Magnetic Theater It is the first exhibition in Valencia of the New York-based Mexican artist Pablo Helguera, considered internationally as a pioneer in the field of art of social interaction.. Artist, writer and cultural pedagogue, 'Magnetic Theatre' is a performative exhibition, an experimental theater that represents, in the world social networks and AI, a parable about the construction of knowledge and pseudosciences and the need to promote critical thinking through art. Known for its particular Artnoons, vignettes in which he satirizes the art world “his work for the Center del Carme introduces us to a more performative language, transforming the room into a scenic device where, through play, we can reflect on human knowledge and pseudoscience.”, explained the director of the Center del Carme..
Magnetic Theater is an exhibition that takes as its starting point the historical phenomenon of animal magnetism—the theory proposed in the 18th century by Franz Anton Mesmer—to explore a profoundly contemporary question.: Why do we continue to be attracted to systems that promise to explain the world completely?, simple and convincing? Mesmerism understood that within living beings there was a magnetic energy that could be manipulated for healing purposes and a whole series of rituals were created that have inspired horror literature., cinema or even music, since these rituals also had a musical part. Far from presenting mesmerism solely as a historical curiosity, This exhibition approaches it as a case study to reflect on the conditions in which pseudosciences arise., especially in times of social uncertainty, political or epistemological. The project, without offering an exhaustive chronology, seeks to build a space where history, belief and representation are intertwined in an active experience of knowledge.
The exhibition transforms the CCCC Dormitory room into a scenic device, which is organized around four fundamental elements. The exhibition begins with a historical introduction to mesmerism. In the central part, the work of art is displayed, represented by a series of ideographic panels and twelve visual scores in the style of John Cage and the Fluxus movement.. Imitating 'mesmeric inductions'’ (instructions for healing rituals), These scores are actually instructions for twelve performances.’ that will be represented during the opening of the exhibition on 20 May and which will take place in the third part of the room, a circular stage, which represents the 'magnetic theater'. Finally, An interactive educational space invites audiences to play in a self-managed way with different proposals such as magnetic poetry and a card game with different ailments in today's world and their corresponding healing proposals..
