Marta Minujín: IMPLOSIÓN!
Translation by Marina Dlacic
Fundación Santander, Av.Paseo Colon 1380, Buenos Aires
until November 2021
Hours: Monday-Saturday 12-18, Thursday until 19
Text by Rodrigo Alonso
The art and culture space of the Santander corporate building in Barracas presents the exhibition IMPLOSIÓN! by the famous artist Marta Minujin, open to the public from Thursday April 8 and extended until November, which can be visited upon reservation.
When it comes to Marta Minujín, there is always wonder and experiences. This time it is no exception and together with the Santander Foundation, the Argentine artist presents a site specific project that occupies the ground floor and the terrace of the company space in Barracas. A multidisciplinary project that combines different supports and that makes her work a unique proposal.
On this occasion the mattress returns to be the chosen element and the supporting element of the work created by this pioneer of the happening and reference point for performance art and soft sculpture.
“Since the beginning of her career, Marta Minujín has used mattresses as supports for the most varied jobs. The first appeared almost by chance, when the artist included one from her own house in the creation of a work; later, she found them in hospital waste, in garbage and in the most unexpected places ”, begins the text written by the professor and independent curator, Rodrigo Alonso.
“At the beginning – he continues – mattresses were objects that allowed her to incorporate an element of consumer society into her works, but gradually they became a representation of life itself, since in them – as Minujín assures us – we are born , we die, we express love and spend most of our existence ”.
For Alonso, IMPLOSIÓN! is “a short time travel where the mattresses are not simply a material of the work but rather the embodiment of a philosophy of life. They are objects that inflame the senses, elements that are part of our daily life but which, when reconfigured by the overflowing freedom of artistic creation, invite us to think about the possibility of reforming every aspect of our life “.
Marta Minujín has also developed a multimedia self-portrait for the terrace of the Foundation with an invitation to enter and participate in a questionnaire proposed by the artist. In this way, IMPLOSIÓN! offers a playful, relaxed and interactive experience.
Marta Minujín was born in 1943 in Buenos Aires, where she currently lives and works. Between 1955 and 1960, in the same city, she studied plastic arts at the Manuel Belgrano School of Fine Arts and the Higher School of Fine Arts. In 1961 she obtained a scholarship from the National Endowment for the Arts which allowed her to settle in Paris. . In 1962 another scholarship extended her stay in that city until 1964.
A pioneer of happenings, performance art, soft sculpture and video, Minujín pursues a varied and irreverent practice that demonstrates a profound rejection of the collectible art object. Her works include the burning of all her works (Destruction, 1963), temporary interventions with live animals (El Batacazo, 1964) and a journey through a labyrinth of situations (La Menesunda, 1965).
Her work is part of private collections and museums all over the world: MNBA, MALBA, MAMBA, MACBA (Buenos Aires); MoMA, Guggenheim Museum (New York); Museum of Art of the Americas (Washington DC); MOLAA (Los Angeles); Pompidou Center (Paris); Tate Modern (London); Olympic Park (Seoul), Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of Sao Paulo; Reina Sofia National Art Museum (Madrid); Caixa of Barcelona; Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art (Seville), La Tertulia Museum (Calí).
