Coreografías de Sal

Faena Art - Buenos Aires

Faena Art Center Buenos Aires
Aimeé Painé 1169, CABA
Faena Buenos Aires, Argentina
September 20th through 22nd, 2019
Free and open to the public

Faena Art will present a site-specific installation and performance by Argentine artist Osías Yanov. Coreografías de Sal will mark the first site-specific commission by an Argentine artist for the Faena Art Center Buenos Aires’ Sala Molinos - a space designed for monumental, immersive site-specific commissions by artists working across disciplines. The installation will be accompanied by immersive and participatory workshops and performances led by the artist. All programming will be free and open to the public.

Taking as their point of departure the concept of a fake archeological excavation of a fossilized mermaid on the shoreline of the Rio de la Plata in Argentina, Yanov will transform the iconic marble floor of the exhibition space with sea salt to create a new territory for the hybrid and mythical body. From the false excavation, to the “news” of this finding which becomes viral through social media, to the recreation and deconstruction of a salt flat inside Faena Art Center, this work will be transformed by the bodies of participants and by the passage of time. The work will invite performers and the public to activate and transform it with their movements, encouraging participants and viewers to consider a bodily identity that concurrently envisions possibilities for the future and perpetuates mythology from the past.

Coreografías de Sal will build on Yanov’s exploration of the concept of otherness through corporeal movement, as well as decolonized and gestural narratives that activate the body's ancestral memory by understanding movement as a codification of gender through social and political discourses. The participatory workshops--based on methodologies developed by Yanov to open spaces to new bodily experiences—will organically transition to performances, blurring traditional “staging” formats and inviting the public to be part of the finished work.

Alan Faena said, “We have given Osías Yanov carte blanche to create a new project for the Faena Art Center’s Sala Molinos— providing them with a new platform for the development of a dream project that amplifies their practice and promising trajectory. Their work infuses disparate disciplines and different media with the same spirit that inspires the programming at Faena Art, which continuously seeks to transform, reinvent and generate possibilities for new horizons.”

“In the context of excavations and discoveries, the skeleton can lead us to remember a dystopic past, and that is why I am using the mermaid’s bone structure as a narrative. It aids in the reconstruction of our history and enlightens our views for the future,” said Yanov. “In this installation, there will be an emphasis on performativity that stresses therapeutic and pedagogical processes. The performances and workshops open to the public will be the backbone of the finished work, which will, in turn, be guided through participants’ movements of improvisation and experimentation.”

“The mermaid—a strange mix between human and sea creature—is simultaneously a mythological fantasy and an aspiration for a trans and hybrid future. This idea allows viewers to entertain what it could mean to live within a hybrid body and be part of a collective hybridity, and insists not on ‘either or,’ but rather on the fertile terrain of what is in-between,” said Faena Art Chief Curator Zoe Lukov. “Coreografías de Sal exemplifies the kind of work that Faena Art is committed to presenting: monumental, time-based, site- specific commissions that blur the lines between artistic disciplines and provide the opportunity for artists like Osías Yanov to explore their practices in new ways.”

This installation and performance are presented in collaboration with dancers Florencia Carrizo, Melisa Chetto, Marta de la Gente, Martín Tchira, Meme Liebana, Julia Hadida, Alejo Petriz, Silvia Estrin and Bautista Viera.

Banco Ciudad has provided generous support towards the realization of this commission.


Exhibition Hours

Friday, September 20th
7:00PM - Opening
8:00PM - Performance

Saturday, September 21st
2:00PM – 9:00PM Open to the public
4:00PM – 8:00PM Workshop*
7:00PM – 9:00PM Performance

Sunday, September 22st
2:00PM – 9:00PM Open to the public
4:00PM – 8:00PM Workshop*
7:00PM – 9:00PM Performance



About Osías Yanov

Osías Yanov is a multidisciplinary artist, whose projects include performances, events, installations, drawings, sculptures, and videos. Their work intertwines rituals, nocturnal parties, gender theories, esoteric philosophies, symmetrical contacts between technology and nature, and the erotic as a transforming force. From 2001 to 2010, they were actively involved in the experimental artist collective Rosa Chancho. In 2015, they produced a large solo project for MALBA, Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, which consisted of a performance involving a dozen dancers and a large sculpture that interacted with the museum’s architecture. In 2016, they worked with curators Manuela Moscoso and Pablo Lafuente on a performance and exhibition at Casa del Alabado, a pre-Columbian collection in Quito, Ecuador. In 2017, they participated in the Gwanju Biennial, Korea. They were awarded the Gasworks Residency in London in 2018. The work of Osías Yanov’s is represented by Nors Fisch, Buenos Aires.

About Banco Ciudad

Banco Ciudad seeks to promote the cultural offerings of the city of Buenos Aires to the world. From its origins, Banco Ciudad has supported numerous cultural promotion initiatives, helping disseminate the work of both established and emerging artists. It seeks to facilitate public access to different artistic expressions, supporting various exhibitions, museums, and art spaces through its sponsorship. In recent years, it has also participated in specific programs that foster the acquisition of works by different Argentine museums.