In relationship to “fear” as a theme of the exhibition [promise, practice, protocol—performing future presences], I would say that, in my case, this theme is born out of the circumstances of isolation. Through a process of meditation, the issue of isolation became the solution to the piece: I would expose myself as a living part of the installation and live for three entire days in a set open to the public during the 52-hour-lab. I was constantly explaining the work to the spectators, mainly German, in neophyte English. I explored the issue of a world of stuttering and of a lack of words, something in between entertainment and masochism.

This situation of being without a common language, or at least using one precariously, provokes fear as a defensive reaction of the body generating antibodies and creative connections. This is not only the motivation of this precise work, but also explains a big part of Solitude. As an example, the election of Mapuche as a second language to study is surely a highly unproductive decision if we take into account my personal situation in terms of communication. As a consequence of this, comes the development of the most important project of my residency at Solitude in which I speak Native South American languages. This action seems unusual and counterproductive in these circumstances, but very important to me. During the development of Reality Set, curiously, the idea of the piece Left Tongue *1 was triggered. Today, it all seems very logical, nevertheless, at the moment I felt like a commander in a battle with my Latino identity. This was the context for Reality Set. It was like a in situ bilingual experiment. More than the visualization of all the reactions derived from the situation, as a consistent consequence of the project, this was meant to be a fake bilingual encounter. In this imaginary world, with this precarious English, the nexus with the spectator, an artistic action in a context of tension derived from the lack of communication and a certain level of vulnerability deliciously spices up the tradition of documenting an action on video.

The reality lived under these circumstances, the loneliness, kindly escorted by my fellow artists, and permanently on stage, filmed with video cameras, the academy’s TV equipment, seemed like a banal seduction trap, just like in reality shows on TV. Furthermore, if we think that to do nothing is, finally, to do a lot or to do something important, the very act of being there was important and is what, in this case, jointly holds together the system. The actual happening of this story in a context of spontaneity, of maximum productivity, far beyond the emotional drama or fear is important.

It exists as another frightening and exciting remainder of over-exposure. But these emotions produce passages to an imaginary world, a fathomless inner world, and in my case, a product of a catharsis. Other overwhelming remainders are the literary and metaphorical analogies born out of both the spontaneous interventions and the performances developed throughout these 52 hours. The specific case of living on a set pushed my capacities to a limit during a very difficult and painful time for me and made me think of a destitute, neglected or distracted reality derailed by events and constructed by faith and responsibility: after all, like a reality show.

This is an unexpected post-interpretation, fact that it makes it a very important life experiment in which there will always be human bonding in a context of vulnerability and real risk. But, this is all natural. The others complement the piece, that is, through solidarity. Everyone has a responsibility; there is an issue of faith in all of this.

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