A performance inside a book inside a space inside a building // Esther Planas at PABD London ICA March 2012

Mexican Embassy at La Residencia 134 London East End 15 January 2012

Los Detectives Salvajes : Arturo Belano y Ulises Lima

     

Mexican Embassy at La Residencia 134 London East End

Olmeco Gold Tablets 

From Walter Benjamin text Mexican Embassy:

"I never pass a wooden fetish,gilded Buddha, or Mexican idol with out telling my self : that maybe the true God " Charles Baudelaire 

" I dreamed I was a member of an exploring party in Mexico. After crossing a high, primeval jungle, we came upon a system of aboveground caves in the mountains where an order had survived from the time of the first missionaries till now, its monks continuing the work of conversion among the natives. In an immense central grotto with a Gothically pointed roof, Mass was celebrated according to the most ancient rites. we joined the ceremony and witnessed its climax: toward a wooden bust of God the Father fixed high on a wall of the cave a priest raised a Mexican fetish. At this, the divine head turned thrice in denial from right to left."

Walter Benjamin, "Mexican Embassy", from One-Way Street, in ReflectionsThe event Mexican Embassy tuck place Sunday 15 of January at Residencia 134 , Esther Planas studio flat in London , a place that has been also a "refuge" and short residence for various artist and friends for the past five years ... The idea was to have a few issues present and leave the spirit of the day take its time and lead the happening , as a guest, some had arrived early , they maybe had to cook or cut onions...some just talked to each other relaxed , but puzzled about what was supposed to happen.. this feeling of an imminent "thing about to occur " floated in the space making the non event a surreal paralel to Buñuel's The Exterminator Angel subject...

Some of the guest was too similar to Salvador Dali, the antagonist of Luis Buñuel , after he denounced Luis of been a "commi " to the authorities in New York forcing his ex-friend exile to Mexico and some how creating or starting the cause of what later would be some of the best creations that Buñuel delivered as a Film Maker as in his Mexican period..

At some point, the host of the Embassy, after having cook Hot Hot Chocolate....got a visit from Luis Buñuel spirit.... The video shows fragments of the event...starting with the medium session and followed by the reading of Walter Benjamin's dream Mexican Embassy by Pablo Leon de la Barra, acting as him self , mexican curator diletante ...finally by late night ...a bolero wanted to be played and heard....the great guitar playing of Puerto Rican musician and performer Daniel Moncada make it possible.The installation at Residencia 134 , is a project by Esther Planas related with her supposed first solo show eternally delayed by various odd ( maybe that God) reasons in Mexico DF ....Preparing the show, there where issues found and issues compiled as for raw material to be later distilled and synthesised ... 

One very relevant text and the title of the event , is Walter Benjamin's Mexican Embassy, a description on one dream he once had...

The idea of myth , travelling as to re-discover and re-trace.

The idea of an Embassy, a space where all things "that nation" , could happen inside.. the little portion of magic territoire where one could pray at other's God's

If we understand God as religion and religion as culture, opposed to ritual as folklore

in the way The West has managed to represent the Otherness of such places as the lands where due to different politics of Colonisation at least one can still walk next to the real owners and natives of the territoire...

The knowledge of Planas ancestors living somewhere on the country... as a note about a grand father doing his first communion at one very complicated to pronounce address.. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and specially the idea or "her room" at the convent, a place full of books and instruments where to studie and write and play...The dream about Peyote rituals that have been narrated to her by friends travellers, a pop video clip that was shot on location in the towns of Garcia, Xilitla, and the Icamole Desert in Mexico ...The notes, films compiled, about Caridad Mercader and her son The Killer of Trostky , Las Aventuras de Olmeco Beuys , by Pablo Helguera, plus a whole stream of conscience like references to other works , lectures and material that has been found along the journey of preparation for a show that it maybe never touches Mexican ground...

The context is the residence /studio/ house of Planas and there lots of works hung related to this project, Gold Monochromes , Mayan Magic Penetrable, Ritual Dress, unfinished Panels ...

The event is about a call to the spirits of such ancient Gods from "a petite coin du monde anglaise " as if in a Mexican Embassy more close to the sort Des Esseintes would have created at his house than a real one... 

The idea of Mexico trough out the topics of narration and memories of all sorts of non Mexican people , The Visitors, The Colonisers, The Exiled...The Ultimate Outsider Dream.....

                                             Las Aventuras de Olmeco B by Pablo Helguera

sequence of stills from Luis Buñuel film 

El Angel Exterminador 

Mathias Goeritz Golds 

Esther Planas and Marco Rountree Cruz 

Capital Pedro Planas en Jalapa , Mexico

The film  ( part one)

Salvador D and beautiful surreal  hair of guest....

 face book page ..........

Freud's Mexico

Into the Wilds of Psychoanalysis
Rubén Gallo

Freud's Mexico is a completely unexpected contribution to Freud studies. Here, Rubén Gallo reveals Freud's previously undisclosed connections to a culture and a psychoanalytic tradition not often associated with him. Freud found a receptive audience among Mexican intellectuals, read Mexican books, collected Mexican antiquities, and dreamed Mexican dreams; his writings bear the traces of a longstanding fascination with the country. 

In the Mexico of the 1920s and 1930s, Freud made an impact not only among psychiatrists but also in literary, artistic, and political circles. Gallo writes about a "motley crew" of Freud's readers who devised some of the most original, elaborate, and influential applications of psychoanalytic theory anywhere in the world: the poet Salvador Novo, a gay dandy who used Freud to vindicate marginal sexual identities; the conservative philosopher Samuel Ramos, who diagnosed the collective neuroses afflicting his country; the cosmopolitan poet Octavio Paz, who launched a psychoanalytic inquiry into the origins of Mexican history; and Gregorio Lemercier, a Benedictine monk who put his entire monastery into psychoanalysis. 

After describing Mexico's Freud, Gallo offers an imaginative reconstruction of Freud's Mexico. Although Freud himself never visited Mexico, he owned a treatise on criminal law by a Mexican judge who put defendants—including Trotsky's assassin—on the psychoanalyst's couch; he acquired Mexican pieces as part of his celebrated collection of antiquities; and he recorded dreams of a Mexico that was fraught with danger. Freud's Mexico features a varied cast of characters that includes Maximilian von Hapsburg, Leon Trotsky and his assassin Ramón Mercader, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera—and even David Rockefeller. Gallo offers bold and vivid rereadings of both Freudian texts and Mexican cultural history.

About the Author

Rubén Gallo is Director of the Program in Latin American Studies and Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures at Princeton University. He is the author of Mexican Modernity: The Avant-Garde and the Technological Revolution (MIT Press, 2005).

film still from Buñuel's  El Angel Exterminador 

Oro Dorado Installation with Penetrable ....

Gipsy Dance Rock Mix at La Loseta a project by Radames Juni Figueroa

a mini resume of the show at the site in Radames Juni's on a warm night in San Juan.........

the video piece      

Performance Detourned Song, Lip singing , dancing .
Questioning commerce , publicity strategies as art practice...
Video screened at LA LOSETA , a project by Radames Juni Figueroa , San Juan, Puerto Rico .
25 Septiembre 2011
Copy Right : Esther Planas VEGAP 2011

Gypsy Dance Rock Mix is a project for the space La Loseta , curated by artist Radames Juni Figueroa at his place in San Juan Puerto Rico. The project consist of 12 guest artist and curators responding to the invitation by Radames to interact at his space. The outcome of the whole 12 shows will be published on a book wile the space and the " gallery" will disappear for good .
The installation consisted of a screening of the film Ase ere de je which is a lip singing /dance home recorded performance by Esther Planas wile listening to the major  viral successful song ASEREJE , a bottle of spanish wine containing fake spanish flowers, a container with Tinto de Verano a punch called Gypsy , and a series of detourned . tunned, manipulated posters on topic photoshop from films related to the topic of Quinqui Cinema ....
The video manipulation on I movie , as a playful , home made youtube specimen of the so many at the moment is a comment  on other new media works and the soft blurry line that divides art from non art .
As part of the show, there was a specially selected DJ YOuTube by Esther Planas of songs and films related to the theme and a blog for any one up for research....

The invite

The sound
Dj//Play List by Esther Planas

click on the screen to go to youtube for the whole selection !! enjoy!

Escuela de Calor at eme3 Barcelona 2 July 2011

(Indeed, the very concept of “daily life” is itself a product of industrialism and the urban.) Martha Rosler.
////////////////////Calor en eme3 : An extract cut and paste fragments from Martha Rosler essay published at E-Flux Journal //////Culture Class: Art, Creativity, Urbanism, Part 1 E-Flux Journal http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/190///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Lefebvre’s emphasis on the city contradicted the orderliness of Le Corbusier, whom he charged with having failed to recognize that the street is the site of a living disorder, a place, in his words, to play and learn; it is a site of “the informative function, the symbolic function, the ludic function.”⁵ Lefebvre cites the observations of the foundational urban observer Jane Jacobs, and identifies the street itself, with its bustle and life, as the only security against violence and criminality. Finally, Lefebvre notes—soon after the events and discourses of May ‘68 in France—that revolution takes place in the street, creating a new order out of disorder.

The theoretical underpinning for a renovated cityscape came primarily from the earlier, utopian “millennial” and interwar designs of forward-looking, albeit totalizing, plans for remaking the built environment. It was not lost on the city poor that so-called urban renewal projects targeted their neighborhoods and the cultural traditions that enlivened them. Cities were being remade for the benefit of the middle and upper classes, and the destruction of the older neighborhoods—whether in the interest of commercial, civic, or other forces, such as enhanced mobility for trucks and private cars—extirpated the haunts of those beyond the reach of law and bourgeois proclivities, adversely affecting the lives and culture of the poorer residents. Martha Rosler, Culture Class: Art, Creativity, Urbanism, Part 1 E-Flux Journal http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/190

Escuela de Calor , referencia al titulo de la cancion de Radio Futura, a la letra, ( arde la calle al sol del poniente..) continuando con la postura de buscar y re-interpretar a varios "maestros" grecolatinos, desde Diogenes, Socrates, Aristoteles a Joseph Jacotot o Jaques Ranciere.........

Rojo: Eventos -Apariciones- Proyectos Ultravioleta - Guatemala - January 2011

Installation show at Proyectos Ultravioleta Guatemala



Proyectos Ultravioleta Enero 2011 Guatemala City , Guatemala

http://uvuvuv.com/uv/

Eventos y Apariciones en Rojo: An Environment, a Hauntological exercise

Rojo International, relating to the International Socialist principles, to reminds us of its ethical and political importance.

Found forbidden painted red cubes as walls for political propaganda at the streets in Guatemala City, that re-appear at the space guided by the outside light reflections and shadows.

The International Red subject opens channels of memory and convene the spirits of the dead massacred native indians of Guatemala and the rest of América, and reminds us of the political
forces that have tried since, to bring justice on such repressive and conflicted grounds.

An invocation to these "events" to make themselves present and to "appear" on the gallery space and take over the bodies that circulate in it.. to be possessed and subconsciously reminded of what lies there just above its ground.

It relies on the trail of "influence" they generated and establishing a continuation, a route even
for re-draw and re-run on a re-location of "their embodiment" in what could suddenly be called
re-apparitions on Red or even just as a re-emergence of Red…The Red and the essential geometrical
cubic angles of the "concrete structure" coming to life and acting by themselves, choosing to
appear or not and provoking the audience with the memory of the Red spectre.

To place themselves, to ask to the "medium" to make them visible again.

In a primary language and fast free association, the "Red School", the "Red Infection", and the "Red Spectre".



EVENTOS Y APARICIONES EN ROJO
rojo neoconcreto/rojo es rojo es rojo es rojo/ rojo solo/ rojo esther internacional/
grafito rojo/pintura roja/cubo rojo/serigrafía roja/rojo e120/
rojo e2162/concepto rojo/polvo rojo/espectro rojo/ invasion roja/ los rojos/

EVENTOS Y APARICIONES EN ROJO
rojo neoconcreto/rojo es rojo es rojo es rojo/ rojo solo/ rojo esther internacional/
grafito rojo/pintura roja/cubo rojo/serigrafía roja/rojo e120/
rojo e2162/concepto rojo/polvo rojo/

Coordenadas de color
El rojo es el color correspondiente a la frecuencia más baja de luz discernible por el ojo humano. Es junto con el azul y el amarillo uno de los tres colores primarios. La longitud de onda de la luz roja es de alrededor de 700 nm. Las frecuencias más bajas que el rojo (y, por lo tanto, longitudes de onda más largas) se denominan infrarrojos.
En el esquema RGB, el rojo junto con el verde y el azul son colores primarios de luz. Esto cambia en el esquema CMYK que está basado en pigmentos donde el rojo no es parte de los colores primarios sino el rojo magenta, que junto con el cian y el amarillo están más cerca de los colores primarios sustractivos auténticos que el ojo percibe, y se utilizan en la impresión de color moderna.
Etimológicamemnte en griego rojo se denomina erythrós, por lo que muchas palabras con dicho lexema estén referidas a ese color.
Usos, simbolismo y expresiones coloquiales
El Rojo es el "Color de la pasión". Es el color del corazón, de la sangre, del amor, del calor.
El rojo es también el color de las ciencias exactas y la ingeniería.
Rojo también es un apellido muy común en España como Fran Rojo.
El color rojo se emplea frecuentemente para denotar furia, como en "ojos rojos de ira".
El color de la sangre provocó una asociación del rojo con el dios de la guerra, Marte, y en su honor el planeta rojo se llama Marte.
El rojo se emplea en señales de tránsito: señales de advertencia y prohibición, la señal de ALTO y en los semáforos.
Comúnmente, el rojo es el opuesto y el enemigo del azul. En los videojuegos, especialmente en los juegos multijugador por equipos, la regla es un "Rojo vs. Azul". Esto puede deberse por la base de que fuego (rojo) es incompatible con agua (azul).
A nivel mundial, el rojo representa un "estado peligroso", la bandera roja indica peligro (frente a la bandera verde que tiene el significado contrario, por ejemplo en las playas), el "código rojo" significa emergencia y el "botón rojo" es, culturalmente, una última pero mortal opción.
Desde la revolución francesa el rojo se ha empleado como el color de los revolucionarios y los izquierdistas (rojo político), mientras que el blanco ha sido empleado como el color de los conservadores.
Por ejemplo, en la Guerra Civil de Rusia y en la Guerra Civil de Finlandia se enfrentaron rojos contra blancos. Aunque no siempre sean esos colores, como es el caso de la Guerra civil española, en la que se enfrentaban los rojos contra azules.
La identificación del comunismo con el rojo (siendo el rojo el color principal de la bandera de la Unión Soviética) produjo expresiones durante la Guerra Fría tales como "la amenaza roja", la "China Roja" (en contraposición con la "China Nacionalista", la "China Libre" o Taiwán).
En las infografías electorales, el rojo denota generalmente partidos socialistas o comunistas, y normalmente en oposición con el azul de otros partidos.
En el simbolismo chino, el rojo es el color de la buena suerte y se emplea para decoración. El dinero en las sociedades chinas se ofrece tradicionalmente en paquetes rojos.
También se suele usar para representar, en canalizaciones, que el material que esta siendo canalizado está a una temperatura más alta, en contraposición con el que tiene una temperatura más baja, que se representaría en azul. Por ejemplo tuberías de agua caliente representadas en rojo, o incluso físicamente pintadas de rojo, y las de agua fría en azul.
El rojo también se emplea para indicar deudas, como en la expresión "números rojos". La práctica procede de los contables italianos que usaban tinta roja para indicar las deudas y tinta negra para indicar los haberes.
La sangre oxigenada es roja debido a la presencia de hemoglobina.
En las bolsas occidentales, el rojo indica una bajada del precio de las acciones, mientras que en las bolsas de Asia oriental indica una subida.
En algunos países los taxis son rojos.
Por su llamatividad, en algunos países es considerado incorrecto utilizar la tinta roja para los escritos, salvo cuando se quiera resaltar algo.
Es tambien el color del liderazgo. En los programas estadounidenses de "power rangers", el uniforme rojo es el grado máximo del escuadrón.
En la Iglesia Católica, los Cardenales visten sotana de color rojo escarlata.
Tonos
Para los pintores hay una gran diferencia entre el rojo cadmio y el rojo carmesí, aunque sus matices sean bastante parecidos; el rojo cadmio cubre perfectamente las superficies, mientras que el carmesí queda siempre transparente. La siguiente lista reúne 105 nombres de tonos conocidos.[1]
Anaranjado rojizo
Bermellón
Carmín Encarnado
Encarnado
Escarlata
Frambuesa
Fucsia
Granate
Magenta
Ocre rojo
Rosa

Púrpura

rosa fucsia
magenta
bermellón
escarlata
carmesí
carmín
borgoña
granate