Paco Barragán - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The Art Fair Age: Art Fairs/Art Market/Collecting by Paco Barragán

TALKING GALLERIES , 2023

<<See it in Venice, Buy it in Basel. Are Biennials the New Art Fairs?>> Panel about art fairs ... more <<See it in Venice, Buy it in Basel. Are Biennials the New Art Fairs?>>

Panel about art fairs and biennials with curator and art theorist Nicolas Bourriaud, gallerist Alex Mor (Mor & Charpentier Gallery Paris/Bogota), and Ellen de Bruijne (Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam), moderated by curator and art theorist Paco Barragan

Held on 22 October 2022 at MACBA Museum Barcelona and organized by TALKING GALLERIES..

——————
Paco Barragán (P. B.) Thank you Llucià and Talking Galleries for inviting me. I think you should all be as excited as I am, not only with the speakers but also with the topic. I’m really excited because actually this is a topic that I tried to pull off in 2015, presented it to a big art fair and they said no, but I’m stubborn. In 2016 I tried again, another big art fair, “no”, and then in 2018 I tried again. I was less ambitious with a mid-level art fair and they also said no, so I’m really happy that we can talk about this topic. I hope you will all agree that it’s a great title: See it in Venice, Buy it in Basel: Are Biennials the New Art Fairs?

I have a nice presentation but before I can start the presentation there are some topics... Biennials vs art fairs, I’m quoting here Italian art critic and editor at Phaidon Press, Michele Robecchi, who’s based in London. This is what he wrote a couple of years ago: “I still believe that biennials and art fairs are like apples and oranges, they’re both delicious but fundamentally different”. I still remember that phrase, you know, apples and oranges. Now I have this wonderful artoon by the talented Mexican-American New York-based artist Pablo Helguera, with a little bit of imagination we can cross out documenta and put Venice and then next to that Basel. So, like him, do we have to choose between Venice and Basel? Do we have to choose between art history and the art market? Do we have to choose between disinterestedness and commodification? Do we have to choose between oranges and apples? [...]

Artium Media/Artpulse Editions, 2020

WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT THE BOOK "Paco Barragán's new book From Roman Feria to Global Ar... more WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT THE BOOK

"Paco Barragán's new book From Roman Feria to Global Art Fair, From Olympia Festival to Neo-Liberal Biennial: On the 'Biennialization' of Art Fairs and the 'Fairization' of Biennials provides great food for thought, historical awareness, and analysis in a time of much needed self-criticism and reappraisal of these art events looking for new directions."
GERHARD HAUPT, Editor-in-Chief Universes-in-Universe

"This book paints a refreshing and truly global picture on the world of biennials and art fairs as well as offering a valid alternative to the generally accepted narrative."
MICHELE ROBECCHI, art critic and Editor Phaidon Press

"The book struck us for the extensive research behind it" [...]it appears to be one those monographs which will have to appear in every scholar researching biennials".
CHRISTIAN OXENIUS, Content Manager, International Biennial Association (IBA)

"A very timely and necessary book that offers a critical and well-informed perspective on two of the artistic events that have most transformed the art market in the first decades of the Twenty-first century: art fairs and biennials."
DENNYS MATOS, art critic el Nuevo Herald/Miami Herald

"With From Roman Feria to Global Art Fair, From Olympia Festival to Neo-LIberal Biennial Paco Barragán has certainly built a device with a stimulating thesis that forces us to deepen a story that can be made up of different alternatives and that must be studied bearing in mind the stratification of events that underlie facts that we consider banal and inevitable due to our laziness."
WALTER BORTOLOSSI, Artslife

"Paco Barragán has written a referential book on the history of art fairs and biennials based on an intense and sustained investigation effort. The narrative is extremely legible and rigorous and summarizes an immense bibliography that conveys a very useful and convincing overview of this fascinating history."
CARLOS JIMÉNEZ, Artnexus

ABSTRACT
The book "From Roman Feria to Global Art Fair From Olympia Festival to Neo-Liberal Biennial On the ‘Biennialization’ of Art Fairs and the ‘Fairization’ of Biennials" constitutes an essential and much needed book with relevant historical, social, economic and art historical information about the genealogy of art fairs and biennials from ancient Greece and Rome to contemporaneity. Paco Barragán’s ambitious and profound research sheds new light on the origins and typologies of both art fairs and biennials and the contradictory phenomena of the ‘biennialization’ of art fairs and the ‘fairization’ of biennials in the twenty-first century. The book is further complemented with a series of charts and timelines that provide clear, easy access to the information and Pablo Helguera’s artoons function as a kind of poignant and witty ‘New Institutionalism.’ With a humoristic, down to earth style, Paco Barragán challenges the reader, offering a wide array of sources and proposing an essential historical perspective on two of today’s most relevant and most controversial art platforms.

The book can be ordered via AbeBooks or Amazon USA.

Artpulse, 2021

The Biennialization and Fairization Syndrome (IntervIew wIth Paco Barragán by Michele Robecchi) ... more The Biennialization and Fairization Syndrome
(IntervIew wIth Paco Barragán by Michele Robecchi)

“Art history hasn’t shown much interest in the social and economic conditions of art and its relation to the history of the art market.”
Paco Barragán

In his latest book "From Roman Feria to Global Art Fair, From Olympia Festival to Neo-liberal Biennial: On the “Biennialization” of Art Fairs and the “Fairization” of Biennials", curator and writer Paco Barragán challenges the dominant narrative about the genealogy of art fairs and biennials.

Read on and you will discover that Latin America had at some point the highest concentration of biennial exhibitions, what went wrong with ART COLOGNE, and why a truly comprehensive and balanced study on the phenomenon of fairs and biennials has yet to be made.
By Michele RoBecchi

Artpulse, 2019

Interview with Michael C. FitzGerald, author of one of the most relevant books on the creation of... more Interview with Michael C. FitzGerald, author of one of the most relevant books on the creation of the art market for twentieth-century art by Picasso and Matisse:

“The transformation from the established model of the Academy to an increasingly free-market system was slow and piecemeal.” M. C. FitzGerald

Published in 1996, 'Making Modernism: Picasso and the Creation of the Market for Twentieth-Century Art' is still one of the basic books for understanding the making of the art market. Written by Picasso scholar Michael C. FitzGerald, it provides a wonderfully articulated perspective on the difficulties and complexities Picasso and Matisse had to face as the avant-garde art market took shape. I spoke to FitzGerald, who is professor of fine arts and director of art history at Trinity College, about the motivations behind writing this iconic book that reveals the hardship and complexities of the making of the market for modern art.

Artpulse (No. 33 Vol. 8), 2019

In this column I formulate the 12 factors that have historically determined the competition in fa... more In this column I formulate the 12 factors that have historically determined the competition in favor of Art Basel under a series of categories that are

structural
psychological
organizational
artistic

in nature.

In other words: why ART COLOGNE, though being the first contemporary art fair, lost that primacy to Art Basel.

It’s indeed a fascinating story whose ingredients haven´t been researched properly and need to be recapitulated point by point.

Artpulse, 2018

Art Cologne was the first Contemporary Art Fair (CAF), Art Basel is the leading art fair globally... more Art Cologne was the first Contemporary Art Fair (CAF), Art Basel is the leading art fair globally, but todays Global Art Fair (GAF) model was invented by ARCOmadrid in beginning and mid 90s turning the art fair into an 'experience' showcasing global art as well as a full range of artistic and extra-artistic activities.

Curated art fair sections, panels and conferences, performances, collector's programs, Vip lounges and acitvities, parallel openings at museums...what today everyone considers normal of an art fair didn´t exist in the contemporary art fair. It is ARCOmadrid and its director Rosina Gómez-Baeza who end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s launches a set of activities that were to crystalize in today's experiential art fair model.

Why did ARCOmadrid and not Art Cologne or Art Basel able to pull off today's GAF model?

This is what is here explained with the corresponding data, names and facts.

ARTPULSE, Dec 1, 2009

""Collectors have achieved a central role in contemporary art, not that the spirit of today’s col... more ""Collectors have achieved a central role in contemporary art, not that the spirit of today’s collectors has less or nothing to do with yesteryear’s philanthropist or maecenas. With the advent of neo-capitalism and neo-con philosophy, new players and distant economies have descended upon the arts with a set of new motivations that loathe the great charm of the cultural benefactor in his relationship with “the men of genius” who formed his circle. The original simplicity, cordiality and sincerity have given way to aggressiveness, benefit-seeking, and vanity. This attitude, that for decades was considered by Europeans typically “American,” is finding its way among European private collectors.
""

The Art Fair Age (Chapter 4), Jun 1, 2008

Collector's Motivations: Maslow’s human needs hierarchy can serve us as a point of departure when... more Collector's Motivations: Maslow’s human needs hierarchy can serve us as a point of departure when developing a collector’s motivation pyramid, which is also partially inspired by the concept of the social classes theory of Pierre Bourdieu. We can interpret these needs as phenomena linked to motivation, and we borrow his concept of “capital, ” referring thus to forms of “social capital”, “economic capital” and “cultural capital”.

ARTPULSE Magazine , Dec 1, 2010

""To accumulate and accumulate is simply a thing of the past. It’s driven by greed and ego. It’s ... more ""To accumulate and accumulate is simply a thing of the past. It’s driven by greed and ego. It’s not very contemporary thinking."

Interview with Francesca von Habsburg, daughter of the Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza collection based in Madrid. Francesca von Habsburg is the president and founder of the collection of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21). On the occasion of the exhibit at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain, in February, 2011, I spoke to Francesca von Habsburg about collecting, producing, and exhibiting contemporary art."

Artpulse , 2009

An interview with well-known curator Pablo León de la Barra in 2009 when he was an artist, runned... more An interview with well-known curator Pablo León de la Barra in 2009 when he was an artist, runned the gallery Blow de la Barra, and also worked as a curator in more alternative spaces. An unconventional way or working in the art world.

Artpulse Magazine, 2010

Amanda Coulson, artistic director Volta Show: "I suggest everybody stop judging fairs as they wer... more Amanda Coulson, artistic director Volta Show: "I suggest everybody stop judging fairs as they were supposed to bring some new insight or deep experience"

In this interview with Amanda Coulson back in 2010, who moved from being art critic to direct Volta Show, we discussed the hype or art fairs, the involvement of curators with art fairs and why galleries still atttend art fairs.

Metropolis M, 2008

An article on art fairs published in English in Dutch magazine Metropolis M back in June/July 200... more An article on art fairs published in English in Dutch magazine Metropolis M back in June/July 2008

Art fairs and the concept of 'good shopping' and 'bad shopping', 'new fairism', and urban entertainment centers.

Artpulse Magazine, 2010

While Jerry Saltz recently said art fairs were kiling galleries, already back in 2010 I questione... more While Jerry Saltz recently said art fairs were kiling galleries, already back in 2010 I questioned the lack of innovation of the art fair system and also the lack of innovation of art galleries as they still depend on art fairs for sales and haven´t develop other distribution channels nor new collectors.

Books by Paco Barragán

Palgrave Macmillan , 2023

This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and th... more This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and the 20th century, is increasingly considered a positive term and at heart of today's society. Eleven distinguished authors from philosophy, cultural studies and the arts discuss a wide range of topics including beauty, fashion, kitsch in the context of mourning, bio-art, visual arts, architecture and political kitsch. In addition, the editors provide a concise theoretical introduction to the volume and the subject. The role of kitsch in contemporary culture and society is innovatively explored and the volume aims not to condemn but to accept and understand why kitsch has become acceptable today.

Max Ryynänen is Senior Lecture of Theory of Visual Culture in Aalto University (Helsinki/Espoo)

Paco Barragán is an arts writer and curator and has earned an international PhD from the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain.

Barrocos y neo-barrocos: el infierno de lo bello, 2005

El libro publicado con motivo de la exposición "Barrocos y Neo-barrocos: el infierno de lo bello"... more El libro publicado con motivo de la exposición "Barrocos y Neo-barrocos: el infierno de lo bello" comisariada por F. Javier Panera Cuevas, Omar Pascual López y Paco Barragán.

El libro contiene 17 ensayos que abordan la vigencia y presencia del Neo-barroco en las artes y la cultura contemporánea a cargo de Omar Calabrese, F. Javier Panera Cuevas, Pedro Aullón de Haro, Javier Pérez Bazo, Veit Loers, Frans Haks, Fernando Castro Flórez, Paco Barragán, Norman Klein, Fernando R. de la Flor, Andrés Isaac Santana, Antonio Domínguez Leiva, Angela Ndalianis, Víctor Zamudio-Taylor, Omar Pascual Castillo, Antonio Gaya, Ángel Rodríguez Abad.

Juan Dávila: Art and Ambiguity/Arte y Ambigüedad, 2016

The BOOK I edited on the occasion of the exhibit "Juan Dávila: After Image" at Matucana 100 in Sa... more The BOOK I edited on the occasion of the exhibit "Juan Dávila: After Image" at Matucana 100 in Santiago de Chile in 2016.

👉A 121 pages BILINGUAL ENGLISH-SPANISH catalogue with essays by Russell Storer and Paco Barragán and writings by Juan Dávila and an interview by Kate Briggs.

👉Juan Dávila was already addressing topics related to sexuality, sex, gender and race in the early 70s, and he did so in painting, what was then considered conservative and retrograde.

Palgrave MacMillan, 2019

"As such, I want to tackle three topics: 1) how excess has traditionally been the exclusive monop... more "As such, I want to tackle three topics: 1) how excess has traditionally been the exclusive monopoly of history painting within the visual arts; 2) how history painting lost its artistic preeminence but its function was taken up by other media like photography, film, video, installation and even television, among others; 3) how the artistic configured the political through its experimental and educational function." [...]

"What is commonly accepted is that politics influences art, but the way from art to politics is poorly acknowledged. Both politicians and audiences receive images that stem from painting, films, theater, novels, and so on. Seeing, as Murray Edelman argues, is a constructed process and although some people may not experience these works of art directly, they do indirectly via television, Internet, and social media. Many of the virtues and vices displayed in the political arena like ambition, power, generosity, authority, philanthropy, and leadership derive directly and indirectly from art. They are based on social, political, and psychological myths and values from the artistic field (Edelman, 1995, pp. 1-5). In other words: art manufactures the images that define our world. As a catalyst, it provides images and creates situations that are strange, provocative, utopian, engaging or radical and by doing so it ends up configuring the political regime." [...]

--> Essay "Painting History, Manufacturing Excess: How the Artistic Configures the Political" in "Art, Excess, and Education: Historical and Discursive Contents", edited by Kevin Tavin, Mira Kallio-Tavin and Max Ryynänen (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 39-51

A History of the Western Art Market, 2017

Edited by Titita Hulst, it contains writings by among others Arthur Danto, Clement Greenberg, Th... more Edited by Titita Hulst, it contains writings by among others Arthur Danto, Clement Greenberg, Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Pierre Bourdieu, Olav Velthuis, Raymonde Moulin, Jean Baudrillard, Fernand Braudel, George Simmel, Jonathan Brown, Elizabeth Honig, Griselda Pollock, Barbara Hoffman, Michael Baxandall, Bernard Berenson, Svetlana Alpers, Miguel A. Hernández Navarro, Francis Haskell, Dore Ashton, Alison Pearlman, Noah Horowitz, Paco Barragán..

This is the first sourcebook to trace the emergence and evolution of art markets in the Western economy, framing them within the larger narrative of the ascendancy of capitalist markets. Selected writings from across academic disciplines present compelling evidence of art’s inherent commercial dimension and show how artists, dealers, and collectors have interacted over time, from the city-states of Quattrocento Italy to the high-stakes markets of postmillennial New York and Beijing. This approach casts a startling new light on the traditional concerns of art history and aesthetics, revealing much that is provocative, profound, and occasionally even comic. This volume’s unique historical perspective makes it appropriate for use in college courses and postgraduate and professional programs, as well as for professionals working in art-related environments such as museums, galleries, and auction houses.

The Art Fair Age, 2008

Introduction and Chapter 1 of "The Art Fair Age" From the ‘’biennalization’’ of the 90’s of t... more Introduction and Chapter 1 of "The Art Fair Age"

From the ‘’biennalization’’ of the 90’s of the past century we have moved towards the ‘’fairization’’ of the world at the beginning of the XXI century. Art criticism has shifted and moved on, too. If then, and especially, with the proliferation of biennales in non-mainstream decision-making centres, the argument arose that there was an excess, however nowadays it is happening exactly the same with the unstoppable multiplication of fairs on a global scale.

The book deals with concepts like the art fair as "urban entertainment center", "new fairism", the curated art fair and the art fair curator, collectors and its motivations...

Here is the introduction and chapter 1.

Paco

The Art Fair Age: On Art Fairs as Urban Entertainment Centers, Art Fair Curators, Expanded Painting, Collecting, and New Fairism, 2008

Chapter 2 of The Art Fair Age I discuss the impact of curators working with art fairs and the... more Chapter 2 of The Art Fair Age

I discuss the impact of curators working with art fairs and the idea of the "curated art fair" as a differentiating element and provide different examples of it. The idea of the curator as infomediator and also the concept of 'New Fairism" in an analogy with New Institutionalism: a new way of understanding and reformulating the function of the art fair as an institution and artistic structure.

And finally, I also provide examples of how art fairs can be platforms for 'relational curating' by facilitating an instant feedback: conceptualization, selection, production, exhibition, inaguration, and social interaction can be compressed into one or various days.

TALKING GALLERIES , 2023

<<See it in Venice, Buy it in Basel. Are Biennials the New Art Fairs?>> Panel about art fairs ... more <<See it in Venice, Buy it in Basel. Are Biennials the New Art Fairs?>>

Held on 22 October 2022 at MACBA Museum Barcelona and organized by TALKING GALLERIES..

Artium Media/Artpulse Editions, 2020

WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT THE BOOK "Paco Barragán's new book From Roman Feria to Global Ar... more WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT THE BOOK

The book can be ordered via AbeBooks or Amazon USA.

Artpulse, 2021

“Art history hasn’t shown much interest in the social and economic conditions of art and its relation to the history of the art market.”
Paco Barragán

Artpulse, 2019

“The transformation from the established model of the Academy to an increasingly free-market system was slow and piecemeal.” M. C. FitzGerald

Artpulse (No. 33 Vol. 8), 2019

structural
psychological
organizational
artistic

in nature.

In other words: why ART COLOGNE, though being the first contemporary art fair, lost that primacy to Art Basel.

It’s indeed a fascinating story whose ingredients haven´t been researched properly and need to be recapitulated point by point.

Artpulse, 2018

Why did ARCOmadrid and not Art Cologne or Art Basel able to pull off today's GAF model?

This is what is here explained with the corresponding data, names and facts.

ARTPULSE, Dec 1, 2009

The Art Fair Age (Chapter 4), Jun 1, 2008

ARTPULSE Magazine , Dec 1, 2010

Artpulse , 2009

Artpulse Magazine, 2010

Metropolis M, 2008

Art fairs and the concept of 'good shopping' and 'bad shopping', 'new fairism', and urban entertainment centers.

Artpulse Magazine, 2010

Palgrave Macmillan , 2023

Max Ryynänen is Senior Lecture of Theory of Visual Culture in Aalto University (Helsinki/Espoo)

Paco Barragán is an arts writer and curator and has earned an international PhD from the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain.

Barrocos y neo-barrocos: el infierno de lo bello, 2005

Juan Dávila: Art and Ambiguity/Arte y Ambigüedad, 2016

👉A 121 pages BILINGUAL ENGLISH-SPANISH catalogue with essays by Russell Storer and Paco Barragán and writings by Juan Dávila and an interview by Kate Briggs.

👉Juan Dávila was already addressing topics related to sexuality, sex, gender and race in the early 70s, and he did so in painting, what was then considered conservative and retrograde.

Palgrave MacMillan, 2019

A History of the Western Art Market, 2017

The Art Fair Age, 2008

Introduction and Chapter 1 of "The Art Fair Age" From the ‘’biennalization’’ of the 90’s of t... more Introduction and Chapter 1 of "The Art Fair Age"

The book deals with concepts like the art fair as "urban entertainment center", "new fairism", the curated art fair and the art fair curator, collectors and its motivations...

Here is the introduction and chapter 1.

Paco

The Art Fair Age: On Art Fairs as Urban Entertainment Centers, Art Fair Curators, Expanded Painting, Collecting, and New Fairism, 2008

Chapter 2 of The Art Fair Age I discuss the impact of curators working with art fairs and the... more Chapter 2 of The Art Fair Age

The Art Fair Age, 2008

Here more Chapters from "The Art Fair Age" Chapter 4: On collecting and collector´s motivations... more Here more Chapters from "The Art Fair Age"

Chapter 4: On collecting and collector´s motivations

Chapter 5: On branding and a model for an art portfolio and a set of diversification categories

This is The Art Fair Age published in Chinese in 2012. Here is the cover and the introductory te... more This is The Art Fair Age published in Chinese in 2012.

Here is the cover and the introductory text that I wrote for the Chinese edition

SKIRA Series Art of the Twentieth Century. 2000 and Beyond., 2009

Essay titled "Neo-modernity, Neo-biennalism, Neo-fairism" in TERRAROLI, Valerio (ed.), Art of the... more Essay titled "Neo-modernity, Neo-biennalism, Neo-fairism" in TERRAROLI, Valerio (ed.), Art of the Twentieth Century. 2000 and Beyond, SKIRA: Milan, 2009. pp. 274-291

This essay basically deals on how art fairs assume tasks more akin to biennials and art theory and how biennials behave like art fairs and drive the global art market.

This Essay was published in 2009 and articulated concept of neo-modernity and how this affects the artworld in the guise of a neo-biennalism and a neo-fairism, id est, the "fairization" of biennials" and the "biennalization" of art fairs.

The World: Art and Economy 2008-2018, 2018

"If we want to address, from an unapologetic perspective, art and its paradoxical anti-economic c... more "If we want to address, from an unapologetic perspective, art and its paradoxical anti-economic condition, then we need to bet on two big horses: genealogy and ideology. Therefore, I intend to do a close reading of two clearly opposite poles of the art world: the fair and the museum. It is both a holistic and a dialectic view revolving around binary concepts like commodity and disinterestedness."

In this essay I address the genealogy of the art fair from the Roman Feria to the Global Art Fair (GAF), and I also trace the development of the museum from Absolutism in 1600 till today's Corporativism in the 21st Century.

Domus Artium (DA2) publications, 2007

Catalogue essay on the occasion of the show that I curated titled "Lee Bul: Aseptia" at Domus Art... more Catalogue essay on the occasion of the show that I curated titled "Lee Bul: Aseptia" at Domus Artium (DA) Salamanca, Spain from 26 January to 25 March 2007.

Lee Bul has gained international recognition through her challenging and provocative sculptures of cyborgs and monsters. In Lee Bul: Aseptia, the artists first solo exhibition in Spain, the Domus Artium 2 (DA2) presents a selection of works from 1999 to the present. Among them are nine new works produced especially for this show: two new Cyborg sculptures, one new Anagram, a figurative crystal sculpture, and a suite of five drawings.

As curator Paco Barragán points out, Lee Bul:Aseptia offers a new and challenging reading of her work. The exhibition deals with aseptia from a visual and conceptual point of view. The selection of works presented here not only look visually aseptic shades of white and grey but they deal conceptually with this whole idea of aseptia, for example the body exposed to physical decay in its daily journey. On another level, the exhibition examines this omnipresent idea of aseptia that afflicts todays society caused by the impossibility of changing the world. The big utopias haven fallen apart. The citizens anger as he witnesses impotently wars, hunger, diseases, and injustice is channeled towards that which is within his own reach: his body.

For Lee Bul beauty and monstrosity are extremes that are intertwined with each other. They represent societys actual anxiety. Her cyborgs and monsters are seductive, engaging, and beautiful. They allow us, as human beings, to rethink our relationship with society, technology, and nature and challenge the worlds aseptia bewitched with its equally aseptic globalization process.

READ HERE THE FULL ESSAY

Galería Soledad Lorenzo Publications, 2004

Catalogue essay on the occasion of Do-Ho Suh's first exhibition in Spain at Galería Soledad Loren... more Catalogue essay on the occasion of Do-Ho Suh's first exhibition in Spain at Galería Soledad Lorenzo in Madrid (17 January - 26 March 2004)

"Travel, home and intrahistory are basically the pillars which have established the proposal of the Korean artist, Do-Ho Suh, who settled in New York after deciding to emigrate there at the age of 29 in order to continue his art studies. It was during the year 2000 when I had my first contact with his work in the collective exhibition "Greater New York" at the PS1. There I came across a reproduction of a Korean house made of silk hanging majestically several metres high from the ceiling. From then onwards his career has developed in a coherent way in a continuous discourse that reflects on the so called anthropological themes –family, private life, places inside one's memory- at the same time that his work questions the symbolic institutions like school or the army. In his visit to Madrid to the Soledad Lorenzo gallery in what will be his first exhibition in Spain, he is literally carrying “his house on his shoulders”.

[..] TRAVEL
After several months in New York Do Ho Suh finds himself, as one would expect, in a situation which could be described as homesick, in all the different acceptations of the term: he has been separated from a community to which he belongs, he finds the new situation strange and misses what he used to do. The need to find more economic spaces in which to live, which are logically smaller and which make him move apartment several times, make him reflect upon both the physical and metaphorical codes of his surroundings, codes which find in architecture itself their maximum exponent. After all, the challenge for the newly arrived is to establish a dialogue with an environment whose syntax is not familiar and where only through distance itself can one become assured of the value and scope of one's own “personal space”.

Here you can read the whole text.

There was a time when ‘modern’ (without the superfluous article) was more contemporary than ‘cont... more There was a time when ‘modern’ (without the superfluous article) was more contemporary than ‘contemporary’. Now it seems that ‘the contemporary’ is the new modern.

Since the end of the 1990s ‘the contemporary’ and its periodization has been one of the key topics in Western Academia.

Is Contemporaneity the successor of postmodernism or just a mere buzzword by Western Academia that underscores a certain 'esprit de corps' and secures its art-educational complex?

Is it Politically Correct?

Is it inclusive of Non-Western Art or does it enhance Western-centred Ideas and Art Works?

Eyeline, 1998

Interview with Gerardo Mosquera published in the Australian magazine Eyeline in autum/winter 1998... more Interview with Gerardo Mosquera published in the Australian magazine Eyeline in autum/winter 1998.

I interview Gerardo Mosquera about the problematics of the Western canon, art production in Latin America, and multiculturalism.

Artpulse Magazine, 2011

Pablo Helguera: "The Art World Functions closer to a Club, but one Ultimately of Admission throug... more Pablo Helguera: "The Art World Functions closer to a Club, but one Ultimately of Admission through Submission."

Known for his multifacted artistic practice, artist and educator Pablo Helguera knows how to makes us smile with his ironic and humorous artoons, a kind of poignant 'new institutionalism'.

In this interview carried out back in 2011 we discussed concepts like inclusion/exclusion, active and passive participation, performance and its reproduction, and the validity of art activism today.

Artpulse, Jul 1, 2012

“Feminism is a viewpoint that demands a rethinking of questions of power in society and thus has ... more “Feminism is a viewpoint that demands a rethinking of questions of power in society and thus has undeniable potency.”
Martha Rosler is a prolific American artist and writer. Her works range from photo-text to video, performance and installation. At the center of her artistic practice are sociopolitical concerns related to, among others, women’s place in society, art and its power structures, post-modernism and corporate media. We exchanged ideas with Rosler about these topics, social media and her upcoming ‘event’ at MoMA.

ARTPULSE, Dec 2011

“We as artists have to find the way how to confront the state and capitalism.” Interview with S... more “We as artists have to find the way how to confront the state and capitalism.”
Interview with Santiago Sierra, Spain’s most well-known international artist. To some, his work is polemic; to others, it is pertinent, but it does not leave anyone indifferent. It reflects on the contradictions and paradoxes of the capitalist system, of which the art world is just another part, albeit a sophisticated one.

Based in San Francisco, American composer, performer and new media artist Pamela Z has built a so... more Based in San Francisco, American composer, performer and new media artist Pamela Z has built a solid artistic career in which she punctuates voice experiments with live electronic processing, sampling and video. We spoke with Pamela Z about her origins, the interdisciplinary approach in her compositions, and the ongoing openness of her work, among other topics.

“I am extremely weary of the instrumentalization of the arts for social or political change, as i... more “I am extremely weary of the instrumentalization of the arts for social or political change, as it usu- ally produces mediocre art.”

Dutch Nat Muller is a curator based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. With a background in literature, she ended up, via a detour, specializing in contemporary art and media in the Middle East. Some of her most recent projects include “Memory Material” at Gallery Akinci (Amsterdam), “Customs Made: Quotidian Practices & Everyday Rituals” at Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah (UAE), and “This is the Time. And this is the Record of the Time” at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam and the American University of Beirut Art Galleries. We discussed her relationship with the artistic scene in the Middle East, the complex relationship between art and politics, and the current hype surrounding art in the Gulf countries.

Don´t Call it Performance/No lo llames Performance (Domus Artium (DA2)/ Museo del Barrio) , 2004

The essay "Don´t Call it Performance" was published in the homonymous catalogue on the occassion... more The essay "Don´t Call it Performance" was published in the homonymous catalogue on the occassion of the touring show I curated that started in October 2003 at the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía (MNCARS) in Madrid and finished at the Museo del Barrio in New York in November 2004.

The thesis of the show and the essay are very simple, and although it has been published in 2003, I still maintain the same idea: most of today's art is 'performative' in nature but have not much to do with performance art of the 60s and 70s.

Through a series of live events, videos, perfomative sculptures, and installations I establish the differences between traditional performance and today's performative art.

The show exhibiteda a broad range of work by international artists among others Carlos Amorales, Zhang Huan, Kimsooja, Lara Almárcegui, Erwin Wurm, Pamela Z, Alicia Framis, Yael Davids, María José Arjona, Yan Duyvendak, Paco Cao, Deej Fabyc, Perry Bard, Pablo Helguera, Francesco Impellizeri, Takehito Koganezawa, Yoshua Okón, Liza May Post, Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, Ernesto Pujol, PRAXIS, Heli Rekula, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Luke Roberts, Roi Vaara...

"Austrian cultural critic Robert Pfaller understands “interpassivity” as a concept opposed to “in... more "Austrian cultural critic Robert Pfaller understands “interpassivity” as a concept opposed to “interactivity”, which entails “a delegated pleasure or consumption.” One of the examples that Pfaller uses to exemplify his theory is the traditional taping of television program on a video recorder while the person is away; the program is recorded and then hidden away on a shelf without ever being watched again.

I have extrapolated this concept to the realm of visual arts.

Nowadays in our media and technology-driven society, interpassivity is all around us. It’s sufficient to go to a museum like MoMA, visit a biennial like Venice, or stroll around an art fair like ABMB to see an even more exacerbated version of this phenomenon: thousands of people (especially youngsters) do not even look directly at the artwork, but rather enter the exhibition space with their digital or video camera or their iPhone and contemplate the artwork through their lens or display."

This year is the 80th anniversary of Picasso´s Guernica. There are still so many mysteries, misun... more This year is the 80th anniversary of Picasso´s Guernica. There are still so many mysteries, misunderstandings and stories revolving around Guernica about which not only scholars but the larger public in general are unaware that an ekdosis becomes mandatory now that we are about to reach its 80th anniversary.

U-R-G-E-N-C-I-A = G-U-E-R-N-I-C-A

Now my thesis is that Salvador Dali´s political ideas find a firm resonance in his respective pic... more Now my thesis is that Salvador Dali´s political ideas find a firm resonance in his respective pictorial styles and artistic progress allowing fruitful connections between the two.

“—Now! Political, Dalí? I’m totally apolitical”—speaks out loud Dalí in his autobiography, even if he picked up the phone with exclamations like “Long live Franco!” or “Long live the King of Spain!”

This International PhD thesis is in Spanish and with the Intro and Conclusions of each chapter an... more This International PhD thesis is in Spanish and with the Intro and Conclusions of each chapter and final conclusions in English.
[ESPAÑOL MÁS ABAJO]

"In this so-called "storytelling society" or exacerbated narrativity we are interested in the analysis of culture and its products, as we understand that it’s there where the most persuasive narratives of neo-liberalism are produced. After all, we are of the opinion that culture is that grand narrative that subsumes today’s politics, economy, religion and philosophy. In lieu of the discredit of the so-called grand narratives and its structures—family, church, parliament, school, university—this cultural capitalism or “corporativist culturalism” has generated a cosmopolitan, multicultural and pragmatic narrative. A narrative that is attractive and persuasive while it pretends to be, above all, credible.

From the field of the visual arts and its capacity to generate critical discourses with relation to the society it takes part in, we are interested in analyzing today’s hyper-narrative society by means of its narratives and cultural products.

This hyper-narrativity has degenerated into what has recently been termed as “infodemic” or informative pandemic. We suggest thus, as filter or counterpower, the concept of “credibility” departing from the research of history painting as a traditional machine for manufacturing stories, as well as from other intra-artistic and extra-artistic media—e.g. photography, television or social media—in order to apprehend in a critical manner the narratives of contemporary society."

Keywords:
Narrativity – Credibility –Art History – Cultural Studies – Visual Studies – History Painting –Post-Truth –Fake News –Anti-History Painting – Charisma – Max Weber –Trust and Confidence – Niklas Luhmann – Media Confidence – Video – Video Games – Film

ESPAÑOL

En esta sociedad del denominado "storytelling" o narratividad exacerbada nos interesa analizar la cultura y sus productos dado que entendemos que es ahí donde se manifiestan los relatos más persuasivos del neo-liberalismo. Al fin y al cabo, pensamos que la cultura es ese gran relato que ha subsumido a la política, la economía, la religión o la filosofía. Ante la disfunción de las denominadas grandes narrativas y sus estructuras –familia, iglesia, parlamento, escuela, universidad– este capitalismo cultural o “corporativismo culturalista” ha generado un relato cultural cosmopolita, multicultural y pragmático. Un relato atractivo y persuasivo que pretende ser, sobre todo, creíble. Desde nuestro campo de las artes visuales y su capacidad de generar discursos críticos con respecto a las sociedades en las que se hallan incardinados, nos interesa analizar la hiper-narratividad de la sociedad actual a través de sus relatos y productos culturales.

Esta hiper-narratividad ha degenerado en lo que recientemente se ha denominado “infodemia” o pandemia informativa. Proponemos entonces el concepto de “credibilidad”, apoyándonos tanto en el estudio de la pintura de historia como máquina tradicional de manufacturar relatos como en otros medios intra-artísticos y extra-artísticos, como la fotografía, la televisión o los medios sociales, para aprehender de manera crítica los relatos de la sociedad contemporánea.

Palabras clave
Narratividad – Credibilidad – Historia del Arte – Estudios Culturales – Estudios Visuales–Pintura de Historia –Posverdad – Fake News – Anti-pintura de historia – Max Weber – Confianza – Niklas Luhmann – Confianza Mediática – Video – Videojuegos – Cine

Popular Inquiry, 2021

The advent of the 21 st century has brought with it a more complex and contradictory society. The... more The advent of the 21 st century has brought with it a more complex and contradictory society. The progressive integration of consumer society, mass media, technological innovations in the field of communications, internet and social media has created an extremely visual and hyper-narrative society that can be framed as the storytelling society in the American driven West. This hyper-narrativity has degenerated into what has been termed "infodemic" or informative pandemic, merged with older concepts like fake news, conspiracy theory and post-truth. I suggest, as filter of or counterpower to this hyper-narrativity, the concept of "credibility." Departing from Niklas Luhmann's "trust-confidence" theory, the "credibility" theory reflects our "liquid" 21st-century society-in which modernist concepts like "truth," "fake," "false" and "veracity" have loosened their meanings-by proposing a "credibility factor" that is closely related to the experience of the receiver and defined by its relationship to the sender through the mass and social media sphere.

$Research paper thumbnail of El cubo blanco y el fracaso del curador - artepuntoes$

Artepunto.es , 2025

En este ensayo explico 1) los desconocidos orígenes del cubo blanco en Austria-Alemania a parti... more En este ensayo explico

los desconocidos orígenes del cubo blanco en Austria-Alemania a partir de 1900
el desarrollo y evolución del cubo blanco y sus 6 fases entre 1900 y 2006
el diagrama del cubo blanco
otras museologías que no son cubo blanco
por qué el formalista y heteró-normativo blanco no funciona en el siglo 21 para arte relacionado con identidad, género, raza, inclusividad o multiculturalismo.

ARTPULSE, Mar 1, 2011

The curator is in crisis, some curators like Spaniard Montse Badia argue. But who is the cura... more The curator is in crisis, some curators like Spaniard Montse Badia argue.

But who is the curator? What does the curator stand for? What does it mean to be a curator? In order to answer these questions, we would first be obliged to define clearly what a curator is and what curating means. For many ‘ships’ like curatorship, there is not a clear and sole definition. And this is so because there are just too many variants and interpretations, even if the profession is relatively young. So we will skip the ‘whats’ and go for the ‘whos’ in a minute.

What different curator typologies are there?

Why is curating tremedously paradoxical in today´s neo-liberalism?

The question we can ask ourselves is whether in the art world censorship is used as a recurring a... more The question we can ask ourselves is whether in the art world censorship is used as a recurring and deliberate instrument.
At first glance I would even argue that there is too little censorship, as hundreds of art exhibitions are opening worldwide and we hardly hear of the problematic effects of “filtering.” Is there hardly any censorship in the art world? What has the curator to do with all this?

ARTPULSE, Jun 1, 2014

Every curator is a storyteller. He or she tells big stories-metanarratives-and small stories-micr... more Every curator is a storyteller. He or she tells big stories-metanarratives-and small stories-micronarratives. Curating is a metanarrative as it embodies a narrative about narrative dealing with the nature, structure and signification of curatorial narratives. Every curator selects and orders artworks, and her or his perspective adds to the subjectivity of the narrative. And, as such, the curatorial constructs a text that refers to the generation and accumulation of meaning across texts.

The Curatorial Communication Process (CCP) explains the communication process from idea to spectator.

El Anuario , 2024

El museo en el siglo XXI sigue siendo la reproducción literal del apartamento Bauhaus burgués de ... more El museo en el siglo XXI sigue siendo la reproducción literal del apartamento Bauhaus burgués de los años 30.

Cuando uno realiza un ejercicio de lo que he venido denominando “museología comparada”, id est, una comparación del museo aristocrático-iconográfico del siglo XIX con su “montaje principesco” (que persigue la educación moralista del ciudadano del nuevo estado-nación) con el museo burgués-formalista del siglo XX con su montaje de “cubo blanco” (que, a su vez, persigue únicamente una educación estética), se da trágicamente cuenta de que el museo no es más que una reproducción literal del hogar de la clase dominante: primero de la aristocracia y luego de la burguesía. ¡Es chocante! Pensar entonces que el museo aún hoy en pleno siglo XXI es un espacio democrático es algo totalmente iluso.

Artpulse, 2021

"I accuse American and British academia and its members of purposely spreading a fake his- tory o... more "I accuse American and British academia and its members of purposely spreading a fake his- tory of the origins of the modern museum. Still today, academics and other art professionals carry the wrong idea of the modern museum and wrongly think of the “white cube” as an American invention authored by MoMA andAlfred Barr, Jr. America, paraphrasing Serge Guilbaut, not only stole the idea of modern art from Paris but also the idea of the modern museum from Berlin. The U.S. was too anxious to step out of the belittling shadow of the European avant-garde in the post-war era. But not content with that, it set out to rewrite the real history of the advent and making of the modern museum."

Artpulse

Published in 1998, "The Power of Display" is still one of the most fascinating and essential book... more Published in 1998, "The Power of Display" is still one of the most fascinating and essential books if we want to understand the history and practices of Modernist museum exhibitions.

We spoke with its author, Mary Anne Staniszewski, about the institutional history of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) heralded by Alfred Barr, Jr., its canon, ideology and display that set the tone both for today's modern museum and contemporary art spaces.

You can´t understand contemporary art and its institutions without a clear comprehension of the making of modern art and the "white cube" by Alfred Barr, Jr. and MoMA.

Arseny Zhilyaev: “The experimental marxist exhibition was a complex, multilevel, conceptual insta... more Arseny Zhilyaev: “The experimental marxist exhibition was a complex, multilevel, conceptual installation that even for a trained spectator of the time was something like a UFO coming down from heaven.”

Arseny Zhilyaev is a Russian artist based in Moscow and Venice. He is also the editor of 'Avant-Garde Museology' (2015), published by e-flux in collaboration with the V-A-C Foundation, through which Western audiences can access many key texts of Russian and Soviet museology undisclosed until today. We spoke with Zhilyaev, among others, about the heritage of cosmism, the avant-garde and Soviet museology, and how his interest in these fascinating and challenging experiments feeds his own artistic practice.

"Conservation is about the way the artwork can be perceived and not only about how it is presente... more "Conservation is about the way the artwork can be perceived and not only about how it is presented.”—Sanneke Stigter

The conservation of conceptual art is a true challenge for institutions. This is an interview with Dutch Sanneke Stigter who holds a Ph.D. in the humanities from the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Between 2004 and 2011 she was head of conservation of contemporary art and modern sculpture at the Kröller-Müller Museum. The title of her recent dissertation at UvA is “Between Concept and Material. Working with Conceptual Art: A Conservator ́s Testimony.” In this interview we look behind the scenes and discuss the methodology, integrity of the artwork and especially the “conservation ethics” that should prevail before intervening in the original artwork.

While visiting New York in the 1990s many times with the purpose of getting acquainted with the a... more While visiting New York in the 1990s many times with the purpose of getting acquainted with the art scene and being impressed by the vitality, quality and variety of the art scene, I believe that it is not difficult to affirm that from beginning of the 2000s, and especially after 9/11 and the 2008 sub-prime crisis, we have been witnessing the slow but unstoppable decline of New York as the artistic mecca. MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney and the Metropolitan provide a rather unfascinating route into museography today in terms of collection conceptualization and display. In short: most of the exhibitions are boring commercial exhibitions that will never make it to art history and an example of the ongoing commodification of American museums.

“We believe in the space of the museum, as this is the place where people come together and get e... more “We believe in the space of the museum, as this is the place where people come together and get educated and entertained at the same time.”

As with most curators, Franklin Sirmans started as an arts writer for magazines, in his case Flash Art and Artnews. Before being appointed department head and curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2010, he worked as curator for the Menil Collection. He also recently curated ‘Prospect.3,’ the third edition of the New Orleans International Contemporary Art Biennial. Last January, we visited Sirmans at his LACMA office and discussed some of the topics we consider pertinent in contemporary art: art’s potential to change society, the relationship between high art and pop culture, the challenges of the museum in the 21st century and LACMA’s coming expansion. (this interview took place before Franklin Sirmans became the new director of PAMM in Miami)

When a Painting Moves...Something Must be Rotten! (CHARTA, Milan, 2011), 2011

In this essay that is part of the book "When a Painting Moves...Something Must Be Rotten", co-edi... more In this essay that is part of the book "When a Painting Moves...Something Must Be Rotten", co-edited with Selene Wendt on the occasion of the show I curated at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo in January 2011, I address the influence of video and performance in this era of 'techno-referentiality' and its relationship to the concept of the 'image as moving painting'.

WIth examples of formal and performative experiments I argue that the pictorial as moving image is regaining the old and lost pleasure of 'contemplation' and 'concentration' that old masters painting provided , as the viewer in front of a work like Sam Taylor-Wood's 'Still Life' to stick around and watch the narrative unfold until the end.

The Art Fair Age, 2008

In this chapter I explain the concept of 'expanded painting', where it comes from, how it it wa... more In this chapter I explain the concept of 'expanded painting', where it comes from, how it it was able to renovate itself through its relation to other media, the concept of 'techno-referentiality,' and how it prefigured a new consciensce or mood in painting especially since 2000, and also its historical genesis in the 20th century.

I also address the Castellón International Painting Prize of which I was artistic director and which between 2005 and 2008 was devoted to the topic of expanded painting. Through this international contest with a unique 60.000 euros Prize I promoted the contest and the concept 'expanded painting' internationally in a consistent manner.

I also CURATED various EXHIBITIONS on the topic:

"The Expanded Painting Show", MASH, Miami, USA (co-curated with Nina Arias) in December 2007; ·
"Expanded Painting" at Space Other Gallery, Boston, USA, March 2008;
"Painting and Other Stories..." at Arte Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal, curated section Project Rooms, November 2008;"
"Cuando una pintura se mueve... ¡algo debe estar podrido!" (When a Paitning Moves Something Must be Rotten) at Centro Colombo-Americano, Bogota, Colombia, June 2009
"When a Painting Moves...Something Must be Rotten" at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR), San Juan, Puerto Rico, Novemeber 2009
"Video Killed the Painting Star" at Domus Artium (DA2), Salamanca, Spain (co-curated with Javier Panera), April 2010;
"When a Painting Moves...Something Must be Rotten!, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway, January 2011;

CHARTA, 2011

Edited together with Selene Wendt, When a Painting Moves...Something must be Rotten! contains ess... more Edited together with Selene Wendt, When a Painting Moves...Something must be Rotten! contains essays and interviews on the idea of painting as moving image.

In the actual context painting measures itself against its own history and myths while at the same time deploying interdisciplinary and digital approaches, and where the authenticity of an artwork or the origins of the source material are irrelevant.

When does a painting cease to be a painting? How can we construct a painting that informs itself through the analogue and digital realms? Is a moving painting a perversion of painting? Does painting even have performative side to it? How does all this affect a medium as old as painting?

These are some of the questions that this book, inspired by the exhibition When a Painting Moves…Something Must be Rotten! tries to tackle. The artists presented here work in a formal, literal, or conceptual manner with the concept of the pictorial as “moving image”. These artists reformulate classical genres such as still life, landscape, and portraiture, and merging painting with performance, video, photography and the digital realm.

The first part of the book feautres a series of essays that enable a contextualization of painting as moving image and its relationship to cinema, music and video-clip; painting’s iconography re-written from a feminine perspective; the pictorial as moving image both as abstract or figurative experiment and as performance; and, finally, the idea of painting as animation.

The second part showcases interviews with Sam Taylor-Wood, A K Dolven, Bill Viola, Ori Gersht, Fabián Marcaccio, and Crispin Gurholt, whose thoughts offer the reader a good insight into the motivations and possibilities of painting as video, film or animation.

Fresh Paint , 2012

Can painting be considered a "performance"? Does painting entail "performativity"? Is the... more Can painting be considered a "performance"?

Does painting entail "performativity"?

Is the act of painting itself "performative"?

I would like to deal with this question by placing emphasis on the "performative" as both the making of the painting and the finality of it.

The "performative" nature of the act of painting implies...

The shows I curated on the topic "Expanded Painting" between 2007 and 2011.

I am attaching here information of the International Painting Prize of the City of Castellón, Spa... more I am attaching here information of the International Painting Prize of the City of Castellón, Spain for which I was artistic director for the editions 2005, 2006 and 2007.

This prize of 60.000 euros was dedicated to the concept of "expanded painting" which I consistently promoted by making use of international e-flux announcements.

Here are the announcements and you can see that in each announcement the concept 'expanded painting' is mentioned and an explanation of it is given in order to facilitate the scope and participation of the artists.

Arte Lisboa 08 (catalogue), 2008

This is the essay of a show I curated at the Art Fair ARTE LISBOA from 19 to 24 November 2008 in ... more This is the essay of a show I curated at the Art Fair ARTE LISBOA from 19 to 24 November 2008 in Lisbon, Portugal with artists from the exhiting galleries in the curated project section of the fair on the idea of 'expanded painting,' that I had been promoting since 2005.

ARTPULSE , Jul 1, 2011

Barry Schwabsky: “The fact remains that there have been no deep innovations in art for forty year... more Barry Schwabsky: “The fact remains that there have been no deep innovations in art for forty years.“

Based in New York, American art critic Barry Schwabsky is chief art critic of The Nation and co-editor of international reviews for Artforum. A prolific and respected writer, Schwabsky has made notable contributions to 'Vitamine P', Saatchi’s 'Triumph of Painting' and 'The Painting of Modern Life' at the Hayward Gallery, among others. This long ‘old school’ interview revolves basically around art criticism and painting today.

ARTPULSE NO. 17 VOL. 5 2013, Dec 1, 2013

While history is important to us, and especially to those at the top who ‘make’ and ‘write’ histo... more While history is important to us, and especially to those at the top who ‘make’ and ‘write’ history, history painting on its turn has practically disappeared.

Why?

History painting as we all know was traditionally regarded as the supreme form of Western painting and its tasks were taken up by other media like video, photography, television, videogames or graffiti.

History painting is back. It has returned in the form of “anti-history” painting: not one-sided grandiloquent, nationalist or monumental, but critical, even ambiguous visions of recent political, socio-economic and historical events in which the artist makes room for the common man and the anti-hero.

ARTPULSE , May 2013

Painting always measures itself against its own history and mythos, but while it does so it also ... more Painting always measures itself against its own history and mythos, but while it does so it also “expands” and interacts in this new technological context with photography, video, installation, sculpture, performance and digital technology. Departing from Rosalind Krauss’ “Double Negation Diagram,” I came up some years ago with a “Multiple Inclusion Diagram” (MID), in which painting became a positive condition that expanded the limits of its traditional place, assuming a central role.

ARTPULSE Fall 2011, Sep 1, 2011

Bill Viola is a well-known new media artist, but above all a great painter. The Japan Art Associa... more Bill Viola is a well-known new media artist, but above all a great painter. The Japan Art Association shares the same opinion: they awarded him recently one of the 2011 Praemium Imperiale Art Awards under the category of painting. On the occasion of the publication of the book When a Painting Moves… Something Must Be Rotten! (Edizione CHARTA), we spoke about and around painting, and the idea of ‘painting as moving image’.

“Our first modernity in Latin America is indigenous, not a discovery in Paris in the 1870s, somet... more “Our first modernity in Latin America is indigenous, not a discovery in Paris in the 1870s, something happens there that resists academic, scientific and rational thought.”

On the occasion of his recent solo show “Juan Dávila: Imagen Residual/ After Image” at Matucana 100 in Santiago de Chile, we spoke to Juan Dávila (Santiago de Chile, 1946) about some of the themes that have articulated his prolific artistic trajectory like the idea of belonging, nationhood, gender, his relationship to the Chilean avant-garde, Latin America, jouissance and painting. The show not only meant the reencounter of Dávila with the Chilean art scene but also the reencounter of the Chilean art scene with painting as never before so many works of Dávila had been exhibited in Chile.

Popular Inquiry, 2021

Call for Papers Academic Journal Popular Inquiry <<STORYTELLING AND ITS NARRATIVE MODES: CONS... more Call for Papers Academic Journal Popular Inquiry

<<STORYTELLING AND ITS NARRATIVE MODES: CONSPIRACY THEORIES, FAKE NEWS, POST-TRUTHS, NEW WORLD ORDERS, NEGATIONIST THEORIES AND INFODEMICS>>

Our 21 st century society is characterized by a hyper-narrativity or exacerbated narrativity fueled by concepts like post-truth, fake news, conspiracy theories, new world orders, negationist theories and infodemics. The progressive integration of consumer society, mass media, technological innovations in the field of communications, internet and social media has created an extremely visual and narrative society.

From the traditional habermasian “public sphere” based on a conjunction of the spoken and written word, with the photographic or moving image as certifier that something had really happened, we have shifted towards a “mass-social media public sphere” where the hyper-narrative narrative word rules and where the image has ceased to be the notary of reality. It is also a society in which anyone can produce, manipulate and distribute alternative narratives which challenge (modernists) concepts like truth, reality and veracity. But has especially this more democratic social media public sphere brought about a more emancipated and participative society?

In this storytelling society conspiracy theories, fake news, post-truth, new world order, negationist theories and infodemics have become common parlance among citizens, celebrities and even politicians who try to come up with a logical and comforting explanation for the origin of a virus or the control that the elites want to impose through vaccines on the world population.
And yet while average Joe is getting accustomed to ideas like conspiracy theories and fake news, we still lack a historical perspective that frames and contextualizes today’s hyper-narrativity and its narrative modes.

In this special issue on today’s hyper-narrativity and its narrative modes we welcome original articles from fields as varied as (but not exclusive to) visual arts, philosophy, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, political sciences, history, anthropology and literature.

###List of possible topics####

—(Historical) Contextualization of today’s hyper-narrative nature of society

—To what extent did post-modernism’s discredit of grand narratives and science and their motto ‘the are no facts, only interpretations’ contribute to today’s narrative modes?

—Social media and the proliferation of post-truth, fake news, conspiracy theories et al

—Narrativity in visual arts and its relationship to politics and society

—In what ways can we understand the relationship between narrativity, pop culture and neoliberalism?

—The shift from a word-based to a visual-based society and the role of narrativity

—In what ways can we theorize/propose a filter or alternative for today’s hyper-narrative nature of society?

Deadline for submissions 150 words excerpt: 15 December 2020

Deadline final accepted essays: 15 March 2021

For questions regarding this issue, please contact pacobarragan11 (at) gmail.com

Imaginar el pasado, temer el futuro, 2019

En este ensayo explico cómo la relación entre las teorías de Carlos Marx y la ciencia ficción o c... more En este ensayo explico cómo la relación entre las teorías de Carlos Marx y la ciencia ficción o cultura popular. El cine y la lucha de clases han ido de la mano (burguesía contra proletariado, ricos contra pobres, amos contra esclavos, capitalistas contra comunistas, pero también seres humano contra máquinas o alienígenas). Y en los últimos decenios hemos visto el aumento de películas que versan sobre futuros distópicos en naciones totalitarias, donde la revolución estalla tras la lucha de clases por los escasos medios de producción.
Mi tesis es que estas películas afianzan el carácter afirmativo de la cultura haciéndonos a la idea de que el futuro será profundamente negativo y hostil y que el cine (y la cultura en particular) funciona como el nuevo opio del pueblo.

ARTPULSE, Jul 1, 2012

"“Hypermodernism” “Altermodernism” “Metamodernism,” “Neomodernism”—they all share in common “Mode... more "“Hypermodernism” “Altermodernism” “Metamodernism,” “Neomodernism”—they all share in common “Modernity.”

From a historical perspective, that which is “modern” is in battle against that which immediately preceded it, and as such, “modern” is always “post-something-else.”

The prefix “post” suggests the overcoming of a previous movement or situation.
I’m tempted to believe that we are stuck in the “post” syndrome: post-modernity, post-history, post-politics, post-feminism, post-pornography..."

Is criticism still necessary and what is the role of the art critic these days? Most of us ten... more Is criticism still necessary and what is the role of the art critic these days?

Most of us tend to believe that art criticism stands for symbolic value and disinterestedness, but in the short-, mid- and long-run it implies in many cases the formation of value, a market value that is imbued with the same “romantic” demands of authenticity, sublimity or humanization. Storytelling is at the core of capitalist culture. Art criticism is a sophisticated form of storytelling. It tells us which artists and works of art are innovative, progressive or even utopian. First capitalism took over pop culture, and now it has taken hold of high art.

Just like a curator becomes a curator by curating, a writer becomes a writer by writing. It’s an ... more Just like a curator becomes a curator by curating, a writer becomes a writer by writing. It’s an axiomatic truth, and art style has now more than ever taken on a purely ‘axiomatic character’: it has a dubious communicative value. It serves to intimidate and, on many occasions, to show off.

Style is more a matter of attitude than of composition. Your ‘adjectivation’ becomes your DNA. The question is vital. Why? Writing is one way to go about thinking, sharing ideas, and, if necessary, convincing.

But when you use bureaucratic and repetitive words like 'challenging', thought-provoking', utopian...your writing becomes superficial and empty-headed.

ARTPULSE (no. 16, vol. 4), Sep 1, 2013

This article explains how our 'regime of visual truth' came into crisis with post-modernity and i... more This article explains how our 'regime of visual truth' came into crisis with post-modernity and its unsettling mix of simulacrum and storytelling by explaining the death of Osama Bin Laden through an interartistic approach.

Reality has ceased to be an 'image' to become a 'dogma of faith'. In other words, if modernity was about the old debate of truth versus falseness, post-modernity is about 'good lies' versus 'bad lies'.

Post-truth, fakenews, reality, credibility, veracity....

The Storytellers , 2012

<<[T]he Greek needed to 'believe' in their gods. Modernity and mass media society showed us that ... more <<[T]he Greek needed to 'believe' in their gods. Modernity and mass media society showed us that 'credibility' and 'truth' are the mere result of what we 'see' and what we 'hear'; but now 'storytelling' convinces us once again that what only really counts is what you 'want to believe!>>

In the Era of Post-Truth, FakeNews and Hypernarrativity this essay written back in 2012 already codified how Reality is no Longer Relevant, Only a Good and Credible Story...

In a thought-provoking manner I develop this thesis around 4 Conspiracy Theories:

—Conspiracy Theory 1: The Invasion from Mars
—Conspiracy Theory 2: The September 11 Attacks
—Conspiracy Theory 3: The Betrayal of Superman
—Conspiracy Theory 4: The Assassination of Osama bin Laden

Mieke Bal is a Dutch cultural theorist, critic and visual artist. Bal acquired worldwide recognit... more Mieke Bal is a Dutch cultural theorist, critic and visual artist. Bal acquired worldwide recognition in 1985 with the publication of her bestseller Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of the Narrative. In this interview we exchanged ideas with Bal about the strong narrative element in contemporary society, the dialectics of high art versus pop culture, and her shift from theory to practice through her video and filmmaking.

<<This is What Life is About. Narratives of Progress, Freedom and Self-Fulfillment in Today's Cap... more <<This is What Life is About. Narratives of Progress, Freedom and Self-Fulfillment in Today's Capitalism—Works MUSAC Collection>> is a small bilingual Spanish-English catalogue (English on pages 7-8) on the occasion of the exhibit at Museum Domus Artium (DA2) Salamanca, Spain that reflects on contemporary society in today’s capitalism: from globalization to de-regulation of markets, democracy, freedom and security to success and self-fulfillment. In this case, there are two iconic books that have served as inspiration that delve respectively into this ‘new spirit’ of capitalism and the distribution of wealth: the already classic "The New Spirit of Capitalism" by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello and "Capital in the XXIst Century" by Thomas Piketty.

Revista beCult, 2024

El estudio de las grandes narrativas es un tema fascinante. No solo por su uso y relevancia conce... more El estudio de las grandes narrativas es un tema fascinante. No solo por su uso y relevancia conceptual, sino también porque en el fondo, creamos en ellas o no, una sociedad no puede existir sin grandes y pequeños relatos. Hasta el día de hoy aún carecemos de una definición aceptable de las grandes narrativas. Solo existe un uso arbitrario y confuso. En este artículo aporto una definición clara y concisa y las 6 condiciones que una 'gran narrativa' ha de cumplir para merecer semejante calificación.

Revista Be Cult, 2024

Vivimos en la era de la ignorancia. Al mismo tiempo, también asistimos al inexorable triunfo de l... more Vivimos en la era de la ignorancia. Al mismo tiempo, también asistimos al inexorable triunfo de la cultura en el siglo XXI. ¿Entonces? Soy consciente de que suena a puro contradictio in terminis, mas no lo es. Con unos párrafos me bastará para aclarar esta grácil paradoja.
La lógica que subyace a estas dos afirmaciones es aplastante: cada vez hay más ignorantes mientras que jamás antes en la historia habíamos tenido tantas posibilidades de acceder a un abanico tan amplio de opciones culturales. No debe extrañarnos, pues también cada vez tenemos más información y cada vez estamos más desinformados. La ignorancia ahora se manifiesta no solo en la sociedad en general, sino también en el ámbito de la cultura y el mismísimo mundo académico, además de la esfera política.
A pesar de que en estos momentos de la historia de la humanidad existen cada vez menos analfabetos en el mundo según las estadísticas, cada vez nos encontramos con un mayor número de ‘analfabetos funcionales’. A ello habría que añadir una inédita e inaudita categoría de analfabetos visuales cuyas huestes aumentan a diario a ritmo salvaje. Tanto es así que la sociedad hiper-narrativa e hiper-visual del siglo XXI seduce con la palabra de la posverdad y satura con la imagen de la conspiración al son de la pasiva pantalla portátil.

Sustainabilities , 2008

With the occasion of the interdisciplinary festival SOS 4.8 in Murcia, Spain in 2008 I edited a r... more With the occasion of the interdisciplinary festival SOS 4.8 in Murcia, Spain in 2008 I edited a reader with essays around the topic of sustainability. Among the contributions are included essays by Gilles Lipovetsky, Simon Critchley, Christiane Paul, Rirkit Tiravanija, Slavoj Zizek, Gianni Vattimo, Bernat Dedeu, and Pedro A. Cruz Sánchez. It was a 48 hours Festival with visual arts, live music, DJ, VJ, conferences, workshops, et al.

Here is my introduction.

Aesthetics of Popular Culture, 2014

In this essay I analyze how in the actual times of what I call "corporativist capitalism" in whic... more In this essay I analyze how in the actual times of what I call "corporativist capitalism" in which culture has become 'infrastructure' and no longer supersturcture, pop culture and particularly Science Fiction movies become the site for class struggle.

Science Fiction as a popular, mass distributed product, is a result of the society and culture of which it forms a part. As a genre, the spectator knows what to expect: the pleasure and entertainment of being thrown into the future and temporarily made part of a utopian or dystopian civilization.

It is especially in these wide distributed mass products that statements about the nature of society are made.

Is mankind incapable of imagining future utopias of satisfaction and freedom? Are there no benevolent technocrats that envision happiness for their people? Are we unable to forget the capitalist ideology of selfish ownership?

In short: Are Science Film movies promoting affirmative culture?

This is an Artpulse Magazine Special Number dedicated to the High Art versus Pop Culture debate f... more This is an Artpulse Magazine Special Number dedicated to the High Art versus Pop Culture debate for which I have acted as Guest Editor.

It contains the result of an International Survey among 130 art and culture professionals like Nicolas Bourriaud, Charles Esche, James Elkins, et al that I carried out and special articles and interviews commissioned by Domenico Quaranta, Max Ryynänen, Michele Robecchi, Javier Panera, Alistair Brown, Stephen Knudsen, Mieke Bal, Jozef Kovalcik and Jamie Hamilton Faris.

ARTPULSE Magazine, Apr 1, 2014

In this article I articulate the modern-postmodern dialectics by a shift from a) word-based' (ty... more In this article I articulate the modern-postmodern dialectics by a shift from a) word-based' (typographic) to 'image-based' (visual) society b) high art' to 'pop culture' displacement c) 'innovation' to 'postproduction'.

This allows to sketch a Culture Dialects Diagram (CDD).

In short, from a 'truth' based on written and verbal reasoning (modernity) we shifted into a visual culture with short attention span, non-linear, global, not necessary literate and more emotional (postmodernity), where the limits between 'hi and lo' are disappearing more and more.

ARTPULSE, Jan 1, 2013

"Television brought the stars into our homes, and now social media enable us to go into anybody’s... more "Television brought the stars into our homes, and now social media enable us to go into anybody’s home (screen). It is easier today than ever before to become a celebrity, as there are more outlets than ever-reality television, YouTube, Myspace, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, blogs-and less talent required.
These all-accessible, democratic, egalitarian, utopian social media have shifted this pressure now to the “inner life of the individual,” so both exemplify an “artificial” nature of the self. In the case of mass media, it manifests itself through corporate censorship, in social media through self-censorship. We must produce, stage, direct, act and broadcast non-stop our persona in order to showcase and reinforce our glittering status."

ARTPULSE, Nov 1, 2012

Spectacle, Globalization, Commodification, Culture Industry...is the Art World a mix of Fame and ... more Spectacle, Globalization, Commodification, Culture Industry...is the Art World a mix of Fame and Celebrity Culture?

We find ourselves in a situation in which “known for his well- knownness”—as Daniel Boorstin put it in the 1960s—has undeservedly devalued the merits of “fame.”

Fame and celebrity are not interchangeable: fame is a process, celebrity is a state of being. But both are defining elements of today's art world in today´s globalized high art-pop culture complex.

YouTube, May 5, 2012

Interview with philosopher and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman in Amsterdam at Smart Project Space on ... more Interview with philosopher and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman in Amsterdam at Smart Project Space on the occasion of his participation as one of the keynote speakers within the activities surrounding my exhibition "Paradox: the Limits of Liberty" organized by Castrum Peregrini/Smart Project Space.
Bauman's talk was titled "Freedom and security, a case of hassliebe". (5 May 2012)
Key Points: Modernity, Postmodernity, Liquid-Solid, Utopias

ARTPULSE No. 18 VOL 5 2014, Apr 1, 2014

Why was the Mona Lisa until 1911 just an average painting and suddenly acquired well-established ... more Why was the Mona Lisa until 1911 just an average painting and suddenly acquired well-established fame? How do art works turn into icons? What are the criteria that determine that one art work becomes into an icon and another doesn't? What is the relationship between high art and pop culture? This is an interview with the authors of "Mona Lisa to Marge. How the World Greatest Artworks Entered Popular Culture".

¡Patria o Libertad! On Patriotism, Immigration and Populism , Sep 9, 2011

"Publication appeared on the occasion of the exhibit "¡Patria o Libertad! On Patriotism, Immigra... more "Publication appeared on the occasion of the exhibit "¡Patria o Libertad! On Patriotism, Immigration and Populism" curated by Paco Barragán. This exhibit explores -through the works of 22 videoartists- diverse sorts of “nationalism” and “patriotism” in a critical manner.

Is it wrong to be a patriot, to love your country or your roots? Patriotism manifests itself in multiple forms: some are benign and tranquilizing, others horrifying. The problem now is that this “nationalism” or “bad patriotism” goes beyond a mere or positive appreciation of your homeland by stressing negative elements of identity and presupposing an iron loyalty that creates artificial divisions and makes it difficult to understand other singularities. We should not forget that throughout history “nation”, “nationality”, and “identity” have become negative, marking a clear line between a native and a non-native. "

"From madonna to Madonna. (De)constructions of the feminine in contemporary society" investigates... more "From madonna to Madonna. (De)constructions of the feminine in contemporary society" investigates the position of women in today’s society by juxtaposing the work of 50 contemporary artists with the work of ‘classical’ artists, so reflecting the (r)evolution of women in society throughout history.
De madonna a Madonna. (De)construcciones de lo femenino en la sociedad contemporánea plantea un acercamiento a la posición de la mujer hoy a través de un ejercicio especulativo que yuxtapone la práctica artística de una cincuentena de artistas (inter)nacionales contemporáneos con las obras de una serie de artistas de otros tiempos, reflejando así el desarrollo en la (r)evolución del rol de la mujer en la sociedad a lo largo de la historia.

"This catalogue has been published on the occasion of Antonio Cortes Rolón (Cidra, Puerto Rico, 1... more "This catalogue has been published on the occasion of Antonio Cortes Rolón (Cidra, Puerto Rico, 1951) most recent paintings at AREA Lugar de Proyectos (Puerto Rico) titled "An Actor at the White House" a new phase in his prolific painting career. Beginning with the work titled Arnold, Cortés Rolón resumes his interest in the 'public persona': he or she who incorporates in the same person traits of politics, pop culture, and celebrity.
Relationships, admiration, and even mutual dependency between The White House and Hollywood extend far back into history. In a democracy where mass media like cinema, television, and radio performed a more and more prominent role, and in which actors and actresses were the idols and favorites of the common man, the identification of a president elected democratically with the popularity of Hollywood stars could only enhance the politician’s standing."

Panoramic view installation exhibit "Juan Dávila: Painting and Ambiguity" at MUSAC León. Exhibi... more Panoramic view installation exhibit "Juan Dávila: Painting and Ambiguity" at MUSAC León.

Exhibit that I have curated and is running between

June 9 - November 11, 2018 at the MUSAC museum in León, Spain.
(Image Courtesy: MUSAC León).

Museological Concept

I conceived a site-specific museology for the exhibition as the walls of the museum are very high and are made of concrete so hanging works and paintings directly on the wall is difficult as the wall 'eats' lireally the art work.

So I worked my way around through conceiving together with the artist some site-specific interventions (wall painting situated on the floor, paintings on the windows to enhance dialogue inside-outside, and a huge mirror where the artist painted a narrative and which made the spectator part of the work and reflected the rest of the works in it), a minimalistic hanging, and a very precise baroque and directed illumination that concentrated on the art work and faded the concrete around it.

Art, Excess, and Education: Historical and Discursive Contexts , 2019

My essay "Painting History, Manufacturing Excess: How the Artistic Configures the Political" in t... more My essay "Painting History, Manufacturing Excess: How the Artistic Configures the Political" in the Reader "Art, Excess, and Education: Historical and Discursive Contexts (Palgrave-Macmillan).

In my essay I tackle three topics:

how excess has traditionally been the exclusive monopoly of history painting within the visual arts
how history painting lost its artistic preeminence, but its function was taken up by other media such as photography, film, video, installation and even television, among others;

and

how the artistic configured the political through its experimental and educational function

The reader "Art, Excess, and Education: Historical and Discursive Contexts" concentrates on the deep historical, political, and institutional relationships between art, education, and excess. Going beyond field specific discourses of art history, art criticism, philosophy, and aesthetics, it explores how the concept of excess has been important and enduring from antiquity through contemporary art, and from early film through the newer interactive media.

Examples considered throughout the book focus on disgust, grandiosity, sex,
violence, horror, disfigurement, endurance, shock, abundance, and emptiness,
and frames them all within an educational context. Together they provide theories
and classificatory systems, historical and political interpretations of art and
excess, examples of popular culture, and suggestions for the future of
educational practice.

Número, 1997

Entrevista con el ya fallecido Lázaro Carreter, antiguo director de la Real Academia Española (RA... more Entrevista con el ya fallecido Lázaro Carreter, antiguo director de la Real Academia Española (RAE), publicada en septiembre de 1997 en la revista colombiana "Número".

A pesar de haber transcurrido 20 años las cuestiones que analizamos entonces como los retos del castellano, el uso de los anglicismos, las nuevas tecnologías o la simplificación ortográfica no solo siguen en pie sino que se han agravado. Incluso periódicos líderes como "El País" cometen a diario errores.

Artishock, 2020

Entrevista realizada en Artishock por Janet Batet el día 21 de diciembre de 2020. En ella discuti... more Entrevista realizada en Artishock por Janet Batet el día 21 de diciembre de 2020. En ella discutimos entre otros sobre los orígenes de las ferias y las bienales, la denominada 'bienalización' de las ferias y la 'ferialización' de las bienales, las anti-bienales de Picasso y cómo tanto las ferias como las bienales son ejemplos de soft power en el sistema neoliberal actual.

Versión ampliada en español de mi artículo en inglés "How New York Lost the Idea of Modern Art" p... more Versión ampliada en español de mi artículo en inglés "How New York Lost the Idea of Modern Art" publicado en español en la revista online Artishock, que analiza la poco innovadora museografía de las colecciones permanentes de museos neoyorquinos como el MoMA, Guggenheim, Whitney y Metropolitan al hilo de mi última visita a Nueva York. La conclusión es que Nueva York ya no es el centro del arte contemporáneo...

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 2001

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 1998

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 2002

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 1999

The chapter outlines how, before the twentieth century, history painting portrayed the history of... more The chapter outlines how, before the twentieth century, history painting portrayed the history of mankind and its excesses on a grand scale, showcasing great heroes and spectacular events. In the twentieth century, history painting disappeared and its function as chronicler of society was taken over by other media, such as photography, film, video, installation and even television, among others. Like painting before them, these new media reveal the complex relationship between the artistic and the political spheres. The visual arts, and in particular their educational components, are able to make visible ideas, conflicts and utopias that did not exist by creating mental images that indirectly affect political action. But painting has now returned under a new guise, and its role as the mediator of excess seems once again to be iconic.

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 2002

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 2001

University of California Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017

Lápiz: Revista internacional del arte, 2000

... Ciuco Gutiérrez: cuando la realidad agoniza. Información General. Autores: Ciuco Gutiérrez,Pa... more ... Ciuco Gutiérrez: cuando la realidad agoniza. Información General. Autores: Ciuco Gutiérrez,Paco Barragán; Editores: Madrid : La Fábrica, 2002; Año de publicación: 2002; País: España; Idioma: Español; ISBN : 84-95471-52-3. Otros catálogos. ...

A History of the Western Art Market, 2017

Imaginar el pasado, temer el futuro: apocalípsis, distopías y mundos fantásticos, 2019, ISBN 978-84-17706-39-5, págs. 157-168, 2019