MALAGA.- On an April evening in Málaga, the quiet geometry of Elena Asins’s Antígona will be set into motion. Not physically, but through voice, body, and presence.
On Thursday, April 9 at 8:00 p.m., performer and creator Alessandra García will step into the galleries of the Museo Picasso Málaga to stage a work she describes as a “living equation”—a performance conceived as a dialogue across time with one of Spain’s most influential conceptual artists.
The piece, titled (441 – 75): a conversation, unfolds inside the museum’s current exhibition Elena Asins. Antígona, where the sculptural installation from 2015 anchors the space with its austere, almost meditative presence. For García, the encounter is both personal and symbolic: a way of responding to the intensity of Asins’s work while attempting to “speak” with an artist who is no longer here.
A conversation beyond time
Rather than a traditional performance, García’s proposal is structured like a ritual. It begins with a simple but deliberate act—counting. Slowly, steadily, she will count up to 441, grounding herself in the word Aντιγόνη, spelled in Greek, echoing the classical roots that inspired Asins.
From there, the piece shifts.
As if pulled by an invisible force, García will transition into a physical and vocal sequence, counting backward—this time tracing the years of Asins’s life, from her birth to her death. Movement replaces stillness, sound replaces silence, and the performance becomes something closer to invocation than interpretation.
What emerges, García suggests, is a conversation—not in words as we know them, but in coded gestures, repetitions, and rhythms. Like consulting an oracle, she approaches Asins as a guiding presence, asking questions and receiving responses through the language of performance itself.
Honoring a pioneer of conceptual and digital art
Elena Asins, who died in 2015, remains a central figure in Spanish contemporary art. Awarded the National Prize for Plastic Arts in 2011, she was a pioneer in both conceptual practices and early computer-generated art—fields that continue to shape artistic production today.
Her installation Antígona, currently on view at the museum, draws from the tragic heroine of Sophocles, presenting her name in Greek characters as both image and idea. It is a work that resists narrative, instead inviting reflection—something García embraces and expands upon in her performance.
A performer rooted in participation
García’s work has long explored the boundaries between performer and audience, often engaging with participatory and relational forms of theater. A graduate in textual performance from the ESAD in Málaga, she has developed projects such as Aquella postura, Vulva, Patrimonio, and La lista de la compra, each rooted in the body as a site of meaning.
Her career includes performances at institutions like the Museo del Patrimonio Municipal (MUPAM), the Russian Museum Collection in Málaga, and the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (CAC). In 2022, she received the Max Award for Best Breakthrough Show for Mujer en cinta de correr sobre fondo negro, further solidifying her position within Spain’s contemporary performance scene.
Alongside her artistic practice, García also curates performing arts and music programming at the University of Málaga’s Contenedor Cultural.
An invitation to experience art differently
The upcoming performance is free to attend, though advance booking is required due to limited capacity. More than an event, it offers visitors a chance to experience the exhibition in a different way—one that moves beyond observation and into participation, emotion, and presence.
As museums continue to expand the role of live arts within their programming, García’s “living equation” stands as a reminder that even the most structured, conceptual works can open the door to something deeply human: the desire to connect, to question, and to listen—even across time.
