(Blueprint for Repressive Space)
1973
Graphite on paper
Espacio represivo (Repressive Space)
1973
Gelatin silver print
Maqueta de espacio represivo
(Maquette for Repressive Space)
1973/2014
Steel tubes, arc welding and aluminum hoops
Courtesy the artist and Henrique Faria Fine Art, Buenos Aires
Trained as an architect, Horacio Zabala examines the physical structures –particularly prisons and jails — that serve authoritarian systems. Espacio represivo recontextualized the punitive space of the prison inside the gallery. The architectural model, preliminary drawing. And photograph on view describe the original installation, which was constructed to human scale at the Centro de Arte y Communicacion in Buenos Aires. While the jail-like structure references the repression and political conflict in Argentina at the time, it also functions as a metaphor for an arts institution. In 1972, Zabala professed that
“ART IS IN JAIL.“.
This slogan appeared on many of his subsequent works and critiqued the (itself often oppresive and censoring) instituitionalized power of the art world.