Vasava Artworks Presents Zoovilization for the Showcase Project of MUSAC

The studio Vasava Artworks presents the project Zoovilization for the
Showcase Project of MUSAC, a metaphor on contemporary society

Zoovilization is the exhibition project developed by Vasava Artworks for the Showcase
Project of MUSAC. It deals with a work that recuperates the aesthetic and conceptual spirit of
the Baroque Period in a formal, complex web (a horror vacui taken from the work of El Bosco,
and in particular, El jardín de las delicias with a schematic composition related directly to it)
that allows different levels of reading, supported by an elaborate structure of symbolic
content. These symbols make reference to different aspects of contemporary society and
culture (war conflicts, emigrations, technological advances), all of them imbued in a naïf and
fun aesthetic, with comic and advertising influences, but that allow a glimpse into a more
transcendental content.

West vs. East, North vs. South
The formal composition of the work is the result of a structure built on the traditional
confrontation of contraries, and on a semantic level can be interpreted in different levels of
reading. On a horizontal level, both showcases represent the tension West vs. East. On a
vertical level, the work echoes the Christian vision that divides the world between Heaven and
Earth which, in contemporary language, represents the concepts of North and South that
divides the international panorama. On a third level of reading, three new spatial fields are
established: on the first plane, on the glass, two vinyl stickers represent Heaven and Earth, in
blue and red, as stated earlier. On a second plane, in the form of French playing cards, the
participants of this original game field -- Chinese astronauts, an Afghan woman hidden by a
burke, a Wall Street executive, or a guerrilla from Sierra Leona -- appear represented. Lastly, a
conglomerate of symbolic scenes in the different states of contemporary society that the
spectator must analyze and reconstruct based on the models of analysis stated earlier are
developed on the background.

Zoovilization echoes the Baroque tradition in order to work out a complex game of forms,
symbols and meanings that on different semantic and representational levels constitute a
metaphor of contemporary society and culture.

About Vasava Artworks
Vasava is a communication studio that started in Barcelona in 1997, presently composed of ten persons
coming from different fields. Their projects, developed through a wide range of disciplines, deal with the
creative process from experimentation and compromise, in the search for new communication values.
Starting from a work philosophy that contemplates the economic objective not as an ultimate
goal but as a medium to slowly improve the labor structure, the studio has been involved in
different non-profit projects, and their implication with the works of a varied clientele allows
them to assume these as their own, which clearly differentiates them from other studios and
collective groups. The multidisciplinary and collective character of Vasava Artworks has
brought them to participate in projects with other authors from a vast range of fields. We
hereafter gather some of their more recent works.

Other Projects
- Place, the world in a suitcase
Place is a creative research project that has toured the studios of 35 designers from the world
over for a year and a half, with the aim of reflecting on how the place where one lives
influences one's creativity. A suitcase that contains a camera and a blank book in its interior
was the instrument used by these designers during 18 months and throughout 170,000 km all
over the world. The result is a cartography in which languages successively appeal, in which
cultural signs are filtered by the identity of the individuals, in which social reality is
contingently reformulated without maintaining any fidelity with respect to the clichés that
limit it. The formal result of this project was recorded in two books with images and texts by
the authors, and a collective exhibition.

- FIFTY, commemorative publication of the DIESEL brand
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the fashion brand Diesel, the Italian company
Renzo Rosso commissioned this commemorative project to VASAVA ARTWORKS. It is a
large-format book conceived as a collector's piece that gathers the keys that have made
Diesel occupy one of the most important places in the fashion industry world-wide. Through a
multitude of images and different interviews, the book is a reflection of a labor philosophy
focused on the future.

- Carles Congost, MEMORIAS DE ARKARAN
Vasava collaborated with the Catalan artist Carles Congost in an exhibition that the Centre
d'Art Santa Mònica (Barcelona) dedicated to him, from July 1 to September 25, 2005,
developing the logos and corporate image of the show.
MUSEO DE ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN
Avda. de los Reyes Leoneses, 24. 24008 León - España
T. +34 987 09 00 00 F. +34 987 09 11 11 www.musac.org.es

About the Showcase Project
The Showcase Project, parallel to program of the rest of the exhibition spaces, is developed in
a space composed of two large glass cases in the form of a display window, located in the
MUSAC Entrance Hall. This space gathers proposals that are closely related to the world of
fashion, music, design and other arts and industries that are circumscribed within current
contemporary production.

Previous site-specific projects for the showcases were by the artist Daniel Verbis (León, Spain,
1968), from April 1 - August 21, 2005 and Locking Shocking, fashion designers, from
September 10 - December 6, 2005.

For more information, please visit http://www.musac.org.es

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