ROME, ITALY.- Associazione Culturale Sala 1 presents Videozoom, Dot, Dor, Dot….Unresolved States, on view through March 30, 2007. This overview, entitled Videozoom, is a carefully-chosen selection of 12 Spanish video artists, lasting approximately one and a half hours. The exhibition curator is David Barro, a modern art lecturer in Oporto University and an expert in the realities of Spanish video art. The display consists of a looped projection of the works on show. In order to trace the history of Spanish video art, it is necessary to go back to a series of pioneering experiences which took place in the seventies, as seen through a group of artists who created their pieces outside of Spain, such as Antoni Muntadas, Francesc Torres and Antoni Miralda. The total incompatibility between dictatorship and the avant-garde meant that these experiences did not make themselves immediately shown. A decade later, the eighties saw the appearance of a new generation of artists, linked to the world of television, who were characterised by a certain euphoria towards the possibilities on offer from this medium. Further down the line, with the arrival of the nineties, the deconstruction of individual social identities became the line to follow, almost always based on a critical attitude towards specific historical aspects or gender problems.

Close to these latter issues were some artists, present here, who were capable of using their works to tackle certain social and political questions. However, they did so through a language which was much less direct and much more ironic, leaving certain points unresolved by openly playing with the meaning of the piece and the position of the viewer. These are works which display another time, almost always with a slow gaze or, on the other hand, one which is so quick that it gives meaning to the title chosen for the exhibition: ‘Puntos suspensivos... Estados sin resolver’ (Dot dot dot... Unresolved states), which refers to the technical and narrative aspects of the selected pieces. It also alludes to time, the political moment of a Spain preoccupied with political questions relating to the statutory rights of the autonomous communities.

Artists and works: Alejandro Vidal (Palma de Mallorca, 1972) with Tactical Disorder, 2006. Fernando Sánchez Castillo (Madrid, 1970) with Canicas (Marbles), 2002 and Arquitectura para el caballo (Architecture for the Horse), 2002. Cristina Lucas (Jaen, 1973) with My Struggle, 2004. Javier Peñafiel (Zaragoza, 1964) with Maltrato (Bad Treatment), 1999. Sergio Prego (Donostia, 1969) with Tetsuo bound to fail, 1998. Diego Santomé (Vigo, 1966) with Proyecto nº15 (Project nº 15), 2004. Dora García (Valladolid, 1965) with La lección respiratoria (The Respiratory Lesson), 1999. Álvaro Negro (Lalín, 1973) with Battersea station, 2003. Rubén Ramos Balsa (Santiago de Compostela, 1978) with Ver (See), 2002. Juande Jarillo (Granada, 1969) with Primer término (First Term), 2001. Martí Ansón (Mataró, 1967) with El miedo del portero al penalti (The Goalkeeper's Fear at Penalty Time), 2001.