Grup de Treball (Grup d'artistes)
Revista "Qüestions d'Art" núm. 28
"Qüestions d'Art" Magazine, no. 28
1975
In 1974, Grup de Treball was commissioned to produce a special edition of Qüestions d’Art, the only Catalan art magazine at the time. It was issue 28 of this publication and it appeared in December 1974. Daniel Giralt-Miracle, editor of the magazine, considered attitude art and concept art as a tangible reality in Catalonia.
The issue included individual and collective contributions, an anthology of texts and actions by Grup de Treball, a manifesto on the back cover, and the project Treball col·lectiu: proposta a la crítica, which consisted in sending a set of texts to various critics for reviewing, and then publishing their contributions. In the collective manifesto on the back cover, the group reflected on their evolution and the internal contradictions between the collective and its members: ‘From the perspective of its current practice, Grup de Treball defines itself, once again, as a heterogeneous group of ideological tendencies, and wishes to make a clear distinction between, on the one hand, the individual works of each member and their individual contributions to various fields, and, on the other, the collective practice of the group (artistic, theoretical and as a sphere of influence).’ Regarding the term ‘influence’, they add that this ‘refers to the group’s intervention in the artistic and cultural problematics of our country’.
Besides the different works that are individually signed, the interest of this issue lies in the re-publication of several of the group’s earlier programmatic texts. Although some were individually signed when they first appeared, here they carry the collective signature of Grup de Treball. Examples of this are the text presented by Carles Santos in Banyoles, ‘Informació d’Art Concepte 1973 a Banyoles’, now signed by Grup de Treball; part of ‘Document-resposta a Tàpies’, a reply to the polemic caused by Antoni Tàpies’ article in La Vanguardia; and the text presented by the group to the Art Section of the Fifth Catalan Summer University at Prada de Conflent, in 1973, ‘Treball col·lectiu sobre els artistes participants a Documenta 4 (1968) i Documenta 5 (1972) de Kassel’.
With the project Treball col·lectiu: proposta a la crítica, the magazine was attempting to establish a dialogue with art criticism in the country. The text of Prada de Conflent was sent to thirty-six critics with the intention of publishing all their replies. Worthy of note is the contribution of Simón Marchán Fiz – one of the critics who most openly dialogued with Grup de Treball – who argued that Conceptual art introduced to the country under the Anglo-Saxon influence and Neo-positivism had generated a very positive awareness of the artistic, social and political situation. He did, however, warn against the dangers of falling in line with positions trapped in the class struggle and ideological disputes, thus betraying the purity of the various original conceptualisms.
The coordination and edition of this art magazine special issue belong to the kind of communication proposals inspired by Conceptual art. In other works, Grup de Treball also used postal mail, the mailing of texts to the press and the insertion of advertisements in daily newspapers. The group’s intervention in Qüestions d’Art falls within the category of works of ‘intervention’ or ‘occupation’.
The issue included individual and collective contributions, an anthology of texts and actions by Grup de Treball, a manifesto on the back cover, and the project Treball col·lectiu: proposta a la crítica, which consisted in sending a set of texts to various critics for reviewing, and then publishing their contributions. In the collective manifesto on the back cover, the group reflected on their evolution and the internal contradictions between the collective and its members: ‘From the perspective of its current practice, Grup de Treball defines itself, once again, as a heterogeneous group of ideological tendencies, and wishes to make a clear distinction between, on the one hand, the individual works of each member and their individual contributions to various fields, and, on the other, the collective practice of the group (artistic, theoretical and as a sphere of influence).’ Regarding the term ‘influence’, they add that this ‘refers to the group’s intervention in the artistic and cultural problematics of our country’.
Besides the different works that are individually signed, the interest of this issue lies in the re-publication of several of the group’s earlier programmatic texts. Although some were individually signed when they first appeared, here they carry the collective signature of Grup de Treball. Examples of this are the text presented by Carles Santos in Banyoles, ‘Informació d’Art Concepte 1973 a Banyoles’, now signed by Grup de Treball; part of ‘Document-resposta a Tàpies’, a reply to the polemic caused by Antoni Tàpies’ article in La Vanguardia; and the text presented by the group to the Art Section of the Fifth Catalan Summer University at Prada de Conflent, in 1973, ‘Treball col·lectiu sobre els artistes participants a Documenta 4 (1968) i Documenta 5 (1972) de Kassel’.
With the project Treball col·lectiu: proposta a la crítica, the magazine was attempting to establish a dialogue with art criticism in the country. The text of Prada de Conflent was sent to thirty-six critics with the intention of publishing all their replies. Worthy of note is the contribution of Simón Marchán Fiz – one of the critics who most openly dialogued with Grup de Treball – who argued that Conceptual art introduced to the country under the Anglo-Saxon influence and Neo-positivism had generated a very positive awareness of the artistic, social and political situation. He did, however, warn against the dangers of falling in line with positions trapped in the class struggle and ideological disputes, thus betraying the purity of the various original conceptualisms.
The coordination and edition of this art magazine special issue belong to the kind of communication proposals inspired by Conceptual art. In other works, Grup de Treball also used postal mail, the mailing of texts to the press and the insertion of advertisements in daily newspapers. The group’s intervention in Qüestions d’Art falls within the category of works of ‘intervention’ or ‘occupation’.
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