Bestue Vives' video work Actions at Home. Photo: Magician Space

People are gathered in a small room at gallery Magician Space, waiting to see what the video work by Bestue Vives, a Spanish artist duo is really about. The work, named Actions at Home, is part of their new exhibition Reality and Actions at the space in the 798 Art Zone.

The duo, David Bestue and Marc Vives have created many artworks inspired by the nature of their actions rather than to meet some ultimate goal. They work around and through abstract ideas that generally take reality as a context to be explored over and over again.

The curator Biljana Ciric selected five of their works and brought them to Beijing, allowing viewers to have a clear idea of their art style and inspirations.

"Through their work, we can trace the influence of various artists from such movements as the Viennese Actions, Minimalism, as well as the residues of 20th century philosophical developments," she said.

Among the five works, Actions at Home is the longest video, about 30 minutes, which could be seen as a little boring to watch. The video is about two young artists sharing an apartment and some snippets from their life. The pair performed along to certain instructions, and it is the actual performance of these instructions that make the work radical.

"I was curious about youngster's lives sharing an apartment and finished it in 2005," said artist Vives, who recorded their actions in a private space with Bestue, numbered them and named them.

The video helped the duo grab the winning prize at the visual arts contest Concurso de Artes Visuales, Premio Miquel Casablancas, and the Premio Generacion 2006 of Caja, Madrid.

In a corner of the Space their 2009 work Preteo is projected. The double channel installation shows the transformation of a man from horse to machine in one fluid movement that continues on in an endless loop, while the other video shows the same movement in reverse.

The other three works are Ralf and Jeanette, Stage of Change and Story of a Scorpion in Love.

Where: Magician Space

When: until June 26th

Go to Forum >>0 Comments