Strategy of Precarity. Francesc Abad

The intention behind the exhibition Strategy of precarity is to serve as an epilogue to the artistic career of Francesc Abad (Terrassa 1944), including his latest works, mostly unedited. In this sense, the exhibition project is organised along four main aesthetics research axes. On one hand, Francesc Abad presents a selection of Els Diaris del Pensar, a work in progress which began years ago, and through which he focuses on historical events of the recent past. In contrast, with Les costelles del segle the artist offers a critique of present times. Moreover, and linking these two lines of research, namely the recovery of the historical past and the constant reinterpretation of contemporary times, Abad has focused part of his interest in exploring the concept of utopia, and more specifically in the theories of Ernst Bloch. Thus one of the central issues of concern for the artist lies precisely in rethinking the present-day validity of utopia, considering we live immersed in a political-economic system that denies everything which makes us human, and which even cancels out our dreams. Finally, Les nòmines, where Francesc Abad investigates what  the term "employee" means within in the context of the field of creativity. At a time when productivity is closely linked to economic gains, the artist asserts the importance of "futility" and the subaltern as a subject who lives outside the economic dictates which mark the pace of our time.

The exhibition arises from the desire to find other ways to classify and understand reality. It is a kind of captain's log for our times. The exhibition may be defined as a essayistic journey, in Francesc Abad's characteristic style of voyaging, sailing across from the experience and legacy of a collective past. Thus, time itself is situated in the very nucleus of Abad's captain log.