Martín Sastre

Performance
Biography

Eva: Volveré y seré performers

Eva: Volveré y seré performers [Eva: I will return, and I will be performers] is the new piece by artist Martín Sastre, which invites visitors to step into the balcony of the Casa Rosada and remain there for 30 seconds, to experience what Eva Perón felt during her final speech on May 1st 1952, during which she addressed the vast crowd of workers that flooded the Plaza de Mayo. She was gravely ill and knew this would be her last time speaking to the Argentine people, so she was determined to passionately defend General Juan Domingo Perón's work. For a few minutes, her quivering voice -amplified by a microphone and broadcasted on the radio- awoke the fervor of the people in the crowd and kept every listener at home on edge. She died on July 26th and became a myth at only 33 years of age.

This performance action encourages participants to reflect upon the influence of women in the shaping of national identity, by reconstructing an iconic moment in the life of one of the most charismatic politicians of the 20th century.

The title of the work is a play on the famous words ''I will return, and I will be millions'', expressed by chieftain Túpac Katari in 1781 before being murdered by the Spanish in Upper Peru, and which has prevailed in the popular subconscious as a prophecy attributed to Eva Duarte de Perón.

Sixty-three years later, she returns incarnated in anonymous performers, who will interpret her individual vision of the facts in a unique and exceptional way. Those who participates in Sastre's work —by occupying the physical space of a leader if only for a few seconds— will cease to be mere spectators to become the protagonists of the artistic and historic action.

Date: May 1
Time: 2 to 6 pm
Venue: Casa Rosada
Produced by BP.15
Curated by Fernando Farina
SOLD OUT

Martín Sastre 1976, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Lives and works in Uruguay.

He is a film director and artist. He participated in the 2012 Montevideo Biennial with the piece U From Uruguay; in the 2005 Venice Biennale with the short film Diana: The Rose Conspiracy, and in the 2004 São Paulo Biennial with the video Bolivia 3: Confederation Next. He earned numerous awards, among them, the 2008 Fundación Faena award thanks to which he produced the video ¿Qué pretende usted de mí? the following year featuring Isabel Sarli; and the Community of Madrid Award for Best Young Artists at the Feria ARCO in 2004. Chief among his solo exhibitions are: Tremendo! (EAC, Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, Montevideo, Uruguay, 2012); We Are the World (Hayward Gallery, London, England, 2009); Pop n’ Porn (Ruth Benzacar gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2008); Dear Mr. Barney, I Walked through Fire and I Didn’t Burn (Momenta Art, New York, United States, 2007); Novas Utopias (Museu de Arte Moderna Aloisio Magalhães, Recife, Brazil, 2007); Hola Australia! (ArtSpace, Sidney, Australia, 2006); Aura (Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France, 2006); American as Well (Site Gallery, Sheffield, England, 2004), and Planet Sastre (Casa de América, Madrid, Spain, 2002). Likewise he participated in several collective exhibitions such as Unresolved Circumstances: Video Art from Latin America (Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, United States, 2011); América Latina, crisis, arte y confrontación 1910-2010 (Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico, 2011); Faux Amis / Une vidéothèque éphémère (Jeu de Paume, Paris, France, 2010); For You (Daros Museum, Zürich, Switzerland, 2009); Time Code (Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 2008); Playlist (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2004), and Superyo (Malba, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2003). He was part of the art collective Movimiento Sexy, with which he carried out the performance Todos x Natalia, Natalia Oreiro's birthday party (Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2001). He directed the videoclips Lo que siento por ti, by Miranda (Argentina, 2009), and La mano en el fuego, by Fangoria (Spain, 2004). In 2010 he premiered Miss Tacuarembó, his first feature film based on Dani Umpi's novel. He has recently shot the short film Protocolo celeste, featuring Natalia Oreiro and Diego Forlán.