Flatland

Marine Hugonnier, Enric Farrés Duran, Céline Condorelli, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Falke Pisano, Martin Creed

Madrid
May 26 - Jul 28, 2018
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Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin A. Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by “A Square”, the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, but the novella’s more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions.

The story describes a two-dimensional world occupied by geometric figures. The narrator is a square named “A Square”, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life in two dimensions. On New Year’s Eve, the Square dreams about a visit to a one-dimensional world (Lineland) inhabited by “lustrous points”. These points are unable to see the Square as anything other than a set of points on a line. Thus, the Square attempts to convince the realm’s monarch of a second dimension; but is unable to do so.

Following this vision, he is himself visited by a three-dimensional sphere named A Sphere. Similar to the “points” in Lineland, the Square is unable to see the sphere as anything other than a circle. The Sphere then levitates up and down through the Flatland, allowing Square to see the circle expand and retract. The Square is not fully convinced until he sees Spaceland (a tridimensional world) for himself.

After the Square’s mind is opened to new dimensions, he tries to convince the Sphere of the theoretical possibility of the existence of a fourth (and fifth, and sixth…) spatial dimension; but the Sphere returns his student to Flatland in disgrace.

The Square recognises the identity of the ignorance of the monarchs of Pointland and Lineland with his own (and the Sphere’s) previous ignorance of the existence of higher dimensions. Eventually the Square himself is imprisoned, and seven years later, A Square writes out the book Flatland in the form of a memoir, hoping to keep it as posterity for a future generation that can see beyond their two-dimensional existence.

Flatland features in The Big Bang Theory episode “The Psychic Vortex”, when Sheldon Cooper declares it one of his favourite imaginary places to visit.

With special thanks to Galeria Vera Cortês, Lisbon, and Hollybush Gardens, London.

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Installation

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

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Roberto Ruiz

Selected Works

Enric Farrés Duran
Peça prestada -Res és meu-

2017

Cement, wood, glass

264 x 100 x 40 cm (103 1516 x 39 38 x 15 34 inches)

Anne-Lise Coste
Untitled

2008

Airbrush on wood

180 x 208 cm (70 78 x 81 78 inches)

Enric Farrés Duran
El coleccionista, el artista y todo lo demás

2018

Helium ballon, string, metal, cement

Soledad Sevilla
S/T

1969

Ink on paper

65 x 70 cm (25 1932 x 27 916 inches)

Ignacio Uriarte
60 seconds

2005

Wrist watches

400 ⌀(157 1532 ⌀⌀400 cm (⌀157 1532 inches)

Regina Gimenez
Geometría Cósmica

2016

Acrylic on canvas

73 x 116 cm (28 34 x 45 2132 inches)

Alexander Calder
Balloons

1968

Silkscreen

109.7 x 75.7 cm (43 316 x 29 1316 inches)

Martin Creed
Chicago, Work no. 1370

2012

Watercolor on record sleeve, vinyl

33.5 x 33.5 x 2 cm (13 316 x 13 316 x 2532 inches)

Fran Meana
The Immaterial Material #2

2014

Metal shelving units, plastic grid, concrete

160 x 210 x 32 cm (63 x 82 1116 x 12 1932 inches)

Martin Creed
Work No. 1318

2011

Acrylic, enamel and ink on canvas

33 x 27.9 cm (13 x 10 3132 inches)

Daniel Gustav Cramer
Untitled (Mare) III

2017

C-Print

151 x 106 cm (59 716 x 41 2332 inches)

Céline Condorelli
How Things Appear, after Carlo Scarpa

2016

Joroba wood, painted steel, brass, acrylic, screenprint on acrylic

66 x 48 x 3 cm (25 3132 x 18 2932 x 1 316 inches)

Marine Hugonnier
Art For Modern Architecture: The Guardian - Iranian Revolution

2009

Paper clips onto vintage newspaper front pages (17 frames)

68.5 x 48.5 cm (26 3132 x 19 332 inches)

Falke Pisano
The value in mathematics (language)

2015

HD single-channel video and wall panel (still)

20'

Drag