2 Lions in 3 Steps, 2014

2 Lions in 3 Steps was developed in-situ for the exhibition "PER/FORM - How to do things with(out) words" curated by Chantal Pontbriand at the Centro de Arte de Dos de Mayo (CA2M) in Mòstoles, Madrid.

The piece was performed as part of the exhibition together with Madrid based artist Magdalena Dávila on the second Intensity Day and afterwards adapted as an installation.

It was Lechleitner’s response to the concept of "PER/FORM", the Museum’s name and its context as well as the events she witnessed during her first research stay in Madrid in March 2014.

I: Performance with artist Magdalena Dávila (May 10th 2014). Cooking / video / live electronic mix of the cooking sounds / live drawing on colored wall (Duration 16 min.).

II: Adaptation of the performance as an installation. Colored walls with pastel drawing, video projection (Edited version with integrated cooking sounds. DV-PAL, 8. 26 min.), folded poster.

The performance 2 Lions in 3 Steps turns around questions of observation and representation of civic unrest at different moments in time: resistance and commemoration, opening and closing of possibilities, cooking and then mixing the cooking sounds;
As well as the perfumes of the Cocido change in each phase of the preparation due to the added ingrediences, the performance itselfs aims to create an experience by developping a dialogue between the senses, the performers and their tasks, moments of distant and contemporary history and the audio-visual material played.

The Constituting Elements:

1) Goya’s Dos de Mayo and the Cocido Madrileños

Starting from Francisco Goya’s painting El dos de mayo de 1808 en Madrid – La lucha con los mamelucos from 1814 Ines Lechleitner chose the traditional Cocido Madrileños as a dish that could have been eaten by the men depicted in the painting and that has been cooked before these events and ever since. It is also made of bones and flesh of all kind and an image of butchery.
The brown colour of the two walls defining the space of the performance and the resulting installation was chosen from a horse on the right side of the Goya painting.

The preparation and cooking of the dish in the museum by Ines Lechleitner and Magdalena Davila took place the whole afternoon leading to the performance. Last steps of cooking and the serving of the Cocido were part of the actual performance. The dish was eaten by the audience afterwards.

2) Cooking Sounds

Ines Lechleitner invited the Madrid based artist Magdalena Dávila to assist her in the cooking of the Cocido and to create a live sound mix based on the sounds recorded during the preparation of the dish.
Each step of the cooking and each treatment of an ingredient was recorded and became part of the sound mix.

3) Video Projection

During her research in Madrid the artist witnessed the Walk of Dignity 22M manifestation and filmed the two lion sculptures in front of the parlement (named after two heros of the 2nd of May 1808 uprising- Daoíz and Velarde) observing the preparations for the funeral of Adolfo Suàrez.
Suárez was Spain’s first democratically elected prime minister after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and a key figure in the country’s transition to democracy.
The visit at the Prado to see the Goya painting, the Walk of Dignity 22M and the two lions during the preparations of Suàrez’ s funeral are shown in the video projection.

4) Drawing

During the performance Ines Lechleitner traced the different elements in her blind drawing on the wall. She chose to always focus on one of the following elements at the time - cooking, sound mixing or the video screening - and mark them in three layers:
top : video, middle : cooking, bottom : sound;

Credits:

Performers : Magdalena Dávila and Ines Lechleitner

Research : Inez Piso and Ines Lechleitner

Video and Drawing: Ines Lechleitner

Sound Mix Live : Madalena Davila

Sound Mix for Video: Ines Lechleitner

Documentation photographs: Rosa Naharro, CA2M

Production : CA2M

Special Thanks to: Magdalena Dávila, Inez Piso, Chantal Pontbriand, Ferran Barenblit, Víctor de las Heras, Ignacio Macua, Mara Canela, Rosa Naharro, Juan Albiñana , Restaurante Malacatín, Cristina Gómez, Michael Clegg and CA2M