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Cielo mío
1996
Painted varnished wood
Dimensions: 2 units: 29 x 99 x 52 cm each 29 x 105 x 94.5 cm 29 x 105 x 95.5 cm
Reference: ACF0764
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According to Chust's own description, Cielo mío is "two dolls houses which reproduce my studio at 57 Rue des Champs-Elysées in Gentilly, France, and the Rekalde 2 exhibition space in Bilbao." The description is purely technical in appearance, but very explicit in terms of the coordinates that come into play. First of all, Cielo mío is a pair of small architectures, dolls houses made of painted wood that would be the delight of the most orthodox educators. These little houses are clearly a work, an artistic production, but their presentation, and especially their definition as a toy, give the models a dimension of utility that is crucial to Chust's concept. It is no longer a matter of manufacturing aesthetic objects to delight the gaze, but of devising stratagems to actually manipulate them. As in other works of his, the spectator is required to take a direct part, since without that participation the work could never develop its full potential. The objects have to be used in order to fulfil their ultimate meaning. The dolls house is made when that function is accomplished. It is no accident that Chust often turns to the world of children to guarantee that imperative of action and use of his works. Just as classical aesthetics identifies with the gratuitousness of the aesthetic experience, children, or rather children's impulse to play, guarantees the disinterestedness of practice released by the work. One must not follow particular rules and conquer a result; one must exercise a real experience, legalised in the execution itself and not in hypothetical results, such as playing with dolls. Moreover, those constructions, as we said, are models, though they are disguised here as dolls houses and elsewhere are presented as cages, flower boxes or playgrounds. That model quality is what gives Chust's projects the possibility of acting as a critical speculation on architecture, correcting its presumption by conceiving life spaces along the lines of turning his projects back into simple objects for use. Lastly, the other consideration which cannot be ignored when looking at Cielo mío is the by no means arbitrary fact that in his research he uses the real spaces of his studio or the exhibition areas where he has been invited to perform as references. This time, both of them are reinvented spaces: the studio and Sala Rekalde. That option is especially revealing since it shows up the whole art circuit. From the kitchen of the artist's private studio to the showcases of the art circuits, all the energy that circulates inside the misnamed art world is redirected towards the real world.

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