CASTELLO DI AMA
2006: CARLOS GARAICOA
Yo no quiero ver más a mis vecinos
As sociologists never fail to emphasize, the loss of points of reference – for example, the decline of nation states and their subordinate institutions – that goes hand in hand with globalization is also closely connected with an exponential increase in the fear of losing the only shared value: economic power. We are faced, then, by the paradox that the dwindling importance of centralized power and the consequent impoverishment of the “traditional” concept of borders that holds sway in the current international economic system only applies to information (though many qualifications are required here), money and goods. Individual human beings, by contrast, seem to be ever more dependent on the “protective” power of delimitations and frontiers. From this point of view the collapse of the Berlin Wall – which, with great joy and emotion we saw coming down just over 15 years ago – can only be viewed as an emblem of the end of the Cold War, and not, as we ingenuously hoped at the time, an early signal of a world without barriers or limits. That symbolic wall, erected in August 1961, is being replaced by many other boundaries, ranging from the wall erected by the Israelis to the smaller, disguised fences of our everyday lives. Guards and barriers, in fact, surround enclaves (residential zones or shopping malls) within our cities and define areas in relation to wealth and social status.
Here in Tuscany, in a landscape imbued with history and culture, in a place where ideas, stories and images are exchanged and produced, Carlos Garaicoa presents some of these walls, new and old alike, in a reduced format that enables us, if we so desire, to clamber over them with ease (almost inviting us to think that all limits are constructed in order to prompt us to overcome them), but which nonetheless make their presence, and the force of the motivations that created them, felt very strongly. Such is human nature, and the imposing constructions reproduced here bear testimony to this. Once walls have lost their original function and the blood shed to defend or scale them have been forgotten, they often become tourist attractions, like Hadrian’s Wall, the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall itself. They are transformed from instruments of division into founding elements of our culture. Carlos would probably like to instil the doubt that culture itself is also nourished by a process that is partly aggressive and partly peaceful and by communication between people. The stones used to build walls are also useful for terracing fields, which then become productive, a source of wellbeing, as the surrounding landscape shows. The strident contrast between landscape and installation is evident and at the same time arouses admiration and wonder – as, one might add, do all of Garaicoa’s works. His ability to tune into and give form to our tensions is, I believe, one of his great qualities: his acute sensitivity to social and personal problems, his visionary capacity and his attention to the details of a given place stir our amazement and fascinate us, creating a synthesis that confirms that the Cuban artist is an authoritative voice capable of lucidly narrating the contradictions of our age. This new installation is no exception. In fact, Garaicoa cannot help observing what he sees around him and commenting on it. Erecting a wall that might separate us from our neighbour and hide us from his gaze, as happens in the video Yo no quiero ver más a mis vecinos, is a metaphor of the current situation and at the same time an assuming of responsibility, an affirmation that we are all involved (including the artist himself) in this race to construct defensive walls, which stems from spreading fear and the desire to guarantees our privacy. These are perfectly legitimate sentiments, of course, but also ambiguous, to the point that they also generate diametrically opposite consequences. Political aspects and private aspects, social space and intimate space; these walls stretching out at our feet speak of these two polarities, which enter into contact and need to be resolved through complex negotiation. The communist regimes failed to do so – and let’s not forget that Cuba is still a stronghold of the “Second World” – but so has the victorious liberalism that has been unopposed in recent years and which is still an open issue today.
Roberto Pinto