“Language is so ductile that it can be transformed into whatever we want”

The words, their meaning and the image we associate with each one of them is the guiding thread of the exhibition that Ignasi Aballí (Barcelona, ​​​​1958) premieres on Dallas Meadows Museum. The storm gathers the series Empty words and consists of a selection of 27 words that we read on so many galvanized iron plates. “On the one hand, they are words without an image because they cannot be associated with them or it is done with difficulty and, on the other hand, because they are engraved on the plates and the material from the letters has been removed,” he said. says the artist. . Through each of the molds we see the wall and the light that passes through them plays whimsically creating shadows and reflections.

This work, says Aballí, has its origins no image, a project that led him to write words directly on the walls of a museum. “When carrying out this action, I realized that the templates themselves were an interesting object”, he recalls. He then decided to take advantage of them and incorporate them into the work he now shows and which has caused “it is no longer possible to write them because the distance between the plate and the wall makes it impossible for the word to be written well.”

In any case, all of them “are words that are not associated with an image. unknownfor example, it is something unknown that we cannot see what it is like, it cannot be visualized“, he points out. They all have the common characteristic of “annulling the possibility of associating an image with them”. Although the artist worked differently on both projects, he considers that this exhibition is, perhaps, “one of the most complete works of all that I have done in relation to image and text because here the images cancel out the text although they themselves are become an image”, he reflects.

The exhibition was installed in one of the rooms of the Meadows Museum in Dallas, focused on showing Spanish art, and for this purpose a central panel was built with a double objective: on the one hand, to give fluidity to the visit and, on the other, to accommodate the 27 pieces that make up the series.

How to choose the language?

The words we read in the sample are in English and the decision to use this language was not fortuitous. “When you use language as material, the question arises of which language you are going to use. In this case, I was influenced by the reach of the publicity I wanted to achieve”, explains the artist. Therefore, “if I did it in Catalan, I stayed local, if I used Spanish, I did it in a much broader spectrum, but English has become the international language, especially in the art world”, says Aballí. .

But in addition to this previous reflection, the artist found another reason to opt for English and that is that our language contains words that accept both the masculine and feminine genders (secret or secret), which “caused an added difficulty”. English, much more neutral, allowed him to focus on the generic concept: the invisible, the secret, the disappeared. The decision, therefore, was made based on the search for the “gender neutrality that some of the words could embody”To add.

the power of language

As the poet Hölderlin said, “language is the most precious and at the same time the most dangerous asset that has been given to man”. It is worth asking, therefore, whether he is innocent. “It can be very dangerous, it is such a ductile material that it can transform into whatever we want and can be used in various ways according to each person’s interests and needs”, considers the artist. In this sense, it can be “positive, something that stimulates and becomes something poetic, but It also serves to destroy and generate conflicts”, he develops. Imperceptible, unimaginable, absent, transparent any invisible These are some of the words read but, as Aballí guarantees, the possibilities are endless: “There is no end to what we can do with language.”

A commitment to Spanish art

The show, titled Meadows/ARCO Featured Artist: Ignasi AballíIt is the first chapter of MORE: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight, a six-year project that the Texas museum and the ARCO Foundation launched with the aim of giving visibility to the work of Spanish artists. Therefore, in addition to the exhibition itself, a program of activities was organized through which Aballí will come into contact with students from the Faculty of Fine Arts and artists from the region. “There is a program prepared for me to explain myself, for people to get to know me and for me to meet the most relevant personalities in Texas art”, he points out.

In this sense, Amanda Dotseh, interim director of the Meadows, hopes that this project “will open doors not only for Ignasi Aballí, but also for other Spanish artists”. The art gallery, which has in its collection works by artists such as Calatrava and Plensa, seeks to “create connections so that other contemporary art museums in the state take more account of Spanish art”.

Going to Venice

Ignasi Aballí is about to travel to Venice, the city where he will represent Spain at the 59th Biennale that opens on April 23. His speech, titled Correction, “it is a project that takes into account the architecture of the pavilion”, said the artist when the news came out that he would be the one traveling to the Italian city. “We intend to turn it around and rebuild its interior. We will rotate the walls by ten degrees to place them parallel to the neighboring pavilions.”

Although this work is “formally very different, it always talks about the same things and there are many aspects that are linked to Dallas' work, such as the presence of light, which will be very important. The idea of working with the invisible, with the void, with the absence of the work is present in Venice”, Comment. Thus, Aballí believes that different connections can be established between one project and another and assumes that “even though it is a more architectural proposal”, it more or less clearly incorporates many themes and interests that it has been developing in recent years.

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