Juan Cruz
22 Nov 2008 - 17 Jan 2009
© Juan Cruz
Un aire de actividad, 2008
2 x Video Projection (text and image) with sound
16 min. 35 sec., continuous loop. Ed.: 3
Un aire de actividad, 2008
2 x Video Projection (text and image) with sound
16 min. 35 sec., continuous loop. Ed.: 3
JUAN CRUZ
The artist will attend the opening at 12.00 on Saturday 22
Juan Cruz’s personal exploration of the creative process and of narrative devices became known in 1996 with the performance "Translating Don Quijote" in which the artist, shut inside the Cervantes Institute in London, set himself the objective of translating the entire book live in front of an audience. As he was unable to complete the Herculean task on this occasion, he repeated the performance at Peer, London, in 2005, finally managing to accomplish the full translation: 126 CDs and 70 hours of audio. Words, the word, on which our culture is built, are the most prominent feature of the installations, videos and performances made by Cruz who employs them as one might a material for a sculpture. Whether translated literary works (Cervantes, Lorca, Chekhov, Unamuno) or texts written by the artist himself ("The James Stories", 1999), whether printed, written and painted, or even transformed into sound, a faint liturgy pervades the space and accompanies visitors as they wander through the exhibition venue. In addition to the logical interest in hermeneutics displayed by his work (not only is Cruz a bilingual with dual nationality, he is an author and a translator of Spanish authors too) one may observe a concern about the place and the status of the artist in the creative process, as well as about the role of linguistics in the construction of identity and the added difficulty entailed by the multiplication of cultural referents.
In this exhibition, the second the gallery has devoted to Cruz’s work, one may witness the evolution of the devices adopted by the artist to convey his experience in the videos "Un aire de actividad", 2008, and "In the shape of what we know", 2007. Now instead of using a major cultural figure as a vehicle to express the author’s thoughts he has penned the texts himself, preferring to materialize more personal experiences arising from his immediate and familiar surroundings. The linchpin of Cruz’s work, however, continues to be the construction of a theatre of transmission that seeks to reach the “other”, to contact the receiver, and to communicate personal experience. Beneath their inoffensive appearance, seemingly devoid of sculptural pretensions, the spaces created by the artist are exceedingly well planned. "I like the idea that people can go into the gallery and just ignore the sculptural elements of the piece and simply read the stories and simultaneously become part of the sculpture by sitting down at the table."1
To quote Fernando López: "Juan Cruz’s oeuvre is characterized by the relationship the artist strikes up between the physical and contextual qualities of specific spaces and the stories or processes that he activates around them."2
Juan Cruz is currently working on a project for the Edinburgh Festival 2009 (UK), curated by Juliana Engberg. His recent exhibitions include Remise Blundenz, Austria, 2007 and the "Estratos" group show, Murcia 2008, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. In 2006, the book "Juan Cruz, a translation of Niebla (fog) de Miguel de Unamuno" was released by the publisher Forma, Newcastle (UK). He has also been included in "The Alpine Fantasy of Victor B. and other stories", edited by Jeremy Ackerman and Eileen Daly and published by Serpent's Tail, London.
Juan Cruz also works in education as Head of the Art Department at the Liverpool School of Art and Design, having held previously a number of posts at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Olivier Nolla
1. Interview with Juan Cruz - cat. Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 1999
2. Cat. "Estratos", Murcia, 2008.
The artist will attend the opening at 12.00 on Saturday 22
Juan Cruz’s personal exploration of the creative process and of narrative devices became known in 1996 with the performance "Translating Don Quijote" in which the artist, shut inside the Cervantes Institute in London, set himself the objective of translating the entire book live in front of an audience. As he was unable to complete the Herculean task on this occasion, he repeated the performance at Peer, London, in 2005, finally managing to accomplish the full translation: 126 CDs and 70 hours of audio. Words, the word, on which our culture is built, are the most prominent feature of the installations, videos and performances made by Cruz who employs them as one might a material for a sculpture. Whether translated literary works (Cervantes, Lorca, Chekhov, Unamuno) or texts written by the artist himself ("The James Stories", 1999), whether printed, written and painted, or even transformed into sound, a faint liturgy pervades the space and accompanies visitors as they wander through the exhibition venue. In addition to the logical interest in hermeneutics displayed by his work (not only is Cruz a bilingual with dual nationality, he is an author and a translator of Spanish authors too) one may observe a concern about the place and the status of the artist in the creative process, as well as about the role of linguistics in the construction of identity and the added difficulty entailed by the multiplication of cultural referents.
In this exhibition, the second the gallery has devoted to Cruz’s work, one may witness the evolution of the devices adopted by the artist to convey his experience in the videos "Un aire de actividad", 2008, and "In the shape of what we know", 2007. Now instead of using a major cultural figure as a vehicle to express the author’s thoughts he has penned the texts himself, preferring to materialize more personal experiences arising from his immediate and familiar surroundings. The linchpin of Cruz’s work, however, continues to be the construction of a theatre of transmission that seeks to reach the “other”, to contact the receiver, and to communicate personal experience. Beneath their inoffensive appearance, seemingly devoid of sculptural pretensions, the spaces created by the artist are exceedingly well planned. "I like the idea that people can go into the gallery and just ignore the sculptural elements of the piece and simply read the stories and simultaneously become part of the sculpture by sitting down at the table."1
To quote Fernando López: "Juan Cruz’s oeuvre is characterized by the relationship the artist strikes up between the physical and contextual qualities of specific spaces and the stories or processes that he activates around them."2
Juan Cruz is currently working on a project for the Edinburgh Festival 2009 (UK), curated by Juliana Engberg. His recent exhibitions include Remise Blundenz, Austria, 2007 and the "Estratos" group show, Murcia 2008, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. In 2006, the book "Juan Cruz, a translation of Niebla (fog) de Miguel de Unamuno" was released by the publisher Forma, Newcastle (UK). He has also been included in "The Alpine Fantasy of Victor B. and other stories", edited by Jeremy Ackerman and Eileen Daly and published by Serpent's Tail, London.
Juan Cruz also works in education as Head of the Art Department at the Liverpool School of Art and Design, having held previously a number of posts at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Olivier Nolla
1. Interview with Juan Cruz - cat. Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 1999
2. Cat. "Estratos", Murcia, 2008.