Site-specific 6-channel video installation commissioned by Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, 16.00 min
Still from “La Promesa”, synchronized 6-channel video installation
“In his video installation La Promesa (2008), to be seen on the six large screens of Club 11, Magnus Monfeldt visualizes the festive celebration of the myth surrounding the Argentine folk hero Gauchito Gil. There are a number of versions of his story. Monfeldt follows the one in which Gil deserted from the army during the civil war and was subsequently captured and hung from a tree by his feet. He begged to be given a proper burial, and just before having his throat cut charges his executioner to pray for him. If he does not do that, Gil predicts, then his son will die. It is January 8, 1878; Gil is killed.
When the policeman responsible arrives home later he finds his son deathly ill. The official sees to Gil’s burial and sinks down beside his grave, hands folded, after which his son is healed. Since then Gauchito Gil has been revered as an unofficial saint by a large part of Argentina’s Catholic population. January 8 has been proclaimed a national holiday, and the place where Gil was killed has become a pilgrimage site. Accompanied by an Argentine photographer (Mariana Cero) and her artist friend (Verónica Virasoro), he journeyed as a true pilgrim to Gil’s shrine in Mercedes, Corrientes Province. La Promesa is a record of that journey.”
Three stills from “La Promesa”, synchronized 6-channel video installation
“Three large screens hang on each side of the auditorium. They show the conversation between Monfeldt’s companions as they get all dressed up for a party. On one side the dialogue is flanked by serene images of rich Buenos Aires: modern skyscrapers reflect the light of the rising sun, sprinklers water the fresh, green lawns. On the other side are contrasting images of the impoverished countryside. Ramshackle houses without windows stand alongside parched fields where nothing grows.
According to tradition, when a wish is fulfilled, the believer thanks Gil with a gift. La Promesa ends with the offering of a mother who gives a braid of hair from her son, who has survived after being born prematurely. The story is moving, the way the woman tells it all the more so. According to Monfeldt, whether the legend of Gil serves a personal or a larger purpose, the myth is potentially everyone’s story. It is essential to keep it alive, for spiritual or for financial reasons.”
(Excerpts from publication text, written by Ilse van Rijn)
Three stills from “La Promesa”, synchronized 6-channel video installation