Interview -Nuria G at ArtLab - Art Madrid blog-


Nuria G, curator from Veo Arte interviews LRM Performance's Berta Delgado and David Aladro-Vico
at the Art Madrid Art fair  blog, ARTLAB . This is the translation. 

Photo: M. Romler


"Many of you may already know LRM performance, a collective combining  light effects, dance, performance and sound all organized in a logical structure quite similar to the musical one. They are David Aladro-Vico and Berta Delgado and soon you will be able to meet them in “El lugar de los sueños” at the Room Art Fair. 

When did you decide your  future was going to be into art?

David - when? well, somewhere during adolescence. I did not decide so, I came to it; you see it more and more as the best, the most feasible and then the only possible way. 
Berta - In my case it was an idea that was always present since I was little because that was where I felt most comfortable, later on I oriented all my education towards it.

What is the artistic technique you find yourselves more comfortable into?

Berta - LRM work all aspects at the same time: visual, sound and movement, this requires knowledge of many techniques, from costume design, composing music for the moment in which you will see it, to its lighting and its movement .

David - You're not comfortable into any but you like them all, I mean,  there is always a tension with the material you are using (whether liquid, solid, sound, intellectual, culinary ... ) when creating something, but the result attracts you like a moth to the flame. And if you want to make progress, you should try everything you can.

What was your first work or major project ?

David and Berta - For us the most important is always the latest you are working in, the whole oeuvre is a continuous work in progress, we have no choice but to think so.
We always have a feeling that previous works were not " finished " and will never be, and although we are proud of Memory Root Light, new pronising ideas come up  ... of what we have already done, it is  the beholder who decides which one is most important. 
With music they always say: " the best album is the second " with movies, " his style before he went to Hollywood " in painting, " in his early works you could already see something that later ... " etc. 

What project are you currently working on?

David and Berta - We are into a piece with working title Kowloon, creating materials and ordering them. Our process is non-conceptual ( nor the result ) so the title is not important, it is a reference. What matters is the work, to get it going, getting on with the light, sound, color, materials and movement. This is the way to shape things, to bring them into life.

Berta : - Yes, it will be an intense work as Memory Root Light was and we assume it will take months.


photo: LRM Locus


What are your artistic or literary references ?

David : - uh, so many things ... arts' ( all of them) history is so long and wide, the sciences, philosophy, society, etc. , plus the number of people doing things today, which is huge. You never know where an idea may come from:  from a piece, a text, the street, the unexpected ( but not the arbitrary ) It's interesting go with serendipity.

Berta - Our references are quite diverse and from all kinds of disciplines. In cinema, we are watching a lot of Asian directors such as  Kar-Wai Wong (with cinematographer Chris Doyle ) and especially atractive for us is the new wave of Thai directors for their quite contemplative and abstract films (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Aditya Assarat, Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Wisit Sasanatieng)

We also find very interesting the films of Roy Anderson, for their picturesque aesthetics and style.

Lately we have been listening to Duane Pitre and Jon Gibson, and into  interdisciplinary artists our usual referents are DV8, Romeo Castellucci, Heiner Goebblels, Robert Lepage among many others



Do you think art should be in connection with society ?

David : - Often Art reflects society even if it does not want to. Whether it should or should not, I don't think there's a consensus. On respect to taking action in society, we believe it must be done in an unselfish way: it is best done as a citizen, not as an artist. Otherwise it's the cause is helping you, not you helping the cause.

Berta - It always is, although as David says it may not have a real intention to be connected with.

In our difficult times where there is a deep crisis of honesty, I think as an artist you have to convey that your work is done with the greatest effort, the person who watches it should notice into it a search, an intensive labour and learning. That attitude influences society in a positive way and helps to change things.

Do you think it is essential today the artist to work ubiquitously ?

David : - There's no other choice, although it has always been like that, artists went where the resources were. Wealth and progress in communications do help, but some aspects have not changed.

Berta : - Circumstances, especially in Spain, are forcing you to find other places for your work. Although this requires a bigger effort, eventually you enrich yourself, experiencing different cultures and learning from them is the best way to avoid ethnocentrism .

What current exhibitions are you recommending ?

We recommend the Japanese art of Bunraku  at Teatro Español, also  John L. Adams' piece at the Reina Sofia Museum and Georges Méliès  exhibition at CaixaForum



original text (in spanish)  here