sobremesa

Now I'm hardly crazy about San Jose Costa Rica, but it sure beats other Central American capital cities, and the fact that it has a contemporary art museum at all goes a ways toward explaining why.

During one of my short stop-offs in San Jose I took in an exhibit at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, comprised mostly of video works. I freely admit to a bias against this medium. I'm not sure why, but I can't think of any particularly appealing video pieces I've seen in the context of a museum. A few possible reasons:

• Lack of tactility; I have screens everywhere in my life. As a matter of fact, I'm looking at one right now. I go to the museum to see a room that has physical objects in it. Paintings, with their much more physical presence, count in spite of being "flat" images. They respond more to perception, and besides, they get bonus points for not being screens.

• Impersonality? This is a major generalization, but it seems that video works tend to be a bit more standoffish. I suppose some would say that nothing could be more standoffish than contemporary painting, but I don't find it that way viscerally. I respond to a painting that is physically there much more than to anything on a screen.

• Preconceptions about museums-- I think I'd be much more disposed to get into a video work or any sort of art film if I saw it at home or in a theater, just because of how I'm used to having these spaces utilized. (I realize this is unfair, I'm just musing.)

I found myself asking these questions because, happily, there was one piece that did seem immediately vital and made a strong impression. This was sobremesa, by Kaoru Katayama, an artist of Japanese origin who lives in Spain. ("sobre mesa" = "on table") The video features Julio and Salud, a couple who have actually been married 38 years, sitting at a table in their living room, looking casually at one another while knocking/snapping out a flamenco rhythm together with one hand each. It's only a three-minute video and I watched it several times, taken in by the atmosphere. The kinetic energy of the rhythm was foiled by the gaze of the couple, which is initially almost bored before it yields to slight, knowing smiles. The implications of this small, focused interaction are enormous, and teasing them out verbally does no justice to seeing the video.