María José Arjona. Thunder

Thunder is a performative, sculptural and sound event that addresses cracks as forms produced by the interaction of bodies, forces and materials. Rather than understanding the crack as evidence of rupture, in this work it is posited as a third space, an aperture that might allow us to view an interiority that had previously remained contained.

Two bodies are placed on either end of a black wall, with two light sources inside of it. Through a series of impacts, both bodies transfer force and vibration onto the structure, producing sound while gradually modifying the wall’s materiality. The wall works simultaneously as a surface of resistance and a sounding board, acoustically broadening the encounter between bodies and material.

The purpose of the action is not to tear the wall down. The blows continue until a crack appears that is large enough for the light within to break out of the structure and enter into the space. Like thunder and lightning—sound and light emitted from the same discharge—the sound and light appearing here are expressions of a power relationship.

The crack transforms the condition of the wall without making it disappear. When the action ends, the structure stays in the space as a sculptural piece: a modified form that conserves the material evidence of the blows, revealing what until then had been contained within.

Thunder is a proposal by María José Arjona, accompanied by Camilo Acosta, as part of the third edition of the series The Chairs of Tàpies: Invoking the Gap.

María José Arjona is a Colombian performance artist who explores the body as a space of knowledge, transmission and transformation. She develops her nomadic practice through extended encounters in different territories and ecosystems, where travel, observation and body research give rise to relationships between forms of human and supra-human lives. Rivers, rocks, plants, animals, sounds and atmospheric phenomena become active agents of her work. Her engagement of archives preserves traces of what has occurred, with the possibility of new encounters and transformations remaining open.

For more than thirty years, she has presented her work in art institutions and international events, including MACBA, the Louvre, New York’s MoMA, Art Basel Miami Beach and various international biennales and triennials. In 2010 she participated as a re-performer in the Marina Abramović retrospective The Artist Is Present, at MoMA. Her work is in public and private collections, including Castello di Rivoli, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and Bogotá’s Museo de Arte Moderno.

Research, pedagogical and collective processes are also foundational for her practice. Over the past fifteen years, she has initiated workshops, seminars and collaborative research projects with learning institutions such as Princeton University, New York University, the DAAD program and the University of Antioquia. She has also been the artistic director of the project Amazonas in FLORA ars+natura, in Bogotá.

Camilo Acosta is a Colombian video artist, performer and art manager, recently settled in Barcelona. His practice explores the body, action and time through experimental video, live video (VJ sets) and long-duration performances. His work has been presented international in venues like MACBA, MAMM in Medellín,  W139 gallery in Amsterdam and Museo del Chopo in Mexico City, and is part of the permanent collection of MAMBO, in Bogotá.

Acosta is cofounder of the collective LOS AMARILLOS, focused on the issue of HIV, and HOUSE OF TUPAMARAS, a referential group in the Colombian queer scene since 2016. He is further part of Street Jizz and Instituto Brutal Visual, and has collaborated with artists like María José Arjona and Carlos Motta.

Series “The Chairs of Tàpies” are curated by Judith Barnés.