An Involuntary Trace
An Involuntary Trace is a story curated by This is Jackalope and told in five episodes: three solo shows featuring the artists Agnieszka Polka (5 February–4 April 2021), Jonathan Baldock (8 July–3 October 2021) and Jon Rafman (21 October 2021–9 January 2022), an exhibition dialogue between David Horvitz & Javier Cruz (22 April–20 June 2021) and a performative dialogue between Hanne Lippard & Claudia Pagès (26 November 2021).
A trace is a vestige, sign or indication of a something that has already happened. We leave traces all the time, whether or not we realise it. One could say that “we are” to the extent that we leave a trace; the footprints we make are the measure of our current (or past) existence. Our presence is perceptible whether we want to be perceived or not; our involuntary trace says much more about us than the marks we deliberately make. Involuntary traces guide others, providing information about our identities even if we are not present.
The year 2020 has drawn a red line that forces us to consider new ways of existence. The world as we knew it is changing, and our bodies and minds are following suit. In the cycle An Involuntary Trace, we want to shine a spotlight on everything that ends up on the sidelines, identify clues that will give us insight into this complex new world, and make all that information visible through exhibitions, narratives and performances where fiction, imagination, humour, body and language become essential and give us a less rational orientation and perspective.
We want to speak from a certain position of invisibility, to talk about what is barely visible, without being seen. An Involuntary Trace is an exercise developed as a narrative comprising four chapters of exhibitions, one performative interlude and an epilogue in catalogue form. We aim to converse about what being / living in world today means: rethinking consciousness and the increasingly complex notion of identity; adapting perception and language to a new environment; and understanding the body as a soundboard and source of sensory knowledge.
This is jackalope is an independent organisation dedicated to the creation, production and dissemination of contemporary artistic practices, founded and directed by Cristina Anglada and Gema Melgar. This is Jackalope is a platform for international action, a stage on which to produce cultural projects that experiment with formats and discourses, thereby facilitating the exchange and promotion of conversations taking place in different art communities.
