Charles Filch is here/ Charles Filch está aquí

English below

Charles Filch ha en efecto llegado a Venecia , y desde hace días no puedo hacer otra cosa que fotocopias, carteles, encontrar sistemas de audio, micrófonos, repartir volantes, pegar pósteres por la calle… todo para abastecer el torrente creativo de Filch, que ha llegado dispuesto a de una vez por todas comprender en qué consiste este asunto del P…llón y de la B…nnale.

Charles Filch ha propuesto un ciclo de tres actuaciones (recordemos, Charles Filch se presenta aquí en Venecia bajo el epígrafe “Best Regards From Charles Filch”, que es el nombre genérico de las actuaciones teatrales con las que reaparece muy de vez en cuando en público desde que abandonó Münster y se fue, al parecer, a Rijeka, “since the cost of that trip with Ryanair was just one Euro”)

En cualquier caso Charles Filch no decepcionó – ahora mismo acaba de aparecer, puesto que escribo esto desde… el P…llón- y el primer día nos regaló con un ballet mudo en el que contaba la historia de su vida. Durante cuarenta minutos, el público lo contempló saltando y cayendo al suelo, nuestro querido público más bien poniendo cara de no entender absolutamente nada y poco a poco abandonando la sala, excepto una niña de unos ocho años que se resistía a obedecer a su madre, que la reclamaba desde fuera: “No Mama, no Mama, wacht, Es ist so schön”.

Fue un muy claro ejemplo de vanguardia y vergüenza (avantgarde and embarrassment). Pero para mi gusto particular, extraordinario. Hoy nos hemos preparado mejor y tenemos un programa y grandes cartelas explicando al público la narrativa a la que se refiere el ballet, re-bautizado ahora como “Best Regards from Charles Filch, A Ballet Of The Mind” – saludos de Charles Filch, un ballet de la mente.

So as I was saying, “Best Regards From Charles Filch, A ballet of the mind”, was, its very first time, a wonderful example of the concept we have introduced as “avant garde and embarrassment program”. The other two shows he presented in the following days were far closer to what he has been doing since I know him, and therefore they were more… understandable.

But now a few words about the other two shows. The first one was a lecture on Spaguetti Western. You might ask yourself: why, spaguetti western? Well many people have mentioned to me that the work presented here in this Pavilion is closer to Italy than to Spain, and many other people have asked me why so many labels are written in English. So we thought to dismiss all that with a lecture bringing together the Anglo Saxon, Spanish and Italian tradition, in a subject that is very pleasant for Filch and us. We even managed to bring into the play Japanese tradition pointing to the time line of Spaguetti Western: Red Harvest (Dashiell Hammet), Yojimbo by Kurosawa, and Sergio Leone.

And then, secondly, to dismiss the mean criticism that this Pavilion gives no attention to the audience, Filch organized an open discussion “on art and the Venice Biennale”. He spent the morning informing everyone he met around the Giardini that this “speaker’s corner discussion” would happen. Then of course he was extremely disappointed when no one showed up.

But people soon joined the discussion. A Canadian family of six, a Munich German art lover in very short trousers, and an English lady who said to be a ceramist. The discussion was long and passionate, and here are some pearls that came from it:

Munich German art lover in very short trousers: “I don’t understand why they do individual shows in pavilions. Like that there is no way to get an idea of what is going on in art in that country. One should have in each pavilion a very fine selection of artists from that particular country. This is what this Biennale is for. The German pavilion was not even recognizable as the German pavilion, since they had crossed off the word “Germania” from the front”.

Very nice ceramic English lady: “There are too much Politics in the exhibitions, both in the central exhibition and in the pavilions. For me, Politics are not art. And then you have a lot of Real Life as well. But Real Life is not Art”.

More to come.