PRECARITY. Between the overdose of cultural offerings and the fragility of the artistic scene in Catalonia
The impressions are contradictory. It seems that the Catalan art scene is moving between euphoria and precariousness. This spring in Barcelona has been a clear example: two fairs (Loop and Swab) accompanied by their respective parallel programs, Off section and round tables; to which other events of great attendance have been added such as Primavera […]
Storytellers
How is memory constructed? What role does it play in creating and understanding a story? What mechanisms determine the construction of reality? There is a whole line of recent works in contemporary art that explore these aspects: memory and its ambiguities, authenticity, experience and its recording, how history is written and how it transcends, the […]
“And Google, how would it do it?”
That’s what Jeff Jarvis recently titled a book about new strategies for achieving business success. The way the book was sold was brilliant: “Whatever you do, Google will end up doing it better than you and for free. Are you ready?” And he was right. Google is the company that has had the greatest growth […]
Fairs
An art fair is not just a pure and simple market, but involves much more. In fact, there are many confluences between an art fair and an art biennial. As an example, in 2007, four major events took place in Europe: the Skulptur Projekte Münster, Documenta, the Venice Biennale and Art Basel. June began with […]
Curating in crisis. Notes from Manifesta’s curatorial models
Link to the article in A*DESK Economy, politics, social relations… almost all aspects of our present are undergoing a process of redefinition. And art is not left out. Institutions, exhibitions and also curating are in crisis. Reinvent or die, that is the question. Curating is a relatively recent activity that, in four decades, has gone […]
Awards
Mark Twain wrote that “rejecting awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than usual.” An award always represents recognition of a work or a career, but there may be reasons to publicly reject it: among others, one may be critical or against the organization that grants it (or its interests); one may […]
Cintas de Moebius Sobre la construcción del yo en los trabajos de MP & MP Rosado
“El hecho ocurrió en el mes de febrero de 1969, al norte de Boston, en Cambridge. No lo escribí inmediatamente porque mi propósito fue olvidarlo, para no perder la razón”. Con estas palabras empieza Jorge Luis Borges su relato El Otro , en el que explica su “encuentro” casual en un banco del parque con […]
Recent history. Concealed narratives
Simon Starling’s work can be described as an intensive quest that involves travel, research and the possibility of making connections between different places, objects and historical and cultural circumstances. Starling’s unique and highly distinctive ideas are as humorous as they are erudite and he undertakes specific projects in relation to particular contexts. His trips, the […]
Recent history. Concealed Narratives
Simon Starling’s work can be described as an intensive quest that involves travel, research and the possibility of making connections between different places, objects and historical and cultural circumstances. Starling’s unique and highly distinctive ideas are as humorous as they are erudite and he undertakes specific projects in relation to particular contexts. His trips, the […]
Lists. On the need for guides and rankings
To point out, show, indicate, inform, point out, underline, guide… This seems to be the key in a society saturated with information, where the problem is not so much access but decoding. Lists, summaries and classifications seem to give us a bit of order and stability, even though we know that formulas such as “the […]
