PRESENTATION

PRESENTATION

The exhibition at the José Guerrero Centre revolves around one of the ideas which has been found to be fundamental in the investigation phase of the project and contributes to changing the point of view from which visual culture has been addressed up until now: the general intellect. The general intellect is a concept extracted from Marx's Notes VI The Gründisse (from the "Fragment on machines", to be more precise) which deals with the knowledge accumulated by the community, the amount of language, communication, and emotional and other skills which are shared by all the members of a social group, a knowledge that, as such, cannot be exploited by anyone. This idea is explored at the José Guerrero Centre exhibition by developing its various aspects, covering a period which spans from the decade of the seventies to the present day. Although the exhibition follows a historical timescale, it does not limit itself to presenting a univocal sequence of works featuring one single theme (collective artistic practices), as it deploys various approaches from the decades in question.

From the first computer works for the generation of artistic forms to the construction of alternative communication networks on the Internet. From visual poetry to mail art. From the early works with photocopies to the works which make copyright a theme and a topic of discussion, to the proposals made by the Copyleft groups. From the conceptual linguistic to denouncing Art Institutions. From the propaganda struggle to the bitterest political criticisms. From the feminism of difference to queer theory, etc.

The contents of the exhibition which is jointly displayed in the showrooms of the José Guerrero Centre and the Palacio de los Condes de Gabia, could be grouped under four main themes: 1) Studies with language and work languages; 2) Popular languages and resistance to productive work; 3) Models of collective artistic production, and; 4) Cartographies.

Studies with Language and Work Languages
Desacuerdos in the José Guerrero Centre features a false historiographic antagonism: that involving ZAJ and the Grup de Treball, perhaps the most emblematic collectives from the 70's, which never shared representation spaces because it was assumed that they operated in incompatible fields. The fact is that the real differences between them were the scope of their work, and the area of language on which they concentrated (while one based its work on poetry, that is to say art [=life], the other focused on information, communication [= politics]). Yet, both of them had something in common: that they worked on language. The exhibition explores the tensions between the two opposite ends and the different fluctuations between both ends of the spectrum.

The exhibition emphasises the value of the productive tools of language: kitsch (TINT-2), photocopies (Pere Noguera), design (Compañía Internacional de Diseño anónimo), publishing (in which both visual poetry - featured in the exhibition with a series of works by several authors - and the graphic experimentation of collectives like Atelier Bonanova, played a key role). The public will also have access to three archives in which three experts (José Antonio Sarmiento, José Iges and Víctor Nubla) have compiled the most relevant sound work of the last decades (these include works in the field of sound poetry, electronic music, and new experimental music). Special attention is given to audiovisuals with the screening of documentaries by P. Portabella, C. and J.J. Bartolomé, F. Ruiz de Vergara, C. Taillefer, etc.; a selection of films made by Julio Pérez Perucha produced by various collectives of the time; and several decentralised communication projects such as Video-Nou, Cadaqués, and Canal Local (1974) by Antoni Muntadas or El Búho [The Owl](1980) by Basilio Martín Patino.

In addition to the tools, the exhibition also explores the use that artists, political parties, and organisations made of them (political organisations, such as the Federation of Inmates en Lucha and the Federation of Collectives are featured on a series of posters. There is also a section dedicated to feminism). Of special note amongst the artists are the collectives which are characterised by the anonymity of their members and their strong political activism (such as La Familia Lavapiés, and El Cubri).

Popular Languages and Resistance to Productive Work
With the arrival of the mass culture, collective values which were forged during the 70's political and poetic struggles have been broken and absorbed by the new consumerist machinery.

However, since the end of the 80's, small resistances which were especially linked to the underground scene and would ultimately provide the keys for reconstructing the critical sphere, continued to occur. The political groups, which managed to remain in positions such as the situationist or the radical left, would be actually joined by vitalist groups whose work was initially to be influenced by hippie culture and later by punk-hooliganism.

At this time, anti-establishment practices in which experimental impulses take root gathered momentum. Artists resorted to marginal formats such as super 8 film (Iván Zulueta), fanzines (of which the exhibition displays interesting examples) and comics, which, apart from disseminating the underground scene, exemplified a kind of civil "disobedience" against the system in works in which the means serves the purpose of political and social messages (this can be seen in the works of Butifarra and Un equipo andaluz de tebeos [f.d.]). All this led to the crystallisation of a youth culture which was to mark a whole generation. Unequivocal paradigms of this time are the various music styles originating from rock which were extensively featured on television programmes such as La edad de oro. All the programmes are available in an a la carte archive.

Collective Forms of Artistic Production, 1980-2000
The route explored by Desacuerdos using general intellect as its central concept, is completed with the collective artistic practices of the 80's and 90's. During these years, initially timidly but later more confidently, a progressive reconstruction of the common legacy of political-poetic resistance took place, mostly as a result of the revision of experiences from the 70's. Although in some cases this revision was a self-conscious and critical exercise, in others it was a spontaneous release of repressed energy which nevertheless anchored itself in this general, libertarian, activist, and pro-common intellect.

If there is a term that could define the mixture and condensation of the time, it would be "Carnavalisation", with all its implications: festive subversion, the "rule" of "lowness", scathing criticism, the use of masks, theatricality, the invasion of the streets and public spaces, the hybridizing of techniques, the confusion of bodies, the invention of identities, etc.

All this is featured in the exhibition on display at the Palacio de los Condes de Gabia, which includes works by the Centro de Vigilancia Artística, the Agustín Parejo School, Estrujenbank, Juan del Campo, El muerto vivo, Preiswert, E.m.p.r.e.s.a., Industrias Mikuerpo, Besos negros, Koniec, Luther Blisset, La Fiambrera obrera, LSD, etc.

The exhibition also shows postal art networks which although initially based on isolated projects dating from the beginning of the 70's (and despite the activist work of SIEP and Koniec), were not to be properly structured as such until well into the 90's, thanks to the emergence of publications which were exclusively dedicated to postal art such as P.O.Box, A.M.A.E., and BOEK, and others such as the "aesthetic action" fanzine by Amano, which was published by Industrias Mikuerpo in Madrid. "It was not just about inhabiting the already established channels, but about agitating and promoting those channels, organising events, creating a conscience of movement, and providing them with ideology."

All these networks led to the Huelga de arte [Art strike] (2000-2001), which resulted in the closing of many of the networks or their re-conversion into other networks which are specifically featured in the last section of the exhibition.

Cartographies
Cartografías is conceived as a first approach to the Desacuerdos which activate the current artistic, social and political representation scene. The idea is not to present them with anything, or frame them in a particular discourse, but simply to make an informative approach - through presentations, documents, publications, links, Internet connections, etc. - to the new pulses of artistic creation and political action. We are aware that it is these new collectives that, through autonomy and self-production, are constructing the visual imageries of the moment, highlighting the social need for political action, and claiming new dissidences which open the conflicts from which our present can be constructed. The idea is to re-orientate our analysis towards them, to place our attention in the public sphere, to understand a new creative wave which this time seems determined to undertake the task of creating community.

The Cartographies include the following collectives: Precarias a la deriva, Escalera karakola, Erreakzioa, Colectivo Feminista Lilitu/Coñopolitan, Medeac, Plaza Andreoc, Asamblea de Mujeres de Granada, Hetaira, Zemos 98, Rizoma, Traficantes de sueños, La Fiambrera Obrera, Peatón Bonzo, Universidad Nómada, Yomango-Madrid, Arquitectura y Compromiso Social, Talleres del Engendro, Lisergia, Casa Iniciativas 1.5 Redlavapiés, Vecinos de la víctima, Copyleft (Barcelona), Copyleft (Malaga), Plataforma en defensa de la casa Pumarejo, Cuestiones de antagonismo, Global Project, Red dos Orillas, Colectivo Aljaima, Andalucía acoge, Sindominio, Telepiés, Plataforma cultural ARREDEMO, Plataforma por la ría (Huelva), Consume hasta morir, Plataforma Burla Negra, etc.

PROGRAMME

PROGRAMME OF DEBATES

Wednesday, 6th April 2005
19:00 h.
Prácticas Urbanas y Comunicación

David Gómez. Arquitectura y Compromiso social
Jorge Dragón. Rizoma
Elena García Rodríguez. Otramálaga
Jordi Claramonte. Fiambrera Obrera
Coordina: Jose María Romero

Thursday, 7th April 2005
19:00 h.
Emigración: Tramas sociales y creativas

Javi Toret. En tránsito-casa de iniciativas
José Miguel Morales. Andalucía Acoge
José Miguel Migueles. Red dos orillas
Angela Moreno. Colectivo Aljaima
Fran Cabeza de Vaca. Transacciones
Coordina: José Luis Tirado

Venue: Centro José Guerrero-Diputación de Granada Palacio de los Condes de Gabia.