Artist: Juan López
Space: San Vicente do Burgo
Project: “Ruído de Fondo” (Background noise)
“We have chosen this project because of its ability to draw our attention to the elements that make up architectural spaces and their resignification, and because its activation depends on the direct participation of the public.”
Susana González, member of the jury of the First Annual Connexio Awards.
“Ruído de fondo’, by Juan López (Project in San Vicente do Burgo).
Juan López’s project for the church of San Vicente do Burgo falls within his broader line of recent work regarding processes of constructing new meanings, in this case focusing on the specificities of the building’s architecture and history.
His project centers on San Vicente do Burgo’s choir, and on one of the church’s most characteristic elements: its clock. He makes the church “ring out” through two actions, two pieces with a common thread: the idea of creating a direct relationship between language, spelling, sound, architecture and space.
The history of San Vicente do Burgo and its magnetic pull got me thinking about a project that starts inside the city walls, but projects outwards, with the aim of getting pilgrims, walkers and locals involved in its living history. Juan López
Juan López (Cantabria, 1979)
Juan López (Cantabria, 1979) holds a BFA from the University of Cuenca, and has had solo shows at Centre d’Art La Panera (Lleida), OK Centrum (Linz), Galería La Fábrica (Madrid), ARTIUM (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Matadero (Madrid), Bellevue (Linz), Sala Naos (Santander), Fundació Joan Miró’s Espai 13 (Barcelona), Centre Santa Mònica (Barcelona), ECAT (Toledo) and La Casa Encendida (Madrid).
His work reflects on the ways in which our experience of inhabiting conditions our perception of space and time, focusing on architectural elements associated with power structures in order to seek out alternatives to normative social relations. Through metaphor and site-specific projects, he attempts to break down and rebuild the bonds between the three elements that underpin his work: city, subjectivity and power. The idea of “breaking” is a core concept in his practice, opening up the possibility of drawing a link between the objectivity of “out there” and one’s own individual perception.