In a present marked by disruptive technologies and disinformation, armed conflicts and environmental collapse, Protection No Longer Assured revisit the concept of the sublime
Colección SOLO in Madrid
At the northern corner of the Parque del Retiro, across from Madrid’s Puerta de Alcalá, hides Colección SOLO, an art gallery open to the city.
Envisioned from the beginning as a private museum with multifaceted contents, SOLO is a space in constant change. Parallel to its construction, the design of the place evolves as the art collection develops. It is an intimate and collective space at the same time. Besides being a place to work, it is a place to spend leisure time, meet, and connect with people in conversation.
The inner design of the Colección SOLO gallery
The design has two elements: rooms and corridors, each with different materials and programs. A showcase of architectural experiences, the rooms are environments whose different dimensions transform them into environments with proportions and neutrality ideal for displaying artwork. In all cases, the building materials used were the same: polished concrete floors, plasterboard walls, exposed concrete frames and joists, and uniform lighting. A gray concrete floor, walls made of industrial cement panels and wood chips, and dramatic lighting transform the corridors into an urban system of streets and squares that reclaims the urban culture represented by the collection.
Ana Gervás and David Cantolla at the origin of Espacio SOLO
What is the origin of Espacio SOLO? Spanish entrepreneurs Ana Gervás and David Cantolla began their journey with Colección SOLO, following the artistic expressions they loved most, such as manga, experimental electronic music, and animation.
Initially, their idea was to get to know different artists, find ways to support them, and look for inspiration together. With a background in technology, creative industries, and fine arts collaborations, Ana and David decided to launch their art patronage project. This gradually grew into a broader endeavor.
Collectión SOLO: a hundred thousand works of international contemporary art
Collectión SOLO examines the diverse relationships between various global creative, cultural, and aesthetic trends; it also guides, and supports contemporary artistic creation. In addition to painting, sculpture, new media, sound art, and even artificial intelligence, it contains over a hundred thousands works of international contemporary art.
In terms of patronage, the collection supports emerging artists, from Neo Rauch to Keiichi Tanaami to Peter Saul. The purpose is to bring to light those parts of the artistic conversation that aren’t as visible.
Espacio SOLO: the interior of Juan Herreros
Espacio SOLO, designed by architect Juan Herreros, is a new building in Madrid that displays a significant part of the SOLO Collection. It won an award from the College of Architects of Madrid in 2018. With a long-term exhibition program and a permanent exhibition space, the space combines permanent and temporary content.
The exhibition Protection No Longer Assured
In a present marked by disruptive technologies and disinformation, armed conflicts and environmental collapse, the exhibition currently on display at Colección SOLO is called Protection No Longer Assured and brings together some thirty artists to revisit the concept of the sublime through a range of different perspectives and media. It features the works of avant-garde artists such as Keiichi Tanaami, Justin Matherly, Mika Rottenberg, David Altmejd, Glenda León, Paco Pomet, and Dagoberto Rodríguez, Grip Face, Haroshi, Santiago Talavera, Jorge Rios, Ruby Swinney and Uyss3s, and others.
Visiting the exhibition, one becomes aware of the aesthetic figure sought by the gallery: a loud and decadent hyper pop, which at times delves into strong social and consumerist critiques and at other times tries to resonate the echoes of an artistic past now so much reproduced that it seems rotten.
SOLO’s labyrinth: screens, robotic mechanisms, and projections
In the gallery’s labyrinth of sheet metal, one encounter work that makes use of what modernity has to offer: screens, robotic mechanisms, and projections; all seem to want to explain the word uncanny, that is, the psychological experience of something not simply mysterious, but disturbing, often in a strangely familiar way. There is a sense of entering an alienating but deeply familiar meta verse, among giant puppets and lysergic visions, a jungle of dystopian over gaming hallucinations.
The experience of the sublime
«Technology, like nature, has long been associated with an experience of the sublime. While huge civil engineering works filled nineteenth-century observers with a sense of awe and unease, the contemporary technological revolution infuses with new relevance that blends of attraction and fear which underpins historical notions of the sublime», states the exhibition’s press release, which well describes the spirit of Protection No Longer Assured.
The Post-nuclear sublime
Immersed in the distressing themes of burning current events, the exhibition reflects on contemporaneity’s multifaceted character. From the digital world, as we said, to the catastrophic scenarios that imagine a future extinguished in the deadly beauty of the atomic mushroom. Echoes of a past that we thought was over and that, instead, the exhibiting artists of Colección SOLO knead into a modern prophecy, where humans’ obsession with aesthetic perfection for technology applies even to apocalyptic scenarios.
The schizophrenic search for identity and the societal collapse
Although rumbled by a noisy pop eruption, visitors never get lost during the exhibition tour. The artists guide them through their works in a labyrinth of screams and laughter, tickling the many perversely grim fantasies and jolting the visitor through the schizophrenic search for identity in a world of economic, political, and environmental collapse.
After all, it is the future, what we see, or it is already present. But we fail; we cannot escape it. Art again does nothing but anticipate to prepare us for what lies ahead. And as in front of a work of art, we can do nothing but watch. Or can we?
Colección SOLO, Madrid
SOLO is an international art project which aims to support contemporary artistic practice, inspire dialogue and encourage experimentation. Diverse creative initiatives find their home at SOLO, based at Espacio SOLO, Madrid. This museum, located at the heart of the Spanish capital, in Puerta de Alcalá, houses the SOLO collection, which is shown in a program of temporary exhibitions. Designed by Juan Herreros and winner of the Madrid College of Architects Award 2018, Espacio SOLO is open to the public by appointment.
Ario Mezzolani
