Ariel Schlesinger and Wilfredo Prieto: Thank you, gracias

Unlike their first joint project (Tel-Aviv’s Center of Contemporary Art in 2014 ) in which both artists worked on the conceptualization of the works, in “Thank you, gracias” they decided not to consult each other previously and were unaware of the other’s ideas until the time of installation. The act of thinking about one’s work in relation to the other becomes an exercise in self-knowledge in which both artists create a single body of work (the exhibition) imagining the other’s work, based on what the other expects of theirs. This leads to a role play in which questions of authorship are diluted and the boundaries between the subjetive and objective are challenged.

Schlesinger and Prieto are two artists of the same generation whose sculptures and installations mark a compelling development in the articulation of Conceptual art.