Goshka Macuga. In Flux

The work of Goshka Macuga (Warsaw, 1967) addresses the relationships between art, power and inherited narratives around historical facts and characters. Her work connects different fields and research methods, and is often based on an investigation of institutional accounts. Macuga proposes unconventional associative readings of social and political events.

Her work takes the form of large installations where her own creations are mixed with archive material, and where various disciplines coexist. Macuga constantly recycles images and references that are juxtaposed, like a collage, in a method similar to that used by the art historian Aby Warburg, with images, texts and materials from different historical periods that share similar themes or aesthetic treatment constituting a visual continuum.

The title of the show, Goshka Macuga. In Flux, alludes precisely to the constant circulation of images, references, stories, and the necessary revision of everything that we inherit and is familiar to us. Both the materials included in the exhibition (the artist’s own and from archives) and their arrangement in the gallery space aim to re-signify and reformulate the established narratives.

Goshka Macuga. In Flux brings together three large installations that are especially significant in the artist’s career: Plus Ultra (2009), The Nature of the Beast (2010) and Untitled (2011). In the centre of each is a tapestry, around which other works and documents are articulated. Previously used by the political and ecclesiastical elites, tapestries are recovered by Macuga as an artistic discipline for their political and propaganda connotations.

This exhibition has been co-produced with MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León). Taking into account the unique spaces of each institution, different pieces have been incorporated as additions to the installations presented.

[Image 1: Goshka Macuga. The Letter, 2011. Tapestry. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, Torino.] [Image 2: Goshka Macuga. Plus Ultra. Installation at Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2022. © Goshka Macuga, vegap, Barcelona, 2022. Photography: © Roberto Ruiz, 2022.]