This exhibition takes its title, The Other Protagonist of the Night, from a body of work by Enrique López Llamas, a young, multidisciplinary artist from Mexico. Also serving as the final work to punctuate the themes touched on throughout the show, the centerpiece of this installation is a series of sixteen video vignettes wherein the artist himself is both protagonist and victim in narratives relating to the fragile and insecure experiences of coming of age; of, supposedly, becoming a ‘man’. Tapping into his extensive interest in art history and popular culture, his performances feature generous portions of humorous and disturbing scenes, while offering serious allegories about the realities of the human condition. What might first appear to be irony quickly resonates because of our ability to relate to its truth as we reflect on our own life experiences. His is a current generational perspective revealing human progress towards sensitivities we might not have had previously. Inspired by the rollercoaster of reactions elicited by López Llamas’ extreme performances, the contemporary representation of the human figure is the focus of this exhibition: the antihero in the physical sense, yet the admirably heroic in spirit.
The Other Protagonist of the Night also finds inspiration from an essay written by Carlos Monsiváis with the same title (to which López Llamas also makes his reference), contained in the sleeve of an album that records one of the most memorable evenings in pop-performance history, an all-night, nine-hour live performance by Juan Gabriel in Mexico City. Dubbed ‘The Night Mexico did not Sleep’, Monsiváis turns his focus away from the iconic performer, who needed no further introduction, and onto the audience: “the most plural and multigenerational public that a popular artist has known in Mexico….” The narrative of our exhibition also eschews the iconic as it presents the human figure, and instead, adjusts its gaze towards the ordinary and the ‘other’, in all their diversity, to create a spirit of empathy and inclusion, where empty pedestals and pieces of furniture serve as invitations for the viewers to imagine their own heroes, and where, in fact, mirrors might include themselves.
The Other Protagonist of the Night invites each individual to be that figure under scrutiny. When, at the end of each day, we stand alone, stripped of the masks and armors we don to face the difficult world we inhabit, a fragile and imperfect creature is revealed, regardless of how much muscle or wealth we bestow upon it. And what we come to realize is that the greatest of human strengths lies in courage, perseverance and humility to face it all again the next day, in spite of all its challenges.
“…art must carry man’s craving for the ideal, must be an expression of his reaching out towards it; that art must give man hope and faith. And the more hopeless the world in the artist’s version, the more clearly, perhaps, must we see the ideal that stands in opposition – otherwise life becomes impossible! Art symbolizes the meaning of our existence.” – Andrei Tarkovsky, ‘Sculpting in Time’
Artists:
Jordi Alcaraz
Jim Amaral
Martha Atienza
Ed Atkins
Leilah Babirye
Stephan Balkenhol
David Bestué
Norbert Bisky
Anna & Bernhard Blüme
Mathieu Bonardet
Joan Brossa
Michael Bühler-Rose
Carlos Bunga
Tom Burr
Werner Büttner
James Castle
Martí Cormand
John Dugdale
Pepe Espaliú
Galli
Alberto Giacometti
Camilo Godoy
Jason Gringler
Donna Huanca
Stephen Irwin
Jiři Kolář
Kang Seung Lee
Enrique López Llamas
Mateo Lopez
Robert Mapplethorpe
Martin Margiela
Sean Mellyn
Pierre Molinier
Juan Muñoz
Navid Nuur
Berenice Olmedo
Murat Önen
Prinz Gholam
Robin Rhode
Gerhard Richter
Miguel Ángel Rojas
Chloe Royer
R.H. Quaytman
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Hugh Steers
Sam Taylor-Johnson
Wolfgang Tillmans
Franz Erhard Walther
Franz West
Erwin Wurm