La commissaire, historienne de l'art et écrivaine Chus Martínez et l'écrivaine et commissaire Filipa Ramos réunissent un groupe d'artistes contemporains qui utilisent l'argile, la poterie et la céramique, entre méthodes ancestrales et pratiques post-technologiques.
Some may associate clay, pottery and ceramics to tradition, and tradition to the past. Some may associate technology, digital communication and data with the new, and the new with the future. What if the future is only a technology as old and unusual as clay? What if clay is a matter that renews itself constantly and gives time its unpredictable configurations?
What if clay is the future and the future is clay? And if the feet of clay only reveal a vulnerability because the rest of the body is made of a different material? And if the feet of clay are actually rooting people to the earth, connecting them through the same matter? And if feet of clay are a way to establish a post-technological communication that requires no webs, no networks, no cables; only our many, one, two, eight, twenty feet and some clay?
These are some of the questions and enigmas addressed by curators Chus Martínez and Filipa Ramos, who brought together a group of artists who have been using clay, pottery and ceramics in an exhibition entitled Feet of Clay, presented at Galeria Municipal do Porto in 2021. Like clay, the project has now been moulded into book format, bringing together exclusive texts and interviews with the participating artists: Neïl Beloufa, Isabel Carvalho, Gabriel Chaile, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Formabesta (Salvador and Juan Cidrás), Tamara Henderson, Ana Jotta and Eduardo Navarro.
Pour tenter d'appréhender la crise sanitaire de la COVID-19 et son impact, la curatrice et commissaire a publié sur Instagram une nouvelle par jour, relatant sa propre histoire familiale sur deux générations (une enfance en Espagne auprès de ses grands-parents suite à l'exil de ses parents, marquée par une extrême pauvreté et les conséquences de la grippe espagnole). Le livre rassemble ces textes, accompagnés d'images inédites, comme autant d'outils pour réfléchir au passé et au présent.
« The effort to smile in the face of devastating circumstances is a sign of generosity that is embedded in our cultural codes. So, what could I do to entertain? Would they smile with the sweet embarrassment of reading stories on an open instagram account? » (Chus Martínez)
