Interview with Alejandro Bovo Theiler: English Translation

Alejandro Bovo Theiler: First Im going to tell you where we are, lets start by
setting the stage: We are in Laguanacazuls exhibition room in San Telmo, Defen
sa 677. Im Alejandro Bovo Theiler, a visual artist from La Falda, Crdoba. Here
today we are opening this show entitled Chi Commanda?, meaning Who rules?
in Italian. So if youd like to, we can look around it and reflect about the wor
k, its meaning, the way its produced, Im interested in exchange.
Question: All these characters, are they challenging authority or are they someh
ow setting something else, something different out?
A.B.T.: No, no, no. The only challenge here has to do with reflection, there isn
t a sense of thinking authority as rebelliousness, not at all. The idea is to t
hink about, to reflect what authority is, how it comes into being. And I depart
form certain concepts I think I carry out everyday. Im not interested in closin
g down that concept, but in opening it up, by posing the question Who rules? t
hat I ask in the catalogs text, because I think it forces the space, makes it c
urve, generates a body where we can inhabit the experience, but not by giving a
closed concept. This is in general what Im interested in in visual arts, the fa
ct that the work is not just constructed in the montage studio, but that it begi
ns to be a work (of art) with someone else s reading.
Q: So you are asking, not just about the action of ruling, but about the action
of being.
A.B.T.: Yes, because its not proposed as a mystery to solve, to see whos rulin
g, but to think about the sense of ruling, departing from a question that can be
incidental. So-and-so rules woudnt be an answer.
Q: So your question is about identity.
A.B.T.: Im more interested in posing another question as an answer: Who doesnt
rule? And thats why I work with this idea where I and We appear as an apha
betic language. The I is this character (he shows it) and the We is an objec
t in the centre of the room, a chair. When I work with this I and this We I
am searching for two things to become literal: that there is an I and a We t
hat arent split, they are diverse because they appear at differing distances, b
ut they are the same in the sense of feedback.
Before, a collegue was asking me about the philososphy, the authors. In general,
I think that the paradigm of evolution for this society consists in being able
to think of otherness as the only possible, real way of creating bonds.
Q : We know the doll is a fetish, money is a fetish (pointing to a doll whose ch
est is covered in coins).
A.B.T.: The first thing that I recommend anyone who watches this interview is th
at they should come to see the exhibit first. Because the readings I am making o
f my own work are poor. I think the work itself is always richer than the readin
g that, above all, the author can make. I think the authors is a developing rea
ding, conditioned, disguised as objective, but absolutely conditioned. Thats wh
y I say the work becomes a work (of art) when the other views it, reads it, beca
use, literally, its the reading that installs it at the level of reality, the l
evel of the vital reality of meanings. And it reinforces the ambiguity that a wo
rk needs in order to be read.
Well, in this case, thinking This year, as a country we celebrate a politically
relevant date as the Bicentenary (of the first Argentine national government),
the foundation of a nation. Here the coins can appear as a detail about that, bu
t also as a social reflection or as a new meaning of a current and daily object,
while, at the same time, many other things. I like that ambiguity. To tell the
truth, if I had felt, at making it, that Im really saying one thing
Q: You wouldnt have been interested in doing it.
A.B.T.: It wouldnt have worked because it blocks the process.
Q: Sure.
A.B.T.: The process is open when it has a degree of ambiguity.
I believe that when the spectators posibilities to get displaced are increased,
then if they are still, they can displace. This is a crucial point where visual
arts are irreplaceable
I would ask people Chi Commanda? (Who rules?) and, well, making sure that there
is not one expected response to the Chi Commanda? question. There are more quest
ions and, as some wise people say, its questions that really matter. Of course,
its a good thing that visual arts lead to reflection. I think one thing is to
respect the ambiguity of the construction to make the meaning open, but its als
o good to sit around and talk about what you see. Because this gives visual arts
a social aim, but not just social, also affective and political, deeply politic
al, that is to be able to listen. And to be able, not to discuss the others way
of listening, but to receive it.
I hope you can visit the show, I need you to visit the exhibition to develop my
work in every sense. Im interested in the fact that you
ve come and that its productive for you. Thank you very much.