A FAVOR TO THE FUTURE ANA

[thefutureana]

A Dossier by Ana Sanchez

Throughout this semester I realized that many of the issues I have focused on correspond to real issues, global crises, political conflicts, mental health, but everything from an interior view, from my self, from how I feel in relation to these situations, how I understand them and how I face them.

Part of this exploration consisted in spread my knowledge in response to interests that I have had, such as materiality, identity, intimacy, memory and registration.

This first semester we saw "a forest for Australia" by Agnes Denes as a starting point, so the main project I am working on is born from the disagreement with the excessive felling of trees and in general with deforestation, because I believe that it is one of the main causes of the environmental crisis in which we find ourselves

I wanted through this installation to pay tribute and memories to each of the trees that have died many times in vain, for this I began to work with wood and more specifically with discarded wooden furniture. I considered that wood is the ideal material because each piece is unique, it has different marks and traces of its journey, even the furniture also have stories and marks of each of the places they inhabited.

I consider that part of what I look for in my work is that each part of it speaks for itself, which is why I consider that materiality is fundamental, this is why I have been reviewing artists who work from materiality and the use of objects, which is some cases it is the materiality the one that narrate to the public, what they want to tell, also some of them have already worked previously with furniture and I feel that for instance Doris Salcedo uses them as metaphors of a crude reality and these works successfully manage to tell something through the objects she uses. Others, like in the case of Oscar Munoz, use these materials that are so volatile and transient but that are really effective in dealing with impermanence, the ephemeral, memory, oblivion, the time that destroys everything.

On the other hand, identity and intimacy are themes that I have begun to develop for future projects, identity as something malleable, as something that transforms in relation to the people around us in relation to time, that self that was and is no longer, my identity through memory, of the places I inhabit, of labels, of nationality, of anxiety, of depression. For this reason, I have found artists in whom I have been able to recognize diverse ways of self-representation, of questioning the imposed identities and social systems like Nuria Guell. Also the way of relating to others, such as the way in which Sophie Calle creates links with people and allows strangers to access her privacy, I think that the use of personal resources is something that I would like to implement on a routine basis, create records graphics and writing for the next projects.

[thefutureana]

Border Tuner(2019) - RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER

A large-scale installation, where through some reflectors, a dial, microphones, and speakers, Rafael communicates with several cities that are right on the border between Mexico and the United States. A border that has been very controversial. This imaginary barrier has claimed the lives of many, and this work hacks that blockage, allowing those cities to communicate, where people get closer and relate to each other.

I wonder why depending on the place where we were born, we are predestined to fulfill certain roles, to have certain social statuses, in some cases it is almost impossible to change that destiny, I feel that we must question those imposed parameters of nationality, border, country, state, etc.

Are we humans really owners of the earth?

Does the nation-state own the citizens?

At what point do we lose our right to be born free?

Do all these people who are just trying to cross a piece of land deserve to die?

This kind of installation allows to break those established schemes, it is also a symbol of protest and resistance, at the same time it gives recognition to a situation that is completely normalized, which is alarming because every year there are more and more deaths and attempts to cross that border.

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Cutting down a tree for a coffin

If there is something that really represents the irony of human actions, it is the act of killing a tree, which is mainly what gives us life to create the container of something that is dead, a coffin.

Cutting down a tree for a coffin is an installation made up of 3 elements. The first is a coffin made from pieces of discarded wooden furniture, which will be filled with compost and fertilizer to create the necessary conditions for the seed of a She-oak tree that will be planted there, this coffin will later be buried at ground level, the second element is the hole that will have the exact measurements of the coffin and the third element is a diary in which there will be an archive of the furniture

These trees will be honored and finally bury them at the same time that the small she-oak tree grows; it will be very transcendental for me to put this wood back where it actually belongs and save it from a situation in which it could have become rubbish somewhere else.

The intention of creating a “cutting down a tree for a coffin“ is to misrepresent the concept of the coffin so it would take these dead and discarded objects to create finally the container of something that will live.

[thefutureana]

No Man’s Land (2010) - Christian Boltanski

Boltanski, C.(2010) ’Christian Boltanski No Mans Land ’ Interview by Stephanie Cash, Art in America (26 April 2010).

“I think when you are an artist, you have several questions that are important to you, and you try to find answers to these questions. I’ve always been interested in trying to understand why one person survives and someone else doesn’t. Most of the time you don’t find answers, but what is important is to ask the question. A big issue for me is the uniqueness, the importance of each person, yet, at the same time, after two or three generations you disappear totally.”

I consider that the use of clothes, or intimate objects, speaks of that attachment to objects when someone is gone, how the object becomes something sacred, something that eternalizes the person who inhabited it. It allows keeping the memory alive of the absent person.

As individuals, we build ourselves from relationships with the past, oblivion, and memory. Who are we? we try to find that answer throughout life, afraid of facing inevitable death. Objects as a metaphor for a life that no longer exists, something intriguing that Boltanski poses, is how we live in the memory of those who remain, however it is something ephemeral, a restlessness arises in me with that fear of being forgotten.

[thefutureana]

OSCAR MUNOZ - INVISIBILIA

Exhibition 2021-2022

This exhibition shows a series of works made by the Colombian artist Oscar Muñoz, throughout his life, in it, you can see his remarkable exploration of photography in different media and formats. The resource of photography is not only as a record but also as something that can be changing, an image that over time transforms and vanishes. Part of his work consists of questioning the eternalization of the image, that image that freezes a moment, where on the contrary what he proposes is an image that deteriorates, a vulnerable image, that has a life cycle where time finally destroys it.  Thus portraying the cycle of life itself and memory.

Narcisos (1995-2011) - Oscar Munoz

Pixels (1999-2000) - Oscar Munoz

In other works, he uses various materials for the creation of fragile images, the use of powdered charcoal, sugar cubes and coffee, water, even the breath itself. There is a clear intention to manifest those images that exist, but does not exist at the same time, in some of these pieces he uses archive material of missing people, in which the collective forgetfulness can be reflected, sometimes that apathy in society in the face of people who are defined in numbers, an oversight that as a society condemns us to the repetition of violence and crisis.

breath(1995-2002) - Oscar Munoz

Shower Curtains(1985–1986) - Oscar Munoz

The way of retaining an image in the works of Oscar Munoz works in the same way that a human retains a memory, it becomes something imprecise and temporary.

Proyecto para un memorial (2004-2005)- Oscar Munoz

Impermanence

Memory

Destruction

Time

Ephemeral

Change

Transformation

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Untitled (furniture works) (1990-2016) - Doris Salcedo

This work makes me feel impatient, shocks me, makes me sad, it reminds me of the reality that thousands of Colombian families have lived, whereby unexpected situations, they have been chosen as victims of the country's political violence. The reuse of furniture used in this work successfully brings up stories from the past, when seeing these pieces one can imagine what was behind them. Even the title "untitled" from my perspective, it allows me to see that anonymity, these objects that dialogue directly with the missing person and could be any person of the many who has been victims of the conflict.

The object as an eternal bond with the human, with a person who is no longer there, some of the pieces of furniture even have part of their clothes, and even dolls, that are frozen in time due to the concrete, they allow me to take a look at what once belonged to someone, however, the concrete for me is like a blockage or a way to cover what is behind, I think by this is useless the function of furniture,  also by covering these objects, it speaks of the people who were hidden, their deaths, their bodies that tried to be erased, without leaving any clue but that are still there.

[thefutureana]

The hotel (1981) - Sophie Calle

Suite Vénitienne (1979) - Sophie Calle

The sleepers (1979) - Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle is undoubtedly one of my greatest references, her work is very influential for me, something that is key is the way she relates to others, the obsession, the observation, the following, the analysis, the way of recording, photograph, write, The way we inhabit a place, the intimacy with strangers, the way we relate to those we will never see. The way she creates connections between reality and fiction, between what she lives and what she fantasizes about.

The use of personal resources in her works reflects how she links her life and her routine with her work, which for me is very striking because intimacy and daily recording are precisely one of my greatest interests. Sophie Calle adopted this way of recording, due in part because her father was a collector. My father was an unstudied artist, he began to draw on his own, I set up a dark room for photography in a bathroom in the house, and from a very young age, I remember seeing my father seen with great admiration, and many of the decisions that I have made in life have also been partly due to the relationship with my father. With the passage of time that link was disappearing, after that my family lost the photo albums, which for me was very painful, because for me I was losing part of my past, part of myself.

From this, an obsession arose I wanted to record absolutely everything, with the passing of time the people closest to me managed to normalize my camera, and this allowed me to satisfy my interest in privacy, also with time I began to write a diary, at first I only did it in order to write loose ideas, but over time it became a tool to dialogue with my past self, to remember that past that I had lost, to analyze myself from the outside.

Being a very sensitive person, part of my work has arisen from moments in which I have found myself vulnerable, one of my great projects was born precisely from a love break, in others I have tried to find that link with my father, so see how Sophie Calle made her way is very inspiring for me.

[thefutureana]

Future Library (2014-2114), Katie Paterson

This artwork is a very ambitious project, but also very powerful since collective work is needed to carry out this project because all those who started it, will not be present in 100 years, so it requires trust in others, it is a work that will remain for several generations and it implies a delegation to others that have not born yet.

Thinking about what the future will be like, will paper books still be made? Taking into account the environmental crisis we find ourselves in, Katie Paterson's work is a great gift for the future. It is interesting to see how artists and writers have come together to create something together in an altruistic way, this project is an invitation to take action in the face of current reality and how it can determine the future.

Hollow (2016), Katie Paterson

the collection, the registration, the archive, a catalog of trees from all over the world, from different periods, the meticulous work of collecting, of giving priority to each of these pieces of wood and putting them together as a forest that covers a large part of the trees of our planet.

Deregulated (2017)- Jason Decaires Taylor

Part of these sculptures is a form of protest and also a hack, towards corporations and governments who, despite the calls made on environmental issues, all they do is turn a blind eye. The critical position that the artist takes from art to act and generate is notable, so he takes these places to intervene and appropriates them with sculptures, as a result, it becomes a place of art, and it allows rescuing these places in danger, he makes this pieces of art with full respect, the material also has the necessary pH that allows creating corals and shelter for species, thus to recover part of the biodiversity.

Large Cube Threesome(2017) - Terry Holzgreen

Vessel 1 (2019) - Terry Holzgreen

Terry's work with wood is impressive, something that really catches my attention about his work is the behind the artwork because he has been a person who since childhood had the obsession to collect all kinds of wood, from the street, from the beaches, logs, etc. He then takes these salvaged pieces and gives them a second life by creating these unique pieces. For the project that I am currently carrying out where I am rescuing furniture, cutting wood, then building from that, I feel that behind the work, it becomes a ritual with which I connect in a spiritual way, I think that with each piece of furniture that I pick up I am honoring that tree that was felled and that changing the destiny of ending up in the garbage is very transcendental.

[thefutureana]

Manifesto(1970) - Agnes Denes

MANIFESTO

working with a paradox

defining the elusive

visualizing the invisible

communicating the incommunicable

not accepting the limitations society has accepted

seeing in new ways

living for a fraction of a second and penetrating light years

using intellect and instinct to achieve intuition

achieving total self-consciousness and self-awareness

being creatively obsessive

questioning, reasoning, analyzing, dissecting and re-examining

understanding the finitude of human existence and still striving to create beauty and provocative reasoning finding new concepts, recognizing new patterns

desiring to know the importance or insignificance of existence

seeing reality and still being able to dream

persisting in the eternal search.

Agnes Denes.

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QUOTING: SCREENS(2011 - 2013), JULIE SHIELS

This work consists of putting quotes found on the internet on old televisions thrown into the street, what I find interesting is how the artist proposes a link between virtuality and the street as public places where everything ends up in oblivion over time.

The way they are directly related and how one affects the other, some people manage to detach their reality from their virtual reality, they build a different world, a different personality, a different identity.

The pursuit of eternity.

The need to be remembered.

Attachment to the past

Social approval.

Multi-inhabit , Multi - identity.

[thefutureana]

Stateless by Choice(2015-2016)-Nuria Guell

Nuria guell and her failed attempt to renounce her nationality, through various arguments.

Is it perhaps the nation that defines us as people or as individuals?

is the blood?

is the race?

is our native language?

are our beliefs?

Is it our territory?

Nuria questions these nation-state structures through this work, also questioning many aspects and horrific acts that have been done in the name of a nation.

[thefutureana]

Domestic Tension (2007), Wafaa Bilal

The link between reality and virtuality is pointed out by Wafaa Bilal in this work, in this performance he decided to spend a month in a room that is virtually connected to a page, in which viewers can talk and interact with him, in addition e decided to put a paintball gun with which the spectators can decide or not to shoot him, his intention is to show the lack of privacy and also the constant violence that is found in the virtual world and how this permeates reality taking into account the context of the Iraqi people who have to stay in their homes due to the war. Is it perhaps anonymity that allows a person to lose their humanity or their conscience in the face of acts? There is no guilt or morality if the responsibility does not correspond to us? Humanity from anonymity feels the power of god.

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Ray's a Laugh(1996) - Richard Billingham

Intimacy through the photographs of Richard Billingham portrays his parents from a naive look, immersed in this working class family in the 90's. In his photographs you can see a natural narration of a dysfunctional family, with this series he shows what is generally hidden in society, this generates in the audience a voyeuristic need, an audience who want to know more, to make a comparison with their lifes, always looking from the outside.

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Concept Map (2022) - Ana Sanchez

Map that connects many of my interests, through the room and the external area, I wanted to create a dialogue between the private and the public, intimacy, identity, my relationships, with the street as a place where we rub shoulders with others, the social situations in which I want to participate and give my opinion, the street as a meeting place, where we all coexist and function as a community, even though we are strangers.

[thefutureana]

Nan Goldin,

Buzz and Nan at the afterhours, New York. 1980

Nan and brian in bed, New York. 1983

Nan and Dickie in the York Motel, New Jersey. 1980

David with Butch Crying at Tin Pan Alley, New York. 1981

Rise and Monty Kissing, New York. 1980.

Life and artwork as one together, where each one nfluences the other, the impossibility of separating the work from the situations experienced, sensations, traumas, pain, depression, loneliness, parties, alcohol, memory, anxiety, heartbreak, as subject matter, intimacy brought to a public sphere, for a voyeuristic audience, a curious look at these topics that are still tabbo nowadays.

[thefutureana]

A N X I E T Y - M A N I F E S T O (2022) ANA SANCHEZ

[thefutureana]

Part of my diary.