ALWAYS
Eoghan McTigue

An unfinished project

The La Equitativa building is an example of rationalist architecture in San Sebastián. This is a building designed by the Basque architect Fernando Arzadún at the beginning of the 30's. The Irish artist Eoghan McTigue is interested in this building because of its modernist associations, its strategic emblematic location in the city and the fact that it is open to different points of view. It is a place where communications and advertising companies generally install their luminous panels to disseminate information.
To be more precise, at the top of La Equitativa there used to be an electronic panel of this type, that together with the Philips sign on the building next to it, made it a visual referent. Later on, when they introduced new town planning laws, these kinds of advertising signs were removed throughout the city. Apart from this, the building itself has been renovated several times and at the moment they are trying to keep it as close as possible to its original appearance.

The intervention ALWAYS is to be presented as an event on the terrace on the top of La Equitativa. While respecting its emblematic character, it involves installing an illuminated sign made from fireworks like the ones they use to welcome in the New Year or at other celebrations, where you can read the word ALWAYS. This sign will be conceived on Saturday the 13th of July 2002 at 12 o'clock at night. This visual event will last as long as takes for the luminous fireworks to burn out. ALWAYS is an exercise in signs that involves a certain degree of interruption between signifier and significance, in this case by replacing one sign for another; by replacing an advertisement with a vulnerable message. Always Modernism, Always Utopia, Always Coca-Cola: for the people of San Sebastián this word only acquires a meaning within the context of popular culture, and its presence can even be an act of rebelliousness, or perhaps an act of sabotage. The word ALWAYS inevitably refers to the collective memory of the urban space of the city of San Sebastián by pointing out a key site that nevertheless implies a certain absence.

This project is related to other previous work by Eoghan McTigue, an artist who works with photography, architecture and "context-orientated-work", that always negotiates with a clearly political commitment by using references from the history of art and modernism.
For example, Empty Stand (2001) is a piece installed opposite the Customs House, the place from where they used to launch political meetings and speeches in Belfast in the 20's. It consists of a podium with loudspeakers that can be used by anyone passing by, devoid of any emblems or posters that might link it to a specific political party line. This work was installed during The International Language, a public art project in Belfast during 2001 that was organised by Grassy Knoll Productions, an organisation that McTigue is a founder member of.
Empty Sign (1998) is another piece that alludes to absence. McTigue chose the information and notice boards at Queens University as a place to work on, and he put up photographs of the same notice boards but only after he had removed all the paper posters, cards and adverts. The result begins to imply this other "information" that refers to colours and shapes, almost like an abstract painting.

ALWAYS is a project by Eoghan McTigue in response to a commission from D.A.E. that he was not able to carry out because the owner of the building refused to give his permission. Nevertheless, a documentary archive of the project and the La Equitativa building is being prepared to be included in local libraries in the city.

pict1.jpg The building of “La Equitativa” 33K pict2.jpg The building of “La Equitativa” 10K pict3.jpg Archive documents. The surroundings 15K pict4.jpg Archive documents. “La Equitativa” 14K pict5.jpg Drawing for the project * 10K pict6.jpg Drawing for the project * 9K

* Modeling by Xabier Salaberria