Los niños que fuimos

“The children we were” is a work in which I use an old television screen, where we can see the memories of my childhood in black and white. When you press a button, the channel changes and with it new rhetorical questions arise, while other memories appear.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

To create this work, I was inspired by what César Aira mentions in his text “On Contemporary Art”, where he states that “creating values” is intervening in the personal history of the viewer. This idea inspired me to carry out my project. With The Children We Were, I seek to invite the viewer on an intimate journey through memory. By sharing memories from my childhood, I aim to generate an emotional connection that prompts you to reflect on your own past and the emotions it awakens.

The work not only tells my personal story, but also seeks to open a space of identification, where each viewer can find resonance in the memories presented and, through that connection, redefine their own experience. By evoking childhood moments, the work becomes an opportunity to reinterpret the time lived and deepen personal understanding.

On the other hand, rhetorical questions function as triggers that invite the audience to complete the work, constructing their own answers based on their experiences. They do not seek definitive answers, but rather to incite a reflection that, through the personal, enriches and transforms the viewer’s experience.

Also, I like what Arns Inke mentions, especially when it comes to the representation of childhood memories through an old television screen. By showing these videos from the past, my intention is to generate an emotional experience in the viewer. This connection goes beyond the specific content of the memory, since although the past shown is not yours, a shared memory space is activated, perhaps from the same era or the universal experience of childhood. Television, as a medium, functions as a visual “code” that transforms our perception of time and space, inviting deep reflection on a given historical or emotional context.

Also Arns mentions that “The performativity of the code refers here to the ability to perform and execute, as understood in speech act theory.” Just as code executes an action, the rhetorical questions in my work seek to provoke an emotional “execution” in the viewer. It is not just about obtaining a literal answer, but about activating a reflective process that is, in a certain sense, performative. By asking questions, you not only invite reflection, but you create a space where the action (emotional reflection) is “done” by the viewer, just as code performs a certain function when executed.

Literature

• AIRA, CEASAR. (2013, 2016). “Sobre el arte contemporáneo”. Buenos Aires: Literatura Random House.
• ARNS, INKE. (2005). “El código como acto de habla performativo”. En Revista Artnodes: Julio de 2005.