Departmental relations. 1065 cages, 20 white diamonds and 180 kilos of birdseed. Variable dimensions, in the room 8,70 x 4,20 x 2,45 mts.
Aviary Stereo. Steel and black electrostatic paint, speakers, amplifier, contact microphones. Two handles. 1,60 x 0,60 x 0,60 meters.
Aviodrome. Nickel-plated steel, four red canaries 2.00 x 2.00 x 0.78 meters.
DIAMONDS, MANONS AND CANARIES / Clumsy but sonorous landscapes 2013. AFA gallery, Santiago, Chile.
This exhibition consists of a series of works that expand upon the reflections of previous projects in connection with politics of space and the systems used to administrate these spaces.
Although this exhibition maintains a close relationship with the constructive systems of bird cages, on this occasion the piece deals with the birdcage as an object, introducing slight modifications to its structure, questioning the logics of its habitability. Also, there is a clear reference to Juan Luis Martinez’s poem about the poetics of language and the systems of communication, through the inescapable quote of Observations relative to the exuberant activity of the “Phonetic Confabulation” or “Language of the birds” in the work of J. P. Brisset, R. Roussel, M. Duchamp and others – “The song of the birds” abstract from The New Novel by Juan Luis Martinez.
In Diamonds, Manons and Canaries Salineros also explores the chromatic conditions under which such imagery develops, using protective mimicry and the optical relationships that occur in the conjugation of that concept to construct a visual, spatial and sonorous pun.
The exhibition consists of a large piece titled Relaciones Departamentales (Departmental Relations), which is approximately 8.70 x 4.20 and 2.45 metres tall. The shape of this piece replicates the gallery’s floor plan, with a narrow passageway that permits walking round the periphery of the piece, making it impossible to see the work all at once, asphyxiating the space of the gallery.
The outcome is an anguished perception of a space that is apparently vast and measurable only by the sound issued by the 20 Diamonds (birds), disrupting the visual perception produced by the crosslinking of the graphics produced by the cages in the space and the sonority of this new landscape.
The floor has been completely covered with birdseed, creating a more silent visibility in the room; also, the walls have been painted slightly grey in order to blur visual perception in the framework of the cages that comprise the large volume in the room.
In the adjoining gallery there are two smaller pieces; one of them is Pajarístico Stereo (Bird Language Stereo) which is suspended from the gallery’s ceiling. This piece amplifies live and in real time, the sounds issued by a couple of Manons (birds) as they move, drink water, etc. The intention of this piece is not to amplify their song or tweet, which we know, but what we don’t hear.
The piece titled Pajarodromo (Bird-o-drome) is once again a reflection on spaces and the relationships that occur in them. It consists of four pagoda-like cages interconnected by a “pipeline” that allows for the displacements of four red canaries without determining a beginning or an end to the circuit, parodying rational structures and the use of spaces.
The exhibition is completed by a series of 8 prints produced using a mixed technique of embossing and white ink impression, which produces a mimesis between support and representation through the drawing on the matrix.
Photo Credit: Álvaro Mardones