In its latest version, the International Forum on Contemporary Art Theory was presented under the title Las letras del arte (Art and Textuality.) The incredibly suggestive theme almost seemed to limit the Forum's success in advance. For in the space of three short days, only very limited aspects may be treated within a heading that in itself is ambiguous, and that lends itself to many discussions on several levels and from diverse disciplinary perspectives, both theoretical and methodological.
This in no way implies that the Forum did not faithfully fulfill its duty. For the first time in many years, the overall level of the papers maintained a more than reasonable quality, and works and discourses that only rarely pass through our country, except for events such as this, could be appreciated. A positive aspect was the incorporation of what could be considered a historical perspective through the presentations of Mónica Mayer, Víctor Muñoz, and Luis Camnitzer. Their presence allowed the proposals of younger artists —Eduardo Abaroa and Andrea Fraser— to be confronted within the context of the art of the last thirty years, and not as if the black thread had just been invented (a frequent practice in contemporary art events).
In his textual presentation, Rubén Gallo (this year’s coordinator) raised the question of Art and Textuality, departing from the presupposition of an imminent divorce between word and image. Such a separation, within the scope of the most traditional debate, irreparably divides the field of the image from the field of words as a function of the discussion that contemplates the greater or lesser efficacy of one medium or the other. The Forum proved that this division is merely fictitious, as the various disciplines and practices of the speakers demonstrated. Participating were critics who are artists —Peter Wollen—, artists who are critics —Mónica Mayer, Luis Camnitzer, and Eduardo Abaroa—, conceptual artists who, in their work, return to the text in diverse ways —Ken Lum, Maruch Sántiz Gómez—, curators who do the same with their exhibitions —Joshua Decter—, and artists and critics who create from literary texts —Frederic Amat and Sylvère Lotringer—, among others.
The Forum opened with the presentation of the film Viaje a la luna (Trip to the moon) by the Catalonian Frederic Amat, based on a play by García Lorca. This short film allowed us to get an early glimpse of interesting questions that referred, either directly or indirectly, to the Forum’s central theme: the transgression of disciplinary borders —film, literature, plastic arts— to get the most out of widespread foundations and vast technical possibilities. The film is the perfect example, for, besides referring to the difficulty of translating an imminently literary material (the premise of the film script) into a visual language, it conveys the risk of making the boundaries between art and spectacle disappear.
Several speakers made reference to the role of the text within the specific work of different artists. Despite the absence of Hans Haacke—perhaps the figure who provoked the greatest expectations from among those present—the work of artists like Ken Lum and Perejaume is worth mentioning. Peter Wollen, a filmmaker, writer, installation artist, and critic, began his paper with the following statement: “Congruence between art and criticism will be hard to achieve.
What Wollen showed was that ambiguity attacks the visual and the textual equally, as it asserts that writing on art is a sort of entangled territory in which total clarity is never attained.
Wayne Koestenbaum made an equally original and convincing statement. While he was projecting the video Dirty by the American Chivas Clem—in which the nude artist cleans a bathroom with only a can of powdered detergent and a toothbrush— Koestenbaum read a text in which he proves the futility of any effort to write (and describe) art.
Later, during the questions and comments that followed the paper delivered by the Mexican conceptualist Mónica Mayer, Rubén Gallo clarified the title of the Forum. By calling it Las letras del arte (Art and Textuality,) he had thought of at least three connotations that could be given to the Spanish version, an ambiguity that the English version does not allow. First, the economic idea of letras de cambio (bills of exchange), that is, the art market. Second, literary art (letters in the sense of literature). And finally, the visual aspect of letters and words as a formal means.
In terms of the second interpretation, we may understand Víctor Lerma’s presentation on the influence of Julio Cortázar on Mexican art groups, as well as Frederic Amat’s projection of the aforementioned film Viaje a la luna.
The Forum was, above all, a detonator for the reflection on the problem of visuality and textuality. And, with no further pretexts, it achieved its aim.
ISSA MA. BENITEZ