‘From the continent-island to the peripheral-island. Behind the souvenir identity. Manchester-Tenerife.
The islands, no matter what existence they have, are units that only have the air and the sea as their frontier. One has the impression of being isolated from the continental reality but at the same time you can also feel like you are in the centre of everything that surrounds you - where all things increase their importance - tripling its apparent size. Maybe that is the reason why the islands are uniquely placed to imagine utopias, and the islanders more likely to imagine that place exemplary and apart. It is in an irreverent and carefree place. So that it is possible to compare everything with its perfect state.
The relationship between the two islands is sufficient and has been changing from time to time through history. From the time of Nelson to the “all inclusive” resort. But they do not only have this in common, as well as the large influence of visitors and to the foreign eye, both seem to have been corseted in identity-souvenir. Capitalism has redefined the trip to the touristic souvenir and as the object of desire stereotyped as an acquisition for certification of having been somewhere, probably mass produced in China, and returned to be purchased in a place with the intention of helping people “to remember” what time they spent there. So over time, the souvenir ends up somewhere insufficiently defined, adapting to what the tourist expects to find there (Canary Islands or Spain = beach and party, United Kingdom = London, The Royal Family).
This project is intended to be an exchange via email between two different types of insularity with different countries and languages, which determine a point of view and a different way of doing things. Preconceptions will be put in conflict, which were created by those souvenir identities. Communication is used between people through social networking as a contemporary social-electronic phenomenon that redefines everyday life in their basic forms of communication, interaction and knowledge production, and implements a new paradigm of life mediated by ICT. Reflecting on the tools and platform technologies, assessing not only the information or multimedia content they provide, but also the way in which communication is established between individuals and groups, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of it from the context of art.’
www.souveniridentities.tumblr.com
www.miriamcabeza.com
Curated by Lionel Dobie Project (in association with Free For Arts Festival & alongside an exhibition at Rogue Project Space) / Part of the LDP Cha.let Residencies Series.
www.ldpchaletresidency.tumblr.com
lioneldobieproject.com/ldpchaletresidencies
