Espejo Memoria
“Culture implies on the one hand the search for being and on the other the resignation to being.” -Rodolfo Kusch.
In a time where the country generates rejection and politics is uncomfortable, Mirror-Memory places in front of the user a reflection that does not hide imperfections and is immersed in local elements. At the same time, it invites us to think about software art from a local perspective, not only using sounds from events that occurred in this millennium, but fusing and transforming them with the medium.
Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development
The work consists of two main elements: the visual and the sound. The visual part consists of a webcam whose pixels were manipulated to give a pixelated result. The sound part, on the other hand, It is made up of different ambient sounds from notable events in popular culture of the 21st century. (such as the legalization of equal marriage, the Cro-Magnon tragedy, the tragedy of Once and the moment in which the paintings by Videla and Bignone are taken down), which are activated by pressing keys 1 to 4. In the background, a version of Triste N°2 by Julián Aguirre plays in reverse and modified. with the purpose of losing the characteristic sound of the piano.
In On Contemporary Art, César Aira mentions that contemporary work “it steals away from technical reproduction to the same extent that it advances and is perfected,” highlighting how art always seeks to anticipate its possibility of being reproduced. Mirror-Memory is part of this dynamic by only being able to immerse yourself in the work in its entirety through experience and not through reproduction.
The pixelation suggests that the Argentine identity (and the viewer), far from being something closed and definable, is an amalgamation of social and cultural fragments that cannot be easily disentangled. When Fricke speaks of Viennese actionism, mentions that Nitsch conceived his “liberation games” as “impulsive discharges that allowed the energies repressed in the unconscious to be externalized and brought to the surface in consciousness.” This is also one of the objectives that the work aims to achieve with ambient sounds: by using this element as a metalinguistic device, a symbolic download of repressed or made invisible cultural memory is carried out, bringing components of national identity to consciousness.
The use of Triste N°2 by Julián Aguirre in reverse and with electronic effects is not coincidental. Sad music is a musical genre that, by its very name, evokes melancholy and pain. This genre, typical of Argentine folklore, reflects feelings of longing and loss, themes deeply rooted in the country’s cultural identity. The choice of this musical piece highlights the connection with Argentine identity, alluding to an aesthetics of pain and nostalgia, while its digital manipulation represents the reinterpretation and transformation of our cultural roots in the context of software art.
Mirror-Memory, by using accessible technologies such as a webcam, continues the principle of fluxus. As Fricke describes in New Media (1999), This phenomenon “did not require mastering special techniques or performing countless tests.” The work uses a simple but effective medium that seeks to involve the public immediately and directly, without excessive technical pretensions. It is also related to this phenomenon by not requiring the presence of the artist for its realization, making the user an active part of the process. So, although the work consists of two main elements, To conclude, it is necessary to mention a third party: the user. The degree of significance that this adds to it when seen reflected on the webcam, It is what ends up giving the final shape to Mirror-Memory. Rodolfo Kusch in his book Geoculture of the American Man, mentions this third dimension (the people), as the one that gives the cultural phenomenon its exact meaning. He states that “Culture is not valuable because it is created by individuals or because there are works, but because it is absorbed by the community.”
Literature
AIRA, César. ([2013], 2016). “Sobre el arte contemporáneo” en Sobre el arte contemporáneo. Buenos Aires: Literatura Random House, pp. 11-56. (DAA: 1:02m)
FRICKE, Christiane. (1999). “Nuevos Medios”. En “AAVV. Arte de siglo XX. Vol. II. München: Taschen. pp.576-590.
KUSCH, Rodolfo. (1976). “La cultura como entidad” en Geocultura del hombre americano. Editorial Fundación Ross. pp. 170-180.
Medios usados
ESTUDIOVIS. “Aprobación ley de Matrimonio igualitario”. Youtube
archivodichiara. Tragedia de Cromañón - DiFilm (2004). Youtube.
Televisión Pública. Visión Siete: Tragedia de Once: Programa Especial. Primera parte.