Gonzalo Borondo together with The Esteban Vicente Museum of Contemporary Art, in sponsorship of the Diputación Provincial de Segovia presents “Hereditas”. From April 8th to September 26th, 2021
Hereditas, by Gonzalo Borondo, is a complex intervention in the museum space. Its aim is to question the past on the basis of present presuppositions, in particular, to recognise the museum as a place to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations and to show art’s amazing capacity to bring back to life objects that have lost their original purpose. In addition, it pays tribute to nature as the foundation of culture and inspiration of art and religious symbols.
“Hereditas” offers the viewer an immersive experience, beyond mere contemplation, it is an “interaction” of the artist with space. Borondo started this type of action in 2017 (“Cenere”, Selci, Italy, was the first), but what makes “Hereditas” a different creation from all those carried out so far is that it takes place in a Museum. Here, paradoxically, the white cube (as the exhibition space has been called in modern times) is annulled, to turn it, worth the pun, into a black cube, and thus rescue those uses that the building had.
The exhibition refers to the two fundamental heritages of humanity: natural heritage and cultural heritage. The forced ascending journey of this experience is structured in four chapters or “altars”.
The first three are a tribute to the natural heritage, through the vegetable kingdom (Herba/grass), mineral (Petra/stone), and animal (Carnis/meat); the fourth chapter (Eter/ether) being reserved for the realm of the immaterial, for that dimension that emanates from the mind, so necessary, so mysterious and so difficult to define.
Gonzalo Borondo has recovered for this exhibition original testimonies from the past (sculptures, columns, pieces of plasterwork, niches …), which are sometimes shown as they are and are sometimes recreated in a contemporary key. With this strategy, he turns the look to the future, typical of the contemporary art museum, into a broad look at the past. He uses very different languages and supports: installations, painting, projections, animation, optical illusions, sophisticated digital technologies, sound effects …
Borondo intervenes throughout the building, extending its “interaction” to the farthest corners. He upsets the conventional path of the viewer, providing surprises and moments of authentic sensory enjoyment, turning the visit into an experience that we hope touches his sensitivity and accompanies him in time.
Photo Credits: Roberto Conte