Irrintzi. Repetition 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96

Irrintzi. Repetition 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 is the document of an action which consists of the artist, in close up, repeatedly vocalising and recording an irrintzi and then listening back to it on headphones. Okariz used irrintzi, high-pitched shrieks originally used in the Basque valleys as a means of communication and then later taken as an element of identity, in a number of actions during this period, in which they produced a displacement of the symbolic and of the constitution of the subject. This piece deals with the theme of identity construction, which is present throughout much of her work but here shows a new interest in the role of configuration of language in the process. One of the piece’s key points is repetition, here applied to the irrintzi; touching on this theme, gender theory specialist Beatriz Preciado comments that techniques of identity production are body games that need to be repeated in order to be accepted as natural, which is why Itziar Okariz uses this reiteration-based methodology. Multiplication of the same action enables her to study nuances that appear, in an ongoing negotiation with a determinate space and the rules governing each location.



Lola Hinojosa