Jorge Oteiza
Ley de los cambios, Figueres / Deché / San Sebastián: Tristán, 1990
Fernando Millán
Criptograma, 1972. Ink on paper, 27.4 x 32.7 cm
Isidoro Valcárcel Medina
Tahl-Botvinnik, 1960, 1974. Transfer letters on paper, 58 x 84 cm
Manolo Quejido
En la noche, 1968. Acrylic on cardboard, 67 x 67 cm
Alain Arias-Misson
Palabras frágiles, 1971
Fernando Millán
Ariadna o la búsqueda, 1971-1973
Julio Campal
Jean Ipousteguy, 1968. Ink on paper, 22.6 x 16.1 cm
Ignacio Gómez de Liaño
Carta a José-Miguel Ullán, 20 de julio de 1973. Collage on paper, 28.5 x 22 cm
Elena Asins
Cantos de Orfeo, 1970. Unique artist book. Typescript text on paper, 31.5 x 21.5 cm c/u [selection]
José-Miguel Ullán
De un caminante enfermo que se enamoró donde fue hospedado, c. 1976. Collage on paper, 29.5 x 21 cm [selection]
José Luis Castillejo
The Book of i’s, s.l. [Constanza?]: author’s edition, 1969
Herminio Molero
El zoo triste (Escuela de Ballet de Karen Taft, Madrid), 1971
16 October, 2014 - 11 January, 2015
Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid
Curated: Javier Maderuelo
In the early sixties, Spain witnessed the emergence of new aesthetic, plural and diverse practices that can be described as ‘experimental’, a term that was at the time of particular significance since it encompassed the work of writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers and artists, many of them working in isolation to some degree, who used letters, words and texts as vehicles for their creative output. Writing is the common denominator of all these artistic and literary expressions. The intention is not to present a specific genre of poetry or writing in this exhibition but to show the effect of dissemination. The aim is not to delimit a particular field by showing its most purist roots and its most important manifestations but rather to expand its boundaries by placing the emphasis on diversity and heterogeneity. This exhibition is the result of study and research carried out at the Lafuente Archive, where a number of collections and documentary compilations related to contemporary art are housed, making it possible to trace and pursue various lines of investigation that provide first-hand knowledge of the flow of ideas, acts, events and happenings that have shaped the history of modern and contemporary art from the avant-garde to postmodernity. However, all this exposes a problem: most of the work by these creative figures is as yet unpublished; only some of their pieces have been shown for a brief period in exhibitions; others have been reproduced in a fragmentary and rough form in magazines and anthologies, and many have never been seen at all.
Featured artists include Jorge Oteiza, José Antonio Sistiaga, Javier Aguirre, Juan Eduardo Cirlot, Joan Brossa, Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny, Julio Campal, Fernando Millán, Ignacio Gómez de Liaño, Manolo Quejido, Herminio Molero, Alain Arias-Misson, Elena Asins, Zaj, José Luis Castillejo, Esther Ferrer, Francisco Pino, Felipe Boso, Guillem Viladot, José-Miguel Ullán, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina, Concha Jerez, and Eduardo Scala.