CARPET

Description:
CARPET Author Studio Animal (Javier J. Iniesta)Collaborators Marina Benítez, Diana F. ParejaArtists Cabello/CarcellerCurator Paul B. PreciadoClient Azkuna ZentroaLocation Alhondiga Bilbaosqmeters 1200Builder BaulanPhotography Jose Hevia   Carpet is the space design project for the exhibition 'A voice for Erauso', by Cabello/Carceller art collective, curated by Paul B. Preciado. The exhibition explores the figure of Catalina de Erauso, also known as the Nun Ensign, a popular character of the 16th century in Spain.  A portrait made by Juan Van der Hamen in 1626, and its copy, are the only two documents that represent this historical figure: they portray her as a man, becoming one of the first instances of the visual representation of a trans person, according to the artists.   The spatial project reflects the labyrinthine and opaque condition of all this historical research, in which you enter to discover its different elements and drifts. Erauso is, like his portrait, a figure of shadows. In the totally black background of the oil painting, a stern face emerges, but with a disturbingly gentle gaze. For this reason, the aesthetic of the exhibition is, like that of Erauso's portrait -and of much of the Baroque period-, that of chiaroscuro. A dark and silent atmosphere is built through the use of a single material: the gray carpet, unrolled from the ceiling, as if dropped to touch the floor, also made of carpet. The two most important, elliptical, geometrically baroque rooms: the video room, where the piece by Cabello/Carceller is shown projected on two large screens, and the portrait room, where you are confronted almost alone with the character, face to face, after getting to know his story, before leaving the exhibition.

more