Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
An exhibition curated by Daniel Silvo

Spanish artist Daniel Silvo, who is Impakt’s Works resident from June through to August 2012, uses his video work, photography and installations to question the political load of objects in a critical manner: from design originating from the Cold War to the ‘communist’ Lada – still the only car brand available to Cubans. Silvo approaches these controversial subjects with a good dose of humor and from various angles. In Utrecht, he is working on a fifties sitcom around the tongue-in-cheek question “Are art and design able to protect us from an atomic bomb?” The exhibition ‘Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear’ is a side project that he took up during his residency. In a way, the projects are related. In the sitcom, Silvo puts in evidence that art, design and architecture are not useful in the same way as everyday things. And in the exhibition we can see pieces that seems everyday objects, but they are in fact something else.

OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE BIGGER THAN THEY APPEAR
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN THEY APPEAR
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE MORE REAL THAN THEY APPEAR
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE MORE COMPLEX THAN THEY APPEAR

Elena Alonso – Marlon de Azambuja – Karmelo Bermejo -Daniel Cerrejón – Cristina Garrido – Daniel Jacoby – Tamara Kuselman – Mateo Maté – Navid Nuur – Clara Pallí – Wilfredo Prieto

Daniel Silvo about the exhibition:
The mirror distorts, reduces the size of things, simplifies reality by transforming it into a two-dimensional image. Forms lose depth and become flat objects. These forms are, when reflected, mere appearance. But objects in the mirror are closer than they appear , and have depth. Just like in Plato’s allegory of the cave, the objects we see reflected in the mirror are distorted, so they appear smaller and flatter to us. But the realities to which these images refer are much deeper than they appear.

Wilfredo Prieto’s work “Two stones and a mirror” is a trompe l’oeil that deals with the notion of vision in idealistic terms: this stone is as real as its reflection, and they both belong to the same category: the category of reflected images.

Daniel Cerrejón also reflects on reality and its image, this time through photography. In “Scale 1:1” we find a photographic image of a crumpled A4 sheet, printed on a crumpled A4 sheet. The shapes of both are merged, and we don’t know which crease belongs to which sheet.

It’s time to clarify the confusion that the mirror causes to go through the looking glass. The series of drawings by Elena Alonso, “Access”, shows a group of doors, stairs, windows and trapdoors that could be used to cross to the other side, dark and unknown.

What about there? Now we can see the back of the paper. Navid Nuur’s piece, “Today is OK”, consists of a white, pure paper, separated from the wall at a distance of an inch and a half. The lower part thereof, the side facing the wall, seems to be painted in an intense color reflected on the wall, but we can not see it directly. If there is anything written on it, it’s hidden to our sight. But we should remember that we are on the other side, so let´s forget the eye for now.

Forget the eye, but also the ear. Karmelo Bermejo presents the video “Noise Contribution to the Noise,” in which a violinist plays the first movement of Mozart’s “Kleine Nacht Musik” in the most busy street of Hamburg at rush hour. A pointless exercise, a frustrating hearing to anyone trying to use the ear to listen.

Cristina Garrido makes objects disappear. In her postcards, as if by magic, there is nothing but shadows or reflections of something mysterious. They are museum postcards modified, where there were, at some point, images of masterpieces. The exhibition curator has to select and arrange these postcards in which there is nothing else to see.

Marlon de Azambuja, seeking the simplicity of the slightest gesture, reverses the position of labels and stickers. Again, a slight movement with a great dynamic force contained within, transforms, through a little spell, a sheet of stickers into a starry sky.

Daniel Jacoby also presents an artwork whose formalization depends on the curator. A set of somewhat confusing, poetic instructions with open meanings serve as a guide to give shape to his work, which will always depend on the interpretation of its assembler . And curiously, that object is not but another kind of mirror, a car hood, which reflects the light and prevents the vehicle interior from overheating.

Objects. There are more common objects whose meanings are disrupted. Mateo Maté offers some kitchen utensils as weapons; some familiar everyday objects that become intimidating, in a way that ends up being uncanny.

Strange is also the meaning of the words that Clara Pallí handles. Making / art / deals / with …. Who recites these words does not seem to know what they mean, and the more they are repeated, the less sense they seem to make. Those words become mere sound, simple gesture without content.

At that boundary of understanding and mystery is Tamara Kuselman’s work placed: she warns us that only in the end we will know on which side of the mirror we are.

The exhibition takes place in the studio of ASNOVA Architects bv. with special thanks to Ronald Willemsen who also opened up his house for the shooting of the sitcom. The exhibition will be opened on Friday 17 August at 17:00h and can be visited during office hours (10-17:00h) and by appointment: (phone: 0645350977 – Daniel Silvo)

Daniel Silvo blogs about the development of the exhibition and his residency at Impakt
Exhibition: objectsinthemirrorarecloserthantheyappear.wordpress.com
Residency: silvoatimpakt.wordpress.com
Website: danielsilvo.wordpress.com