<div dir="ltr"><font face="georgia, serif" style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><b><font color="#ff00ff">New podcast:  </font></b></span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><b><font color="#ff00ff">Melanie Smith talks about her encounter with Mexico, her relationship with painting, and the risks of so-called political art</font></b><font color="#333333">, which can end up being as dogmatic as the behaviour it supposedly condemns. She also reflects on satire and absurdity as tools of subversion and on the need to break down artistic frameworks and surfaces in order to create new realities.</font></span></font><div style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"><font color="#333333"><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"></font><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Link: <a href="https://rwm.macba.cat/en/sonia/melanie-smith-main/capsula" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)">https://rwm.macba.cat/en/sonia/melanie-smith-main/capsula</a></span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font color="#333333" style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><br></font><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><a style="color:rgb(17,85,204)">Melanie Smith (b. Poole, United Kingdom, 1965)</a><span> </span>dismantles and ruptures art history in order to generate new associations, stories and questions in the contemporary spectator. Her work alternates and mixes films, photographs, sculptures, assemblages, performances, and installations. And painting runs through all of it. Painting understood as process, as an invisible unifying thread, and also as object of deconstruction.</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">In 1989, after graduating with a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Reading, Melanie Smith travelled to Mexico, where she has lived and worked ever since. European and Latin American realities collide in her work, generating a sensuous play of contrasts, tinged with irony, through which she exposes the contradictions of the modern project, colonialism, industrialisation, and neoliberalism. The colours, the shapes, the sounds, the bustle, and the folklore of Mexico City engage in an artistic dialogue with Smith's minimalist background and Anglo-Saxon cultural baggage.</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">In this podcast, Melanie Smith talks about her encounter with Mexico, her relationship with painting, and the risks of so-called political art, which can end up being as dogmatic as the behaviour it supposedly condemns. She also reflects on satire and absurdity as tools of subversion and on the need to break down artistic frameworks and surfaces in order to create new realities. And she discusses some of her most significant works, including ‘Spiral City’, ‘Farce and Artifice’, and ‘Aztec Stadium’.</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><br></span></font></div><div style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><b>Timeline</b></span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">00:00</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> You can’t stay still in my work</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">04:07</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Painting as a thought process</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">05:54</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Working with other people</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">07:00</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Mexico... why did I go there?</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">10:42</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Dismantling Minimalism</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">12:58</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> The experience of color and the inoperativeness of art</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">15:36</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> 'Spiral City'. Urban grid and abstraction</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">18:47</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> 'Aztec Stadium'. Chaos and Modernity</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">25:12</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> If we define the sign too much, then we just mimic</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">28:00</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Humor as a political gesture</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">32:05</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> 'Farce and artifice'. Estrangement and awkwardness</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">36:48</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Deconstructing the stage, breaking down the surface: 'Parres' and 'Xilitla'</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">39:34</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> 'Parres'</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">41:39</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> 'Xilitla'</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">42:46</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> Modernism grew up through Colonialism</span><br style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">43:46</span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"> 'Bulto'. Post-colonialism and phantasmagoric identities</span></font></div><div style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><br></span></font></div><div style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#ff00ff"><b>E/N/J/O/Y</b></font></div><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"><br></div>