Site-specific installation
Commissioned by TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary ​​for the exhibition Abundant Futures 
Curated and organized by Plata

Belén Rodríguez
I Apply Color, 2021
Eco-dyed and decolored poplin
340 x 800 cm

Víctor Barrios
Sillas Pachecas, 2021-2022
Several tables, chairs, stools, and bookshelves from wood, metal, painting
Dimensions variable

Boeticus Salon is a welcoming space for conviviality, gathering, and learning conceived and designed by the Córdoba-based artistic and research collective Plata. Books, catalogs, and bibliographic material related to the exhibition Abundant Futures are freely available for consultation. Feel free to wander between the shelves, pick up a book and lose track of time imagining futures-to-come in collective conversations.
 
Sillas Pachecas, the furnishing designed by Victor Barrios, is made from found and revitalized tables and chairs with colorful tabletops, some minimalistically decorated, others exuberant in ornamentation. Employing a creative use of stains, grinding, and patina they carry the marks of their transformations, while commanding attention as art objects. The chairs and tables embody the noble art of sobremesa, an indeterminate shared time spent talking and drinking around the table, enjoying each other’s company and being in the moment.

I Apply Color, a curtain tinted with organic dyes by Belén Rodríguez responds to the verses by an Aztec dyer, included in the Florentine Codex (1540–1585): “I make chilli red / I turn chilli red.” Rodríguez evokes the relevance of traditional dyeing techniques that have induced magical, poetic, and chromatic visions. Installed in Boeticus Salon, the bright and frisky piece of fabric contributes to the vibrant, enveloping, and warm atmosphere. It also makes us ponder on the diversity of ancestral artistic techniques that avoid the use of chemicals and other polluting materials and were deployed to awaken and expand consciousness.
 
Boeticus Salon pays homage to the Astragalus boeticus, a leguminous plant native to the Mediterranean, Iranian-Turanisian, and Macaronesian regions. In 2020, this species was spotted in the surroundings of C3A, constituting the first documented recent finding of the plant in the Cordovan province. Its name references the former Roman province Baetica, corresponding to modern Andalusia.
 
Drawing attention to ecological research and practice, Boeticus Salon operates as a versatile forum for public programming, hosting artists’ talks, audiovisual projections, educational projects, and other activities.

Plata is an artistic collective project by Jesús Alcaide, Gaby Mangeri, and Javi Orcaray. It was founded in Córdoba, Spain, in 2021. 

Belén Rodríguez born in Valladolid, Spain, in 1981. Lives in Esles, Cantabria, Spain.

Víctor Barrios born in Madrid, Spain, in 1972. Lives in Castro del Río, Córdoba, Spain.