south that rests on a 
foundation of un impressive material 
culture and that rejects linguistic, tauto- 
logical, cold, dematerial ized ap- 
proaches. The point o f  contact with the 
Germans -though not with the North- 
Americans- could be in the field of ac- 
tions. 
There's also the specific ideological and 
political question, Catalonia's national 
recovery. Al1 this played a part and still 
does. Catalan conceptual art had a 
powerful ideological charge. 
The international references aren't 
those of Kosuth, Kawara, Weiner, etc., 
so much as Manzoni, Klein, Brood- 
thaers ..., a series of artists with whom 
we find certain connections now. But 
you have to bear in mind that there was 
very little information here about what 
was going on outside. Beuys we hardly 
kne w. Wostel we discovered during the 
period o f  his visits to the Peninsula. 
The ideological and political question 1 
mentioned earlier makes our conceptual 
art different, gives it a more powerful 
ideological content. And also, the mat- 
erial culture peculiar to the country 
means that art undergoes a process of 
obiectualization rather than demateria- 
lization. 
-0 f  the artists who emerged during this 
period, which in your opinion have the 
greatest international projection? 
- The ones who ioined the international 
circuits, without a doubt; the ones who 
left Catalonia and lived abroad and the 
ones who connected more with a cer- 
tain orthodoxy of conceptual art: Mun- 
tadas, Torres, etc. 
-And what currency do you think these 
ideas and these attitudes of Catalan 
coneptual art have in today's national 
and international context? 
-The attitudes still hold good in the 
aesthetic result. The personal commit- 
ment has given rise to un attitude in 
these artists that has continued and has 
lasted in their work until the eighties. An 
attitude of always searching for new 
languages, new forms of expression. 
The creative and critica1 spirit has been 
maintained. 
As regards the ideas, 1 think the ma- 
jority have also lasted. This questioning 
of art, this wanting to get out of art and 
explain things in another way still holds 
good. 
Many of the works maintain their inter- 
est because they are ideas and hy- 
potheses that can still develop. The 
generation of artists that emerged in 
the sixties still persevere in the central 
idea of seeing art as un attitude. i 


On Catalan Conceptual Art

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