La Caixa

Is it a room for art or a living room? The Swiss artist Zilla Leutenegger (Zurich, 1968) has converted the Sala Montcada de la Fundación ”la Caixa” into an apartment, or better said, into a drawing of an apartment that offers us a game of ambivalences. Reality or fiction? An office, hallway and living room together invite viewers to become passers-by and wander through spaces whose designs and drawings recreate the place’s new architecture. Dreams and reality, the world of childhood and that of adults, hopes and also shattered dreams, waiting times and possible promises are all woven together in this poetic and dreamlike amble. Under the title Wishful Thinking – Pures Il-lusions, this full-size installation forms a part of Nada i algo pasa (Nothing / Something’s Happening), the new exhibition cycle at the Sala Montcada de la Fundación ”la Caixa”, curated by Fabienne Fulchéri and Martí Manen. The cycle hopes to confront viewers with strange situations in which they wait for things to happen that never actually begin and will open in October with the work New Gravity by Annika Larsson (Stockholm, 1972). It will also include the artists Job Ramos (Olot, 1974), from 25 February to 10 April 2005; Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1968), from 21 April to 5 June, and David Bestué (Barcelona, 1980) and Blanca Casas Brullet (Mataró, 1973), from 17 June to 31 July.

Wishful Thinking – Pures Il-lusions by Zilla Leutenegger can be seen in the Sala Montcada de la Fundación ”la Caixa” (Montcada, 14) between 22 December 2004 and 13 February 2005.

Visitors who enter Zilla Leutenegger’s “apartment” will discover a familiar yet strange world. The artist has appropriated the space of the Sala Montcada de la Fundación ”la Caixa” and transformed it into a home, with an office, hallway and living room comprising its area. Each of these spaces is inhabited by projections (slides and videos) and drawings that breath life into the architecture. Minimalist actions, waiting times and gestures are repeated inside these spaces. In this way, narrativity is substituted by a sequence of gestures that fill and define a peculiar passing of time.

All of these elements have been taken from daily life, are familiar and can be identified, but they also seem to belong to a world of dreams and stories. It is the case of the woman writing down her desires exactly as a child would do when Christmas approaches. The fragility of the drawing and brevity of the projection make it seem as if it is an illusion and, like a dream, could disappear at any moment. This meeting between dream and reality, between the world of children and adults, is a recurring theme in the work of Zilla Leutenegger, but in this full-size installation, it acquires a new dimension. The artists here guides viewers through a poetic and dreamlike amble in which are mixed fiction and reality, hopes and shattered dreams, and waiting times and possible promises.

Language occupies a central part of and can always be found in Zilla Leutenegger’s work. At the same time, all desires are embodied in her writing and sounds, which are spoken by the artist herself and fill the entire exhibition area.

ZILLA LEUTENEGGER (Zurich, 1968)
Zilla Leutenegger is one of the main characters in her work, but her appearances, far from informing viewers about an intimacy constructed from anecdotes, build a world located at the limits of reality and fiction. Her combined use of video and drawings provides images with a hybrid status that open the doors to fantastic and phantasmagorical imagery. Her narrative thread does not attempt to lead viewers towards a complacent ending but rather meanders along an uncharted course. With images of those moments recurring in her work, the artist mocks time and space, putting primacy on moments in which there is a delicate balance and pause, when the spell can be broken at any time. These situations can be thought of as times of waiting, of desire and tension for arriving somewhere else, but they can also be seen as what they are: a disruption in the mad rush of time.

Wishful Thinking – Pures Il-lusiones
22 December 2004 – 13 February 2005

Opening: Tuesday 21 December at 8 pm

Sala Montcada de la Fundación ”la Caixa”
Montcada, 14
08003 Barcelona

Times:
Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm and 4 pm to 8 pm
Sundays and public holidays from 11 am to 3 pm

Telephone Information: Tel.: 902 22 30 40

Free entry

More information: www.fundacio.lacaixa.es/salamontcada