The Retiro
photo gallery is a space for contemporary photography curated by Horacio
Torres. It consists of three halls of 7 x 7 m each which are placed
in the lower floors of the so called "Torre Monumental de los Ingleses"
(Monumental Tower of The English), situated in front of the Retiro train
station in Buenos Aires.
An urban intervention is carried out in the first place: 2 banners of
7 x 1 mts. with the inscription "delayed clock" are placed
below two of the tower's quadrants. This refers on one hand to the show
title but is also a direct reference in order that the people who pass
through the zone (specially the ones who constantly come out of the
train station) would reflect about the adjustment of the form in which
time is being measured.
The site-specific installation is set up in the fifth floor. 12 yellow
vinyl marks are glued to the floor, each numbered and provided with
an arrow which points at one of the three windows in the hall - there
are four marks per window-. In this way a certain reading order is suggested,
like "rules of the game" more or less respected by the spectators.
In general the audience understands the logical structure after having
looked through several of the windows. In this moment they realize that
there is a representation of the window's quadrants along with each
arrow, that one of the quadrants is being pointed out with green colour
and that these marks work as viewpoints. During the last three months
prior to the show, photographs have been taken using the position of
these indicated places. The obtained images are copied in the quadrants
real size (1:1) on duratrans (material which is similar to slides) and
are stuck onto one of the panels of the divided window glasses. Observed
from each of the viewpoints, in this way the past superposes with the
present. Above the hall's ceiling the clock's pendent marks an uninterrupted
tic-tac.
martin
bonadeo