On July 21st, a very special and necessary exhibition opened at the International Museum of Contemporary Art of Lanzarote, titled El Traspatio (The Backyard). It was the first time since 1976 that something new and disruptive had been done in the Collection Room, and despite the heat, almost three hundred people attended that afternoon to enjoy and support this exciting event.
The exhibition was curated with great success and sensitivity by the anthropologist and writer Marianna Amorim, and it featured some of the most prominent young artists from the island under the age of thirty: Lana Corujo, Mariela García, Cintia Machín, Darío Machín, and Marina Speer, within a project called El Museo Diverso (The Diverse Museum). El Museo Diverso, in turn, is a program through which the MIAC aims to have direct mediation with the young artistic scene of Lanzarote. We cannot forget that supporting the creation of young people guarantees having good professionals for the future, in this case, in the field of plastic arts.
El Traspatio, therefore, is the result of a support program for emerging art on the island and helps create synergies between different artists. This and other educational projects also allow the MIAC to fulfill its function of social responsibility and thus improve its mission of public service. On the other hand, with this exhibition, from my point of view, elitism is avoided, and ethical and professional honesty is promoted, which contributes to the Centers of Art, Culture, and Tourism (CACT) of the island redirecting their course and taking culture into account as an engine of development.
The house, the home, a place to stay is the common thread of the exhibition. Each of the artists, including the curator, approaches it from their perspective, but harmoniously in terms of the whole. The curator Marianna Amorim creates an interactive work in a cozy, interior space, composed of a series of photographs that are projected on a screen and related to an audio system where, with her own voice, we can enjoy the texts titled The Beginning, The Marriage, and The Divorce. A space for emotions.
The writer and artist Lana Corujo, powerfully influenced by reading Agustín Espinosa's Lancelot 28º-7º, carried out an installation where two paintings with suggestive symbolism stand out: the horse, the young woman, and two very special mountains for her: Guatisea and Montaña Blanca, addressing the island as her own home in relation to memory and literature. As for Mariela García, she finds inspiration for her installation in the bed (place of birth, place of death). In her case, she works on the relationship that a person suffering from depression has with the bed and the room, providing us with an environment for more intimate reflection. The sculptor Cintia Machín, for her part, creates a series of family masks, in the manner of Roman death masks that commemorated ancestors, arranged on a table. Her work features dialogue and conflict, what is inherited and what is lost, what is spoken and silenced, everything that is shared in that area as conflictive as it is important for affections, which is the family. Darío Machín mixes fabric, ceramics, and metal in his pieces, based on the inspiration that a significant place in his life provides for him: El Golfo, the dark, rocky coast, the intertidal zones, the pools, recreating their brightness, color, and texture with great originality. His work, perhaps the most conceptual, seems to serve as a link between the different interventions of his colleagues. Finally, Marina Speer, with diverse family origins and a somewhat nomadic life, seduced by local architecture, creates paintings of great freshness where she portrays facades of current houses in Lanzarote. She also addresses, in two large canvases, from a child's perspective, the concern for the lack of a permanent home. For me, it was inevitable to feel recognized in her work.
The exhibition closes on August 28th, but in my opinion, I think it should last longer, at least throughout the month of September, to adequately support the art produced and generated on the island. In addition, it could coexist and dialogue in a very interesting way with the Biennial, and thus the opportunity would be given to educational centers to carry out guided tours with students so that they could enjoy the experience of visiting this exciting backyard. It would be a different visit where, dialoguing with the collection, visitors, and especially the youngest, could enjoy a close, respectful look at historical memory, weaving a parallel with the Lasso Room, the heart of the Museum. Finally, I want to congratulate the curator and the participating artists, the director of the MIAC María José Alcántara, and the technician David Machado, as well as all the museum staff who have worked to carry out this initiative. Thank you for the effort of building a house where we can find a time and a place to dream.
