Let’s not deceive ourselves. Neither Brian Wilson, Damo Suzuki, Ralf Hütter nor Brian Eno knew where they were going. They didn’t even know where or who they were. The same could be said of Sean Booth, Rob Brown, Mika Vainio or even Chuck D, who tried to hide his insecurity as to where he was heading to behind his strokes. But every one of them knew which was their path. The rest of us can only amaze ourselves for the demolished buildings they left behind. Javier Rubio is an architect and musician. He directs, together with Mónica Garcia Fernández, “Cómo crear historias” (Spanish for “How to create stories”), an architecture studio aimed at creating interactive landscapes capable of generating situations. He has published music in labels such as addsensor, escala, miga and NNTS.

Javier Rubio will be at the Spain NOW! 2010 launch party, with visuals by Mónica García. The event will be by invitation only.

Artist: Javier Rubio and Mónica García Fernández
When: Sat, 18/09/2010
Venue: The Spain NOW! pop-up space @ The Gallery.Soho
Venue Details: 125 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0EW, London

 

Javier Rubio and Mónica García Fernández – The interview!

How would you define yourselves?
We are creative people.

What do you do?
Our projects develop the theory and practice of architecture, music, design… In all of them the main character is the user and his relationship with his environment through interactive devices.We create spaces able to generate their own stories.

What can the audience expect from your collaboration with Spain NOW!?
A trip through sound and visual landscapes where various layers overlap creating an intriguing feeling of space.

What do you think your collaboration with Spain NOW! will bring for you?
We hope to meet interesting people and showcase our work outside the usual circles.

Describe or give us some insights about your creative process.
In our studio the creative process is an ever-evolving dialogue, as in endless word games. We are always “throwing” ideas at each other while we work. For this project we have played with three concepts: sound/textures/space, transforming one into the other and so on, or varying their natural relationships.

Is this your first show in the UK?
This is our first show outside Spain.

What can you say about the current state of Spanish culture within your field? What other emergent Spanish artists can you recommend for those who enjoy your work?
The electronic music scene in Spain is very active, especially the net-labels that distribute their references by Internet, but this is still outside the mainstream circuits. Some of the names to follow are Crisopa, Pársec, Rec_Overflow, Noi, Angel Galán, Sr. Aye, Burdeos, and net-labels like Addsensor, Escala, Miga…

Do you have affinities or share interests with any artists working in the UK?
Definitely, a substantial amount of the music we like comes from the UK: from Bian Eno to Autechre’s “Oversteps”, and the UK net-label scene is very active.

Definition time! Javier Rubio and Mónica García as:

• a say: “Find a job you like and you will not have to work on a single day of your life” (quote attributed to Confucius)
• a geographical accident: Micronesia islands.
• a time of the day: 20:40.
• a decade/century from the past (or the future): the near future.
• an animal/mineral/plant: octopuss/mica/iris germanica