SASKIA CALDERÓN

Retina off

Title: Retina off
Modality: Performance/concert
Duration: One hour
Year: 2019
Fundación Municipal Bienal de Cuenca
Photography: Xavier Caivinagua. Fundación Municipal Bienal de Cuenca

Retina off is a lyrical recital with a visual effect; the action alludes to the sound and visual annulment by the censorship imposed by aspects of social, political, religious, academic music, and the patriarchal system.

The performance art consists of a lyrical interpretation of songs that have been banned and a lighting mechanism, during the recital the lights on the stage will be gradually turned off until they reach total darkness. The action seeks the same visual and sound range, the visual by the annulment of the light with the musical annulment by social impositions.

The recital includes a varied list with a random selection that goes from pre-Hispanic times to the current century.  The musical format is formed by a piano and two singers, a soprano and a baritone for the duets.

The title of the performance mentions the layer of light-sensitive fabric on the back of the eyeball. Light as an important element in the action affects the retina, triggering a series of chemical and electrical processes that eventually translate into nerve impulses sent to the brain by the optic nerve. In the action these are gradually eliminated by the lack of luminosity causing the visual annulment.

As a significant axis is found through the effect of light the fading of a culture imposed by the Western, the image of advertising, clothing and format is Western. The work speaks of a miscegenation in which the indigenous culture is disappearing.

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© Saskia Calderón · Derechos Reservados 2025