Esther Gatón (Valladolid,1988) proposes for the media wall an intervention that strengthens the ties between light and human behaviour by turning the outer wall of the C3A into a kind of hypnotizing machine. Moving light is used to interlock and hold the distracted gazes of those strolling along the riverbank, whom it affects obliquely. 

The lengthy title, which in English would be Asleep on a feather bed surrounded by black curtains, an inverted torch (the earth was covered in poppies), describes how Hypnos, Greek god of sleep and drowsiness, has commonly been depicted. 

The artist has observed techniques such as circadian lighting, trance-inducing methods, blinking, phosphorescent screen glow and strobe lights and used them to play with the connections between light and life cycles. Light is the motor that synchronizes us with the day, with sleep (or lack of it), and with different moods or states of mind, such as shock, tenderness, nervousness, calm, delight or sharp focus. The piece for the C3A facade has been produced by extracting and combining a selection of mesmerizing videos, including footage of eggs being beaten, magic tricks, documentaries about butterflies and whales, knives being sharpened, tutorials for training staring and whispering skills, etc.

In the room 0 contains the materials that Esther Gatón produced while working on the animated sequence now being played on the building's outer wall, every evening at dusk until midnight.. There are drawings, notes and prints on different kinds of paper. The presentation is temporary and varies each time the work is reviewed.

Esther Gatón (Valladolid, 1988) lives in Madrid and London. She studied fine art at Saint-Luc Liège in Belgium, Universitat de Barcelona, and Goldsmiths London, earning her PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 2022 she enjoyed a Wiels residency in Brussels, and in early 2023 she opened Emil Lime, a solo show curated by Cory John Scozzari at the Museo CA2M in Madrid.

Her work has been exhibited at institutions like the CAPC (Bordeaux), Matadero (Madrid), La Casa Encendida (Madrid), Museo Patio Herreriano (Valladolid), Museo Universitario de Navarra, Museo CA2M (Madrid), Fabra I Coats (Barcelona), Etopía (Zaragoza), Palace of the Counts of Gabia (Granada), LABoral Centro de Arte (Gijón), Sala de Arte Joven (Madrid), and at galleries and independent venues such as The Ryder (London), Intersticio (London), Korai (Cyprus), Nordés (Santiago), Luis Adelantado (Valencia), Irène Laub (Brussels), The Watch (Berlin), Elba Benítez & Schneider Colao (Madrid), Cibrián (Donostia-San Sebastián) and Verão (Lisbon).

VIDEO by JUAN LÓPEZ LÓPEZ

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