Esther Ferrer, Intimo y personal, 2007
Esther Ferrer
Intimo y personal

Esther Ferrer (*1937, Spain, France) was a member of the Spanish music and performance group ZAJ from 1967 until it dissolved in 1996. Similar to the Fluxus movement, ZAJ, which is one of Spain’s most innovative artists groups, also transformed everyday objects and actions into art. For more than forty years, Ferrer has been exploring the presence and transience of the body in (social) space in her minimalist and conceptual actions and performances. Her performances are generally designed as incomplete series which she picks up time and again, sometimes after decades, to explore the absurdity of life, which is caught between chaos and order. She exhibits widely: amongst others, at the Guggenheim Bilbao 2018 and the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno 2019.

artist's website: estherferrer.fr

The heart of Intimo y personal, which Esther Ferrer has continued either as a solo or group performance since 1975, is the measuring of our bodies and the bodies of others. The uniqueness of singular, gendered bodies which elude standardized female and male ideals is contrasted with the abstraction of norms, numbers and measurements. The performance is based on an “event score” of guidelines that can be followed by other people at any time. Its openness borders on the absurd and its lack of strict directions is also surprising. As a result, Intimo y personal changes every time it is performed. For re.act.feminism, Esther Ferrer selected several “measurements” which not only document the performances, but also the changing body of the artist.

Performances: Paris (1977), Intimo y personal, MACBA, Barcelona (1998), FRAC Lorraine, Metz (2007)

Courtesy Esther Ferrer and Frac Lorraine collection

Document media
3 photographs

Issue date
1977, 1998, 2007

Tags
measuring, repetition/seriality