English Text

Anja Krakowski's text on Olga Diego's art-work and current project. 

Translation by Eva Orbe.

Daniel Miller (Miller, 2010:10) states that his reasons for wanting to be an extremist stem from the fact that extremism represents the commitment that allows us to stay in touch simultaneously with the extremes of universalism and peculiarities of modern life.

In the same context, Olga Diego poses an extremist challenge, a ' noble cause ' radicalism, which similar to that of the anthropologist´s, shows the effects of the universal on the personal, and those of the personal on the universal, by means of a proportional devotion to the understanding and empathic content of both. "

In her work, the emphasis of these extremes is stressed by her own singularity, through the use of her body and an assumed one. A body belonging to him and her: - both prosthetic and grotesque. The vehement body, which emerges, is above all a disjointed body, which moves between the boundaries that define her field of experimentation. The singularity resides in that each new movement and each extreme action manages to push these limits to reposition and redefine their social, cultural and/or political meaning.

Olga Diego questions these divisions by means of actions and performances that challenge the physical conditions of her body. Simulating self-harm or challenging the dangers of natural elements, which enhance the prohibition of the transgression and are identified to a certain degree with biological determinism. In previous works such as Fire Diego, she literally burns the gender fetishes of generic consensus, while in works like Flying, Diego leaves the confines of the laws of gravity without a second thought.

In all of Olga Diego´s cross-disciplinary explorations, she questions and challenges the physical conditioning of the body, that which accompanies and justifies the illusory dream of a possible simplicity of origin.  She takes us into a mental territory, which re-establishes the complexity of a relational, psychological and social individual. This individual shuns tethers and reveals itself beyond his/her apparent nakedness, thus contributing to an independent work of categorical thought which allows rethinking of a new unclassified identity.

The boundary is a line in the horizon, which moves as we near it.

To overcome limits, therefore, means to go in search of that imaginary line.  To find the unknown limits of oneself, that shun being catalogued a priori; one´s unpublished version, if you will.

In Olga Diego´s new work, Transcription, the connotation of limits and absolute rejection to imposed identity labels by means of the repetition of known patterns, acquires a dimension still to be explored; the nudity sometimes present in Olga Diego´s work, becomes intellectual.

In Transcription, the idea of the unknown, takes on a more radical or existential appearance. The viewer will be able to access live and/or through streaming, the space of action and the emotional space of the artist while she puts herself through a process of self-exploration of the possibilities of the unpredictable, under conditions of proximity and discomfort.

Olga Diego will be at the SCAN Project Room in London; 24 hours a day; for as long as her mind and body hold out, drawing non-stop while taking care to her vital needs. This will no doubt condition her creative process in an unforeseen way though not allowing it to be interrupted deliberately. Only the irredeemable loss of her physical capabilities will determine the end of the action.

By means of stripping off or voluntarily giving up all intimacy, the body of the artist is presented as the matter which itself restricts the action of the exploration of the limits. Its endurance or physical deterioration will determine the mental, creative ability to be transcribed into this act of incessant drawing in the attempt to carry out a complete, instinctual portrayal under extreme conditions.

As in all Olga Diego´s work, the proposed action implies taking a conscious and deliberate risk. The fundamental idea of overcoming and confrontation is accompanied by the need to leave every comfort zone.

For the first time, the action here is not a representation intended for the document, but in itself, a live exhibition of the transgression of “the being” who will develop in a space and time that is revealed: the space of the before-after.

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Descriptive text

The TRANSCRIPTION action basically consists of the act of drawing non-stop.

The artist Olga Diego will put both her body and mind through an artistic experiment that aims to explore the limits of the mind in a creative process.

She will be drawing without stopping for as many days as possible. As many as her mind-body can resist without taking any rest.

Diego will not stop drawing even while eating, drinking, or doing any kind of physiological activity. She will take the paper with her and continue drawing at the same time. She will create a space with no imposed time limit, and where the creative mind could reach unknown places. Nor will she stop drawing in order to sleep because she will stay awake and draw day and night.

An experiment that maybe could answer questions such as: What is the mind capable of creating in an unknown context, or when it is subjected to extreme exhaustion? What are we able to draw when we do not have a time limit for it? As here the artist's mind will be placed between absolute freedom and the limitation of its own capacity and resistance. How will this be reflected in the graphic image on paper? This graphic document together with the audio-visual documentation of the action will be material of a later study.

Challenge and risk-taking are not unknown elements in Diego's work. She herself flew with one of her artefacts created with just plastic and cello tape.

However, this will probably be one of the riskiest works that Diego has created. On the one hand, she proposes creation in the limits of physical and mental resistance, and on the other hand she will show herself totally bare, and this does not mean exposing her naked body. It would be a mental nudity, a jump without a net, the real-time visualization of her mind set to the limit.

The action will be shown on live streaming on Internet. This way, viewers will be able to see the action not only in the same exhibition space, but also on their computer from anywhere in the world, and at any time while the action is taking place.

The result of the action will be a transcription of her mind onto paper by means of graphic expression. In this transcription we will be able to see the different states the artist goes through. Starting with a fresh mind and a rested body, going on to that dreamed-of concentration that every artist desires where there is no immediate time limit to the work. Moving onto the time where confusion and exhaustion sets in. Where doubts, mental instability, fears, nightmares and obsessions arise. Then, progressively reaching the final outcome of the action where she will fall down exhausted, probably trying to trace the last strokes of her drawing.