Lost Objects, Found Stories
– 2023. Subjecte Objecte. La Cumprativa
18 Indian ink drawings, powdered charcoal, liquid charcoal and photographic montages on polyester paper. 44,5 x 31 cm each.
Sculpture: wood, glass, iron, paper, stamps and old film cans. 200 x 40 x 125 cm
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The idea of this installation begins from a misunderstanding in relation to the word that gives its name to the historic cooperative of the town of Llorenç del Penedès: in the process of prospecting for the project, I assumed that this name corresponded to a colloquial contraction that had come to become the proper name of the entity. Later I related the name to its meaning as a grocery store (La Cumprativa), where the supply of food, tools and materials typical of the rural environment was practiced. During the investigation, I became aware of the successive name changes of the cooperative due to historical vicissitudes. Finally, the need to produce a comparative act of names, objects and images gained ground in the polysemic game.
Reality is shaped as we name the relationships between objects, people and situations. The names we give to things and, in this case, to a human group, define their uniqueness, as well as the fit in the context of time and space in which this name circulates. In a similar way, the objects linked to the activity of a group tell us about relevant microhistories, because just as history clings to the porosity of names, the lives and dust of days are incorporated into the objects that suffer their destiny, closely linked to the vital rhythms of the people who live with them.
This installation asks about the relationships embodied in the names of the entity and in some of the objects linked to it. Their images appear and disappear fluidly, as in a process of unstable fixation. Likewise, as a sculpture, a mechanical assemblage becomes a device that favors the comparison of the registration and conservation of names based on the bureaucratic gesture of marking with a stamp the official documents generated by La Cumprativa.