La celebració com a revolta

LA CELEBRACIÓ COM A REVOLTA (The celebration as a revolt)

Josep Guinovart, Carles Guerra, Antonio Negri

2007

La celebració com a revolta is a song for life and freedom. In this work, contained in an aluminium box, Carles Guerra brings together the philosopher, Antonio Negri and the visual artist, Josep Guinovart. The thinking of Negri impregnates the three pieces designed by Guinovart for a project, in which the social criticism, that impregnates both figures, shines through. The title of the edition stems from a text by Joan Puigdefàbrega for the exhibition of Guinovart at La Pedrera in 2002.

When Carles Guerra carried out the interview, included in this book, with Antonio Negri in June of 2000, Negri was still subject to a prison sentence. At that point in time, he had been granted open regime, which meant that during the day he could be at his flat, in the centre of Rome, although at dusk he had to return to Rebibbia. The interview was structured in the form of a dictionary and Guerra invited Negri to reflect on concepts such as:

D (DETENTION, PRISON) The prison is the placement of productivity in specific social spaces. 

H (HISTORY) There is nothing as free as each moment in our life, each historic moment. 

P (POVERTY) We are poor because we have nothing to resist the provocations, the violence, what is really the expropriation of our life, when they take away our time to live. 

T (TIME) Ultimately, time is the alternative between the futility of living to die and the plenitude of eternity. I believe militancy is that. 

V-Z (LIFE AN DEATH) What more can one say? We are eternal. We are every time we make a choice, each time we face a temporal instant. Eternity is within our existence. As such, when we say, “I exploit you, I hurt you”, we say it and do it for eternity, and this is why it is unforgiveable: it is no longer about hurting, so much as doing so for the whole of eternity, which is defined in that precise moment. 

Guinovart’s prints, titled The King of the workers, are resolved with the techniques of etching and embossing on top of a giclée digital print, and are based on three preparatory drawings with collage elements. The video-interview lasts for two hours and fifteen minutes, and Antonio Negri appears in it as a still shot, in black and white. 

The edition contains:

1 video-interview by Carles Guerra with the Italian philosopher Antonio Negri, N de Negri, carried out in the year 2000, in Rome. The version, in DVD format, includes subtitles in English, Spanish, and Catalan. 

1 Booklet with text by Carles Guerra and transcript of the interview.

3 original prints by Josep Guinovart, The King of the workers, the BAT for which were made in the spring of 2006. Bleed printed on Somerset Velvet paper, 255 g, each 61 x 43 cm. Techniques used: digital giclée print with Ultrachrome inks, etching, carborundum, embossing, and paper cutting.

1 Anodized aluminium box.

Graphic design by Jaume Roure.

The edition is made up of:

75 prints, numbered and signed from 1/75 to 75/75.

10 prints, identified as PA, numbered, and signed from I/X to PA X/X.

10 prints, identified as HC, numbered, and signed from 1/10 to 10/10.