Pollensa, Majorca: Santo Domingo Church: Can You See - Installation. Under the banner of Ben Jakober’s and Yannick Vu’s installation, Ho Vues or Can You See, until September 15, outside the church of Santo Domingo in the historical market town of Pollensa, in the north of Majorca, stands Ben Jakober’s sculpture, Biblioteca Mallorquina, made from Binissalem stone and marble, it is part of the series Libraries, made at the end of the ‘80s by Jakober, some of these works are shown in public places around the island, this one was voted by the people of Pollensa and installed as a permanent piece.
Santo Domingo Church: Can You See - Installation. For two days, Majorcan TV personality and anchor, Esteban Mercer has been following, interviewing and filming Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu for his program, culminating in this venue where their exhibition Can You See has just opened. They are reflected in the convex mirror placed on the main altar; it reflects the entire church and an all seeing eye on the opposite wall.
Yannick Vu, Esteban Mercer and Ben Jakober
Santo Domingo Church: Can You See - Installation. The site-specific installation was inspired by color vision deficiency tests promulgated by Ishihara and others, suggests approximately the inability to see art with a visual impairment. Seeing, looking at and appreciating art is a subjective act without criteria, there is an elusive element, which requires apprenticeship or experience. Color blindness is a defect of the photoreceptors called cones in charge of determining the perception of color, which are situated in the retina and determine the degree of color blindness.
Nine circular objects, each 200 cm in diameter are presented in the chapels of the church like tondos or ostensorios, forms that were employed in the past by Botticelli and Michelangelo in other holy places.
Santo Domingo Church: Can You See - Installation. Most of the inhabitants of Pingelap, an island in Micronesia, who suffer from color blindness, cannot see the fiery red of the setting sun or the blue of the ocean nor are they aware of the green vegetation that surrounds them. But, although their world is grey they insist that they can see things hidden to those who do distinguish color, like multiple tones and unimaginable nuances of shadows. Color distracts from the essential, the richness of forms, shadows and contrasts. Something similar may occur when we are in front of a work of art.
Santo Domingo Church – Can You See Installation. The all-seeing eye looks down from above. The music, Monochrome, that accompanies the installation was composed by Hayden Chisholm and the text of the catalogue was written by renowned art critic, Achille Bonito Oliva.
Covent and Church of Santo Domingo. One of the centuries old olive trees that can still be found on the island, stands in front of the Santo Domingo Church and Convent in Pollensa, where in the cloisters, every summer, a music festival is held.