Esther Ferrer’s Fête Maison is an audio work recorded in 1998 in her home in Paris while cleaning, cooking, speaking on the phone and taking care of daily life. The sounds are familiar and unaffected, made with the most rudimentary means.

This exhibition presents Ferrer’s piece accompanied by an array of everyday objects that can be activated to make new sounds and artworks by invited artists, all of whom will be performing alongside Ferrer during Glasgow International. These stem from what can be described as a daily practice, carried out in similarly unassuming everyday situations, that evokes 1960s notions about the relatedness of art and life within the contemporary context of austerity.

Fête Maison translates literally as ‘House Party’, yet in French plays on the phonic associations with the words ‘fait’, suggesting something has been ‘made’ at home, and ‘mes sons’, effectively ‘my sounds’ – in first person.

Supported by Glasgow International, Project Ability, The Glasgow School of Art and the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain in London (Glasgow International press-release)

Esther Ferrer (San Sebastián, 1937), a pioneer and one of the foremost representatives of performance art in Spain, began participating in the activities of the Zaj group — with Walter Marchetti, Ramon Barce and Juan Hidalgo — in 1967. From that point on, she brought action art to the fore in her artistic practice, although from 1970 she did return to visual art by way of reworked photographs, installations, pictures based on the series of prime numbers or Pi, objects, and so on. These pieces most notably include the series Autorretratos (Self-Portraits), in progress since 1981, Números primos (Prime Numbers), carried out with different spatial-temporary formats, and Juguetes educativos (Educational Toys), from the 1980s, her work adhering to the Minimalist and Conceptual Art initiated in the 1960s, with Stéphane Mallarmé, Georges Perec, John Cage and Fluxus the points of reference, along with aspects of feminism from the time.