Action 213: A taste of austere luminance
Black and White; Hand Silk Screen Printed on Double Organza - in Stained Ebony Pine Frames
200 x 120 cm each panel
2019
Location: Muntref collection at Muntref Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2022
Revisiting and reinventing the old technique of hand screen printing, ‘Action 213: A taste of austere luminance’ is a set of three folding screens made from double layer organza. Each screen consists of three panels containing a silkscreened silhouette image collaged together from a collection of reportage images of wars and displacements, drawn from the Vietnam War until the present day. These elements are brought together in dialogue with folding screens of Chinese origin, that later made their way into Europe. Often decorated with major themes of mythology, scenes of palace life and nature, these screens are often associated with intrigue and romance in Chinese literature.
The screen as an object is devised to split the space and separate public flow within the room; the device acquires a great symbolic meaning, establishing a border between real experience and desire that inescapably refers to the condition of migration.
Action 213 is a site-specific installation, commissioned by BienalSur 2019, for the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo in Buenos Aires. The screens are installed in the “Salon de Baile”, which was designed by the French architect Rene Sergent in 1911 and inspired by the Versailles Palace.
Action 213: A taste of austere luminance
Black and White; Hand Silk Screen Printed on Double Organza - in Stained Ebony Pine Frames
200 x 120 cm each panel
2019
Location: Bienalsur 2019 - Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Photography Jimena Salvatierra