Hitting the ground running prior to #ARCO2014!
1. I arrived in Madrid yesterday and dashed straight to the Instituto Cervantes just in time to hear a presentation by Nekane Aramburu, the director of the Es Baluard Museum of Contemporary Art in Palma, Mallorca. She eloquently explained the importance of the voice of an artist to express their own artworks, and announced the launch of an archive of artists talking about their creative processes on the museums website in their native languages of Spanish and Mallorquín (Catalan). The director of the Instituto talked about the importance of regional dialects, and it is understood that it will only be a matter of time until subtitled versions of the videos are available in English, Spanish and Catalan: http://www.esbaluard.org/en/colleccio/109/arxiu-balears
Image One: A presentation at the Instituto Cervantes by Nekane Aramburu, director of the Es Baluard Contemporary Art Museum in Palma, Mallorca.
2.My second visit was recommended by the curator Duero Javier after the presentation, and is listed as number 10 on the must see exhibitions in Madrid determined by the newspaper El Pais. http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2014/02/13/album/1392297271_848596.html#1392297271_848596_1392378346
The gallery´La casa encendida´ translates as ´the house on fire´, and they are showing an entrancing exhibition entitled ´Escenarios del cuerpo. La metamorfosis de Loïe Fuller´.
The title of the exhibition is loosely translated as ´Scenarios of the body: Loïe Fuller´s metamorphosis´.
The exhibition transfixed me with its presentation, simplicity and elegance. The artist was born in 1862, and was described as a living legend who influenced artists and intellectuals of the time and revolutionised the world of dance. The entire exhibition exudes a convincingly contemporary energy which is essentially timeless. The artworks are presented in a deliciously eerie and evocative manner, where even ones own reflection seems to magically disappear within cleverly positioned mirrors.
Image two & three: The artist Isabel Ramoneda enjoying the exhibition ´Escenarios del cuerpo. La metamorfosis de Loïe Fuller´ at ´La casa encendida´.
It was a hub of vibrant, young energy with a super cafe and a great little shop selling cheaply priced organic snacks and international gifts.
Exhibition continues until the 4th May.
Ronda de Valencia, 2. 28012 Madrid. www.lacasaencendida.es
Monday-Sunday 10.00 - 21.45. Free entry.
3.I was lucky enough to catch an excellent talk with the international artist Dan Graham who is in his early 70´s. He showed videos of his mirrored artworks and talked about the limits of vision: that the conjunctions between what one sees aren´t always what is. Therefore suggesting the idea of the impossibility of objectivity and he particularly like the affect on the subjective way in which people viewed each other. He emphasised the importance of a child´s perspective on his creative process, their essential enjoyment at interacting with the works and to see them virtually disappear within the ghostly images and faulty reflections. I was particularly inspired by the Pavillion he constructed in Norway which reflected the surrounding landscape, amplifying the dramatic fiords and fundamentally facilitating an interaction between the viewer and the landscape.
Image four: Dan Graham at ´La casa encendida´.
4. I completed the day with a private view of ´Mustarinda´ in the Espacio trapézio which comments on economic and ecological realities within the context of contemporary art. I was particularly interested in an artwork by Alma Heikkilä, entitled ´Night at computer´, which was an email conversation with the exhibition organisers about travel and production costs for artists without receiving fees, carefully copied in pencil and watercolour. The exhibition is part of #FocusFinland which has invited 33 Finish galleries to participate in #ARCO2014 and the artists and organisers had travelled by train from Finland as a comment on environmentally responsible travel.
Image five: Mustarinda in the Espacio Trapézio
Image six: Artwork by Alma Heikkilä.
Mustarinda continues until the 9th March
Espacio Trapézio,
Agosto Figueroa, 24,
Mercado de San Antón, 2´.
29004 Madrid.
http://espaciotrapezio.org
The countdown to #ARCO2014 continues...
