Cildo Meireles & Antoni Muntadas
Salt & Sugar … No SUGAR, No SALT
Curated by Vicente Todoli
10 March–14 April 2012
Monday to Sunday round the clock
Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp
Place d’Armes
Quai de l’Indépendance, Cully, Switzerland
Dear Vicente,
I had several conversations with Cildo, the last one this morning, and we exchanged some Drawings and we arrived at the conclusion that this could be our proposal (see drawing above). The space of the Kunsthalle will be divided vertically by a transparent glass/acetate/plexi/acrylic partition. On one side there will be a pile of sugar, on the other a pile of salt. It is reminiscent of two mountains touching each other but consisting of two different materials obviously both white (in the drawing they are yellow and grey, just to differentiate). The sugar and salt I used are: Azucar blanca cristalizada y Sal marina fina. Son muy similares de textura. At this moment we have a title – SALT & SUGAR … NO SUGAR, NO SALT – and an idea: we will go for a text of 20 words, maybe: salt, sugar, landscape, friendship, collaboration … I think you and Stefan could come up with some description: It is up to you how you want to describe the project.
Best, + AM, 02/02/12
Dear Antoni, dear Cildo,
here are 20 words from Vicente and me: salt, sugar, friendship, collaboration, discovery, landscape, mountain, expedition, humor, idea, e-mail, travel, dinner, conversation, exploration, stroll, ramble, hike, and climbing.
Warmest wishes, Stefan, 04/02/12
Cildo Meireles (born in Rio de Janeiro in 1948) is a conceptual artist, installation artist, and sculptor. His works, often large and dense, encourage the viewer’s interaction. In 1970 he developed Insertions Into Ideological Circuits, a political art project which aimed to reach a wide audience while avoiding censorship. He was one of the founders of the Experimental Unit of the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro in 1969, and in 1975 he edited the art magazine Malasartes. In 2008 he won the Velázquez Visual Arts Prize, presented by the Ministry of Culture of Spain. Meireles lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.
Antoni Muntadas (born in Barcelona in 1942) is a multidisciplinary media artist. He was a research fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, 1977–1984, and is currently professor of the practice at ACT/MIT. In 1995, he was awarded an Ars Electronica Honorary Mention for his well-known work The File Room, an early and ongoing Internet art project. His work has been exhibited widely at venues including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Venice Biennale, Spanish Pavilion; documenta VI; documenta X; and the Reina Sofia, Madrid. Since 1971 he has been living and working in New York.
Vicente Todoli (born in Valencia in 1958) is a curator of contemporary art. In 1986 he was nominated chief curator of IVAM in Valencia, a position he held until 1988, when he became artistic director (1988–96) of the same institution. In 1996 he joined Museu Serralves in Porto as its founding director, and seven years later, in 2003, he was appointed director of Tate Modern London, a position he held until 2010. He is currently living in Spain and working on several exhibition projects.
