Reynier Leyva Novo. Algo deja quien se va

February 27th - May 1st, 2025

EL APARTAMENTO

Calle de la Puebla, 4, local bajo derecha. Madrid. Spain

El Apartamento presents Reynier Leyva Novo's first solo exhibition in Spain, curated by Inés Plasencia Camps. In it, the Cuban artist asks what has become of historical memory and questions the state policies that deal with it. In a very personal way, he explores both its different manifestations and its continuous resurgence in the fabric of contemporary cultures.

In a general way, Leyva Novo's exhibition project questions how the contemporary state is shaped by institutions whose colonial origins and logic are still manifest. And, above all, how our symbolic apparatuses —a fusion of the historical, the political, and the identitary— underlying the institutional and monumental order continue to communicate, pulsate and pernotate the public space that citizens of the 21st century inhabit on a daily basis.

Part of the results of Reynier Leyva Novo's recent artistic research on power are shown. Algo deja quien se va is articulated around two series: Global Active Dust Collection Center and El susurro de Mnemosine (The Whisper of Mnemosine). The link between the two lies in the approach to the colonial history of Cuba and, to a lesser extent, the Philippines, as well as the analysis of its reflection in the public space of the former metropolis. Through these series, the artist analyses the close relationship between the configuration of a given state and the volatility of its main institutions.

The series Global Active Dust Collection Center, initiated by the artist in Washington DC in May 2024 during his Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, is now being developed in Madrid, with an artistic operation that seeks to connect the meanings of institutional buildings and monuments located in the Spanish capital that, from different perspectives, represent the contemporary State. Among them, the Plaza de Oriente and the Palacio Real, where the artist will carry out one of his performative actions, in which he will collect the dust and essences that gravitate around this significant public space.

The artist seeks to explore the impermanence of power structures, using dust collected from a series of iconic government buildings and monuments of great civic significance including the Ministry of the Interior; the National Library of Spain; the Jardines del Descubrimiento; Kilometre Zero and Headquarters of the Presidency of the Community of Madrid; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the European Union and Cooperation of Spain; El abrazo, also known as the monument to the lawyers of Atocha, by Spanish artist Juan Genovés; among others. Each piece, meticulously arranged on adhesive paper, captures the subtle but persistent changes that these bastions of authority undergo. The dust, collected from the surfaces of the buildings, symbolises the continuous human and environmental interactions that these structures endure. It underscores the vulnerability of political institutions, reflecting the transient nature of government and the constantly evolving political landscape that will later be exhibited at El Apartamento.

On the other hand, the series El susurro de Mnemosine (The Whisper of Mnemosine) is a continuation of his investigations into the colonial memory of Cuba and the wars in which it was involved at the end of the 19th century. The artist also approaches the Philippines, a territory that received the same treatment as Cuba in the accounts of the episodes that took place in 1898. In the rooms of El Apartamento, Reynier Leyva Novo will present a sort of catalogue of monuments in honour of the so-called heroes of both colonial wars. A series of drawings featuring controversial historical figures, which the artist has veiled with dense layers of paint in a cold chromatic range and which are subsequently revealed using infrared reflectography techniques, typical of the field of art conservation and restoration.

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