W—galería
September 28, 2024 – February 15, 2025
Zooming in, zooming out, and zooming in again: This movement unifies the seven interrelated paintings, wall assemblages, and sculptures on view in Ana Bidart’s “Sala de nado” (Swimming Hall). The sense of oscillation also refers to the way in which viewers physically interact with her works. It is a constant swinging of the gaze from large to small and back again. The floor of the main gallery doubles as a drawing. Plaster balls of different sizes sit on the blue ground. They have left white traces of abrasion, pointing to an artistic process that must have taken place here, yet any symbolic meaning is left undetermined. They could be air bubbles dancing in an aquarium, or planets that have lost their orbit and are now tumbling aimlessly through the universe. “In her works, Ana tries to avoid recognizable and unrecognizable gestures at the same time,” writes curator Martín Craciun. She aims to cultivate a state of being in which the nature of things remains liberatingly unclear.
A feeling of indefiniteness is suspended throughout the space. A selection of wall-objects from Bidart’s “Casa” (House) series (2020–) look like shelves for displaying sentimental treasures or pared-down versions of Joseph Cornell’s shadow boxes. They simultaneously resemble architectural blueprints of exhibition spaces, which contain miniature variations of the work on display in this very exhibition. In addition, Deep blue ink, Another splash, and Huracán (Hurricane), all 2024, initially evoke chalk drawings on a blue board. On closer inspection, it turns out that the lines and organic-looking shapes on the panels are executed with oil on canvas.By lingering in between and by dwelling on the recurring contradictions of Bidart’s artistic process, viewers are thrown back on themselves to a degree zero of “not knowing”—a state of radical openness that provides freedom in a time of social regulation, rife with constant categorical attributions and identitarian politics. “Sala de nado” allows us to let go of predetermined definitions and to recognize that our systems of understanding are worthy of critique.
