Mateo López
PABELLÓN (PAVILION)
Ruta del Castor presents Pabellón (Pavilion) a public sculpture by Colombian artist Mateo López conceived for the plaza of Glorieta de los Insurgentes. The sculpture will be exhibited from February 4 to 9, with performances in collaboration with Anaïs Bouts and Tania Solomonoff on February 4 and 7 at 4:00 pm.
Pabellón (Pavilion) explores the artistic object as a habitable and multifunctional space, a model with patterns that give rise to possibilities of color, dimension, use and movement. It consists of a structure made from three sizes of tubes, a type of assembly, and fabrics, which together facilitate multiple configurations and functionalities.
From the studio to the public space Pabellón dwells from the instability of paper to the flexibility of fabrics, from the malleability of a stroke to the tension of metal. The hanging fabrics aim for a vague and ambiguous interpretation of the symbol of the flag, a departure from any political situation, a process of abstraction.
Mateo references the work of Bruno Munari and his historical piece Abitacolo from 1971, which proposes to be a rest unit, a bed to sleep, a desk, a bookcase, a table, a source of lighting, a space for play, recreation and fantasy.
Both Abitacolo and Pabellón are modular structures that adapt to different sites. They are autonomous spaces that transform and allow fortuitous encounters, interplay and participation. Both are objects that can be easily assembled and disassembled with minimal use of screws, the nodes that connect their parts allow simple assembly, they occupy a limited space for transportation and storage. They are simplified works, reduced to the essential.
They seek to provide a sense of personal space, isolating from the surrounding environment; an individual retreat. Pabellón is conceived as a site-specific sculpture where the ultra-busy plaza of the Glorieta de Insurgentes offers an almost impossible isolation, rendering Pabellón as an uprising to the space it inhabits.
The piece seeks to be part of a social interaction generated from an opportunity for correlation, tactility and risk. In collaboration with performers Anaïs Bouts and Tania Solomonoff, Pabellón will be intervened through the experimentation of the body with the sculptural space. The performance will seek to foster dialogue between the tangibility of the artistic object and the intangibility of the psychosomatic.
“My interest in intervention and movement is the result of a body of work drawing initially on its three-dimensionality, then the animation of manufactured objects and more recently the activation of objects of architectural scale, alluding to strokes and spatial movements in relation to the human body.”
— Mateo López
Bruno Munari | Abitacolo | 1971
ABOUT MATEO LÓPEZ
The work of Mateo López (Bogotá, 1978) draws a conceptual approach and expands from drawings to installations, architecture, video, animation, sculptures and choreography. His practice focuses on exploring the connection between the body, the sculpture and the surrounding space. He has presented exhibitions in institutions such as the Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona, Spain, 2018; Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá, Colombia, 2018; The Drawing Center in New York, USA UU., 2017; Art Museum of the National University of Bogotá (2017); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2016); Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art (2015); The Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom (2015); Museum of Modern Art, Medellín, Colombia (2014); The MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York (2013); The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA UU. (2013); The Visual Arts Center in Jerusalem, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel (2012); Gasworks, London, United Kingdom (2010); MUSAC, León, Spain (2009).
The artist lives and works in New York, USA.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Anaïs Bouts
(France / Mexico) Choreographer, performer and teacher, with studies in contemporary dance, choreography, philosophy, yoga and meditation. Her practice arises from the dialogue between different somatic techniques, conceptual art and minimal spatial composition. She is interested in procedural, collaborative and interdisciplinary projects.
Tania Solomonoff
Interdisciplinary performing artist practicing dance, performance and visual arts. She focuses on body and aesthetic research around the crossroads of co-creation disciplines and processes, identity and transculturality, somatic practices and collective memory. Her work is developed in performance and installation formats. Training in contemporary dance, theater, somatic and psycho-body techniques in Mexico, Italy and Canada. She is part of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (SNCA 2019-2021).
ABOUT BRUNO MUNARI
Bruno Munari (Milan, 1907 - 1998) was a designer, poet, sculptor, educator and author of children's books. Associated to the futuristic movement since 1927, he developed his activity in the various fields of graphic and industrial design, experimentation in materials and technologies, and the projection of objects that integrate practical utility and aesthetic use.
TEAM
Curated by Andrea del Torre Suárez and Sofía Casarin
Structure production: Taller Tornel
Fabric production: from the archi(ve)
Graphic design: Malena de la Torre Suárez
Photography: Nayeli Cruz Bonilla
Video: Wannes Gevaert
Thanks to the support of Tequila 1800, Galería Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Secretaría de Turismo de la Ciudad de México, Sistema de Transporte Colectivo and Centro Galera.
Special thanks: Andrés Lebrija, Sofía González, Iñigo Villamil, Inés López-Quesada, Silvia Ortiz, Restaurante Vera, Lucyle Wagner, Rodolfo Díaz, Martin Terreros, Vanessa Bohórquez, Carlos Mackinlay, Erick Rish, Bridget Tidy, and Andrea Celda.
Pabellón (Pavilion) coincides with the exhibition Escultura de viaje (Travel Sculpture) by Mateo López and Bruno Munari at Travesia Cuatro CDMX opening on February 4, 2020 (Calle Valladolid 35, Roma).