Text-Images > Propuestas Improbables, Sótano 1
Propuestas Improbables, Sótano 1
In 2014 curators Gabriel Rodriguez and Diego Sagastume invited me to produce work for their legendary space S1, situated in the heart of Guatemala's downtown historical district. This relatively distinctive and informal venue located in the basement of a bar is actively hosting exhibitions from the local contemporary art scene.
On our first meeting the curators propose to lend me the space for one month to show some work. In response to their offer and after a few meetings, I propose that I will use the gallery as a studio for the duration of one month to do research, sketch possibilities, create interactive pieces for the audience and produce interventions on the walls of the gallery as means to detonate conversations. Finally, when I would have reached the time limit, we were to produce a public opening event to celebrate the closing of the event.
Although it lasted a month, it only lasted one day. During the month I produced a variety of pieces, we documented the processes and conducted philosophical, artistic and banal conversations systematically to activate artistic enquiry, also during this process visitors were allowed to join conversations and enquire on the working processes. The last day before taking the exhibition down legendary Guatemalan curator Rosina Cazali organised a guided visit and a conversation joined by fellow artists.
The work earned its name "Propuestas Improbables" towards the conclusion of the project, it was called like this because every week I came with one or two, or a few proposals to execute without knowing if they will be executed or not in the limit of the time frame. In 2015, *Gabriel Rodríguez wrote for Nómada Magazine: “…Within his own process, he realized that the best proposal he could give us was improvisation. It had never happened to us during the two years the gallery has been open, that someone would propose a Non-proposal.” Uncertainty and play were essential components on this process, but not everything was left to chance because coincidentally I was deeply involved with a theoretical reflection on "Deleuze & Guattari's Rhizome Theory", which became not only a transversal axis, but also a matter of concern throughout the project.
Concepts at play, or playing with concepts became the bonding agent which kept all efforts into coherence; something that I came to call at the time: "Conceptual Ludicism or Ludic Conceptualism". Gabriel quotes in his article the following: “During the setting-up, he created several terms which, in my opinion, are one of his best contributions. The one I like the best is Conceptual Ludicism. He coined it as he was thinking about the Borgian Labyrinth drawn on the floor of the gallery.”
*Notes taken from the Nómada Magazine article: "Renato Osoy, La teoría y la práctica son lo mismo ¿o no?" (in Spanish only).
**A detailed list of the "Propuestas Improbables" project can be requested by email.
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