Maria Cosmes. A drink. El miedo del loco a la casca.
Bust (things I never apologized for). Fear
             

 

In Fears she explores fear in one's own or other people's relationships, rational or irrational, not as much related to the violence of acts as to dealing with strangers.

In El miedo del loco a la casca (2001) or in Bust (things I never apologized for)> (2003), she offers herself to the public so that with a scalpel they cut the dress she is wearing: she is exposed to her maximum vulnerability, but - and this is what is fundamental in these actions - she has foreseen the possibility that the harm can be remedied in the event that it occurs; this concept of "reparation", together with that of "offering" or "gift", are other important contributions of Maria Cosmes' work. In A drink (2001) she also establishes a relationship that can harm her, by drinking wine in the broken glasses that the participants fill. In Fear (2005), this relationship of "trust" is established through the food offered to the participants, who must eat it without knowing what that "unknown" woman offers them; fear that is transmuted into surprise when they recognize the flavor; surprise that in some cases is increased when they know what they have eaten, since many of the participants, undoubtedly influenced by fear, have been unable to identify what they have eaten.



Carlos Pina
Independent curator
director of eBent, international performance festival of Barcelona (2003-2010)
february 2013