The 'Afrocan' and the ethics of the spiral
Within the framework of the exhibition Martín Chirino. Memoir ofel CírculoCurated by Fernando Castro, this conversation took place, delving into one of the most suggestive aspects of the artist's sculptural thought and practice: the "Afrocán" series.
For Martín Chirino, Afrocán represents the most explicit embodiment of the Canary Islands' dual heritage: their aboriginal past and their African identity. His redefinition of the concept of the mask in this series can only be understood through the essential motif of the spiral, whose discursive structure will be analyzed in this conversation in light of Emmanuel Levinas's ethics and the consequent erosion of the Western ontological project.
Likewise, the projection of this ethical and aesthetic paradigm proposed by Chirino in the new generations of artists was addressed, in a dialogue that links the memory of the sculptor with the contemporary resonances of his thought.
Pedro Alberto Cruz is a tenured professor of Art History at the University of Murcia, an essayist and critic, and the author of several studies on contemporary art, political theory, and aesthetics. Fernando Castro is an art critic, curator of the exhibition, and professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at the Autonomous University of Madrid; a regular contributor to [the publication/publication name].el Círculo de Bellas Artes, has curated numerous exhibitions dedicated to the intersection between art, thought and contemporaneity.