Pinyin Exercise

Pinyin Exercise is a mural and sound installation that breathes life into Madrid's Usera district through the imaginary universe of Mallorcan artist Albert Pinya (Medal of Honour of the BMW Painting Prize 2016, ECA prize, ARCOMadrid 2014 and present in exhibitions in Milan, Barcelona, Beijing and Lisbon).

This artist's work stems from an intentional and ironic ingenuity that manages to dismantle the perverse structures of reality. He applies the codes of popular culture, comics and illustration to an absolutely identifiable style whose deliberately naïve aesthetics conceal a precise treatment of the subjects he explores.

This project was conceived after an artistic residency in China where he was able to work and interact hand in hand with contemporary Chinese artists. This is how he became interested in researching the spoken and written word, the graphic nature of Chinese writing and its poetry.

During his residency in Naves Matadero, Pinya will select a series of contemporary Chinese poems written in Pinyin (the phonetic transcription of Chinese) which will be read by a number of residents from Usera. The pronunciation and the sounds of his words will accompany the mural, creating a kind of soundscape on which Albert Pinya will draw, together with the participation and integration of volunteers from neighbourhood associations in Usera, the Chinese characters that make up those poems. “This work will underscore the visual nature of Chinese writing, turning it into a character in itself, with the aim of confronting the viewer with the physical experience of language.

Pinyin Exercise demonstrates how we need to communicate and understand each other in direct and interpersonal relationships, in spite of the absence of a perfect translation in these confusing and uncertain times,” the artist explains.

Language: Spanish and Chinese