Fenòmens naturals

The slide projection based on natural phenomena was part of the exhibition Naturaleses naturals (Natural Natures), presented at the Sala Vinçon, Barcelona, 1973. It consisted of a sequence of landscape images. Although landscapes are shown in their natural state, their cinematic condition imbues them with a representational character that refers to traditional landscape painting. This reflection on representation is reinforced by the context in which they were exhibited, which incorporated decontextualised natural materials such as stones, earth terraces, shells and plants. While the natural elements in the exhibition had been decontextualised, the projected images retained their point of reference: their natural environment. Within this exhibition framework, the projection shows, on the one hand, the original context of the physical elements displayed, while questioning the artistic genre of landscape from the point of view of Conceptualism. Just as the dialectic between nature and artifice articulated the exhibition, the contextual reference and decontextualisation acted as its theoretical axes. Fenòmens naturals is a key work for understanding Miralles' later painting practice.