English
Until the 11th of September, the Seville Center of Contemporary Art (CAAC) is presenting the work of Annika Ström. The show, titled Song by., is a part of the museum´s “La Canción como Fuerza Social Transformadora ” project.
During the 20th century, popular music went hand in hand with all the revolutionary movements, like a motor for mobilization, and catalyst for transforming dreams. This is how music and culture transformed in spheres of ideological struggle, with many artists´ work being defined by their support or condemnation for certain political positions; they were art works and music which included a kind of kind of social compromise.
During the Spanish Civil War, music was a crucial part of the trenches; it accompanied the political processes which culminated in the defeat of the Republic – and it was an emotional and political trigger for resistance and exile from the Franco dictatorship. In the same way, the revolutions in the 60s taking place in far flung places round the world became a kind of mode of inspiration; a motor for creators of revolutionary music, such as Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara in Latin America.
This special role which music takes is what this exhibition seeks to analyze and investigate, through the work of artists who work with music as an explorative vehicle for new concepts in a post-modern society.
With this in mind, the museum has centered its show around two conceptual artists whose work is based on the idea of music as an explorer of emotion and behaviour; Annika Ström and Ruth Ewan.
Annika Ström was born in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1964. She has worked within an aesthetic related to the conceptual, whereby emotions, particularly her own, are explored through music, which makes up much of the pieces.
The music is closest to pop, for its composition and tone which encourages the spectator to absorb themselves in the content of the work; it reflects a moment, and the contemporary sense of transience, whereby revolution and change happen on a more individual scale, with less of a “social” element.
In Song by, Annika Ström explores the idea of sincerity through videos, music and text which inter-mingle to offer the spectator the chance to explore their interaction with others, be it society, or some other metaphysical.
The music as interpreted by Ström, accompanied by a wall of metallic sound programmed by the artist herself, gives her work a rich level of aesthetic, which attracts the viewer, and is highly evocative, despite not being refined, or “perfect.” It is a music which gives an impression of autonomy, in the style of certain electro-pop sounds.
The textual part of the Song by piece is an extension of the music, where the “you” and “I” take up the space occupied by each person. So in the minimalistic texts, as well as the music, the phrases contain just a few words. In these phrases, there are no punctuation marks – they are just plain, and continuous, like the wall of sound and voices accompanying them.
The music accompanying Ström´s intimate work has very little in common with the sounds of the 20th century – however, they are the reflection of a society increasingly preoccupied with the individual, and its metaphysical abstractions.
For more information http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/caac/programa/ex_act.htm
Nancy Guzman
If you have decided to spend a few days or weeks in apartments in Seville this exhibition, and the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo is a good way of soaking up some culture and understanding the world in which we live.
Translated by: Poppy
