Review
'The Future Will be Different'. Mario Garcia Torres and Ryan Gander at FF Projects
by Ana Cadena Payton
Reading time
3 min
In February 2024, the exhibition The Future Will be Different opened at the new space of FF Projects. Located in the heart of Monterrey, in what was once a textile factory, the venue carries a distinct allure compared to former settings. Its charm comes, in part, from its proximity to the Macroplaza and the History Museum, and the building's retained architectural retro details.
The debut featured the work of Mario Garcia Torres (Monclova, Mexico) and Ryan Gander (Chester, United Kingdom). This isn't the first time the artists have crossed paths. Notable among their shared exhibition history is their presence at Documenta 13, as well as their collaboration for Proyectos Monclova titled Nobody Walks Away from True Collaboration Triumphant or Un-bruised.
On this occasion, a significant portion of the work adopts canvases, likely a nod to the old textile factory. This, coupled with Eduardo Lopez's curatorial vision leaning towards minimal, monochromatic, and conceptual, provides coherence from start to finish.
The journey commences with Spoiled Paintings, a series of black and white canvases by Mario Garcia Torres. They would be pristine if not for the smudges left by his toner-stained hands on the frame, narrating the inevitable accidents that are part and parcel of an artist's work. Coming from an artist whose language is conceptual, the creation of 'accidentally' dictated paintings by the hands of the artist delivers a humorously convoluted trademark, akin to traditional painting.
Ryan Gander offers a similar element with Embrace Your Mistakes, Your Mistakes Are The Markers of Your Time. Unlike the accident, this series of drawings results from intention, mistake, rejection, and rescue. The artist's inability to free-handedly draw on paper the essence of a lit candle leads him to discard the drawings. Eventually, he embraces the failure and displays the crumpled works. In Gander's words, "For me, art is always the idea. The final 'thing', that's just the vessel that holds the idea: the receipt, the by-product."¹
They Came Out of Nowhere, He Said Pointing to Nowhere are screen prints on banners that magnify details from FF Projects' visitors books. These details include signatures, comments, drawings, and email accounts in a large format. Through this, Gander establishes a connection with the visitors while contemplating the spectator and spectacle relationship, toying with notions of authorship, collaboration, temporality, and visibility.
In broad strokes, the exhibition invites contemplation on failure, mistake, and the arbitrariness of artistic processes through simple and calculated gestures. The work seems to echo the reuse and reconfiguration of a space previously destined for different work logics. Its restoration was thought out in a way that doesn't erase all traces of the past but highlights them. With this in mind, we need to consider what the name The Future Will be Different suggests, and be vigilant for what this new stage of FF Projects may bring.
1: Quote from Ana Bogdan's interview for The Talks. Bogdan, Ana. “Ryan Gander: "It Wants Your Attention."” The Talks, 2024, https://the-talks.com/interview/ryan-gander/
Published on March 13 2024