The Prevailing Forces - Eugenia Calvo

Eugenia Calvo, Las fuerzas predominantes (The Prevailing Forces), 2009, Video installation, variable dimensions. Courtesy 713 Contemporary Art.

713 Contemporary Art, Buenos Aires

By María Carolina Baulo

The exhibition presented by the Argentine artist Eugenia Calvo focused on daily objects, dealing with highly powerful concepts, such as uniformity and diversity, and analyzing the roles each one plays while keeping its individuality even when interacting within a superior order.

The installation addressed the usage of furniture and ordinary objects establishing a new rule which then logically affected every other previous order between those objects; they were forced to relate thereby losing their original function. Paint became of crucial importance in that scenario - synthetic blue and green enamel - to understand the criteria of the show. Differences disappeared when the color unified the elements in the room and, at the same time, that homogeneity allowed other centers of attention to stand out, emerging from that enormous blue volume surrounding us. The paradox was that those same elements acted as a barrier for the spectator not to trespass.

When creating, Eugenia Calvo assumes an experimental point of view when it comes to manipulating objects. That search, which inspires her work, broadens their functionality according to the space they occupy, separates them from uses we generally identify them with and therefore, if the structure and essence of the elements change, the space that contains them also mutates. The idea is to create new conflictive situations - a struggle of forces establishing new bonds and questioning laws.

The Prevailing Forces submerged us in the emotional battlefield that moving represents: joy, defiance, an enigma; it could also generate insecurity and confusion and a constant need to recognize ourselves in a space of our own, a brand new place that speaks for us even when we are not aware of it. Moving is a traumatic situation by definition. In this exhibition we were in the middle of the tension that emerged from both spaces: the one we leave when we move and the new one we start occupying. We experienced the exact moment when we are “not from here and not from there” at the same time. The show was completed with two videos, strategically located in a place with full access for the spectator. The total opposite of homogenization of objects accomplished by the blue-green paint was displayed. Following a coherent strategy that always combined different forces and tensions, some spaces determined by furniture and monochromatic objects clearly limited us and stopped our move forward, and on the other hand, the short stories and anime films - based on the aesthetic of the decorative designs of nineteenth century place settings and china - invited us to actively participate.

The challenge was to find different ways in which to relate to the daily objects, avoiding underestimation or ignoring their real potential. Following the famous Stanislavsky command for improvisations, the conditional “what if” seems to rule the actions of the artist: “it nurtures my works and allows me to think about another possible universe,” she says.