Casa Antillón presents its first exhibition as a collective. With a new and fresh idea, Domestic Fictions goes beyond a simple art show, it is an installation that traps and immerses the visitor, inviting reflection on identity and home through visual, tactile and auditory experimentation.
I visited Casa Antillón’s Carabanchel headquarters before the exhibition opened. Marta Ocho and Emmanuel Álvarez, members of Casa Antillón together with Yosi Negrín and Ismael Santos, gave me a guided tour of the building; they have just moved into this space that they found after much searching during the pandemic. A spacious and perfect place to work. Emmanuel leads me to a first floor that they want to transform into an exhibition area; they expect the project to grow and they need a space where they can work and exhibit at the same time.
The works are created by all the members of the group, individual authorship does not exist. Emmanuel explains to me that everyone does what they can and when they can, they have to work on their own if they want to keep going. He says he has no problems with the organization, all the members share the same enthusiasm for the project. In the courtyard, Marta paints a stained glass window that will be placed in one of the facilities of the exhibition, she tells me that more than a simple exhibition, what they try to offer is an experience, and for this they take into account the environment and atmosphere in which it takes place. In previous exhibitions of the collective we have been able to see works by emerging artists, along with performances and dj-sets; complete events that have brought together all the disciplines in which emerging art is developing at the moment.
The novelty that the collective brings us on this occasion is the presentation of its own work in the more than perfect setting of La Real Casa de la Moneda de Segovia, a building surrounded by nature in which Casa Antillón has set up its own home version.
Called Domestic Fictions, the exhibition is a story of intimacy through several installations with a linear route. The succession of rooms, with works that simulate the furnishings of a house, arouse curiosity and a sense of playfulness, making the tour become a path of discovery in which the viewer himself is an active part. The house proposed by the collective is a dreamlike space marked by nightmares that are reflected in the decoration of each room, and that dissipate as you go up floors.
On the opening day we were able to see the group Las Yoyo, formed by Alejandra Mendoza, Iris Torruella and Pau Mart, performing in two rooms, with costumes by Jorge Ariza.
When I say goodbye I ask the four members what they think people will think when they see the installation, and in response they quote a direct message that came to their Instagram account: “I love that you keep filling this with imagination”.
Fotografías de: Paula Caballero – @exhibitionphoto
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