Saturday 18 May 2013

AMALIA PICA 'A ∩ B ∩ C', COLOUR FIGURES INTERSECT EACH OTHER TO CREATE NEW COMPOSITIONS, AT MUSEO TAMAYO, MEXICO CITY


A ∩ B ∩ C, a Project by Amalia Pica at Museo Tamayo, Mexico City









exhibition text:
A ∩ B ∩ C 
A Project by Amalia Pica
April 9 to July 14 2013

A intersection B intersection C is the title of the project Amalia Pica presented at Museo Tamayo, which responds to the museum’s space. The artist reads the gallery as a kind of arena where the steps link one gallery to the next functions as a tribune where people can observe what takes place in this part of the museum. In other occasions—her last year’s show at Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, the stands were made ex profeso—Pica also uses the stairs to create another perspective of the space, turning them into a meeting point. 

A∩ B ∩ C takes its title from the language used in set theory, in which the symbol refers to elements shared between two or more groups of objects.

The artist previously worked with this theory, specifically with the Venn diagrams, which are the graphic representations of a group of elements. However, Pica’s interest in the subject is not in the use of mathematical representations or language, but in the new meaning that is produced by juxtaposing two or more languages. 

In 2011, Amalia Pica produced a light-based work, Venn Diagrams (Under the Spotlight), inspired by the mathematical model of the same name. Next to the light projection of two circles of different color, depicting the diagram, she placed a caption on the wall explaining that Venn diagrams were banned from elementary school instruction during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983), because they promoted collective dynamics and modes of collaboration. 

From the idea of the artist that a narrative changes the perception of certain geometrical or abstract forms, Pica proposes the intervention of performers at Museo Tamayo. The artist aims to humanize these forms when they are manipulated by a group of people who create different combinations using the figures, allowing communication between the various objects. The figures, no longer isolated entities, become part of a conversation struck up by those performing the action, involving them in a non-verbal dialogue, a theme found in many of the artist’s works.

At A∩ B ∩ C three performers in various moments during the day activate the series of flat geometrical forms, made out of acrylic, of various colours. The performers will create new compositions with this objects that refer to the Venn diagrams, and to other more complex forms. When the piece is not activated it will have a sculptural character formed by these acrylic objects lying on wooden structures evoking the stairs of the room.

A ∩ B ∩ C responds to the museum’s gallery itself. The space becomes a kind of arena in which steps that link one gallery to the next, and which leads visitors from a larger to a smaller room, function as a tribune where members of the audience can observe the action taking place

The project uses a figure employed in the world of mathematics and logic to speak about the social phenomenon of communication and the shared experience. Terms from set theory such as “intersection”, “union”, or “belonging” tell us about social relationships. With this work, the artist takes the language of exact science to a more human realm.

Amalia Pica (Neuquén, Argentina 1978). Lives and works in London. She studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and in 2003 entered the kunsten Beeldende Rijksakademie van Amsterdam. Among his recent solo exhibitions include Amalia Pica at MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2013), Chisenhale Gallery (2012); Chronic listeners, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland (2012), Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles (2011), C-out, 
Malmo Konsthall, Sweden (2010), Galerie Diana Stigter, Amsterdam (2010). Her work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions including The Ungovernables, New Museum, New York (2012), Silence, The Menil Collection, Houston, (2012), ILLUMInations. 54th Venice Biennale, Venice (2011); Map Marathon, Serpentine Gallery, London (2010); Word Event, Kunsthalle Basel (2008) and Drawing typologies, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2007). Pica was awarded with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation for Artists, in 2011, and has been nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize Pinchuk Foundation in 2013.

curated by Magnolia de la Garza

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