Martí Anson's work typically involves generating expectations in the viewer that are subsequently not fulfilled. In his installations, films, and photographs, something always happens. This unknowable entity, which at times may be instigated by a gesture, idea, or sound, prompts us to think that some other event will soon take place. Like passengers waiting for a train to arrive or a plane to depart, we remain with growing anticipation. But generally, the thing that we foresee happening, which Anson has subtly planted in our minds, never comes about.

Three years ago, at Barcelona's Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Martí Anson presented his most ambitious project: Fitzcarraldo, 55 days working on the construction of the yacht Stela 34 at the CASM. Throughout the fifty-five working days that the exhibition was open, the artist set about building his yacht. Methodical and meticulous, Anson, in this case, accepted a failure foretold. After many days of building this magnificent vessel, Anson finally finished; however, the boat could not be removed from the gallery intact, as it was intentionally built 4” wider than the door. And so, as expected from the outset, the boat, which he had put so much effort into building, was destroyed in little over an hour.

Time becomes an integral part of this process. For Anson, things do not change, but rather are constantly recomposed. Many of his works illustrate precisely this: a dislocation of time, of how events transpire – sometimes, to the point of ridicule. On other occasions, Anson demonstrates how, after patiently waiting and using that period of expectation for analysis, nothing happens.

Martí Anson's work is situated midway between frustration and enthusiasm, sharing both emotions with the viewer. A meticulous observer of reality, for him, the process is more important than the result, championing above all the value of work in art.

- Ferran Barenblit