la di tella

INTERVENTION PROJECT AT THE DI TELLA 2010 Bicentenary A symbol is the perceptible representation of an idea, with characteristics associated by social accepted standards. The challenge of these symbols is a constant in my work, and one of my artistic resources to face it is the wool, a natural element of noble substance. The work is a handmade joint act that dignifies one of the most ancient artistic expressions of our native people, the knit. The active involvement of the citizens is part of a small contribution to denounce and being at the same time part of a new construction. Therefore, transcending personal universes and creating a new one that include us all, speaking out against an unprotected reality, and referring to a dignity that we let pass by. With the photographic work named "Corralito", in 2001, I began to repeat the national symbols, denouncing and playing with the emblems that represent our reality. Likewise, I am interested in the Di Tella symbol, which refers us to the active intellect "that carry out through the practice, what it is conceived by the theoretical mind". Later, I intervened our national heroes in the squares of the city, covering them with a knitted coat made by the Argentine Flag, to record, denounce and think about our lost and forgotten honours. the intention of "KNIT FLAGS THAT EMBRACE US, IS TO KNIT CONCIOUSNESS THAT PROTECT US" was born in this action. Renewing the significance of the SIAM DI TELLA car as Argentine emblem of splendour and present former of conscious, I invite to intervene the elevated car bonnet, covering it with a knitted Argentine flag, in representation of embracement and shelter. Exposing this car engine we appeal to our senses to rescue these mechanics in a challenge of construction to a new social mechanism, in the same way that the simple and reliable success of the SIAM 1500 became in short time a modern car, ideal for a middle class family. I call to the deconstruction of decadent fundaments to construct new realities and a profound culture, and contribute to a not excluding new space. That was how consecutively, all through my artistic work, wool was a unifying thread and one of the constant elements to express different thoughts, as well as local and universal reflections. Alejandra Mettler

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Alejandra Mettler -