One way to inject vitality into a museum is to offer visitors a time-related experience: the structure of this project proposed a linear narrative with the option of perceiving a past and a future within the present of the work. As the pieces multiplied they suggested new, simultaneous experiences. The Moderno invited Juliana Iriart to work according to this structure and develop a project that would begin in March, setting off a chain reaction that climaxed in June.
The exhibition was structured into chapters and thus came together as a set of pieces the artist made during the course of the exhibition for the circulation areas of the Moderno over a three month time period:
Chapter l / Man Water: An old ship’s bell hangs from the central staircase of the Museum with three bell-pulls to be used from different listening and observation points.
Chapter II / Gold Wrapped in Rags: A work made from wrapping paper and plastic bags installed in an exterior door. It is sensitive to changes in the weather; the air modifies its visual appearance and subtly alters the register of the sounds it makes.
Chapter III / Big Game: A structure made of painted wooden rods joined together with security seals and distributed around the Museum. At a slight touch, the whole piece vibrates.
Chapter IV / The Length of Shadow: Sound device designed especially for the gap in the internal stairwell of the museum. It is operated by pulling on a cord that hangs from one of the staircase landings.
Chapter V / Starry Ceiling: yellow shapes and an altered mirror generating a back-lit landscape.
Chapter VI / Rolling Song: two wind socks placed on the museum facade welcome the public. Inside the building a device to throw stones into water moves stones from the first to the ground floor.
Chapter VII / White Shadow: collective throwing of confetti from the museum terrace onto Avenida San Juan.
Juliana Iriart (Buenos Aires, 1976) graduated from the Escuela Superior de Arte Visuales Martín Malharro de Mar del Plata. She took part in the workshop run by Proyecto Trama, Intercampos and the Centro de Investigaciones Artísticas (CIA). Her solo exhibitions include: En el mar no hay ramas (There are No Branches in the Sea), Zabaleta Lab (2013); Ojos de papel (Paper Eyes), Galería Nora Fisch (2012), and Olor a bosque (The Smell of the Forest), Centro Cultural Recoleta (2010).
