Before Art

Before Art was a group of artists formed in Valencia, at the end of the sixties of the last century, whose trajectory enjoys singular importance in the course that Spanish contemporary art has followed. The interest of their investigations lies in their special approach to the relationship between art and science; or, rather, in the consideration tending, in conceptual terms, to the undifferentiation of the possibilities of action between both fields of knowledge.

The proposed exhibition constitutes a retrospective look at the short, yet tremendously intense, trajectory of this artistic collective in a time of special historical significance, such as that surrounding the year 1968. Fundamentally, a considerable part of the works that made up the three main exhibitions of the group is brought together (School of Architects, Valencia, 1968; Eurocasa Gallery, Madrid, 1968; and As Gallery, Barcelona, 1969).

It is intended to reproduce, half a century later, the atmosphere of those exhibitions in which objects and mobile devices capable of generating diverse optical, perceptual and structural experiences were presented to the viewer (resorting, by the way, in many occasions, to the same physical foundations that the mass media and advertising companies of the time employed). And this is done with the dual intention of highlighting the interest and relevance of that initiative and, furthermore, to assess the influence it had on the trajectories of the participating artists.