ICQ (i seek you), March 2021
[NUDO NIDO]
Sala de Arte Joven, Madrid - Spain
Curated by Claudia Rodriguez Ponga e Isabella Lenzi
This installation uses latex as a vehicle to create tension while forging the proximity of bodies. The intertwining of mattresses which is recurring in my work is thus interfered by these second skins of latex, which gain prominence time and time again as a result of viral crises, allowing bodies to touch without touching, to feel virtually by means of screens, that keep us ever close and distant.
On the one hand, the artist projects a blue latex wall that lies somewhere in between a blue nitrile glove and the color of the Windows’ desktop, from which several windows pop up. This wall is extended like a canvas so that any body that presses itself against this membrane can be seen from the other side, putting haptics and optics at play. On the other hand, Dandara develops an installation with mattresses that assumes them as anthropomorphic objects, evoking both individuality and intimacy. Fusing and deforming these mattresses by sewing them together and using latex straps, the artist subverts the canon of these individualized laying bodies, inviting us to ponder over physical solipsism. On top of that, the objectual quality of the sculptures—wherein mattresses can be directly related to dreaming and pleasure, but also illness—poses an interesting provocation, since they inevitably evoke the presence of a body while at the same time inviting us to sit, lay and get comfortable over (and with) them.
- Claudia Rodriguez Ponga and Isabella Lenzi