2011
Dedication
Installation.
1) 5 inkjet signed prints of women body builders. 15.1x20.1cm, 12.9x17.7cm, 12.6x17.7cm, 20.1x25cm, 20x25cm.
I am attracted to the bodies of lady body builders. I have developed a taste for scrutinising the internet to find them and for a while now I have sent some of them a short flattering email asking them whether they would agree to send me a signed photograph including, if possible, my full name in the dedication. We are thus linked through the ink and the signature.
Antonio Contador, feb. 2011.
2) Giorgio Agamben's signature on a piece of paper (10.4 x 12.9 cm).
On Saturday 29 March 2008 I attended a conference at the Institut National de l'Histoire de l'Art [National Institute of Art History] in Paris by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben entitled La signature des choses [The Signature of All Things]. In fact this conference preceded the launch of his book Signatura rerum.
Inspired by Paracelsus, one of the ideas he put forward is that there is a sign in all things that reveals their essential qualities. Such a sign is not always obvious and can be hidden within the apparent insignificance of certain details. But the sign always bears a signature. There is no pure unmarked sign.
At the end of the conference, I went towards him. I probably wanted to thank him. But, without knowing why, I asked him to sign a piece of paper. He was taken by surprise but accepted. I have never known what to do with his signature and this piece of paper. I had thought I would go to conferences by other philosophers with the aim to collect other signatures and thus constitute a very particular collection, but the idea didn’t last long.
Antonio Contador, feb. 2011
