Loreto Martinez Troncoso, Il y a quelque chose qui m´affecte et j´ai besoin de réagir, 16mm film, Unique

It was back in the joyous 1981 when Gino Vanelli released the album Nightwalker, an LP with an eponymous song whose first sentence started with “I walk the night.” I always thought that the song is 80s cheesy rocky romantic, but now it seems to me that these few words fit the mood of our times with a meaning heading towards darker corners.

I Walk the Night engages with how I feel and see the world right now (although there is still room for optimism and joy) driven by an undefined long shadow which is taking over everywhere, while its silent threat relentlessly spreads under the noise of the current social and political climate.

Adan Vallecillo, Carcelero II, 2012, Spoons and padlock

Marija Olsauskaite, Optimist, 2013, Hand made cotton shirt, Unique

Social media seems to blind people. Big corporation companies are in control of The system and incompetents, supported by cleverer minds, are ruling the world. Other sinister members of this power club are now invading and contaminating digital platforms in order to poison and reconfigure a (flawed) society which has been built carefully over the years. A world with imperfections, of course, but it seemed that some apparent decency was understood as crucial to reach certain power position, and now even the most abominable people don’t hide any more, feeling even encouraged, as they see (first astonished and surprised) how their inappropriate shouts of violent nastiness and nonsense do not affect their professional or political careers. One can tell lies openly and this does not have any consequence. Perhaps in this culture of “likes” lies also last a second in our mental data base, like the millions of images we see without properly seeing.

Gintautas Trimakas, Untitled, 2013, Silver gelatin print, Unique

Marija Olsauskaite, Optimist, 2013, Hand made cotton shirt, Unique

Gabriel Borba Filho, Untitled (self-portrait with shroud), Silver gelatin print

Adan Vallecillo, Carcelero II, Spoons and padlock, 2012 / Jesus Pedraza Villalba, Untitled (Sonrisas), Posters from political advertising campaigns erased with sandpaper abrasion, 2011

Loreto Martínez Troncoso, Sin palabras… por ahora, 2013, Wall/Teardrop, Permanent site specific work at PM8

ateate, Untitled

This is a change which is operating slowly but deeply in our brains and it intrigues me somehow. It seems that truth has no value, or decency or honesty… or at least some people seem not care any more about it. We have to rethink ethics, to reconsider what is the real importance and what is the real meaning and value of words like truth or honesty, and how they are relevant (or not) in the contexts of our everyday lives.

Marija Olsauskaite, Dance blue, 2014, Bronze, Unique

Loreto Martínez Troncoso, Sin palabras… por ahora, 2013, Wall/Teardrop, Permanent site specific work at PM8

I Walk the Night, Installation view, PM8

A change of paradigm has happened (is happening). Where is our society heading now? Facts and history tell us that this has occurred before. The players and the game have changed and spread through the porosity of information which circulates throughout untraceable channels that mutate under different forms. It changes so quickly that there is no time to assimilate all these sudden transformations, and most importantly to know if they are real facts or just smoke blurring our minds and eyes.

I Walk the Night
Artists presented: Martha Araújo, ateate, Gabriel Borba Filho, Loreto Martínez Troncoso, Marija Olšauskaitė, Jesús Pedraza Villalba, Gintautas Trimakas & Adán Vallecillo
January 18 – April 5, 2019 / PM8
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