Alexis W: Thru Aug. 31 in El Tanque

El Tanque, a one-and-only exhibition space, is presenting through next week the El Viaje (The Journey), an installation by blacksmithing artist Alexis W.

The sixty characters that sleep through maritime trips across the seas off the Canary Islands were previously exposed at the balconies of Madrid’s Pelayo Street in the course of the 7th edition of La ventana indiscreta, and in El Hierro during the First Biennial on Architecture, Art and Landscape in Canarias, both held in 2007.

In this case, the author and commissioner Santiago Palenzuela agreed to rearrange the images in the exhibition hall by making up a scenario that tosses a necessary dialogue among the artwork, the spectator and the very space where the presentation is taking place. The formula that paid off for both was the projection of sleepers all across the El Tanque surface in a variety of sizes, locations and rhythms, a move that forces the public to sally forth on a trip throughout the exhibiting space in order to recognize, search and even recompose the photographs.

Alexis W.(El Hierro, 1972) lives and works in Madrid and Canarias. His work basically hinges on the use of photography as both a format and discursive means to delve into the surrounding reality: its complexities, paradoxes and virtues. For more information, visit www.alexisw.net.

El Tanque 69 –part of the majestic industrial infrastructure built in the first half of the 20^th century in Santa Cruz de Tenerife for stocking and refining crude oil- is penciled in as a token of architectural rehabilitation of an architectural space whose initial functionality was clearly outdone by meaningful reorientation toward culture and leisure. It will soon be declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Canarias government.

Source: http://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/cultura/arte/eltanque/pg/index0.html