Tamayo Museum Presents Stephen Willats’ “Subjective Spaces” MEXICO CITY – The Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo has begun an exhibition, “Stephen Willats: Man From The Twenty-First Century,” which showcases works of the British artist, a pioneer of conceptual art who captures how an individual creates his subjective space inside a standard environment. “The interest in a constructed environment really became one of his main interests; in the mid-70s he began to think about questions of class, social mobility and the rise of the middle class,” the exhibition’s curator, Julieta Gonzalez, said in a press conference Wednesday. Through artistic expressions such as drawings, paintings and installations, which add up to almost 50 artworks, Willats transmits his influences received from diverse fields like design, advertisements, pedagogy and cybernetics. Housing towers and urban development, the emergence of the social welfare state and social mobility are some of the questions reflected in his displayed works, where one can make out an idea of resistance to normalization. “Willats got interested in the corporate environment, he began to interview people who worked pigeonholed inside a cubicle, and investigated as to what objects each one used to decorate it and create, in some way, a subjective space,” the curator said, adding that he conducted a similar exercise with people living inside huge residential towers. The artist explores an individual’s place in the environment and his relationship with this atmosphere which is “normalized” using several mechanisms such as laws, building designs as well as those of spaces where we work, Gonzalez explained, saying that behind the works lie thoughts that are similar to the ones shared by French philosopher Michel Foucault. In the itinerary, which includes works from all Willats’ important periods, visitors can also find works with which one can interact, helping them observe how one can “organize and construct an aesthetic experience.” The creations also evoke a reflection on how experiences are constructed in the urban environment where we live. Definitely, Gonzalez affirms, the works deal with the idea of “reality,” how it is perceived and how it can be modified, providing the observer with the necessary tools to do so. In line with this subjectivity in the cities, his works also deal with “urban subcultures.” “He understands where they come from and what is required for their expression and communication, apart from a language that relies on attitude and nonconformity,” explained the curator. The exhibition, held for the first time in Mexico and Latin America with the collaboration of the British Council, is part of the UK-Mexico dual-year program. laht/article.asp?ArticleId=2370678&CategoryId=13003
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:18:00 +0000
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