We’re All Dreamers
02 Dec 2015 - 07 Feb 2016
WE’RE ALL DREAMERS
2 December 2015 - 7 February 2016
We’re all dreamers is a proposal by artist Jesús Palmero that emphasizes gender discourses about rock and roll and that MUSAC is presenting within the framework of the Purple Weekend Festival. The point of departure for this project is to be found in the documentation work done by Ricardo García, Javier del Otero and Jesús Palmero, the results of which are included in the book Astorga Rock (Marciano Sonoro Ediciones, 2015). This publication is a journey through the history of popular music from the 1950s to the present day in Astorga. Written on the basis of an analysis of an extensive photographic and documentary archive and a large sound database, the book brings together more than 60 interviewees.
One of the facts brought to light in this work is the low presence of women in the analyzed music bands—a not only local but also universal feature in the music world. We"re all dreamers aims to subvert this historical finding by taking as a point of departure an initial question: what would have happened if the history of popular music had been led mostly by women? As a kick off for this reflection, the artist has used the lyrics of the song This Town Group by The go-go"s, which, in a punk-pop crossover, says: "We"re all dreamers – we"re all whores / Discarded stars / Like worn out cars." This iconic musical reference, present in the title of the project, gives rise to the three exhibition areas of the show, in which we can see a combination of documentary elements, real objects, altered photographic material, as well as a video production, halfway between the documentary testimony and the subversion of the traditional stereotypes of popular music.
The first area is shown in the annex space and is titled ARCHIVE (REALITY AS META-HISTORY). It is a research on the history of popular music in Astorga. There is a dialogue between real objects, a wide diversity of documentary materials and the words of the protagonists themselves recounting a sort of oral reconstruction from a part of their local popular culture. An amplified microphone, used as a sign of the connection between the artist and the public, invites the viewer to be part of the meta-historical narrative.
The second group of works occupies the Laboratorio 987 space and is titled STAGE (SOUND OBJECTIFICATION) and is a "non-stage" articulated by a manipulated photographic series. On it, reality and action, sound and deception, will converge in a psychedelic rock ceremony orchestrated from sound fragmentation to iconic distortion. The third area, also located in Laboratorio 987, is titled SUBVERTING THE GENRE (POOR BOY, Nick Drake). Here we can see a video production dealing with the existing gender situation in popular music, made up of interviews of different women who are main figures in the music scene in the province of León. A vintage van, symbol of the road and transit element, acts as a container of the narrated reality and as an amplifier for the voice of the local protagonists in our little history of female rock.
The exhibition is organized as part of Festival Purple Weekend 2015.
2 December 2015 - 7 February 2016
We’re all dreamers is a proposal by artist Jesús Palmero that emphasizes gender discourses about rock and roll and that MUSAC is presenting within the framework of the Purple Weekend Festival. The point of departure for this project is to be found in the documentation work done by Ricardo García, Javier del Otero and Jesús Palmero, the results of which are included in the book Astorga Rock (Marciano Sonoro Ediciones, 2015). This publication is a journey through the history of popular music from the 1950s to the present day in Astorga. Written on the basis of an analysis of an extensive photographic and documentary archive and a large sound database, the book brings together more than 60 interviewees.
One of the facts brought to light in this work is the low presence of women in the analyzed music bands—a not only local but also universal feature in the music world. We"re all dreamers aims to subvert this historical finding by taking as a point of departure an initial question: what would have happened if the history of popular music had been led mostly by women? As a kick off for this reflection, the artist has used the lyrics of the song This Town Group by The go-go"s, which, in a punk-pop crossover, says: "We"re all dreamers – we"re all whores / Discarded stars / Like worn out cars." This iconic musical reference, present in the title of the project, gives rise to the three exhibition areas of the show, in which we can see a combination of documentary elements, real objects, altered photographic material, as well as a video production, halfway between the documentary testimony and the subversion of the traditional stereotypes of popular music.
The first area is shown in the annex space and is titled ARCHIVE (REALITY AS META-HISTORY). It is a research on the history of popular music in Astorga. There is a dialogue between real objects, a wide diversity of documentary materials and the words of the protagonists themselves recounting a sort of oral reconstruction from a part of their local popular culture. An amplified microphone, used as a sign of the connection between the artist and the public, invites the viewer to be part of the meta-historical narrative.
The second group of works occupies the Laboratorio 987 space and is titled STAGE (SOUND OBJECTIFICATION) and is a "non-stage" articulated by a manipulated photographic series. On it, reality and action, sound and deception, will converge in a psychedelic rock ceremony orchestrated from sound fragmentation to iconic distortion. The third area, also located in Laboratorio 987, is titled SUBVERTING THE GENRE (POOR BOY, Nick Drake). Here we can see a video production dealing with the existing gender situation in popular music, made up of interviews of different women who are main figures in the music scene in the province of León. A vintage van, symbol of the road and transit element, acts as a container of the narrated reality and as an amplifier for the voice of the local protagonists in our little history of female rock.
The exhibition is organized as part of Festival Purple Weekend 2015.