Pablo Fanego and Pedro de Llano, 2008
The Museum as Medium
MARCO, Koldo Mitxelena. (Fragment. Page 276)
(…) Her work constitutes a reflection on the visual codes that govern space where urbanism, architecture and design meet. Whether inside or outside the museum, her pieces always seek to emphasize aspects that normally remain in the background but are no less relevant because of it. Cámaras de Vigilancia (2008) consisted of copying and multiplying the security cameras installed in the MARCO’s galleries. Starting from a central “nest” made up of a great many such replicas and situated on the outer ring of the panopticon, the artist created a “plague” that spread into different areas of the museum. Although the cameras did not fulfil their true function – not one recorded what was happening in real time – Maider López’s work invites us to reflect on the limits of control and security in a highly specific context – that of a former jail – which in the past helped to establish the bases of contemporary reality. In this way a comparison is immediately made between the history of both institutions, the museum and the prison, through the similarities they share regarding their respective conceptions of order and space.
Maider López’s interest in space is derived from a natural expansion of the pictorial language and of post-minimalism. Another example of this is her specific proposal in San Sebastian: Sala 1 (2008) is a labyrinthine architecture slotted into the dimensions of one of the galleries of the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea which is an exact replica of the design of the floor on which this space is found. It is, therefore, a sort of architectural mise en abyme that repeats inwards, like a painting, the same arrangement of volumes, walls and corridors that order the movements of the visitor around the entire gallery. To help the visitor orient himself and encourage the association between both architectures – that which is perceived in that moment and that which is recreated by memory- the labyrinth has an average height of 164 cm, which permits a depth of vision of the space and establishes a subjective perspective that is alterated with each new spectator.
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Pablo Fanego and Pedro de Llano