Theories of Relativity

Sophie MacKinnon, City Week

Time, as Albert Einstein famously pointed out, is relative. And so too are our perceptions, a point that artist Daniel Garcia Andújar highlights in his exhibit “Postcapital Archive 1989-2001.” The ambitious exhibition seeks to document the opposition of political, ideological and social forces over a volatile 13-year period.

For Andújar the post-capital era began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in ‘89 and ended with the falling of the Twin Towers in 2001 (note the exhibition title). Attempting to archive those years with over 250,000 documents, he juxtaposes key issues and the agendas that created them against our perspectives.

You will find a visual media “timeline” of clever advertising and journalism pairings circling the room. An oil tanker spillage, leaking waste and devastating a shoreline, is matched with an ad for clothing company Diesel, in which a leggy model balanced at the helm of a speedboat tears through the ocean towards you. A post-capital archive it might be, but it feels like a record of human fear in different guises.

Everything in the exhibition was gathered from the Internet and definitions supplementing each area are sourced from Wikipedia. This is a comment on the nature of archives, media and information itself–accessible now in overwhelming quantity but without a voice to explain.

Postcapital is more a provocative media onslaught than insightful reflection on recent times—much like the Internet itself. Go armed with a robust familiarity of key ‘90s political figures, events and issues, not a hangover.

Where: Iberia Center for Contemporary Art When: Through Aug 30 Web: www.iberiart.org