PLAZA
Installation views, Plaza, 2022
17–12–22 til 18–12–22
Santino Santillana | Plaza
INDEBT is excited to introduce Santino Santillana and to be hosting his site-specific project: Plaza. The two-day exhibition will be an ephemeral experience which will only exist within these two days. The ecosystem created at Indebt establishes the concept of community in combination with the environment of a marketplace as an art piece itself.
The title Plaza refers to a public square, marketplace, or open space in an urban context. It fulfills a plurality of functions, social and economic, and serves as a symbol for a community's identity. Acting as a city or town's “living room”, a plaza helps us mirror and show what is going on around an existing community. Santillana wondered:
“If the spirit of INDEBT would be a city and if there was a plaza, what could be on it and what should it do for its users?”
Touching on ideas of self-organization and collective empowerment Santillana transforms the exhibition space, the gallery as a prime example of exclusion, into a public space. Reducing it to mere square meters, used to facilitate a community.
For Plaza the artist invited local initiatives. Social interventions that help us understand what kind of encounters we may be able to experience. Dreaming of a place to meet without appointments, connect with craftsmen that can’t afford a location in the metropoli- tan, better access to healthy affordable food or the possibility of playing board games. Simply to unite in a meaningful way outside of the digital realm.
Coming from Peruvian descent, the project also speaks on Santillana’s heritage. Having a Danish mother and Peruvian immigrant father, the artist’s perspective lives on the bridge between the two cultures. Two cultures often in opposition. Citing his father: “western people stress to relax”, the project is a way to counter the pace of the 24/7 economy. Commenting on the lack of moments to slow down in western culture, both in a temporal as well as a monetary sense. Instead Santillana creates a space to be able to waste time wisely.
Santino Santillana (1991) is a Danish artist with Peruvian roots, based in Copenhagen. His multi-disciplinary practice is centered around social and relational arts as well as themes of decoloniality and heritage. Earlier projects have included bremsning-af- byggeprojekt (How to stop a building project) and between 2010 and 2016 he ran an influential cafe in Nørrebro, called LOS, which functioned as a community meeting ground in the gentrifying neighborhood, used among other things for union meetings, talks and exhibitions. Currently he is studying at Royal Fine Arts Academy in Copenhagen.
Counting Squares,
37,5 cm x 32 cm,
Oil on canvas, 2022
37,5 cm x 32 cm,
Oil on canvas, 2022
Listening to Roberto’s cd’s,
40 cm x 29,5 cm,
Oil on 400gr paper, 2022
40 cm x 29,5 cm,
Oil on 400gr paper, 2022
Plaza,
36,5 cm x 28,5 cm,
Glazed Stoneware, 2022
36,5 cm x 28,5 cm,
Glazed Stoneware, 2022
Wasting Time,
35 cm x 28 cm,
Oil on 400gr paper, 2022