“Walking, running, falling” begins a series of five exhibitions at L21 LAB dedicated to celebrating ten years of L21, a project born in 2012 in Palma de Mallorca. The cycle, which is curated with Francesco Giaveri, showcases works by artists represented by the gallery alongside international ones who are significant and relevant in relation to the gallery programme.

In this series of exhibitions, the body and language have been used as a trail to explore. Both function as leitmotifs or guiding concepts in these exhibitions where the aim is not to demonstrate a thesis, but to propose a journey through very different artistic practices regarding generation and context, and in which the works are juxtaposed and linked through stories. Five exhibitions are proposed corresponding to five parts of the body, which will develop autonomously over the coming months, although there are numerous echoes and abundant dialogue between them. The display maintains the experimental character that characterizes the presentations in L21 by occupying uncommon locations.

In “Walking, running, falling” the starting point has been the foot, the basis for starting to walk then running and getting up again after the inevitable fall. Similarly, L21 Gallery has undergone similar processes in its own skin over the last ten years. Inevitably, every creative project, both artistic and gallery-related of course, grows through trial and error, nourishing itself on what it has learned and stretching its limits without fear of falling.

“The Body Artist”, a novel by Don DeLillo about time and the limits of the body, but also an effective metaphor for artistic creation, accompanies us on this journey, a continuous search, an endless flight from the known to the unknown to the next limit.   

The lyrics of Iggy Pop’s song, “Sixteen”, articulate a process of coming and going, stopping to observe the past in order to continue towards the future with a firm step, walking, to then start running and know how to get up after falling. The North American musician in this song (although perhaps it is only our interpretation) returns to look at himself with tenderness and admiration, remembering the impetus of when he was sixteen years old and ready to eat the world. This same hunger that any gallery project needs to have and constantly renew in order to keep moving forward in an ever faster field, in an ever larger field, without forgetting the lessons of the past or the crazy energy of its beginning. This is also what this celebration is about. 

Tell me, what can I do, Sweet Sixteen?

I give you my body and soul Sweet Sixteen

I must be hungry

‘Cause I go crazy

Over your leather boots

(Iggy Pop, Sixteen, en Lust for Life,1977)

Francesco Giaveri