Glenda León, music with sculptures and drawings in the sky of Madrid

As a trace of the silence of confinement, we are left with the echo of “listening” that today is the protagonist of political rhetoric, also cultural, as the beginning of dialogue in a shared, more horizontal and democratic forum. But we often appreciate that it multiplies into abstruse chatter without results. More noise. Meanwhile, loneliness in isolation and calmness in self-talk continue to be underestimated. How are whispers read?

Now that the incessant noise has returned, I would like you to read me as a whisper, a text filled with blank pauses, to talk about Glenda León's latest exhibition, Time is a sound we don't hear.

A poetic proposal between sound and silence that surrounds the visitor a sensitive state of consciousnessthrough a set of sculptural and performative works and a wonderful series of concise and very elegant drawings.

[Glenda León, the sound of the clouds]

The oldest piece, the sculpture silent risea staircase with rotating staves as steps, reminds us that this interest in sound and silence comes a long way for the Cuban artist Glenda León (Havana, 1976), who began her training in classical ballet, and at the age of 55. Venice Biennale 2013 participated in the Cuban Pavilion with the work Music of the Spheresa score superimposed on the solar system, where each planet became a musical note.

Two years later he would present in Madrid slaughterhouse the unforgettable video installation Every breathwith images of the earth, the sky, the fire, the forest and the sea that, to the rhythm of our breathing, evoked our communion with the world in which we live.

This set of sculptural works and the wonderful series of drawings are a poetic proposal

In this new series, produced over the last two years, the sky of Madrid, the sea and the rain are also transformed into scores, with violin, guitar and harpsichord strings, which were performed on the opening afternoon by the group neopercussion.

Even the flapping of a butterfly's wings and the feather of a bird are stretched by strings in a musical pattern that intensely challenges our haptic sensitivity of looking and listening that, in the Western philosophical tradition that León studied, takes us to a plane of ascension. , spirituality and light.

The piece deserves a special mention listening to the moonwith very handmade leather drums that go through the lunar phases, insinuating the silent nocturnal sounds and the rhythmic slowness in the dreamlike and half-awake night, where we become small again and get lost.

How small is the role of our self in the immensity of nature, which Glenda León invites us to listen to. Lest we forget, the titles are incorporated into the drawings of meanders, silhouettes and rhythms of phenomena and animals: “listening to the dances of the bees”, “listening to the clouds”, “listening to the movement of dolphins”, “listening to the rivers” , “listen to the trees”, “listen to the lightning”, “listen to the mountains”, “listen to the path of the ants” and “listen to the veins of the body”.

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