Open Madrid

The POST IT project, by Chus García- Fraile, sets out from a reflection on consumerism in western culture and our everyday habits, the limits of public and private, and the invasion of the personal sphere by the media pressure to which we are constantly subjected.

1138710216_g_0.jpg

Post It notes have been magnified and stuck onto famous Madrid buildings (Círculo de Bellas Artes, la Casa de América and the Palacio de Comunicaciones.) Once there, they suddenly become advertisements of our everyday little concerns – going to the gym, dieting, smoking less, etc. –, thus acquiring other meanings. In this new context they reflect not our own wishes but the continuous seductive action of commercial advertising.

The work is part of Madrid Abierto, an international artistic programme of public performances and installations (Madrid, until February 26.) In the programme there’s also : reality soundtrack, Pulsing path and SPEAKHERE.

For SPEAKHERE!, Nicole Cousino and Chris Vecchio, set up a speaker’s hole on the busy Alcalá street and a sound system mounted in the Retiro park. The system allows personal songs, words, shouts, utterances and whispers to be transmitted in real-time to an unsuspecting audience.

nicole_cousino4_min.jpgnicole_cousino2_min.jpg

The installation is based loosely on the concept of the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London, but provides the speaker with anonymity and no guarantee that there is a crowd of listeners rather than just an old cat on the other end of the installation.

Via Edgar Gonzalez and El Mundo.