Europe government's’ overall unwillingness to respond to the global migrant crisis and the typically Western attitude of resistance toward the problem have in fact generated a damning paradox: the refugee problem seem to “not exist” yet it is more present than ever at the same time.
Until November 2016, TBA21 hosts “An Arrival Tale”, an exhibition of works by Torres from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, on display at the institution’s current premises in Vienna’s Augarten Park. Whilst García Torres’ performance is more focused on aesthetic and theoretical concerns, something which is at the heart of the artist’s practice, his words still resonate with the problematics animating the exhibition.
In line with the institution’s desire to support socially conscious and politically engaged artists and projects, “An Arrival Tale” represents an occasion to rediscover, rethink and reconsider works produced by García Torres over a decade, in light of the fallacies, inconsistencies and difficulties of contemporary history and history-making. “After the migrant crisis, the big question of our time, art must play a role” — comments Clemens Rettenbacher, director of exhibitions at TBA21. While all featured pieces, including video, sculpture and installation, have an original context of creation, they take on new meanings to the eyes of the contemporary audience.
Mario García Torres. The Way They Looked at Each Other. Courtesy of TBA21. Photo Nik Wheelr / Alamy.
In the 38-minute visual essay The Way They Looked at Each Other for example, the only piece commissioned by TBA21 specifically for the exhibition, García Torres narrates the events surrounding the deaths by U.S. fire of three journalists in Baghdad in April 2003 and the subsequent 2011 investigation conducted by Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz. The context of the Iraq war, with the coverups, the scandals and the media debates it stirred up, allows Torres to reflect on the complication of narratives, dealing with the relationship between facts, fiction and with the problematic nature of historiography — how traumatic events are filtered, perceived and understood; a problematic that is incredibly of our time.
Next to the reconstruction of political events, “An Arrival Tale” also deals with the parallel issue of the (re)construction of one’s identity, a process which is also activated through the act of journeying. More than on “arrivals”, however, the exhibition focuses on their narration, the “tales” and the elements of departure, migration and displacement that are at its heart. García Torres undertakes this journey through a number of alter-egos: most notably Italian artist Alighiero Boetti. The “dialogue” between the two artists frames the exhibition, providing its thematic unity.
It may be hard to imagine today, but Boetti left Italy for Afghanistan in the 60s, his home country then shaken by the wave of political terrorism that marked the so-called Years of Lead. In a way, he too was a refugee, as well as an artist interested in geopolitical dynamics, as his signature works Mappe (Maps) testify. In Shar-e Naw Wanderings, a fictional dialogue with Alighiero Boetti, constituted of fictional faxes sent by García Torres to Boetti during the former’s equally fictional trip to Kabul, the one-way correspondence between the artists, dated 2001, aims to create a discourse around our tools of communication. At the same time, the series is both a love letter to Boetti and arguably a tribute to a country conserving its identity in the face of the difficult history of the Middle East.
Starting from a fictional journey, García Torres concludes the exhibition with a (f)actual journey to Afghanistan, documented in his video “Tea”, commissioned by dOCUMENTA (13). Here, the artist concludes his dialogue with Boetti, this time actually travelling to Kabul, experiencing first-hand the feeling of displacement that is so relevant to the entirety of the exhibition.
Mario García Torres. The Way They Looked at Each Other. Courtesy of TBA21. Photo Nik Wheelr / Alamy.
But the most significant factual journey, and probably the most poignant arrival tale, is that of the participants of Green Light, a project ideated by Olafur Eliasson and TBA21 allowing refugees and asylum seekers in Austria in order to participate in artistic workshops at the Vienna foundation. With TBA21 making an actual difference, García Torres too has decided to develop his exhibition in dialogue with displaced people, bringing their voice and their own tales to “An Arrival Tale”, adding a layer to the reflection on the ideas of departure and arrivals by sharing their stories or by offering more intimate and personal tours of the exhibitions, thus bringing the link between past and present to the forefront.
And like Boetti’s signature works Mappe, encompassing a global world, Torres’ research speaks of today’s global issues, of the tales of departure, arrival and survival that are deeply ingrained in the dramatic historical events of our time.
