IN OUR TIME: A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID LAMELAS ON THE SUBJECT OF HIS LASTEST FILM AND THE OTHER AUDIOVISUAL WORKS

Thursday 4th July, 7:30 p.m.

CGAC Auditorium

David Lamelas is a key figure in Conceptual art and one of Argentina’s artistic scene’s most important exponents in the nineteen-sixties. From its very origins, his work has been characterised by a unique ability to adapt to different contexts, be they artistic, architectural or geographical, in cities such as London, New York or Berlin. As a member of the conceptual movement, his work was based on the desire to ‘produce sculpted forms devoid of physical volume’ and drifted towards a critical reflection of artistic media, in line with the idea of a ‘dematerialised’ art. He did this, for example, by incorporating language into his works, the constant dialogue between photography and the moving image, or through his original incorporation of cinema and its references to the context of the plastic arts. Deriving from this, other important aspects throughout his career have been the representation of time and space, institutional critique, the relationship between art and the mass communication media, the construction of fictions—and its consequences in reality—or the relationships between the visual arts and literature.

On this occasion, his most recent short film—titled In Our Time (2018)—will premiere in Spain at the CGAC, along with the screening of The Dictator (1978), a satirical work in which the artist approaches mid-twentieth century politics performing a critical analysis of the mass media. In Our Time was produced by the University Art Museum at California State University in Long Beach, as party of the project Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles/Latin America, promoted by the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. This film includes recurring themes in Lamelas’ work, such as the representation of time, memory and love, with James Ensor’s renowned painting Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889 (1888) as a backdrop. After the screenings, a conversation will take place between the artist and Pedro de Llano Neira (curator and researcher).

Lamela’s work was on display at the exhibitions which made up the conceptual neo-avant-garde (Information, MoMA, 1970; Documenta 5, 1972; and Reconsidering the Object of Art, MoCA, Los Angeles, 1995) and has been exhibited individually in the Kunstverein München (1997), at Mexico City’s Tamayo Museum (2004) and, more recently, in the retrospective exhibitions which took place at the University Art Museum in Long Beach (USA) in 2017, and at MALBA in Buenos Aires (2018). His works form a part of prestigious public and private collections (MoMA, MoCA, Los Angeles, Reina Sofía Museum, Macba, Serralves, Tate, Pompidou, CGAC…) and have been included in biennials such as Venice (1967), São Paulo (1968) or the recent Documenta in Kassel in 2017.

Programme

19:30 h In Our Time, 2018. English version. Duration: 18 min

The Dictator, 1979. English version. Duration: 15 min

20:30 h A conversation between the artist, David Lamelas, and the curator and researcher Pedro de Llano Neira.

COORDINATION: Carmen Hermo