Ejercicios de Poder - Cabello/Carceller

Cabello/Carceller

The Ejercicios de poder project was conceived and produced in 2005 for the El espacio recuperado exhibition organized by the Fundación COFF at the former factory of Tabacalera in San Sebastián. This building, similar to the swimming pools, bars or discotheques, is portrayed by Cabello / Carceller at a juncture when the function the site was built to serve is inactive, since the factory was closed down some time ago. It is, moreover, a tobacco factory, a place linked to women and their condition as workers. The women –the Cigarette Girls– were the main work force at factories, but despite this, they never wielded power. The video Ejercicios de poder: Casos Liam Neeson (La lista de Schindler) / Fred MacMurray, Jack lemmon (El apartamento) [Power Exercises: Case studies: Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List) / Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon (The Apartment], with a duration of 8’15”, analyses the codes and conduct associated with the image of male power. Based on scenes from the films alluded to in the title, Cabello/Carceller analyse the body language and arguments presented by the characters in the exercise of their pow er image. The men are acted by masculinized women, and the film sets of the factory and office are depicted by the real images of the decrepit, abandoned factory. Consequently, nothing is as it seems on first glance. In this manner, Cabello / Carceller aim to provoke viewer’s to adopt an active and participatory stance, using analysis and thought to complete the meaning of the work. Furthermore, the characters and scenery of Ejercicios de poder reflect out-dated social behaviour, hierarchical power structures and work systems, but ones which are often still prevalent. Once again this work by Cabello / Carceller analyses the power of cinema, both past and present, to create prototypes and behavioural blueprints. The Ejercicios de poder project is complemented by 4 photographs taken during shooting for the video. These images, like the video, reflect the cinematic style and photography of the late 40s and early 50s. The ambivalence of character and space encourage the spectator to consider the possibility that changes have taken, and are taking, place in the models of behavioural codes as depicted by the central characters of the video, as well as in the system which gives rise to this type of power exercises.