Ana Laura Aláez

DANCE & DISCO

5 february, 2000 - 19 march, 2000 /
Sabatini Building, Espacio Uno
Exhibition view. Ana Laura Aláez. DANCE & DISCO, 2000
Exhibition view. Ana Laura Aláez. DANCE & DISCO, 2000

The installation Dance & Disco, created by Ana Laura Aláez (Bilbao, 1964), represents the integration of a Club space inside the cultural and exhibition practices of a museum, whereby a flyer with a DJ lineup acts as the only source of information in the exhibition. Therefore, the space and its function is fully detached from the history of the place and the institution as it aims to push the relationship between art and life to the limit.

The artist has already “recreated” common spaces in daily life in numerous of her other works; for instance, clothes shops and clubs, places that are linked to youth culture. In this instance, she changes the white and empty space that forms the identity of Espacio Uno and transforms it into the ideal club brimming with light and sound. The piece is wholly designed by Aláez, who focuses on her conditions of place as she stages the everyday, whereby exchanges and social relationships take centre stage. The conceptual, spatial and architectural approaches of the work also place the emphasis on the nature of the seduction and sensuality of relational functions as they are expressed in a general public space and in one of these particular characteristics.

The club is divided into two rooms: the first is a bar, DJ booth and dance floor. The second is organised around a room taken up with a bench with blue light, which is surrounded by different-sized areas, giving it the appearance of a maze. Furthermore, there are diverse spaces with walls lined with white leather modillions as well as a darkened room that explicitly alludes to gay clubs.

Together with mirrors and furniture with pure lines and geometric forms, the piece is concluded with a projection of videos on the ceiling, created specifically for the project. The artist appears in them through gestures and facial expressions that portray her enjoyment of the club, the possibility of being seduced there, and, in a wider sense, alterity and difference. The original space is finally transformed with the inclusion of an extensive programme of activities related to this new identity and there are also DJ sessions, record releases, fashion parades by young designers, and so on; all of which take place place outside the conventional opening hours of an exhibition space.

Exhibition´s details

Organized by: 
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía