ORIOL ESPINAL {archive}

The first version of Fernando Prats's theatrical piece Motif and Variation on the Fortuitous Encounter with Thomas Bernhard was performed live in Buenos Aires, July 1999, with the following production credits: Actors: Eleonora Mónaco, Alejo Recalde, Sony Báez, Fernando Prats; Original music: Sony Báez and Fernando Prats; Produced by: Teatro del Vértice; Assistant Director: Mónica Castaño; Actor Direction: Eleonora Mónaco; Playwriting and General Direction: Fernando Prats. In 2009, at the author’s request and on the occasion of the publication of the text in book format, I wrote the prologue Motif and Derivation.

Issue 14 of Y Sin Embargo magazine explores the modern mechanics of accumulation. Within this framework, I presented the photographic series Photo(a)cúmulos, a reflection on contained excess or excessive containers: goods, objects, and information that pile up—whether deliberately or haphazardly, in action or in potential. In an age of absolute access, connections multiply, but where does discernment go? When does order turn into saturation? Why do we want to “have” when we have neither the time nor the desire?

Issue 16 of Y Sin Embargo magazine delves into the concepts of Marcel Duchamp. Within the scope of this exploration, I presented the text Rrose Always Speaks in S. and the photographic piece Nourishing Concepts. In an exercise of appropriation and displacement, the text recreates a dreamlike epiphany in which Rrose Sélavy dictates her manifesto of disbelief, while the image encapsulates the conceptual ready-made in an edible reinterpretation of anesthetized aesthetics. Both works engage in a dialogue with the notion of the “definitively unfinished” artwork and semantic slippage as a trigger for new meanings.

In issue 17 of Y Sin Embargo magazine, dedicated to exploring the limits and resistances of graphic media, I presented the text Words and Their Universes and the double photomontage Infinite Loop, in which I explore the overload of meanings, codification, and the reach of messages. How much text can a text hold? How much meaning can a message bear? Through play, critique, and irony, I test the elasticity of the medium, pushing its invisible architecture to the limit.

Issue 18 of Y Sin Embargo magazine poses an urgent question: how can we define new codes and channels of communication in a world where noise drowns out meaning? In this context, I presented the poem Bestiary and the photographic piece Trues, an exploration of the tensions between freedom and society, between message and distortion. How can one avoid being assimilated by a system that absorbs everything? Where does the outside remain? Or is the outside merely another echo within the labyrinth?

Issue 19 of Y Sin Embargo magazine addresses the nature of convention and the phenomenon of discourse depletion within a society marked by centrifugal inertia, amnesia, and a constant flight from meaning. In response to the editorial premises, I presented the photographic piece History and the text Question and Answer for a New Catechism, where I examine, through irony, the collapse of the message within a saturated and self-referential communicative structure.

Issue 20 of Y Sin Embargo magazine questions the possibility of another development, of another state of affairs. What happens when everything is shared but nothing is communicated? Amidst mutating links and emptied discourses, constant interaction becomes a hollow reflection. Is there still the possibility of another meaning, another way of being? On this occasion, I tried to answer the editor’s questions with the silence of the dual photomontage Música callada and the voice of the poem Fuga.

Issue 21 of Y Sin Embargo magazine examines the role of the analog book in a dominant digital context. Within this framework, I created the text Sueño tal vez no soñado and the photomontage Destinos, where I reflect on the fragility of the physical object in the face of digital immediacy. Is the book a refuge or a symbol of resistance? How do we redefine its value in an era of unlimited access and constant transformation?

Issue 22 of Y Sin Embargo magazine analyzes digitalization as a phenomenon that deconstructs capitalist materialism. From this perspective, in Fragmento 1.0 and the photomontage Jokers, I explore the impact of the digital object, whose reproduction and circulation destabilize traditional value systems. How is ownership redefined when the immaterial gains autonomy and emancipates itself from the physical medium?

Issue 23 of Y Sin Embargo magazine probes the drive to possess in the digital age. From this reflection, I developed the photomontage Le dur désir de durer de mon disque dur, exploring how possession is redefined when access is unlimited. Do we continue to value what we own or only the possibility of owning? Is digital accumulation a necessity or a remnant of the habit of material possession?

Issue 24 of Y Sin Embargo magazine asks if contemporary disenchantment is, in reality, the disenchantment of social networks. Through the photomontage Muestra de laboratorio & Formulario, I examine the paradox of a hyperconnection that isolates. Is digital memory a simulacrum of permanence? Does the “Like” politics replace the act of protest?

Issue 25 of Y Sin Embargo magazine explores memory and its transformations in the digital age. With the poem Obertura and the piece Presentausencias, I analyze the fleeting nature of remembrance in an environment where information is erased or rewritten. How does memory change when it ceases to be a subjective construct and becomes a mutable, externalized archive?

Issue 26 of Y Sin Embargo magazine investigates human adaptability in an era of technological saturation. In the poem Sibila 1.0 and the piece Acción/Contemplación, I question the transformation of the individual in a hyper-stimulated environment. Do we adapt out of necessity, or because the system pushes us into perpetual adjustment?

Issue 27 of Y Sin Embargo magazine examines the dissolution of meaning in a society saturated with signs. Starting from a fragment of my novel Los círculos del sur and the photomontage Tupidos velos, I reflect on how language empties itself and turns into noise. Is it still possible to construct meaningful discourse when everything is redefined according to its circulation?

Issue 28 of Y Sin Embargo magazine analyzes the obsession with updating and discarding. In Díptico de la prosperidad Nº1, I propose a critique of the logic of accelerated consumption and planned obsolescence. Does the desire for novelty stem from choice, or is it systemic programming that prevents us from stopping?

Issue 29 of Y Sin Embargo magazine bids farewell by questioning whether digital communication truly amounts to genuine sharing. Through the poem Flows and the photomontage Everything Must Change, I explore the paradox of a hyper-communicative age in which dialogue dissolves into an incessant stream of messages. Are we still sharing ideas, or are we merely inserting ourselves into a flood of information that overwhelms us?