Fundación Botín presents the 22nd edition of “Itinerarios”, an annual survey of recent trends in contemporary art
- Since 1995, this exhibition series has been showcasing the current state of contemporary visual arts.
- This new installment, subtitled Rendering the Real, presents works by Daniel Barroca, Karlos Gil, Nuno Da Luz, Paloma Polo, Sara Ramo, Teresa Solar Abboud and Belén Zahera.
- The works featured in the show are produced using media as diverse as film, sound, 3D printing and installation; they put into perspective the way in which we process information and call for a more critical observation of the real.
From 20 February to 15 May, Fundación Botín’s exhibition space in Santander will feature Itinerarios XXII: Rendering the Real, an exhibition which purpose is to offer a look at recent trends in the field of contemporary visual arts through the work of seven artists from the Iberian Peninsula : Daniel Barroca (Lisbon, 1976), Karlos Gil (Toledo, 1984), Nuno Da Luz (Lisbon, 1984), Paloma Polo (Madrid, 1983), Sara Ramo (Madrid, 1975), Teresa Solar Abboud (Madrid, 1985) and Belén Zahera (Madrid, 1985).
Itinerarios XXII showcases the result of a working process that took place in the course of the past two years. In order to produce this new work, the artists traveled to big cities or remote parts of the world; they researched on-site or spent time in libraries and museums; they worked alone or collectively, at times collaborating with others to carry out a common project. Their travels have taken them to Brazil, Egypt, the Philippines, Lebanon, the United Kingdom or France.
Rendering the Real portrays the way in which each of these young creators trace elements of our collective and increasingly global history and ponder the notion of visible and invisible according to media exposure, revealing minute yet meaningful details or shedding light on a piece of information that either came and went or never made it to our multiple screens: matter that may otherwise never have entered our field of perception.
Benjamin Weil, the exhibition curator, states: “each artist unfolds a narrative based on her/his researching specific aspects of our infinitely complex world.” At a time when the flow of information is relentless and can feel overwhelming, when the steady stream of information can result in a state of general amnesia, Weil thinks that “artists play an essential part in soliciting our critical observation of the real and in providing us with other tools to better decipher it”. The idea of resistance against the prevailing model also lies at the core of some of these proposals.
The artists participating in this latest iteration of Itinerarios have used a methodology that seems to borrow from that of a detective seeking clues to solve a mystery, of an archaeologist uncovering important vestiges of the immediate or distant past, or of a scientist carrying out an experiment. They create narratives that tend to blend fiction and facts, somehow asserting the notion of reality as a construct. Their research extends into their contribution to the catalogue that will be published on the occasion of the exhibition.
Daniel Barroca went on several journeys to meet artists, take part in conferences and meetings, and attend spiritual retreats. Beirut, New York, Lisbon and the Algarve were some of the stops he made along his way.
The result is shown here as Circular Body, is an installation formed by two small photographs that hang back to back from the ceiling and are in permanent rotation. On one side we see an image of the artist as a child, in full colour. On the other, a black and white photograph of a man who has suffered a brutal attack, from the album his father brought back from Guinea-Bissau. He also exhibits the installation Stuck in a Loop, made up of a series of highly personal drawings and texts accompanied by sound, which document the introspective journey he has made thanks to this grant.
Karlos Gil travelled to London, Oxford and Paris, following the footsteps of the inventions of British sculptor and engineer Benjamin Cheverton (1794-1876). The artist has akeen interestin the Reduced Size Machine, a machine that produced reduced miniature replicas and which revolutionised the concept of sculpture in the 19th century.
The first pieceCheverton managed to reproduce with his invention was a Greek winged sphinx dating back to 550 BC. It thus becomes coreto Karlos Gil’s artistic proposal in this exhibition. Under the title Like Potted Plants in an Office Lobby, the artist shows an installation comprising several pieces resulting from his explorations, including a metal structure made from Cheverton’s models, as well as a series of motorcycle petrol tanks of the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Nuno da Luz travelled to Paris to take part in a programme of the renowned Institut d'études politiques (also known as Sciences Po), dedicated to the experimentation in Art and Politics, within the framework of the Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21).
There, along with other artists and researchers, he developed Radio Shanghai, a broadcasting project, which they installed in the Théâtre des Négociations, a simulation of the discussions on climate organised by the Institute with 200 students from all over the world.
Using low voltage FM radio transmitters, this channel takes over a small fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum as a means of recovering a certain degree of control on fluxes of information, and reflecting on ways in which we wish to communicate. In Santander, the transmission is made up of field recordings of atmospheric and electromagnetic phenomena from different parts of the planet. Unlike the usual 60 minutes hourly unit, time is measured using the local solar noon, the tides and the sunset.
The artist and researcher Paloma Polo decided to take on the production of a film in a remote island of the Philippines, where she lived with revolutionary communities of the New People’s
Army (NPA), peasants and indigenous populations. The film reflects life at the base camp and the relations with the community. The battle for the land, armed resistance, repression, censorship and violence, as well as forms of social relationship, and the development of self-sufficient communities, are some of the issues addressed in this work, the result of an intense exploration fraught with difficulties. The artist’s research attempts to show how the media treatment of an event can completely change its perception by the viewer.
In the exhibition, a video includes the verbal testimony of Vic Abajon, a Philippine indigenous leader, as the voiceover for an animation made in cooperation with Leonilo Doloricon (Surigao del Sur, 1957), whose illustrations feature the story told by Abajon and the landscapes documented by Polo. In addition, it includes six of the drawings made by Leonilo Doloricon for this project.
Born in Spain, Sara Ramohas spent a significant part of her life in Brazil. She has maintained very close ties to that country and its intricate and layered culture resulting from a dynamic mix between native and colonial influences. Many of her recent work relates to this cultural specificity. Los Ayudantes (The Helpers) is a short film that depicts a curious ritual taking place in the rainforest. Staged by the artist in the middle of the night, it consists of various musicians in costumes that evoke primitive rituals and spirits, as well as carnival creatures. They appear as they light bonfires and perform strange kinds of instruments; and then vanish in the dark, as sound dissolves and fires extinguish. This eerie concert of sorts culminates, as dawn brings light to the forest and a growing number of birds start singing. A reflection on music as social ritual, this new work also ponders the complexity of the relationship our contemporary world maintains with primitive forms of human life.
The video, inspired in the essay The Assistants by Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, forms part of a trilogy on the group and the individual, repetition and randomness, circular time and ritual.
Another film production is Al Haggara, by Teresa Solar Abboud. Based on actual events and her own family relations in Cairo, she has created a script around Mount Mokattam, its symbolic value and the transformations it has undergone.
According to the legend, Saint Simon, a 10th century Christian, moved the mount three times through the power of his prayer. The artist explores the different alterations that this area has suffered, from the quarries in the hillside to the Coptic Christian neighbourhoods which recycle the big city waste, eventually reaching the luxury residential developments that are being built on top, including a golf course.
Thanks to the grant, Belén Zahera has worked on the subject of extinction, historical records, preservation and the mutation of meaning. To this end, she began by visiting the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, where she followed the footsteps of the Dodo bird, an animal extinct since the 17th century, in light of its very few remains and pictorial records; and she followed on with visits to institutions such as the Antwerp Zoo and the Centre for Geogenetics in Copenhagen, dedicated to the collection and analysis of ancient DNA.
The result of this work is shown here as an installation she has called Insideout. It comprises some pieces of her series Surface Breeding, a set of 3D modelled figures based on animal shapes; as well as the series The Copysts, made with wooden boards cut in curious shapes following the grain; and the audio-visual work Insideout, articulating the whole installation.
Fundación Botín Visual Arts Grants
The Itinerarios XXII exhibition cycle is the result of the work produced by artists during the period of time they have benefited from the Visual Arts Grants.
The Visual Arts Grants programme of Fundación Botín encourages training, research and development of national and international creative projects. Since its inception in 1994, it has helped discover and support the career of a total of 176 artists, some of which are renowned worldwide today.
The choice of the seven artists included in the Itinerarios XXII exhibition has been made by an external jury panel made up of Portuguese critic and curator Miguel Amado, Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa, manager and curator Alexandra Laudo, artist Mateo Maté, who was a former beneficiary of the Fundación Botín grants, and the Artistic Director of the Botín Centre, Benjamin Weil, from among a total of 736 applications received for the 2014-2015 Grants. More than half of the applications came from Spain, whereas the rest were from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, United States and Portugal.
The application period for a Fundación Botín Visual Arts Grant in 2016 will end on 6 May: bit.ly/becasartesplasticas
Activities organised around the exhibition
The artist and his work
The artists of Itinerarios XXII chat with the audience about their artistic and creative process and the works shown at the exhibition.
Wednesday 16 March, Karlos Gil
Wednesday 13 April, Teresa Solar Abboud
Wednesday 4 May, Belén Zahera
At 8 pm. Free entrance until complete capacity.
Conference room sessions
A different way of learning and enjoying the exhibition through observation, reflection and dialogue, in a session with Fundación Botín personnel.
Wednesday 24 February / 2 and 23 March / 6 and 20 April / 11 May
At 8 pm. Free entrance until complete capacity.
Group visits
Schedule available on request. Tel.: +34 942 226 072 /
For further information, please contact Marga Meoro (Fundación Botín Media Department) on +34 942 36 04 53 or sending an email to:
Images for the media
The following images are available in high resolution for download in the microsite
DANIEL BARROCA.
Circular Body, 2015.
Inkjet print and 20V motor.
Sound installation.
Dimensions variable.
KARLOS GIL.
Like Potted Plants in an Office Lobby, 2016.
Installation.
Dimensions variable.
NUNO DA LUZ.
Radio Shanghai.
Computer, mixer, cables, FM transmitters, Radio Walkmans, stencil, posters, fanzines.
Duration and dimensions variable.
PALOMA POLO.
What is Thought in the Thought of People, 2015.
HD video. 17´.
Drawings: Leonilo Doloricon.
SARA RAMO.
Os Ajudantes (The helpers),2015.
HD video, color, audio 5.1.
19´26´´.
TERESA SOLAR ABBOUD.
Al Haggara, 2015.
HD video, color, audio.
37´.
BELÉN ZAHERA.
Insideout, 2015.
HD video, Figures: ceramic powder 3D-printing, Pareidolias: wood cutting.
Installation.
Dimensions variable.