LOS CARPINTEROS

A candela is an international photometric unit that measures light in space.  This is its objective definition, but it has many other meanings in different Spanish-speaking regions, some of which are contradictory.  In Cuba it refers to a complicated situation or an astute person.  In Spain it is a woman's name.  It is also a candle, candlelight, a fire, "the heart of the matter", and even a firefly.  Fire also has that ability to change.  A physical element creating heat and light, it is associated with moods such as love or rage, and with social ocurrences such as revolts or revolutions.  Additionally, its presence affords comfort or harbors danger, depending on the instance.   Cuban artists Los Carpinteros have filled the perimeter of the old cold storage room at Matadero with a huge fire sculpture that references the past of this place: a fire that ocurred in the 90s when the building was abandoned and caught fire due to the negligence of any possible inhabitants.   [It is] a drawing in three dimensions measuring seven hundred thirty-six lineal metres that uses a technique commonly used for political propaganda in Cuba and other regions of America, like, for example, the famous image of Che that for more than two decades presides over the Plaza de la Revolución from the façade of the Ministry of the Interior.  For Abierto x Obras this graphic rendering of the hero is transformed into the image of a natural element that is connected, as well, to the history of the place.

Opening day: 25 of january, 20h.