The atelier of an artist...

12:00 a.m.

24/09/19 - If we picture ourselves in the studio of an artist, we would imagine it directly related to the kind of artworks the artist produces. So, if we think of Marta Minujin’s atelier, we suppose a large pile of colorful mattresses, neon lights and all kinds of objects stacked on top of each other. However, there’s nothing of the sort. The studio of the Argentine artist is in fact a white cube which is currently displaying an anthological exhibition of some of her works and registers of her performances throughout her career.

La Menesunda - Marta Minujin & Rubén Santantolín (1965)

Photo

Michelangelo's David

Marta Minujin's studio

La Venus Recostada

Marta Minujin's studio

Of the series Mattresses

Marta Minujin's studio

In the first room, around a big table, and with a bookcase full of catalogues and books, we see sculptures in different materials. It’s impossible not to stop and admire her Venus Recostada (of the series La Caída de los Mitos Universales): a piece with which Marta wanted to demystify Greek myths, questioning the inaccesible aura of the classic monuments. Further ahead we find the mattresses, with which she tried to attack the stiffness of the Art world.

Everything Minujin produces is a constant invitation to leave the confort zone of consumerism and nothing can prove it best like La Menesunda. The installation was not only schismatic when it was unveiled (1965), but also anticipated our obsession for participatory art.

The hallway that leads to the room where the videos are projected was used to display her most recent works: Marta remembers the effects of psychedelic drugs in the 60s. We see bi-dimensional pieces done with cutouts that the artist has entitled as Transicodélicos. Right in front of them we remember, through a photo, the happening Simultaneidad en Simultaneidad, when Marta achieved a satellite communication, in the 60s, with New York and Cologne (Germany), where they where having the same performance as in Buenos Aires.

La Libertad Recostada

Marta Minujin's studio

We were lucky enough to be told of her next project: an ambitious Marta Minujin wants to lean the Statue of Liberty, as a way to question anti-immigration policies. Lady Liberty was once a symbol of welcome to all the men and women of the world. Today, she has lost the original sense, so the artist wants to modify it.

The last room is the "kitchen" where her sculptures are "cooked" and we get to see all kinds of objects, from a little bust of the artist to her iconic mirrored sunglasses.