Monday, February 23, 2009

Cildo Meireles at MACBA


Slowly getting back to art after my hurricane Rome trip, I went to Cildo Meireles expo at MACBA last week. MACBA itself is situated near the Rambla and Plaça Cataluña and represents Barcelona very nicely, a new building fitted into old streets, with nice bars and plenty of skateboarders around, reminiscent of my youth rollerblading around Palais Royal in Paris. But those old days are gone and no crying about it will do any good. Sometimes commitment, or burning all bridges, reducing freedom makes us more free - or at least that is what i want to believe with my climbing attitude today.

Back to the original topic, Cildo Meireles is a Brazilian, traditionally following the post-modern art principles: unimpressive works, worth three descriptive paragraphs in a booklet and one bored look. However, fortunately, his other works are more interesting. The ones i liked most was his Eureka, maybe for its participative mode and some thinking required, the anti-colonial Como Construir Catedrais, and the what we called the "Green Room", also interesting conceptually and aesthetically.

For me, if an artwork is not aesthetic, it looses a part of its original appeal - I am probably conservative in this respect, but i cannot admire something that is not aesthetically appealing as well as conveying a message. That is one of the reasons many post-modern works appeal so little to me and my dumb aesthetic standards. But Cildo managed to surprise, thus a visit that is worth your time! Pictures of his art are definitely not very representative, as his work has to be seen to be understood and to give you the surprise factor, thus i will stop my musings here and let you visit an expo instead!

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