Like a social, political and cultural landscape seismograph, the artist perceives urban nervousness and the voices of those who demand change or transformations. On the one hand, the change is seen as essential in front of the world violence and the metamorphosis of a threatened planet, when an eternal night is foreseen in a not-too-distant future. On the other hand, however, the installation directly refers to the buzz of the improvised agents that have invaded the streets, offering foreign currency “exchange”. Paredes explains the phenomenon: “The ‘arbolitos’1 offer to exchange foreign currency. They invite us to change. They say: ‘Exchange, Exchange. Do you want to change?’” These words feed the narrative capacity of the work that, with its rigid and tri-dimensional presence –open wings that are several meters long- strives to get out of itself. Paredes concludes: “Butterflies are a metaphor to our own possibility to change. Camouflaged in each wing, the word “change” refers to the butterfly life cycle. In Florida, you will see native Buenos Aires species: I respected their external morphology and the size relation among them.”

 

1: [Translator’s Note]: Little Trees, a name given to illegal foreign currency exchange agents standing on Florida Street, in Buenos Aires.