Intervention in public space / Sculpture, Berlin, Bogotá, 2016-2018
Mirror 2,60 x 2,10 m

Tomas Espinosa makes it easy for us only at first glance. We think we know what we see. Seeing sets a trap for us: we see with distance. We analyze what we see with distance. But the works of Tomas Espinosa aim at attraction. We are invited to approach, to make contact, to touch, to relate: “I understand my work as a reflection on encounters and the time we need for them – time to touch, time to talk, time to share,” says the artist.

Tomas Espinosa therefore places the position of the subject and its relation to its environment at the center of his object-based installations. This is most evident in his perceptual arrangements, constructed from mirrors and functioning like experimental setups, which are placed as sculptural screens in outdoor spaces. Their special function only becomes apparent when they are understood as the results of meticulous contextual and situational research, which positions itself in the field of the artist alongside the reference field of social reportage. The use of the mirror installations in public space – be it in the park or in the street space – is based on an empiricism proposed by the artist, understood as an experience (of the artist as well as of the viewer) that leads to a hypothesis or attempts to confirm it. The temporary locations in the park, on the avenue, in the side alley are chosen by Tomas Espinosa purposefully, marking urban space crossed by different patterns of movement. He is interested in the ambiguity of perception and use of such public spaces, the ambiguity of knowledge and non-knowledge, of acceptance, recognition or concealment, for example of cruising in urban space.

For the artist, sculpture and photography thereby present themselves as “time-based media,” so to speak, for his artistic empirical approach: “Art questions this terminology itself: sculpture is no longer just an object. The factor ‘time’ is always present, so it can be a moment, seemingly static, it is something that is continuously changing. An installation, no matter how often it is exhibited, will never be exactly the same. “For my work, therefore, it is also always true to take into account a performative aspect.”