Ines Salpico

The day Louis Vuitton was closed

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:29:00 +0200

Barcelona, 29th March 2011. The day awakes to a Sunday mood. The shops are closed, there’s no laughter of children on their way to school. A general strike is scheduled for today in protest for… well, probably no one agrees exactly for what: against the sky rocketing unemployment rates, against corruption, against the financial system and banking institutions, against the government’s austerity budget and labour law reforms, … Later in the afternoon a big crowd is to march down the main arteries of the city centre shouting a myriad of watchwords.

But before the protesters gather, the streets - already cut to traffic – shine under a glorious spring sun, the unusual silence giving them a particular clarity and sharpness. In Passeig de Gracia, where an inclement stream of cars usually cuts the avenue (and the city) in half, people walk and cycle leisurely., Here, in the commercial heart of the city, all the shops - namely those of luxury brands – are closed more due to the fear of vandalism than to employees’ activism. The eastern European, Latin American and Asian shopping-tourists are therefore nowhere to be seen and are either protectively lounging in their hotels or jumped on a bus to La Roca Village.

And what a pleasant and unexpected feeling it is to walk up and down the city centre without being startled by impatient drivers and without bumping into ladies with silicone implants and shopping bags. And guess what? It is possible to experience the city without shopping.

Whatever non-clear purpose and effectiveness this strike might have sought, it accomplished something fundamental even before the demonstrations and without any acts of vandalism: it reclaimed the city for those who live in it and wish to enjoy it plainly. It gave pedestrians space to walk and look up to the amazing architecture that surrounds them. It allowed them to simply sit while chatting and having a snack - right there, in the core of the city, that real estate speculation has made a forbidden area for most people to live in and luxury brands have taken over most commercial spaces.

If “the system” needs to be changed perhaps one of the first and immediately effective changes needed is giving back cities to pedestrians and to those who work in the centre but are forced to live - or better said, sleep - in the suburbs. And this especially in a moment when due to the financial and real estate crisis so many buildings are simply empty, crowding the city with derelict ghosts that were once the promise of fortune and are now useless assets left to crumble.

A brave, intelligent and efficient mayor would enforce owners to maintain and renovate their patrimony (a lot of which is actually listed and with historical value) and/or make it available for temporary public management if empty for more than a given period. Some air could be pumped into the city by offering these spaces as rent-controlled flats, cultural equipments, offices for small businesses, etc… This would probably be enough (and better than legislating) to revamp the cartelized property market and let prices naturally adjust to the REAL economic situation.

And “indignados”: instead of setting trash bins on fine and vandalizing Starbucks just start cycling everyday up and down Passeig de Gracia. The shopping tourists will be annoyed. And then so will the government.

"I will do such things – what they are yet, I know not; but they shall be the terrors of the earth."

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:12:01 +0200

“I will do such things – what they are yet, I know not; but they shall be the terrors of the earth.”

- in Howard Jacobson’s latest chronicle on The Independent -

When did we stop seeing modesty as a virtue?

Some refreshing Moments of Clarity in Lee Camp´s show. He’s the...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:58:00 +0200

Some refreshing Moments of Clarity in Lee Camp´s show.
He’s the Che-Guevara-meets-Frank-Zappa of stand up comedy.

Makes you laugh about how messed up the world is so that you realize that there’s not much to laugh about how messed up the world is.

Saturday in Gratallops, Priorat - Catalunya: - wine tasting at...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:03:00 +0100

Saturday in Gratallops, Priorat - Catalunya:

- wine tasting at Celler Cecilio

- honey tasting at Mel de Gratallops

- wine tasting and calçotada at Clos Figueras

Thanks to: August Vincent (Celler Cecilio), Salvador Sorroche (Mel de Gratallops) and Miquel Compte (Clos Figueras) for hosting, and more importantly, for really liking what they do.

Against Scientific Masturbation

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 11:57:41 +0100

A few months ago I happened to be at a conference speakers’ dinner sitting across a young economy professor. His department had been granted a huge lump of EU money for research. (Meaning the conference, and therefore the dinner, were kindly being paid by EU taxpayers).

Having sat all day at the conference failing to see any connection, let alone application, of the array of presentations, papers and projects to the real data and dynamics of financial markets and the real economy, I was feeling a bit unsettled.
I obviously thought it was my problem. I must be missing something. Maybe missing the whole thing. It can’t be that all those economy wizzes from all this top rank universities were simply playing with numbers, using irrelevant datasets to build theoretic models that couldn’t be further from the world crumpling and aching outside.

And so over dinner I dare ask, expecting to confirm my silliness and ignorance. The answer flabbergasted me:

«But I don’t care about the real world. I just want to be left alone and do my research. I’m a theory guy. And I don’t want to think about applications. That’s politics.»

If I hadn’t felt deeply sorry for him – and the wine wasn’t good – I would’ve been seriously mad.

It’s because of these fellows, masturbating in their offices, labs and lecture rooms, while we all pay for their wine, conferences and, most importantly, toilet paper, that a much needed change (Revolution?) is further than it should be. And boy, don’t the 99% exploit each other better than the 1%!

Four years after the financial system crumbled (and Economic Theory along with it) a young economy professor is happy producing research that has no connection with nor will have any impact in society. A total void of individual or collective urge to participate in a way that should be somehow be seen as a war effort – as I have already argued on a previous post.

Needless to say he did not have a girlfriend.
And again, thank you to all fellow EU taxpayers for a lovely dinner. The wine was indeed excellent.

Research material: The “horse sequence” in John...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:50:00 +0100

Research material:

The “horse sequence” in John Huston’s The Misfits (1961).

When looking for the toilet at the Business Lounge of Helsinki...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:24:35 +0100

When looking for the toilet at the Business Lounge of Helsinki Vantaa Airport the doubt arose: is that the toilet for escorted gentleman?

Thoughtless sexism particularly irritates me.

And it’s because of these silly things that I did NOT celebrate Women’s day a week ago. It somehow stands for the littleness of that pictogram.

Mr. Obrist must be really tired

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:14:00 +0100

Am I the only one who is getting a bit exhausted of the omnipresence of Hans-Ulrich Obrist? Don’t get me wrong. I do admire his ubiquity and versatility as curator-critic-interviewer-biographer-historian-lecturer-etc…. but I begin to feel a certain repetition and boredom in this prolific activity. And yes, I do try to just look away, ignoring the stacks of his books in every Art bookshop and Museum, restraining my restlessness when his name is yet on another program, exhibition, article, conference… But: a) it’s impossible, he’s always there no matter which direction you look; b) the alternatives are equally boring and repetitive. (Think of Ute Meta Bauer, for example)

So indeed the problem is not Mr.Obrist himself. He might actually be a victim (no irony here) of his success and productivity in a context of:

1 – Overwhelming amount of available information in which we are all entitled to a corner of the web where to produce (or more often than not reproduce) some king of content. This makes it extremely hard to discern what subjects are actually producing relevant new discourses. And therefore is just plainly safer and more comfortable – namely for the media and institutions - to stick to and rely on the established names. Just too risky and time consuming to select a potential interesting new voice from such a massive crowd.

2 – A general laziness of post-post-contemporary thought where a seeming newness and the fascination about gadgets, new technologies and new visual languages masquerades the actual torpor with which de big questions of a deeply changing world are being approached. And because it’s difficult to push any message amidst all the noise, the voices in the crowd just ride the wave of the established stars. And hashtag them on Twitter. And there’s not nearly enough room for critical creative thinking in 140 characters.

And that’s why Mr.Obrist and his books are forced to be everywhere all the time.

I’m sure he would appreciate some help himself. It’s been scientifically proved that men struggle with multitasking.

The Perplexities of the Unemployed Young Graduate

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:45:06 +0100

The unemployed young graduate (I shall just write the young graduate from now so as to avoid the pleonasm) comes out of University, tender and hopeful, and is faced with his first perplexity:

1 - All those years of superior education did not prepare him at all to actually do the job he was supposedly trained for.

But in times of crisis further perplexities follow:

2 – Right now there is really no chance the young graduate might a job doing what he was trained to do.

3 – The young graduate was not, during his over-specialized training, provided with the capacity and/or motivation to do something else. Let alone with the critical thinking and/or elasticity of thought to question his discipline and approach it from a different perspective.

So what’s left for the young graduate, tender and hopeless, to do? Moaning and filling for unemployment of course.

[Note: Think of the Great Depression or of the Great WWars. No one questions that in those historical moments, individual dreams and expectations were destroyed and personal narratives needed to be revised in the face of a dramatically changed world. Well in a way we ARE at war! And so demanding the future we were promised in the past is stupid and selfish. More than ever education is (one of many) tools to survive in the barricades. And is everyone’s responsibility to somehow fight. And fighting will always be more satisfying than moaning!]

Looking at art#3: Android vs. Richter. If in presence of a...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:37:33 +0100

Looking at art#3: Android vs. Richter.

If in presence of a master-piece (such as Gerhard Richter’s Reader) just take a good picture with your mobile phone and look at it later. It looks like a picture anyway!

@Gerhard Richter - Panorama - Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

What the Fetishization of Social Media Is Costing Us All - an article by Arianna Huffington

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:12:40 +0100

What the Fetishization of Social Media Is Costing Us All - an article by Arianna Huffington :

It’s costing us plain sanity. Specially when people post on Tumblr about a Tweet about a Pinterest link they saw on Facebook. Said link was obviously a reply to a question on Quora about the relevance of Google+. And now let me check-in on Foursquare.

Good (therefore silent) spontaneously conscientious design: in a...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:32:00 +0100

Good (therefore silent) spontaneously conscientious design:

in a modernist building in the Eixample in Barcelona small wooden sits have been added in the landing between each flight of stairs. The building is 5 storeys high and has no elevator so the resting spots come in handy. Specially if you’re a senior lady with a bad hip coming from the grocery store.

Financial Sector - A Nuts & Bolts Guide

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:33:00 +0100

I found this little gem in News from Nowhere - Radical and Community Bookshop in Liverpool.
Demystifying the Financial Sector - A Nuts & Bolts Guide is a little volume that walks you through the financial sector giving straight forward short explanations for a myriad of topics.

It’s part of a corporate critical research project by Corporate Watch called Banking on Crisis.

A bit biased? Of course. But isn’t all we read - namely about the financial sector - terribly biased? At least here you know what you’re in for.

And you actually realize some of the seemingly ridiculous and/or crazy pieces of information are in fact quotes from respectable sources (such as the IMF or the Financial Times). So there you go. And it has loads of references to the sources of information so that you can check facts yourself and read the story from the “dark side’s” perspective.

And boy, don’t we just love the totally literal graphic design!

Looking at art#2: group relaxing during a visit to the permanent...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:26:46 +0100

Looking at art#2: group relaxing during a visit to the permanent collection at Hamburger Bahnof, Berlin.

Beuys would’ve been happy.

Japanese composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda’s...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:56:00 +0100

Japanese composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda’s installation at the Hamburger Bahnhof untill April 9.

If in Berlin don’t miss it!

Looking at art: Berlin Hipster vs. Warhol «Oh, who was it that...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:11:00 +0100

Looking at art: Berlin Hipster vs. Warhol

«Oh, who was it that had a t-shirt with these flowers? Let me post it to my wall…»

Neighbors with a bit more than white fences

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:22:00 +0100

A few days ago this interesting article by Paul Theroux was published in the New York Times.

Beautifully written, it documents Theroux’s two day trip across the border - meaning the huge metallic fence - that separates Nogales, Arizona, USA from Nogales, Mexico, after which he returned to “homeland” with his eyes more open and his teeth whiter (more on that below).

Not sure what I find more fascinating in Theroux’s report:

- the scar the metallic fence leaves on the landscape, materializing an administrative line over what once were continuous streets shared by the American and Mexican community;

- the assertiveness of the guard that has never stepped on Mexican territory (a few feet away from the spot where he spends 8 hours a day) saying that he’d rather just stay “here” – the lack of curiosity and interest always being the straight path to enduring ignorance;

- the blooming dental care business that caters the needs of American “health tourists” unable to pay for dental care in the mighty US of A.

The growing dental care cluster is now one of the main pillars of the local economy alongside the factories of major companies such as Otis and Motorola. These mostly employ highly skilled professionals meaning that those forced to try the desert cross to the US are the non-skilled, often pushed to unemployment due to the decline in tourism caused by – guess what ?! – tighter border controls and the building of the “security fence”!

The article cannot be read as the description of a local phenomenon: it triggers a true reflection on borders and their symbolic role in stating how a nation sees itself and others (and enforces that vision).

It’s not hard to draw parallels with other geographic and historical border-defining-landmarks. The most obvious being, as Theroux himself mentions, the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall.

But a perhaps even more striking contemporary example comes to mind: the Israeli West Bank Barrier. Hard to know whether it will actually be effective in preventing terrorist moves on Israeli territory (the concept of Terrorism itself needing to be discussed) or rather fuel more hatred and estrangement.

It also made me think of Europe before Schengen. If the suppression of borders killed the thrill and emotion of crossing to the other side(s) it also eroded the feeling of otherness and made us feel we are part (professionally, culturally, etc.) of a larger territory – as equals, not as tourists or unprivileged immigrants.

And the fact is, on top of the two sides that a border separates, frontiers are themselves spaces, contained in the adimensional line that defines them - as discussed in this blog entry about Decolonizing Architecture’s exhibition Common Assembly: Deterritorializing the Palestinian Parliament in The Funambulist. They embody an odd condition of in-betweenness and of immateriallity-made-visible that is the statement of enforced separation and of the paradox of “building” that that does not exist.

Lygia Pape, still from the video “But I Fly”,...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:53:00 +0100

Lygia Pape, still from the video “But I Fly”, 2001

still under her spell after seeing Magnetized Space, the small retrospective of her work, last weekend at the Serpentine

Pealing a Pomegranate without corrupting any aril

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:17:00 +0100

#part of the Immediate Satisfaction Series

Sit down. Make sure you have everything you need: a pomegranate; a knife; a bowl, a napkin; some good music playing.

Make an incision into the top of the pomegranate, small enough to be sure that you won’t cut through the arils. It needs to be a small careful superficial incision - just enough to cut through the hard rind without corrupting the pulp. Take a chunk of the skin so that you expose some of the arils. Start extracting the arils carefully so that they don’t burst.

Make your way slowly. Remember: progress carefully, you don’t want any of the arils to burst.

This is an exercise of precision, patience and focus. It’s also a ritual of reverence to the aesthetic and structural complexity of this fruit.

You’re competing with your own impatience and clumsiness. Don’t let yourself down. It’s not just about doing something: it’s about doing it well.

After you’re done dwell in the beauty of the pile of uncorrupted arils.

Reward: now you can eat it.

Tip: marinate the pomegranate in some orange juice and/or Moscatel wine. Delicious!

"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not,..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:12:36 +0100

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”

- Matthew 13:12, King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)

thinking about bailouts… and about all those who bought Plasma TV’s on credit.