Argentina ARCO platform: Interview with Inés Katzenstein

On what platform "Argentina Plataforma ARCO", the program you are looking for in this edition of ARCOMadrid?

The participation of Argentina is the product of a special invitation from ARCOMadrid. Basically, it offers free space to a group of galleries to participate in the fair. It's as simple as that.

The fair seeks to have a defined perspective on the national context that invites the founding of the selection of the galleries participating in this section. For that, it calls a person to make the selection; This time the selected person was me.

At first, I hesitated and accepted this assignment because it was a complicated responsibility, but I finally accepted it because I was interested in the curatorial challenge. Of course, it is a type of curatorial work that has very particular limits. The end result is the product of a negotiation with reality; Specifically, with what the galleries of the Argentine market.

Basically, what I did was to select the galleries, each of which presents the work of one of the artists. I chose galleries that are relevant, have their own weight and a defined profile, regardless of whether they are large or small, young or more traditional. I worked with them to see which artists they represent, which ones I was interested in and, within these, which would be more appropriate to show in a context like this.

What were the criteria you selected for the selection of artists?

It is not a curacy with a very narrow or very defined conceptual criterion. From my point of view, there is no place for such a thing to exist in the context of the curated section within the art fair.

There are, however, two general criteria that I had in mind in my work.

On the one hand, I was interested to underline the diversity that exists within the production of contemporary Argentine art. This criterion requires that the result of that negotiation that is established with reality must fit a particular requirement: how can we offer a balanced representation of the context.

On the other hand, a second criterion that imposed me was not to show the canon of the artists that already know internationally and that, predictably, are easily fulfilled in an area like this. That's why artists such as Pablo Siquier, Jorge Macchi, Guillermo Kuitca or Adrián Villar Rojas are not part of the selection. The idea was to try to give visibility to other names. In fact, I believe that, except for the case of Alberto Greco, the vast majority of the other selected artists are quite unknown here.

Apart from all this, something that also happens is that some of the artists that interest me have no gallery and that others are not represented by any Argentine gallery. In this second case I worked with the fair to find a solution because I considered that its presence was important to complement the representation of Argentine art, although the sea of ​​other sections of the fair. Thus, because of my suggestion, ARCOMadrid invited artists like Irene Kopelman, Eduardo Navarro or Tomás Saraceno.

What were the decisions you made regarding the design and operation of the space?

After establishing these general criteria, defining what I aesthetically wanted to privilege and selecting the artists, I realized that, in the context of a fair, all that work dilutes within the uniform and autonomous uniform spatiality that proposes Each stand.

The intention, and find a solution a little more ambitious, where all the different proposals have been articulated spatially in some way. I called for that to Mariano Clusellas, a great Argentine architect who had already collaborated with me in the exhibition of Marcelo Pombo. Together it defines a design in which there are two fundamental operations.

The first is the corridors that interconnect the galleries and that, in some way, allow the experience of a kind of community. The second, a wall that closes a third of the front of the supports, identical in all cases, where a work is always displayed; As if to accentuate the idea of ​​the Argentinean runner.

On the other hand, I chose each of the works of the artists of this section of the fair. And there is, also, a work in the spatial articulation of the two artists that each gallery exhibits inside its stand.It is a multi-level work, very detailed and very close. I have to admit, in this sense, that the gallery owners were very generous and allowed me to work with total freedom.

What image of contemporary Argentine art offers the set of activities and exhibitions that take place in ARCOMadrid?

First of all, I think it is very important that an attempt was made to make a presentation of an artistic scene that, for the non-specialized external look, was absolutely blurred. Argentine contemporary art has not until now, unlike other Latin American countries, had that moment of visibility that can be underpinned by different things, be it the market, curatorship or socioeconomic circumstances. So, in general terms, it seems to me that this is a possibility of that happening. It is, at least, an outline of moment of visibility which, in itself, as a proposal or hypothesis, seems to me to have many interesting things.

I feel a lot of affinity with the people who are behind the different activities that includes this fair; Sonia Becce, Graciela Speranza and Mariano Mayer. It seems to me that we are all working in the same direction and it makes me very happy that that happens. Despite the criticism, there are all the people who work with great generosity and with great intellectual honesty. That is unique to me.

On the other hand, it is not easy to elucidate how the Spanish or international public is approaching it. It's hard to judge right now. At the same time, I do not think anyone will see the whole of what is being exhibited and presented these days, which is really a lot.

What is the institutional scaffold behind all this deployment of activities?

It's curious. Indeed, there is a completely institutional infrastructure behind; In particular, ArteBA and the Ministry of Culture of the Nation. But it is an infrastructure strongly defined by specific individuals. In other words, in the Argentine case, people have a notable role in front of the institutions. It's something that never ceases to amaze me and should not be lost sight of.

That is, there are certain institutions behind everything that is happening, but the great catalysts that have underpinned this whole process are individuals, motivated by their optimism and confidence in the Argentine culture; For underlining a case, Julia Converti, of ArteBA. Without these people, none of this could have happened.

Thus presented, the whole strength of this institutional alliance seems to be supported by very fragile conditions. Displaced a few people, everything can fall apart.

Yes absolutely. It is so. It is not a professional field articulated from lasting standards. It is a very dislocated field and, therefore, the sustainability of the projects is difficult.

It seems to me that the visual arts, in particular, is a field with a lot of institutional weakness. Many times imagine the opposite. There are those who assume that it is a system that is very close to money and the powerful because, indeed, some of them buy art.

However, I feel that the space of art is always intrinsically fragile. In Argentina, in particular, it has a total and constitutive vulnerability. At any moment it can be emptied of meaning and, then, everything is thrown to the pot.

Thinking about the artists, what can you expect or want to happen after ARCOMadrid?

In the case of artists the answer is very clear. The only interest this has is that it works as a showcase for artists to network with art professionals and colleagues from other places. It is very important that that happens.

This is a gamble and I hope it works. But for sure I do not know what is going to happen. It is necessary to understand that the Spanish and international public has criteria and values ​​different from ours. What we think is fantastic, maybe not them.

Personally, I was attentive to this problem in each of the stands of the section I attended. I tried to avoid misunderstandings by choosing certain works and not others. It is difficult and certainly not infallible. But the challenge of sharing the art that makes the Argentine scene such a particularly interesting context to live and work, is what moved me in this project.