Remembering Àngel Jové 'You do it because you feel the need, it’s as simple as that'
In 1969, the College of Architects of Catalonia invited Sívia Gubern, Jordi Galí, Àngel Jové and Antoni Llena to give a talk about their aesthetic ideas, which were revolutionary at the time. Without warning, the artists left the auditorium of the College of Architects in the dark and placed a TV monitor on the conference table. The monitor played the video Primera muerte (First Death) while, at the foot of the stage, Àngel Jové, dressed in black with his mouth highlighted with phosphorescent paint, read fragments of the novel The Naked Lunch (1959) by the American writer William S. Burroughs. The video consisted of a series of scenes of everyday life recorded in the house where the four artists lived. Known as the Jardí del Maduixer, the place had become a hub of Arte Povera and Conceptual art in the city. Previously, Jové had already exhibited his ‘poor’ sculptures made jointly with Llena at the Petite Galerie in Lleida. Recalling the experimental spirit of those years, Jové remarked in an interview of 1992: ‘You do it because you feel the need, it’s as simple as that.’
