Tercerunquinto: Estrategia y ánimo

Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zahnradstrasse, Zurich

In their show, the collective will present collages, photos, video and installations of their seminar works from 1999 to 2013. Tercerunquinto, which means ʻa third of a fifthʼ has worked together since 1998, and questions the limits between public and private space by examining the socially defined borders that outline those limits. Starting with an analysis of urban landscape, the collective explores the social, cultural and political impact of architectural constructions. Giving value to the discussion and negotiation as factors for collective cohesion, and viewing them as key strategies in their artistic practice, Tercerunquinto considers the documentation of this process as an artwork itself. Therefore, the document exists as result of a working process.

After a month-long residency at New Langton Arts, San Francisco in 2004, Tercerunquinto proposed to put New Langtonʼs archive – including 30 years of documentation – up for sale on the open market. Tercerunquinto identified Langtonʼs memory as its most valuable asset, and presented mundane cardboard storage containers (stacked with a content left to the imagination) on sale. On occasion of this exhibition, New Langton Artsʼ Archive For Sale: A Sacrificial Act (2007-2013, installation, drawings, collages, newspapers, photos, mixed media, various sizes) is presented again in white boxes but this time it will require a sacrificial act from the collectiveʼs side. The documentation of this historic moment, the unique notes, illustrations, and sketches followed by Tercerunquinto before and after the uncertain future of the longest-running non-profit artistsʼ space in San Francisco, is now contained in cardboard and is available for exchange.

 

In Ampliación de un area verde (Enlargement of a green area) (2004, installation, 15 color photographs, 2 models, cardboard, 3 drawings, color, color pencil, graphite, 1 b/w copy, 1 Mexico City map from 2004, variable sizes) the collective placed and extended a grass patch in a parking area in Mexico City, thereby disrupting the ordered system of cars and changing the way of understanding the urban landscape governed by overcrowding, and provide spaces to passersby. The new grass window completely altered the landscape becoming the only garden existing along a street, aiming to transform the vision that people have of the city.

 

From 1999 to 2002, Tercerunquinto developed the project called Casas-habitación (Dwelling-houses). Within this project they considered the physical aspects of a construction, dimension and distribution of space and the socioeconomic aspects that present the different classes and types of housing. Within the series of this project, Tercerunquinto will show Trabas para puerta (Door locks) (1999, collage on paper, 35.4 x 37.3 cm), where obstacles in the door frames of an evicted apartment making it impossible to open or close completely the different rooms; in Pasamanos (Handrail) (2000, collage on paper, 66 x 47.9 cm) the dynamic of going through a stairway was altered by changing the shape of its handrail; in Tubo (Tube) (2001, collage on paper, 34.5 x 37.3 cm, detail image on invitation card) a 70 cm long tube was placed between the tap and the water pipe in a laundry; in Reducción de una puerta (Reduction of a door) (2001, collage on paper, 40.4 x 40.4 cm) the main door of a house was shortened 50 cm in length; and in Escalera (Stairs) (2002, collage on paper, 45.4 x 54.4 cm) a wooden structure was lined with plywood and painted in the same color of the room, placed in the corner between two walls and the ceiling.