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“Before any other representational consideration, even before being an image…photography pertains, in the first place, and essentially, to the order of the trace…of the mark and of the deposit ” 1
Philippe Dubois
Anthropology is the science of otherness. Photography –which emerged almost at the same time, during the 19th century– has been the means of reproduction par excellence that contributed, and still contributes, to fossilize the identity of the Other.
In one of his first works, the installation Cajas Negras (Black Boxes), presented in the 6th Havana Biennial (1997), Mauricio Lupini combines both disciplines, establishing a symbolic interaction between them. On the one hand, he certifies the traditional anthropological perspective that considers the Other a passive object of study, and on the other, by utilizing a “box-camera”, he literally re-represents the conventional ideology of fixing identities that are hidden in any photographic representation. In this installation, he poses a reflection on the photographic device as a culturally codified instrument, which beyond its reproduction of “reality”, represents ideological and cultural values. Since then, Lupini has questioned in Western modes of representation the Euro-centrist way of thinking which, by presenting the difference, satisfies its obstinate longing to recognize itself through the Other.
In Mauricio Lupini´s recent work, the intention of inviting the spectator to establish interactive relations with the pieces is evident. In the Habitat series (1998-1999), for instance, we are faced with large-scale images that “document” the spaces characteristic of museums of natural sciences. Starting out from the “abstraction” of the images presented, the viewer attempts to reconstruct the photographic referent, in this case the museum, identifying it in the spaces portrayed (the carpet, the glass structures, the walls).
We find another interactive example in the work Diorama Penetrable (1999), in which the artist has used pages he has ripped out of National Geographic magazines to build a “penetrable”(a work that can be entered into), a direct reference to the Venezuelan artist Jesús Soto’s “penetrables” of the 1970s. In this installation, the artist combines the representational models contained in these kinds of publications –fauna, flora, or customs of the “others”– in the re-creation of an emblematic work of Latin American modernism, inviting the spectator to walk through the fragments of the photographs and the mutilated texts, referentially “deconstructing” the structure of the diorama as a form of museum-like exhibition, and constituting, according to Julieta González, “…a sharp commentary on the fragility of our own modern tradition and its (pretended) universal discourse” 2.
In Dust (2001), on the other hand, the artist builds up the sense of the work upon the specificity of the photograph, using the sensible material as cause and effect of the image, creating an abstract interplay with the blots that emerge from the traces of the dust from some parts of the city of Sinegallia (Italy) that are found in a negative. In the artist´s own words, “each photograph corresponds to the trace of the material collected” 3. These works are documents that transform the residue into a witness or a time indicator. To reinforce this effect, he presents the series in small format, so as to “rescue” –as he himself states– the dimensions of the traditional “photographic document”.
In another series executed at a later stage, Photograph of a white paper imprinted on the same photographed paper, The studio (2002), the iconographic plot corresponds to the fixing of the reflection randomly produced by an object belonging to the environment at the instant of the paper’s exposition. The reflections acquire materiality on the white surface of a sensible paper, and becoming immobilized, they indicate spaces and objects. Thus, a chair or a plug builds up physical environments, contexts. In this work, the emphasis is placed on the quality of the medium, which is at the same time an image and a “trace”, a reflection of the environment that makes its appearance, objects from the artist’s studio, which developing an apparently self-referential discourse, question this condition while they also “reflect”, literally, the “limits” of the artist’s work performed at the studio.
TV Show: Unidad de Habitación (2002) is another proposal in which the artist uses reflections or shadows as mediators to reach an interpretation. Here, Lupini proposes a reflection on the domestic-social environment reflected on the screens of switched-off TVs. These images have been captured and recorded in living-rooms, dining-rooms or bedrooms in the homes of Venezuelan working class families. “In this work…, the specificity of each place is inscribed in the TV screen, which paradoxically, is considered by many the space of what is public, the privileged space of (passive) connection with the social body” 4.
Continuing with his ethnographic reflection, in Billboards (2003), Lupini captures “ideological slogans”, which he has found written in public spaces in Caracas or Barcelona. “No al pasado” (‘No’ to the past), “Casas para todos” (Houses for everyone) or “Turista el terrorista” (Tourist you are the Terrorist)... When the phrases are “enlarged” to the point of rendering them illegible, the resembling quality of the representation no longer exists. Once more, the mimetic qualities characteristic of the photographic medium are displaced. The large scale images are exhibited as if they were advertising billboards through which the artist poses “a reflection on the ideological occupation of public spaces…and on the persuasive intentions of advertising”. A discourse emerges from the out-of-focus text, but it is up to the viewer to “de-compose or re-compose the text as if it were a riddle…, construct a meaning in the manner of a game” 5.
In fulfilling the task of an anthropologist, who regards cultural manifestations as the object of his study, Mauricio Lupini constructs and produces a discourse whose sense resides in the re-representation of the ideology that “reifies” the Other, recognizing the “indexicalist” qualities –of physical connection– of photography, and questioning aesthetic and ethical values of the visual representation of Modernism.
1Dubois, Philippe, El acto fotográfico, de la representación a la recepcion, Barcelona, Paidós Communication, pp. 55-56, 2004
2González, Julieta, Mauricio Lupini. Catalogue published by Sala Mendoza, Caracas, 2004.
3/5Lupini Mauricio, Notes on the work. Lupini´s reflections on his work. Unpublished material, 2005.
4Words by Julieta González, quoted by José Ignacio Roca, Catalogue of the Poly/Graphic Biennial of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, 2004.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1963. He is an architect, graduated from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (Central University of Venezuela). He went on to study photography in Italy, and obtained a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Goldsmith’s College, London.
The following are particularly noteworthy among his solo shows: Cosas a considerar antes de disparar (Things to consider before shooting), Sala Mendoza, Caracas, 2000; Habitat, Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas, 1999; La penultima versione della realtà, Photographic Archive of Tuscany, Prato, Italy, 1999; Mauricio Lupini V6811042, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, and Jesús Soto Museum of Modern Art, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, 1995. Among his most recent group exhibitions, mention may be made of: Tropical Abstraction, Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, 2005; 10 anni alla FAR, Ratti Foundation, Como, 2005; Etnografía: modo de empleo, Museum of Fine Arts of Caracas, 2002; Utópolis, National Art Gallery, Caracas, 2001; Demonstration Room, Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas; Apex Art, New York; NICC, Antwerp; Gallery 400, Chicago, 2000/01; Políticas de la diferencia, Arte Latinoamericano de Fin de Siglo (Politics of Difference, Turn of the Century Latin American Art), Museum of Latin American Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2000. He has participated in the San Juan Poly/Graphic Biennial, Puerto Rico, 2004; Prague Biennial, 2001; Santo Domingo and the Caribbean Biennial, Santo Domingo, 2001; Melbourne Biennial, 1998 and Havana Biennial, 1997. He currently lives and works in Rome, Italy.
Dust (Police Station), (Estación de Policía). 2001, Inkjet print. 15.7 x 15.7 in.
Impresión por chorro de tinta, 40 x 40 cm.
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Tv Show: Unidad de Habitación, video frame (January 23). 2002,
Installation comprised of 8 videos and TV sets.
Unidad de Habitación, cuadro de video (23 de enero). 2002,
Instalación de 8 videos y monitores.
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Untitled (join the resistance). 2005. Inkjet print. 78.7 x 147.6 in.
Impresión por chorro de tinta. 200 x 375 cm.
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Untitled (tourist you are the terrorist). 2005. inkjet print. 78.7 x 147.6 in.
Impresión por chorro de tinta, 200 x 375 cm.
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Mauricio Lupini. Photograph by Susi Ninni
Fotografía de Susi Ninni
Hábitat No 3. 1999. C-print. 70.8 x 70.8 in. Impresión a color. 180 x 180 cm.
Diorama Penetrable, National Geographic magazine (1978) pages cut out and glued. Variable dimensions. Detail of the Installation at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau, 2005.
Revistas National Geographic (1978) recortadas y encoladas. Dimensiones variables. Detalle de la instalación en el Stedelijk Museum Bureau, 2005.
Photograph of a white paper printed on the same photographed paper.
The studio. 2002. Installation, photographs No.6 and No.10., 12 inkjet prints, 8.2 x 11.7 in. each
Fotografía de un papel blanco impresa en el mismo papel fotografiado. El estudio. 2002. Instalación, fotografías No.6 y No.10., 12 impresiones por chorro de tinta, 21 x 29,7 cm.c/u.
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