From the small. Summary season 2017-2018

The 4th season 2017-2018 began with what has probably been the most relevant activity developed by La Posta since its inception, at least as regards its global reach, it is “Alexander Kluge. Gardens of Cooperation “; and it has ended the same, with the world premiere of the montage conceived by Harold Berg “Gordon Matta-Clark, Jacob’s Ladder in Documenta 6″, made with unpublished material never before shown. However, sometimes fixing the smallest can help us access reality in a very incisive way. In that sense, in the exhibition “Museari Queer Art” (June-July), when entering, on the left, a small work of 30×20 cm., Approximately, “The sleepers” by Alex Francés, captures our attention by its dialogue in low voice, almost imperceptible. It shows a naked man lying by a river. The waters of the river shine illuminated by oblique rays of the sun. The image of Narciso comes to mind, but Narciso is usually depicted looking at himself in the water, images of Narcissus simply sleeping in the forest are very scarce. Although by the darkness, and not only luminous but also and mainly conceptual, it brings to memory the “Naked in the forest” of Munch (1924-25). For some reason the image is full of mystery. Trying to unravel it from a personal point of view, in relation to the past of each one, is the invitation that La Posta offers when it is announced at the door as “Image Research Center”.

Echo and Narcissus (1630) Echo and Narcissus (1630), Nicolas Poussin

"Naked in the forest" (1924-25), Edvard Munch  Naked in the forest (1924-25), Edvard Munch

In this brief summary of what has been the 4th season 2017-2018 we will not reiterate all the information that you can find on this website, so we are going to limit ourselves only to the list of activities and, especially, we are going to notice the small details, which could have gone unnoticed and which are relevant for us. The list of exhibitions is as follows:

  • • “Alexander Kluge. Gardens of Cooperation” (October 20 – December 3, 2017), with the collaboration of the Master in Photography, Art and Technique of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and La Virreina – Image Center, Barcelona.• “Inter><ference” (December 16-17, 2017), of the IAM-Lab Research Group, Miguel Hernández University, Altea.

    • Within the programming of LABi 02 (Laboratory of thought, creation and diffusion of the image, second edition), a set of activities fruit of the collaboration with the Master in Photography, Art and Technique of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, under the care of a team of students of the Master; the following exhibitions:

    – “The line that crosses” (January 11 – February 2, 2018) with works by Alexis Diaz Belmar, Marta F. Gimeno and Ali A. Maderuelo, who have been students of the Master

    – “Operate around displacement” (February 9 – March 3, 2018), with works by Anaïs Florin and Francisco Navarrete.

    – “Public Spaces” (April 20 – May 6, 2018), Jorge Pérez Higuera.

    – “TMI (Too Much Information)” (May 9 – May 27, 2018), a work of the LABi team, composed of students of the Master’s Degree in Photography, Art and Technique of the Polytechnic University of Valencia: Paloma Sagüez, Rodolfo Muñoz and Clara Broseta.

    • “The Poison” (June 6-10, 2018), a job from Mar Reykjavik.

    • “Museari Queer Art” (June 13 – June 17, 2018), by Museari – Imaginary Museum (Ricard Huerta and German Navarro).

All the information about these exhibitions is on this website. But let’s delve into the small details. On November 10, 2017 it was presented at the IVAM, by the Art and Environment Research Center of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (José Albelda, Chiara Sgaramella, Estela de Frutos and Lorena Rodríguez-Mattalía), with the participation of La Posta Foundation, the biannual itinerant festival INNER NATURE EXHIBITION that will arrive in La Posta this fall. A call for video-creation directors with a special attention to the environment, this time focused on the water problem. We, who have participated in the selection of the works included in the sample, we already know them, but we are expectant about what will be the reception. To do this, we will organize a set of activities around the sample that will allow us to evaluate the results.

On December 28, 2017 was the presentation of Pocket Chronicles by Carlos Maiques. An opportunity to talk about the economy of gift. Carlos Maiques was giving away for years drawings that have been compiled in this book thanks to a gift now in the opposite direction, from those who received them, a collection of drawings that by its theme comes to constitute authentic “Valencian chronicles” of us.

Also within the set of exhibitions and activities that make up the LABi program, fruit of the agreement with the Master in Photography, Art and Technical of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, there have been small actions that can not go unnoticed. On the occasion of the exhibition “The line that crosses”, organized by the LABi 02 team (Paloma Sagüez, Clara Broseta and Rodolfo Muñoz, students of the Master), the closing day (February 3) a cinema-forum “The transformed space” to the care Aitor Méndez, offered us the unique opportunity to see in the company of other addicts Études de mouvements à Paris (4′, 1927), by Joris Ivens, Gente del Po (10′, 1947), by Michelangelo Antonioni, Mülheim/Ruhr (14′, 1964), by Peter Nestler, Die Parallelstresse (83′, 1962), by Ferdinand Khittl, We the People (1′, 2004), by Ben Rivers, and Market Street (5′, 2005), by Tomonari Nishikawa . As you can see, there has been an abundance of miniatures this season. This has been the year of the miniatures. For its part, “C O N T R A” (April 7, 2018) and “Pertinencia” (April 15, 2018), by Miguel A. Sislian Suez and Rodolfo Muñoz, respectively, demonstrate the breadth of the spectrum of actions developed in the framework of collaboration with the Master in Photography, Art and Technical of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

The “conversa(c)tion” in La Posta organized by FICAE International Festival of Short Films and Art on Diseases, in which reference was made to the workshop held within the framework of the exhibition “Bodies in Fight”, adopts the same strategy that we are following here. From everything that happened in that exhibition held at Las Naves Innovation Center, the focus of attention is placed on one of the activities that take place within the framework of it, and it is placed in the foreground giving an account of the experience that occurred in the workshop. That experience was transmitted in La Posta by Anaïs Florin, who participated in that workshop. In this workshop, we interacted with those who in another format would have been public, now participating in an understanding of the disease as something that is not exclusively medical, but also affects emotional, relational and social factors that come into play when we get sick. In this way, the patient goes from being a passive subject, a “patient”, to an active subject, with the capacity to intervene on the course of his illness and at the same time on the course of his life. By this procedure a perfect integration between objectives and the way to apply them is achieved.

Works like “The Poison” (June 7-10, 2018), from Mar Reykjavik (all the information on this website), come to reaffirm the space of La Posta as a meeting point. Never before, with such proximity, the public had “finished” the art-work.

Finally, referring now to our outreach work in social networks (since not all of La Posta’s activity takes place exclusively at its headquarters in Calle Pintor Fillol, 2, in Valencia, but it also pays great attention to the dissemination of activities on social networks, so that the public can participate from them from a distance; and there are also content that are developed specifically for the internet), we want to put the focus on the post published on Facebook about “Gordon Matta-Clark, Jacob’s Ladder in Documenta 6″, an example also of how small the essence of this season has been.

El sueño de Jacob, ss III-IV The Jacob’s Dream (200-300 aC)

Roberto González Fernández, Jacob's Ladder Roberto González Fernández, Jacob’s Ladder (2009-2010)