Desconcentrator, 2011
Site-specific installation. Variable dimensions. Courtesy of the artist
Photo: David Serrano Pascual
In scientific terms, the word “physical” is used to describe anything that we are able to perceive through its constituent materials, which make it visible. In cartographic terms, some planispheres use the terms “physical map of the world,” or “physical world,” in order to make a distinction between geographic, geological, and climatic elements on one hand, and geopolitical, economic or demographic data on the other. But is there really such a thing as a non-physical world? And if so, how is it represented?
“There are many reasons for my way of conceiving space as part of the artwork, and one of them is the idea that space is a small representation of the world.” In this sense, the work by Luis Bisbe that forms part of this exhibition is displayed in the form of a small theatre of curiosities, including a window for the spectator to look into and reveal its meaning.
Luis Bisbe (Málaga, 1965) takes an interest in everything that surrounds us and tries to appreciate its expressive and experimental potential, to make the invisible visible. By transforming the conventional world into poetic terms, he explains certain artistic contradictions that are linked to aesthetics and ethics. The side-effects and collateral consequences of art are shown in his installations and pieces, which are inspired by the place where the exhibition is held, by his curiosity about space, and the architecture in which it is circumscribed.
The subject matter of his work links a grand scale with events from everyday life. This may be what leads the artist to disrupt the exhibition space: to open up non-existent windows, turn walls around in defiance of their usual verticality, transform ceilings into floors, stretch them out or compress them... All spaces are liable to be modified.
Bisbe’s work is based on the observation of physical and concrete elements, which drives his desire to apply an extra turn of the screw to situations that we consider normal. Public space becomes virtual, and familiar territory is temporarily strange, because our existing, familiar prerogatives become useless as a point of reference for the physical world around us: he undresses rather than dresses, takes away and disembowels, makes the hidden visible, changes our usual point of perception, loosens rules, alters the preestablished order: explores space.