Negotiating Picu Cuturruñau, 2008
Audio installation. Shepherd: Michel Cobiella. Translator: María de la Rubia (Tradeuro). Recording & editing: Daniel Romero & Jesús Santos. Photos: Sarah Cullen. Work produced and commissioned by: LABoral.
Negotiating Picu Cuturruñau finds Pope in the foothills of the Picos de Europa, in the company of an Asturian shepherd. Scrabbling their way up neglected and overgrown paths, the duo climb further into the mountains, where they encounter an equally intractable obstacle in their lack of any shared language. Making themselves understood by signs and gestures, they eventually reach their agreed destination, where they are met by a translator (a kind of ‘shepherd’ of meaning), who parlays their different experiences of the route, and of the landscape. An audio recording of these mediated exchanges is presented in the gallery.