Daniele Buetti (Friburgo, Switzerland, 1955) puts forward an ambient installation that takes on the architectural and spatial characteristics of the Espacio Uno exhibitions spaces, with high windowless white walls. His spacial contribution looks at the theme of human desire, the search for love and tenderness as well as the betrayal of our emotions in collective experience in terms of the manipulation of large tragedies by the media.
The first room holds the installation À fleur de peau, which refers to the previous work Be my guide poppy poppy star (1998). The walls are covered in painted paper as the artist inserts other images inside the decorative motifs - drawings of figures and photographs that present a male chest. The human skin has tattoos and incisions of the brands Goodyear and General Electric inscribed on it; man is so susceptible to the advertising industry that the assimilation of the messages appear directly represented in the body, also expressed by Buetti in works previous to this exhibition.
In the centre he sets out an installation with an architectural structure, a support for images of models taken from magazines. These beauty icons from the society of consumerism are accompanied by questions that challenge the actual image, for instance Why should I change my attitude? The result recalls advertising boards, in which, by adding neon lamps and adhesive letters, the panels are lit from behind, creating a glossy and luxurious atmosphere that spotlights the identification between medium and message.
In the second room Buetti displays a collection of collages made with material taken from the advertising media of mass culture. He builds new messages with images of women and refers to them with questions such as When I did last cry in front of another person? as they allude to stories of love and emotional dependence. Once he again he uses neon lights to compose sentences that belong to the realm of the intimate and personal, sharing the language of the media, advertising and cinema, for instance Wish you were here.
The continuous interplay between light and sound gives the space a very sensual feel, yet the materials he uses are poor, which reflects artificiality and the contrast between the creation of effects and the reality of needs, between the luxurious models and the low quality of the materials and the conscious awkwardness in the creation of the panels.
The exhibit is concluded with the projection of the film Magic Moments (1997), which features a blonde doll spinning around while she is looking in a mirror - a victim of her own image. The projection intersperses a cloud of colours reflected on the walls and advertising boards, referring to the main theme: human desire interrupted on numerous occasions by emotional intimacy and tenderness and the ties to slavery that is established with images and models of consumerism.
Exhibition´s details
Museo Reina Sofía Publications
