Presence

Presence is a durational performance produced at the Lola Mora art gallery, in the city of Pergamino, on March 23, 2011, within the framework of the group show Nadie Olvida Nada Arte con Memoria. This piece comes from wondering how it was possible that, during the last military dictatorship in Argentina, many people witnessed the arrests and torture, and did not react to that situation. My intention was to locate myself bound in the center of the gallery room to find out how those present would react when they found me there.

I placed a mattress with some old blankets in the middle of the room and I sat on it, blindfolded, hands and feet tied. When the gallery doors opened, I was already there. I spent the first four hours of the inauguration while listening to people chatting, eating, drinking wine and my body remained captive. At one point, after zero hours, when March 24 had already begun, one of those present unleashed me, an action that became the end of the performance. During the weeks the exhibition was open, the mattress and blankets, as they were when I was untied, became an installation.

I stay tied and blindfolded on a mattress until someone unties me

PLACE

Lola Mora Gallery, Pergamino

DATE

March 2011

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD

Claudia Deri