Artists in production

DISCOMFORT POLITICISATIONS

_2n PART

3 Projects to develop_

DISCOMFORT POLITICISATIONS delves into these "other ways" of managing and politicizing discomfort from creative processes. The individual dimension happens collectively and the artists we present to configure this itinerary show a clear desire to "return" to society what is invisible, devising strategies to share and take the initiative.

We propose an approach to several actions that certain artists and groups present to expose and share certain problems and conflicts from various prisms. In the works of Rufino Mesa, Virginia García del Pino and the Enmedio collective we find this determination to address individual and systemic discomfort, being essential in their work process, commitment and a collaborative dimension.

Rufino Mesa_

It should be mentioned that Rufino Mesa, in great part of his artistic production, uses metaphorical actions that become tools to transform the discomfort. An example is one of his projects, Whispers in a Hole (2003-), where he adopts a mediator role by asking the participant to dig a hole and channel his discomfort by whispering. He asks for an active involvement because in the act of murmuring, the artist delegates responsibility to the one who decides to let go of his conflicts. Rufino Mesa argues that the ultimate goal of these works is to become "public services" because anyone who wishes can be relieved of their unrest. The individual is autonomous, ceases to be a dependent subject, and has to actively participate in the resolution of their conflicts by taking the initiative. In a similar direction, in Aullidos and encouragement (2011), proposed to students of the Department of Art History of the Universitat de Barcelona to deposit their uncertainty in twelve baking tubes. Rufino Mesa explains that the breath brings us to the vital impulse, while the howls respond to the need to express the pain, the fear and the desire to rebel against a system that oppresses. Rufino Mesa encourages us to verbalise that which is silent, thus scaring the fear. The artist appeals to insurrection, invites us to rebellion, to stop being passive in the management of discomfort.

http://www.dipta.cat/RBIV/comella-escultura-natura-rufino-mesa-un-projecte-de-vida

Virginia García del Pino_

Virginia García del Pino (Barcelona, ​​1966) is project director for the Creative Documentary Master of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and is a non-fiction film director.

Virginia García del Pino develops a trajectory as a videographer where the documentary genre is essential, since the interviews are part of her artistic projects while conveying the desire to portray reality from various angles. Several of his works we see how many stories are fused, there appears a polyphony of voices to approach different individual and collective problems.

His works as Father of Suffering (2002) and Do Your Will (2004) have been shown in several museums and art centers such as MNCARS, CCCB, Artium or Matadero, while he has received several awards.

Works:

•    Jury | 2012
•    Symmetrical Space | 2010
•    My sister and I | 2009
•    What you say I am | 2007
•    Your Will Be Done | 2004
•    Father to suffer | 2002

http://www.hamacaonline.net/autor.php?id=198

Enmedio

Creative activism in Barcelona is embodied in several projects and initiatives, with the Enmedio collective, art, politics and new technologies being one of the most active groups in the conception of collaborative actions and in the organization of conferences to analyze, conceptualize and deepen the Artistic practice as a tool for reflection and social intervention. Enmedio juxtaposes activism with artistic creation to articulate a series of proposals to question, provoke, debate and give visibility to different social problems framed within the current political and economic context. The interventions are carried out from the active involvement of the citizenry, the community, because art happens a detonator to #promote participation, to move to action. Creative activism is a tool to achieve social change, to break into the fabric of society and to promote concrete actions, both direct and demanding. Examples of several Enmedio initiatives that directly reflect social unrest are: "Yes you can. But they do not want "(2013)," Fiesta en el Inem "(2009)," Fiesta Cierra Bankia "(2012) and the graphic campaign" Sí se puede. But they do not want "the" escraches "organized by the collective Platform of People Affected by Mortgage (Enmedio, 2013). Directly related to this proposal has been developed the Workshop of Photographic Action "We are not numbers" (Enmedio, 2013), in which the people directly affected by the evictions participate in the construction of a series of portraits where they are the protagonists. These images are then used to locate them in the offices of the bank offices responsible for the loss of their home and also make some postcards - directed to banking entities - where you can read the reality of the evicted. With these actions it is clear that the direct participation of citizens is essential. It starts from an artistic conception with a clear social and political functionality, emphasizing the importance of the process in the construction of these works.

This relationship between personal and social unrest appears in the proposals of Rufino Mesa, Virginia García and Enmedio, noting that discomfort has to be contextualized in a political, economic and social framework. Indeed, this decision to take the initiative is outlined by Hannah Arendt when it relates the willingness to act with social commitment and activism. The thinker warns about the loss of individuality in totalitarian societies, since they imply an inability to act and generate alternatives. Hannah Arendt explains that the artist is the only surviving worker in a consumerist and hyperactive context supported by homo laborans.