Casa Tomada

7 abril-5 mayo 2018, jueves-sábado, 2-6pm

Calle 22 12BIS, San Pedro de los Pinos, Ciudad de México

Rosa Aiello, Mathis Altmann, Ed Atkins, Sammy Baloji & Filip De Boeck, Dora Budor, Juan Caloca, Gina Folly, Isa Genzken, Stuart Middleton, Fernando Palma, Francesco Pedraglio, Tania Pérez Córdova, Laure Prouvost, Diego Salvador Rios, Jorge Satorre, John Skoog, John Smith, Hito Steyerl, Lewis Teague Wright

Dora Budor, There's something terrible about reality and I don't know what it is. No one will tell me., 2018, installation view

Casa Tomada, 2018

Performances de Juan Caloca: 7+13 abril, 2-6pm

Performances de Francesco Pedraglio: 15 abril + 5 mayo, 8pm

(Registro necesario: anna.roberta.goetz@gmail.com)

Un proyecto iniciado y curado por Anna Goetz

Juan Caloca, Maniqueísmo Acéfalo, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018, photo: AG

''Quería reconstruir ese espacio e entrarlo para poder sentirme real otra vez.''

Tom McCarthy, Remainder, 2006

Casa Tomada, el proyecto de exposición independiente está inspirado en la novela de Tom McCarthy, Remainder (2006), y en el cuento de Julio Cortázar que da título a este proyecto, Casa Tomada (1946). En ambas historias, la casa privada proporciona el escenario y la forma para el desarrollo de las narrativas, y funciona como una metáfora de las convenciones, las ideologías y los sistemas de creencias imperantes del contexto social de cada historia. Al mismo tiempo, la casa funge para los protagonistas como una estructura establecida para comprender, controlar y construir sus realidades cotidianas. En ambos casos, sin embargo, esta estructura es cuestionada y se ve amenazada hasta el punto de su eventual colapso.

Para la exposición Casa Tomada, un grupo de artistas internacionales -algunos viviendo en México, otros viviendo en el extranjero- fueron invitados a desarrollar nuevas obras de sitio específico en una vecindad vacía en un barrio residencial de clase media en respuesta al marco temático sugerido por las referencias literarias. El gran número de nuevas comisiones está contextualizado por una selección de obras en préstamo.

La exposición está además activada por performances de Juan Caloca y Francesco Perdaglio.

La exposición se hace posible gracias al apoyo del Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) y Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung, The Canada Council for the Arts y InHouse. Apoyo adicional de Bohemia, Mercarte y kansai.

Agradecimientos especiales a los artistas, y Fernanda Barreto, María Cecilia Camarena Villa, Andrea Carrasco Morales, Francisco Cordero-Oceguera, Fermín Díaz, Mito Elizondo, Rafael Gutiérrez, House of Gaga, joségarcía ,mx, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Lodos Gallery, Javier Amescua López, Sara Lambranho, Mariana Munguía, Jazael Olguín, Pedro&Juana, Romina Soriano, Romina R Soriano.

***

''I wanted to reconstruct that space and enter it so I could feel real again.''

Tom McCarthy, Remainder, 2006

Casa Tomada, the independent exhibition project, is inspired by Tom McCarthy's novel Remainder

(2006), and by Julio Cortázar's title-giving short story, Casa Tomada (1946).

In McCarthy's Remainder the protagonist questions the authenticity of the world as he experiences it

- he suspects everything around him being staged. After a déjà vu experience, he begins to

reconstruct and reenact the remembered scenes, because he feels emotionally connected to them

and therefore understands them as ''the authentic''. In order to reenact and relive these experiences

he acquires a house, refurbishes it and casts actors to enact all characters partaking in the

remembered imaginary scenes. However, the simulations are never satisfying to him so he

manipulates them and thus creates his very own parallel reality he is in control of.

In Cortázar's Casa Tomada a brother and sister live together in an old mansion. Their everyday is

organized along a strict timetable, which is connected to always the same sequence of rooms -

every activity dedicated to one room. One day, '''unknown creature'' seem to take over one room

after another and the siblings' routines get disrupted. It remains unclear if the ''unknown creatures''

are real or a subconscious construct. Either way, they affect the subjective reality of the protagonists

and make them discard the established system of routines within they hitherto were living.

Casa Tomada is undermining the notion of the house as sanctity and refuge and can be interpreted

as allegory for Argentina's political climate and its impact on society at the time of its publication -

the house as traditional Argentina being corrupted by new (''unknown'') or until then marginalized

forces; forces which at that time were able to ''progressively'' take over the country.

In both stories, the private house provides setting and form for the unfolding of the narratives, and

functions as a metaphor for the prevailing conventions, ideologies, and belief systems of the social

context in which each story is set. At the same time, the house serves the protagonists as a set

structure with which to understand, control, and construct their everyday realities. In both cases,

however, this structure is called into question, and is threatened to the point of eventual collapse.

For the exhibition Casa Tomada, a group of international artists - some living in Mexico, others

living abroad - were invited to develop site-specific new works in an empty vecindad (specific

Mexican housing complex) in a middle-class residential neighborhood, in response to the thematic

framework suggested by the literary references. The great number of new commissions are

contextualized by a selection of works on loan.

The exhibition is in addition activated by performances by Juan Caloca and Francesco Perdaglio.

John Smith, The Girl Chewing Gum , 1976, cortesía del artista y Tanya Leighton, Berlin // Parte de: Dora Budor, There's

something terrible about reality and I don't know what it is. No one will tell me., 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Parte de: Dora Budor, There's something terrible about reality and I don't know what it is. No one will tell me., 2018,

installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

The exhibition is made possible with the support of Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) and Pro

Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung, The Canada Council for the Arts, and InHouse Estudio

Inmobiliario México. Additional support from Bohemia and kansai.

Special thanks to the artists, and to Fernanda Barreto, María Cecilia Camarena Villa, Andrea

Carrasco Morales, Nico Colón, Francisco Cordero-Oceguera, Fermín Díaz, Mito Elizondo, Rafael

Gutiérrez, House of Gaga, joségarcía ,mx, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Lodos Gallery, Javier

Amescua López, Sara Lambranho, Mariana Munguía, Jazael Olguín, Pedro&Juana, Romina R

Soriano.

Graphic design: Studio Katsu

Photos: Pj Rountree

Unless otherwise mentioned courtesy the artist

Francesco Pedraglio, Pompeii, Italy, 1789, 2018 // Lewis Teague Wright, Soundtrack, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Fernando Palma Rodríguez, Ome, 2016, cortesía del artista y House of Gaga, Ciudad de México/Los Angeles, installation view

Casa Tomada, 2018

Parte de: Ed Atkins, Hisser, 2015, cortesía del artista y Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlín, Cabinet Gallery, London, Gavin Brown's

enterprise, New York and dépendance, Brussels, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Lewis Teague Wright, Foley, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

John Skoog, Reduit (Reducto), 2014, cortesía del artista y Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Francesco Pedraglio, Metonimia (acto 3), 2018 // Diego Salvador Rios, Celosía (*kel-2), 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Diego Salvador Rios, Celosía (*kel-2), 2018 + Paisajes (de la serie Paisajes I), 2016, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Diego Salvador Rios, Celosía (*kel-2), 2018 + Paisajes (de la serie Paisajes I), 2016 // Francesco Pedraglio, Metonimia (acto 1), 2018,

installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Jorge Satorre, Esqueroso, 2018 // Francesco Pedraglio, Metonimia (acto 2), 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Laure Prouvost, nyt, 2018 // Isa Genzken, De la serie Krankenhausfoto (Foto del Hospital), 1991, Desarrollado por:

Isa Genzken. Jeder braucht mindestens ein Fenster exh. cat. The Renaissance Society Gallery at the University of Chicago,

1992; Portikus, Frankfurt/Main 1992; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 1993; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1993,

Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 1992 Cortesía del artista y Galerie Buchholz, Köln/Berlin/New York //

Francesco Pedraglio, Semna Temple, Sudan, 1849, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Laure Prouvost, nyt, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Isa Genzken, De la serie Krankenhausfoto (Foto del Hospital), 1991, Desarrollado por: Isa Genzken. Jeder braucht mindestens

ein Fenster exh. cat. The Renaissance Society Gallery at the University of Chicago, 1992; Portikus, Frankfurt/Main 1992; Palais

des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 1993; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1993, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König,

Cologne 1992 Cortesía del artista y Galerie Buchholz, Köln/Berlin/New York, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Francesco Pedraglio, Semna Temple, Sudan, 1849, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Hito Steyerl, The Empty Centre, 1998, cortesía del artista y Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York // Sammy Baloji & Filip De Boeck,

The Tower: A Concrete Utopia, 2015, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Hito Steyerl, The Empty Centre, 1998, cortesía del artista y Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Juan Caloca, Impasse culture, 2018,, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Rosa Aiello, Temper, 2016, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Tania Pérez Córdova, Handhold 7 (Pasamanos 7), 2016 + Handhold 8 (Pasamanos 8), Cortesía del artista y Galerie Martín Janda,

installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Parte de: Tania Pérez Córdova, Handhold 7 (Pasamanos 7), 2016 + Handhold 8 (Pasamanos 8), Cortesía del artista y Galerie Martín

Janda, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Gina Folly, Double Fantasy VIII-X, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Gina Folly, Basic Needs XVI - XXX, 2018 // Ed Atkins, Hisser, 2015, cortesía del artista y Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlín,

Cabinet Gallery, London, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York and dépendance, Brussels, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Gina Folly, Basic Needs XVI - XXX, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Ed Atkins, Hisser, 2015, cortesía del artista y Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Cabinet Gallery, London, Gavin Brown's

enterprise, New York and dépendance, Brussels, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Stuart Middleton, Contents I, 2016, cortesía del artista y Carlos/Ishikawa, London // Ed Atkins, Hisser, 2015, cortesía del artista y Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Cabinet Gallery, London, Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York and dépendance, Brussels,

installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Stuart Middleton, Contents I, 2016, cortesía del artista y Carlos/Ishikawa, London, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Mathis Altmann, Calle 22 12BIS, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Francesco Pedraglio, Oxford University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, UK, 1811, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Juan Caloca, Maniqueísmo Acéfalo, 2018, installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

Dora Budor, There's something terrible about reality and I don't know what it is. No one will tell me. (detail), 2018,

installation view Casa Tomada, 2018

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