Symposium participants: In the Shadow of the Hand, Sacha Kahir, Caleb Waldorf, Max Andrews of Latitudes, Angeliki Roussou, WHW (What, How and For Whom?).
Latitudes's Mariana Cánepa Luna concludes her role as Secretary of the Board of Hangar
Mon, Feb 24 2020
Hangar Centre de Producció i Recerca d'Arts Visuals, Barcelona
Between 2015 and 2019, Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes served as Secretary and Board member of the Fundació Privada AAVC, the entity governing Hangar Centre de Producció i Recerca d'Arts Visuals in Barcelona.
The members of HANGAR’s Board represent a range of professionals from the fields of contemporary visual arts and research and serve for periods of 4 years. The board usually meets twice a year in ordinary sessions and in extraordinary circumstances whenever necessary. A smaller team of Board Members, the Executive Committee, meets monthly. The members of the Board do not receive any remuneration for the performance of their duties.
Besides the responsibility of overseeing the governance of the institution, during these past four years, the (initially 17 and in the last year 9) members have been responsible for renewing two terms of the Programme Committee and in 2017 resolving the open call for a director position, selecting Lluís Nacenta as the new director of the institution for the 2018–2022 period.
Besides the responsibility of overseeing the governance of the institution, during these past four years, the (initially 17 and in the last year 9) members have been responsible for renewing two terms of the Programme Committee and in 2017 resolving the open call for a director position, selecting Lluís Nacenta as the new director of the institution for the 2018–2022 period.
In early 2019, the board decided to exceptionally extend its mandate another year and met every month to debate and define the election process for the new board starting February 2020. An initial pool of twenty-eight candidates (artists and art professionals) was put forward for consideration to the Plataforma Assambleària d'Artistes de Catalunya (PAAC). In the December 2019 assembly, PAAC members voted for nine candidates following the criteria of parity and a majority of artists.
The newly elected board for the 2020–2024 term is Pilar Bonet, Fito Conesa, Jordi Ferreiro, Dora García, Ingrid Guardiola, Hiuwai Chu, Mafe Moscoso, Laura Llevadot and Anna Pahissa.
Kudos to each of the board colleagues for their strong sense of fellowship throughout these past four years: president Martí Anson; vice-presidents Josep Manuel Berenguer, Álex Nogueras, Sonia Fernández Pan; members Pau Alsina, Mar Arza, Roger Bernat, Luz Broto, Jorge Luis Marzo, Martina Millà, Julia Montilla, Quim Packard, Joan Maria Soler, Alicia Vela, Marc Vives, Rubèn Verdú. Extended thanks to the legal advisors of the foundation, Jaume and Guillem Nadal, and of course to the two directors of the Foundation, Tere Badia (2009–17) and Lluís Nacenta (since January 2018).
Between June 2010 and December 2013, and together with Max Andrews, Latitudes was part of the Programme Committee alongside artists Dora García, Jordi Mitjà and Joan Vilapuig and the curator Àlex Mitrani. This group was responsible for selecting applicants via open calls for production grants and residencies abroad, as well as in the selection of foreign artists to come to Hangar, and ultimately, followed up the artist's work during their long or short-term residencies.
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The newly elected board for the 2020–2024 term is Pilar Bonet, Fito Conesa, Jordi Ferreiro, Dora García, Ingrid Guardiola, Hiuwai Chu, Mafe Moscoso, Laura Llevadot and Anna Pahissa.
Kudos to each of the board colleagues for their strong sense of fellowship throughout these past four years: president Martí Anson; vice-presidents Josep Manuel Berenguer, Álex Nogueras, Sonia Fernández Pan; members Pau Alsina, Mar Arza, Roger Bernat, Luz Broto, Jorge Luis Marzo, Martina Millà, Julia Montilla, Quim Packard, Joan Maria Soler, Alicia Vela, Marc Vives, Rubèn Verdú. Extended thanks to the legal advisors of the foundation, Jaume and Guillem Nadal, and of course to the two directors of the Foundation, Tere Badia (2009–17) and Lluís Nacenta (since January 2018).
Between June 2010 and December 2013, and together with Max Andrews, Latitudes was part of the Programme Committee alongside artists Dora García, Jordi Mitjà and Joan Vilapuig and the curator Àlex Mitrani. This group was responsible for selecting applicants via open calls for production grants and residencies abroad, as well as in the selection of foreign artists to come to Hangar, and ultimately, followed up the artist's work during their long or short-term residencies.
- Visita de la Comisión de Programas de Hangar a los estudios de los artistas residentes 24 April 2013
- Performance 'The Museum of Incest' de Simon Fujiwara, 19 Septiembre, 19h en Hangar 15 Septiembre 2009
"Barcelona / Such a beautiful horizon: Critical social infrastructure to promote art scene health resilience" sessions with BAR Tool 2018–19 participants
Mon, Oct 29 2018 |
| Poster produced for the 2015 seminar at the Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco. Photo: Latitudes. |
Latitudes has been invited to lead three closed-door sessions with BAR Tool's 2018–19 participants Milagros Bedoya, Arash Fayez, Adëláide Feriot, Fran Glez, Céline Mathieu, Marina Salvo, Gabriella Torres-Ferrer. The sessions will take place on October 29, 2018; January 22 and March 5, 2019.
Titled "Barcelona / Such a beautiful horizon: Critical social infrastructure to promote art scene health resilience", the three-part seminar will draw on the qualitative analysis of the legacy of three meetings of the "Near Future Artworlds Curatorial Foresight Disruption Group" convened in 2015 (Vessel–MADA International Curatorial Retreat, Bari, Italy; Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, USA; Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK). The invitation is to collectively instigate a collective systematic review of proposed decisive factors that underpin the psychological fitness and physical well-being of a city art scene, with Barcelona as a case study.
With a focus on developing taxonomies and diagnostics, as well as therapies and triage, this strand of BAR Tool will culminate in a series of institutional simulations and operations. Viva! Barcelona! Such a beautiful horizon!
BAR TOOL is a practice-based training program articulated around research, production and presentation processes. Conceived by BAR project in collaboration with Fundació Antoni Tàpies and Fabra i Coats – Art Factory, Barcelona.
RELATED CONTENT:
- Cover Story—June 2018: Near-Future Artworlds Curatorial Disruption Foresight Group 4 June 2018
- Sediments of the Geologic Time 4-week residency at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity 10 October 2017
- Documentation of Latitudes' talks at the Athens Biennale summit and Tabakalera, Donostia-San Sebastián, November 2015 19 February 2016
- 'Near-Future Artworlds Curatorial Disruption Foresight Group' seminar convenes in its third iteration in Birmingham's Eastside Projects, 15 November 2015 11 November 2015
- Session with first-year participants of the MA Curatorial Practice at the California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco, 8 September 15 September 2015
- Guest Faculty of the Thematic Residency 'Blueprint for Happiness' at The Banff Centre, Canada, 27 July–8 August 2015 16 July 2015
- Tutors of the 2015 International Curatorial Retreat, 9–13 May, Bari (Italy) 17 May 2015
- Lead Facilitators, Curating Lab 2014–Curatorial Intensive, National University of Singapore (11–14 June), symposium (14 June, 15–17h) and a field trip to Hong Kong (16–20 June) 30 May 2014
Symposium participation, "The Shock of Victory", Glasgow, 25 September 2015
Mon, Sep 21 2015Symposium participants: In the Shadow of the Hand, Sacha Kahir, Caleb Waldorf, Max Andrews of Latitudes, Angeliki Roussou, WHW (What, How and For Whom?).
9.30am | Arrival and coffee
10am - 10.15am | Introduction by CCA Curator Remco de Blaaij and Dr Deborah Jackson
10.15am - 11am | In the Shadow of the Hand
11am - 11.45am | Angelika Roussou
11.45am - 12.30pm | Caleb Waldorf
1pm - 2pm | Lunch (provided)
2pm - 2.45pm | Sacha Kahir
3pm - 3.45pm | Sabina Sabolovic, WHW
3.45pm - 4.15pm | Break
4.15pm - 5pm | Max Andrews, Latitudes
The Shock of Victory is a programme consisting of an exhibition, a symposium organised in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and digital publication. Taking place exactly one year after the Scottish Independence Referendum of 18 September 2014, the programme proposes artistic approaches, techniques, provocations and motivations in a post-referendum reality departing from Scotland, but certainly not constrained by it.
The programme takes its title from the pivotal essay ‘The Shock of Victory’ from 2007, by anarchist and scholar David Graeber, in which he argues that protesters often have difficulty in recognising their moments of success. Accompanying the exhibition the symposium allows for a timely re-consideration of the complexities of the relations between alternative and established (art) institutions that might have been sparked by political moments such as the Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014.
The underpinning emphasis is on the ‘organisational turn’, a shift from hierarchical to self-organised models of organisation. In particular the focus is on the potency of radical (artistic) practices and ideas, which propose imaginative ways of organising – collectivism, anarchism, activism, networks, and self-organising. Can we think of a new artistic landscape that might have been formed? How do we organise ourselves in such times?
Max Andrews from Latitudes will offer a perspective on recent cultural politics in Barcelona. Looking in particular at visual art institutions, the 'open submission' format has become a pervasive tool. As an extraction of a democratic process, such an apparently accountable mechansim can nevertheless be complicit in a neo-liberal agenda, undermining institutional robustness and advocating continual 'present-ness'.
Other independent and self-organised realities do of course exist, and following recent municipal elections the political tide offers the promise of change. With reference to art practices that have connected with specific moments of Catalan social history, some contemporary case studies show a thinking around site, scale, longevity and depth – and perhaps reveal a connection with Scotland.
Organised in partnership with the University of Edinburgh.
Co-convened by Dr Deborah Jackson.
Funded by The University of Edinburgh’s Innovation Initiative Grant.
CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD, UK
Related content:
Two texts by Manuel Segade and Max Andrews analyse the current Spanish art scene 16 October 2013
The underpinning emphasis is on the ‘organisational turn’, a shift from hierarchical to self-organised models of organisation. In particular the focus is on the potency of radical (artistic) practices and ideas, which propose imaginative ways of organising – collectivism, anarchism, activism, networks, and self-organising. Can we think of a new artistic landscape that might have been formed? How do we organise ourselves in such times?
Article by Max Andrews published in Frieze, October 2013.
Max Andrews from Latitudes will offer a perspective on recent cultural politics in Barcelona. Looking in particular at visual art institutions, the 'open submission' format has become a pervasive tool. As an extraction of a democratic process, such an apparently accountable mechansim can nevertheless be complicit in a neo-liberal agenda, undermining institutional robustness and advocating continual 'present-ness'.
Other independent and self-organised realities do of course exist, and following recent municipal elections the political tide offers the promise of change. With reference to art practices that have connected with specific moments of Catalan social history, some contemporary case studies show a thinking around site, scale, longevity and depth – and perhaps reveal a connection with Scotland.
Organised in partnership with the University of Edinburgh.
Co-convened by Dr Deborah Jackson.
Funded by The University of Edinburgh’s Innovation Initiative Grant.
CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD, UK
Related content:
Two texts by Manuel Segade and Max Andrews analyse the current Spanish art scene 16 October 2013
–
This is the blog of the independent curatorial office Latitudes. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
Work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
Work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Two texts by Manuel Segade and Max Andrews analyse the current Spanish art scene
Wed, Oct 16 2013Two recent texts reflect on the current Spanish art scene, both noting the damaging effects of not only the ongoing budget cuts, but on the deleterious political interference in the programming of numerous museums and art centres throughout the country – perhaps the most notorious of which saw the resignation of MUSAC's Eva González-Sancho after three months as director of the León museum, followed by the resignation of the museum's artistic committee.
The texts are written by Manuel Segade, a Spanish-born independent curator based in Paris; and by British Barcelona-based curator Max Andrews of Latitudes, offering critical and analytical perspectives from both the inside and the outside of Spain.
"Art and Society in Spain on the Edge of Critical Emergency" by Manuel Segade written for the September 2013 issue of Artpress (see pages below), offers a brief genealogy from the 1990s until today, mapping the rise and the activities of art centres, museums, art fairs, commercial galleries and artists. (Click on the images below for a larger view of the text.)
"On a Shoestring – Institutions in Catalonia" written for the October 2013 issue (#158) of frieze magazine by Max Andrews of Latitudes, focuses on the art scene of the Catalan capital and the effects of its cultural policies towards the creative industries. Mentioning the documentary MACBA: The Right, the Left and the Rich (1h 27m, 2013) [watch it here – in Catalan with Spanish subtitles] as an example of a critical strategy, the text questions the direction of the city's politics with regards to art.
2013, articles, Barcelona, Centre d'Art Barcelona, Frieze, MACBA, Manuel Segade, Max Andrews, MUSAC, Spanish Art Scene
The texts are written by Manuel Segade, a Spanish-born independent curator based in Paris; and by British Barcelona-based curator Max Andrews of Latitudes, offering critical and analytical perspectives from both the inside and the outside of Spain.
"Art and Society in Spain on the Edge of Critical Emergency" by Manuel Segade written for the September 2013 issue of Artpress (see pages below), offers a brief genealogy from the 1990s until today, mapping the rise and the activities of art centres, museums, art fairs, commercial galleries and artists. (Click on the images below for a larger view of the text.)
"On a Shoestring – Institutions in Catalonia" written for the October 2013 issue (#158) of frieze magazine by Max Andrews of Latitudes, focuses on the art scene of the Catalan capital and the effects of its cultural policies towards the creative industries. Mentioning the documentary MACBA: The Right, the Left and the Rich (1h 27m, 2013) [watch it here – in Catalan with Spanish subtitles] as an example of a critical strategy, the text questions the direction of the city's politics with regards to art.
(Click on the image for a larger view of the text, or else you can read it here online.)
–
This is the blog of the independent curatorial office Latitudes. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
All photos: Latitudes (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This is the blog of the independent curatorial office Latitudes. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
All photos: Latitudes (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Report in quotations from 'Talking Galleries', 19–21 September 2011, MACBA auditorium
Tue, Sep 20 2011A report in quotations from the first evening's two panels and the first session of the second day of Talking Galleries.
19 September 2011
15.30h: Welcome by
Ferran Mascarell, Regional Minister of Culture of the Generalitat
Jaume Ciurana, Deputy Mayor of Culture, Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation of Barcelona
Faustino Diaz Fortuny, Deputy Director General for the Promotion of Cultural Industries and Foundations and Patronage of the Ministry of Culture
Adriaan Raemdonck, President of FEAGA (Federation of European Art Galleries Association)
Llucià Homs, main promoter of the project TALKING GALLERIES
Bartomeu Marí, MACBA's Director
Llucià Homs: "according to an art market report commissioned by TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation), 51% of the art business is done by gallerists and 49% by auction houses. 30% of that is done in art fairs."
Faustino Diaz: "Galeries are the basis for the construction of value". "Galleries are a fundamental cultural sector for the economic development of knowledge".
Mascarell: "Talking Galleries should connect Catalan art to the international trends and vice-versa". "Artists are the ones making sense of our world".
16.00 h: 'The new role of the Gallerist in the art market' with:
Casey Kaplan, Casey Kaplan Gallery (New York)
Claes Nordenhake, Galerie Nordenhake (Berlín, Stockholm)
Emilio Álvarez, Galeria Àngels Barcelona (Barcelona)
Moderated by: Ann Demeester, Director of De Appel Arts Centre (Amsterdam)
Ann Demeester: "We are not able to project a 20-50 year future anymore"..."are galleries going to become agencies for artists or are they able to foster new experiments in a globalised 21st century?"; "Collaboration should not be an enemy of competition"; "Galleries are a site for free education"; "A gallery should perform an informal efficiency"
Emilio Álvarez: "The work of a gallery is articulated in connection with the past. Memory gives meaning, one constructs value through time". "Circuits of the artworld are closed, although the product we present is open."; "A gallery has a ongoing relationship with an artist and shows him/her continuously over time, no institution will give a solo show to an artist 3 times"; "A gallery has a single monogamous relationship, museums have plural relationships with artists."
Casey Kaplan: We (with David Zwirner and Friedrich Petzel amongst others) have done New York Gallery Week (NYGW) twice now, but I don't think is necessary to repeat it again and again if, for instance, Frieze New York is starting in May 2012"; "We are taking the risks, we produce art, we research artists, basically we do it first and then everyone follows";"A gallery is about trust in your artists and them in you. Is a small family extension that grows organically. It's also about constant reinvestment in a new space, in a new piece, in shipping ridiculous works to art fairs to show your ambition."
Claes Nordenhake: "New art should be shown in galleries first, thereafter in art fairs, kunsthalles, etc. Not the other way around!"; "A gallerist is an eternal improvisor, a cleaner, a guard, an interior designer, a carpenter, a shipping agent, a graphic designer, a bookeeper, an art historian, a teacher and sometimes a professor, a therapist, a pimp and sometimes a lover, a storage administrator, a divorce councilor, a good banker, a sympathetic drinking companion, an arrogant bastard, an interpreter, a travel agent, a cook (professional or amateur), a waiter, a restaurateur, a philosopher (or at least in late hours of the night...), an actor, a business strategist, a secretary (where the boss is the artist)...
18.00 h: 'Dealing with the economic crisis' with
Georgina Adam, Journalist Financial Times (London)
Robert Tornabell, Professor of Economics at ESADE Business School (Barcelona)
Soledad Lorenzo, Galería Soledad Lorenzo (Madrid)
Moderated by: Carlos Urroz, Director ARCOmadrid (Madrid)
Dr. Robert Tornabell: "The most profitable investments are first art, then gold, and then...I don't know!"
Georgina Adam: "The size of the market is U$ 43 billion: 21 bn in auction, 22 bn in dealership. The global share in 2006 breaks up in 46% for the US; 27% for UK, 6% for France; 5% for China, 16% Others. In 2010 is 34% for the US; 22% for UK, 5% for France, a huge increase to 23% for China and, 15% Others". "Today, there are 20 top auction houses, 11 of which are chinese, which did not exist a decade ago"; "Today money is not inherited, it is made."
20 September 2011
10.00 h: 'The future of art fairs' with
Victor Gisler, Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich)
Noah Horowitz, Director VIP Art Fair (New York)
Pierre Huber, Galerie Art & Public (Geneva)
Moderated by: Carles Guerra, Chief Curator of the MACBA (Barcelona)
Carles Guerra: "Barcelona was considering initiating a fair, but with ARCOmadrid nearby and seeing how profits stand now, maybe a meeting amongst professionals such as this, is the way forward"
Noah Horowitz: "The 1970s market was trade; today it's retail and event-led" ; "Going back to TEFAF's figures: 30% of the business is done in fairs, that's obviously an average figure because for some galleries fairs are 70% of their year sales"; "The VIP Art Fair is accessible, international, transparent, communicative, it is still a one-to-one relationship with the buyer"
Victor Gisler: "A gallery shows – tells – sells". "Art fairs like Art Basel have become so hugely important that they now validate quality. If an artits hasn't been shown in Basel, it may seem not valuable". "Initiatives like the VIP Art Fair are great for telling, maybe not so much for selling, but it is online, and that is the language of the next generation which you can not neglect, and one must embrace."
Biographies of the speakers
More about Talking Galleries.
Follow #talkinggalleries
2011, ARCO, Art Basel, art fairs, arte contemporáneo, artworld, Carles Guerra, conference, Frieze Art Fair, MACBA, Spanish Art Scene, talk
19 September 2011
15.30h: Welcome by
Ferran Mascarell, Regional Minister of Culture of the Generalitat
Jaume Ciurana, Deputy Mayor of Culture, Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation of Barcelona
Faustino Diaz Fortuny, Deputy Director General for the Promotion of Cultural Industries and Foundations and Patronage of the Ministry of Culture
Adriaan Raemdonck, President of FEAGA (Federation of European Art Galleries Association)
Llucià Homs, main promoter of the project TALKING GALLERIES
Bartomeu Marí, MACBA's Director
Llucià Homs: "according to an art market report commissioned by TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation), 51% of the art business is done by gallerists and 49% by auction houses. 30% of that is done in art fairs."
Faustino Diaz: "Galeries are the basis for the construction of value". "Galleries are a fundamental cultural sector for the economic development of knowledge".
Mascarell: "Talking Galleries should connect Catalan art to the international trends and vice-versa". "Artists are the ones making sense of our world".
16.00 h: 'The new role of the Gallerist in the art market' with:
Casey Kaplan, Casey Kaplan Gallery (New York)
Claes Nordenhake, Galerie Nordenhake (Berlín, Stockholm)
Emilio Álvarez, Galeria Àngels Barcelona (Barcelona)
Moderated by: Ann Demeester, Director of De Appel Arts Centre (Amsterdam)
Emilio Álvarez: "The work of a gallery is articulated in connection with the past. Memory gives meaning, one constructs value through time". "Circuits of the artworld are closed, although the product we present is open."; "A gallery has a ongoing relationship with an artist and shows him/her continuously over time, no institution will give a solo show to an artist 3 times"; "A gallery has a single monogamous relationship, museums have plural relationships with artists."
Casey Kaplan: We (with David Zwirner and Friedrich Petzel amongst others) have done New York Gallery Week (NYGW) twice now, but I don't think is necessary to repeat it again and again if, for instance, Frieze New York is starting in May 2012"; "We are taking the risks, we produce art, we research artists, basically we do it first and then everyone follows";"A gallery is about trust in your artists and them in you. Is a small family extension that grows organically. It's also about constant reinvestment in a new space, in a new piece, in shipping ridiculous works to art fairs to show your ambition."
Claes Nordenhake: "New art should be shown in galleries first, thereafter in art fairs, kunsthalles, etc. Not the other way around!"; "A gallerist is an eternal improvisor, a cleaner, a guard, an interior designer, a carpenter, a shipping agent, a graphic designer, a bookeeper, an art historian, a teacher and sometimes a professor, a therapist, a pimp and sometimes a lover, a storage administrator, a divorce councilor, a good banker, a sympathetic drinking companion, an arrogant bastard, an interpreter, a travel agent, a cook (professional or amateur), a waiter, a restaurateur, a philosopher (or at least in late hours of the night...), an actor, a business strategist, a secretary (where the boss is the artist)...
18.00 h: 'Dealing with the economic crisis' with
Georgina Adam, Journalist Financial Times (London)
Robert Tornabell, Professor of Economics at ESADE Business School (Barcelona)
Soledad Lorenzo, Galería Soledad Lorenzo (Madrid)
Moderated by: Carlos Urroz, Director ARCOmadrid (Madrid)
Dr. Robert Tornabell: "The most profitable investments are first art, then gold, and then...I don't know!"
Georgina Adam: "The size of the market is U$ 43 billion: 21 bn in auction, 22 bn in dealership. The global share in 2006 breaks up in 46% for the US; 27% for UK, 6% for France; 5% for China, 16% Others. In 2010 is 34% for the US; 22% for UK, 5% for France, a huge increase to 23% for China and, 15% Others". "Today, there are 20 top auction houses, 11 of which are chinese, which did not exist a decade ago"; "Today money is not inherited, it is made."
20 September 2011
10.00 h: 'The future of art fairs' with
Victor Gisler, Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich)
Noah Horowitz, Director VIP Art Fair (New York)
Pierre Huber, Galerie Art & Public (Geneva)
Moderated by: Carles Guerra, Chief Curator of the MACBA (Barcelona)
Carles Guerra: "Barcelona was considering initiating a fair, but with ARCOmadrid nearby and seeing how profits stand now, maybe a meeting amongst professionals such as this, is the way forward"
Noah Horowitz: "The 1970s market was trade; today it's retail and event-led" ; "Going back to TEFAF's figures: 30% of the business is done in fairs, that's obviously an average figure because for some galleries fairs are 70% of their year sales"; "The VIP Art Fair is accessible, international, transparent, communicative, it is still a one-to-one relationship with the buyer"
Victor Gisler: "A gallery shows – tells – sells". "Art fairs like Art Basel have become so hugely important that they now validate quality. If an artits hasn't been shown in Basel, it may seem not valuable". "Initiatives like the VIP Art Fair are great for telling, maybe not so much for selling, but it is online, and that is the language of the next generation which you can not neglect, and one must embrace."
Biographies of the speakers
More about Talking Galleries.
Follow #talkinggalleries
Notas presentación de Latitudes expuestas durante las "Jornadas internacionales de debate para El Canòdrom, el nuevo Centro de Arte en Barcelona", 6–7 Julio 2009
Fri, Jul 10 2009
In reference to "Artists should be at the centre of the centre, at every step and in all aspects." Nordic and Danish Pavilion Press Conference seating set up, Venice Biennale 2009. Photo: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Notas de la presentación de Latitudes (en español e inglés)
'Jornadas internacionales de debate para un nuevo Centro de Arte en Barcelona'
6–7 Julio 2009
Mesa: 'El Canòdrom, un nuevo equipamiento en Barcelona visto por artistas, críticos y comisarios'.
(Español)
– Anunciar lo antes posible la convocatoria pública para el puesto de dirección. Definir un programa artístico de relevancia local e internacional para el nuevo centro, un centro con personalidad jurídica propia, autónomo e independiente de cambios políticos;
– Elección de un equipo de trabajo (desde técnicos o becarios hasta encargados de producción, seleccionados por sus cualidades profesionales a través de convocatorias públicas y entrevistas personales). Definir conjuntamente un programa artístico, campaña de inauguración, programa de actividades post-inauguración y el uso de los espacios del Canòdrom junto con los arquitectos encargados de la remodelación;
– Conceptualizar una nueva identidad gráfica que respete la fuerte presencia arquitectónica y la historia del edificio – ej. mantener la tipografía, carteles galgos, etc.;
– Programación previa a la inauguración – el Canòdrom debe existir desde ya. Iniciar una presencia mediática local, nacional e internacional. Organizar visitas del edificio para prensa, galeristas, coleccionistas, gente del barrio, etc. pre-inauguración. Dar a conocer el nuevo centro desde dentro y a su programación. Fomentar la transparencia. Crear una nueva audiencia para el Canòdrom, una comunidad – por ej. programación previa a apertura edificio: Bòlit en Girona o el MUSAC en León.
– Programar dentro y fuera del edificio – pensar de modo expansivo e innovador y no limitar la creatividad al espacio de físico del edificio. No olvidar el poder de la web;
– El Canòdrom debe ser un espacio de producción y co-producción (es primordial colaborar con otros centros), experimentación y discusión. Saber tomar riesgos, ser creativo con las posibilidades que ofrece a nivel local e internacional;
– Estimular y nutrir relaciones otros centros de producción local e internacional. Formar parte de un contexto artístico y crear y reforzar la escena cultural;
– Establecer una comisión de expertos / comité asesor independiente (‘Advisory Board’) para dar solidez al programa y estabilidad e independencia a la dirección. El comité ayuda a establecer y a consolidar relaciones con otros centros de igual o similar perfil;
– Crear un equipamiento donde la escena artística se vea representada, donde se cree complicidad con los agentes locales y donde los recursos y facilidades disponibles sean de calidad, con garantías profesionales. Potenciar la profesionalización del sector.
(English)
– Barcelona should be a city that can support its artists within an international context and the new art centre should publicly perform a leading role in this respect. It needs to create a space of dialogue and encounter between Catalan, Spanish and international artists and focus on the active development of practice as well as new audiences.
– In a move symptomatic of and responding to a certain lack of stimulus and critical discussion in the city, the artists Marc Vives, Rubén Grilo, and Alex Reynolds created 'Vena (por la)', an incisive and ongoing series of artist and curator talks which take place in the La Central bookshop. Artists are taking matters into their own hands and starting their own initiatives seemingly because institutions are not providing enough throughput of public talks, or at least not at the most valued level.
– Canòdrom should be an opportunity to link up different constituencies and audiences (from collectors, art students, to graphic designers, galleries, art writers, art historians...)
– One art centre cannot fully substitute for the shortcomings of the Spanish art academy system – what would be the most valuable long-term parallel goal would be to invest in an international post-graduate studio programme on the model of the Stadelschule in Frankfurt or the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Canòdrom should nevertheless have a strong element of professional development and advocacy, critical exchange and debate as part of its programme not as a bolted-on education bonus – it needs to be more than an exhibition space.
– Canòdrom should stimulate, support and create professional artists and curators and lead by example. In the same way, one cannot assume the abstract presence of an audience but needs to actively produce different audiences, a new institution needs to take a lead in the actual formation and conditions of stimulus for the work of artists in society. Artists should be at the centre of the centre, at every step and in all aspects.
Latitudes, July 2009.
CONTENIDOS RELACIONADOS:
- Gone with the wind: on the 'art crunch' and the Centre d'Art de Barcelona, the saga continues... 16 December 2008
- Jornadas entorno al Canòdrom, el futuro Centro de Arte en Barcelona, 6–7 Julio 2009 (3 julio 2009)
Süddeutsche Zeitung reports the "malaise" of Spanish contemporary art
Sat, Jan 17 2009
Last weekend an article on the Spanish art landscape appeared in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (pdf 248KB), which was later reported and summarised in English by Jennifer Allen in Artforum.com's International News Digest (week 12 January 2008).
According to the writer, Merten Worthmann, the Spanish art scene lacks experimentation and this is effecting Spanish galleries as well as ARCO, the country's main art fair. The whole discussion as to why Spanish contemporary art is not where it should be on the international map is not an easy one to tackle. The truth is, there is not one reason – there are as many as there are challenges. Although a lot has been achieved in the last 30 years of democracy and today we have many museums and art centres, the question is now not just about more, but about improving and investing in the existing quality.
Here is a 'shopping list' for starters: renewed focus on debate and theory with productive confrontations; targeted resources for medium-scale institutions; engaged art magazines and cultural supplements with less 'press release-y' or purely descriptive writing; simplification and modernisation of the 'cultural-export' model of funding and bureaucracy to reflect contemporary practice; wider transparency in selection processes for key curatorial positions; pragmatic vocational teaching at graduate level (and a life for post-Picasso art history); a competitive postgraduate art practice programme that meets the international standards of Amsterdam's Rijksakademie or Frankfurt's Städelschule; improved teaching of foreign languages; fiscal benefits to autónomos (self-employed) on a par with other EU countries...
The list continues. Without trying to sound profound or political, changes have to be made from within through sheer initiative, and that, alongside rabid generosity, is surely the way forward. It is certainly not all doom and gloom (we would not be here otherwise!), but the current economic climate will certainly focus the minds as well on the 'values that we value'. Onwards 2009!
Here is Artforum's summary...
REPORT FROM SPAIN (Artforum.com, International News Digest)
In anticipation of ARCO, the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Merten Worthmann delivers a mixed report from Spain. According to Worthmann, the young Spanish arts scene is missing some experimentation—a deficiency that has had a negative impact on both galleries and the Madrid-based fair. Moreover, the Centre d’Art Santa Mónica—which has featured exhibitions by younger artists—will be closing at the end of January, according to a directive from the Catalan minister of culture. “Barcelona is a kind of anti-Berlin,” says Bartomeu Marí, head of Barcelona’s MACBA. “A city that doesn’t know how to attract any artists.” For Worthmann, the closure of Santa Mónica is a sign of a larger malaise. “The Spanish arts scene suffers from its weak connection to central Europe, the center of the market, and of discourses,” writes Worthmann, who cites the lack of both an international public and a national network. “To be an artist in Spain is a handicap, both inside and outside the country,” artist Jorge Galindo told the newspaper.
Ferran Barenblit, who was until recently the director of Santa Mónica, and who now heads the art center Dos de Mayo outside Madrid, believes that Spain doesn’t have enough international pull and has lost its “exotic” status in the ever-expanding European community. “Barenblit can be very critical with respect to the homegrown arts scene,” writes Worthmann. “But he holds the unclear reception from outside the country responsible for the lack of resonance.” Chus Martínez, who headed the Frankfurt Kunstverein before recently heading to Barcelona to direct the MACBA collection, adds some “geopolitical” arguments. “Germans, for example, orient themselves above all toward the United States and, since reunification, strongly toward the east,” Martínez told the newspaper. “Spain long existed on the outside. We were never a stop on the Grand Tour, nor could we profit later from the Marshall Plan.” The Franco dictatorship, which ended just over thirty years ago, also played a major role in the isolation of the country’s artists. Despite the end of the dictatorship, many artists still leave the country. And despite the rise of several spectacular exhibition sites—MUSAC in León, MACBA in Barcelona, Herzog and de Meuron’s Caixaforum in Madrid, Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, and Madrid’s Matadero, a multidisciplinary center that will be fully complete in 2011—few institutions have managed to create a “solid profile.” “For regional politicians, often the architectural gesture was more important than the ongoing maintenance of an ambitious program,” writes Worthmann, who adds that museum directors are often at the mercy of changing ruling parties of the government. Despite new directives for running museums from the minister of culture, the sudden closure of Santa Mónica as an art center is a case in point.
As for ARCO, a public initiative dating from the 1980s, the new director Lourdes Fernández will be decreasing the number of Spanish galleries in order to increase international participation at the fair. Last year, the fair dedicated more space to curatorial projects featuring artworks with an experimental edge. “And the display window has long functioned in both directions,” writes Worthmann. International collectors acquire Spanish art while Spanish collectors are increasingly acquiring works by international artists. In 2009, all purchases may well be welcome, whatever the artist’s origin.
On another note, Matt Elmore from the The Art Newspaper has also written about the Barcelona art scene, though giving a much more simplistic and superficial account - including mistakes such as the "Santa Monica space as a visual arts centre devoted to Catalan artists...", when only one of the three exhibition spaces it had was penciled for Catalan or Spanish artists. See archive of previous shows to see exhibition history between 2003-9.
Ferran Barenblit, who was until recently the director of Santa Mónica, and who now heads the art center Dos de Mayo outside Madrid, believes that Spain doesn’t have enough international pull and has lost its “exotic” status in the ever-expanding European community. “Barenblit can be very critical with respect to the homegrown arts scene,” writes Worthmann. “But he holds the unclear reception from outside the country responsible for the lack of resonance.” Chus Martínez, who headed the Frankfurt Kunstverein before recently heading to Barcelona to direct the MACBA collection, adds some “geopolitical” arguments. “Germans, for example, orient themselves above all toward the United States and, since reunification, strongly toward the east,” Martínez told the newspaper. “Spain long existed on the outside. We were never a stop on the Grand Tour, nor could we profit later from the Marshall Plan.” The Franco dictatorship, which ended just over thirty years ago, also played a major role in the isolation of the country’s artists. Despite the end of the dictatorship, many artists still leave the country. And despite the rise of several spectacular exhibition sites—MUSAC in León, MACBA in Barcelona, Herzog and de Meuron’s Caixaforum in Madrid, Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, and Madrid’s Matadero, a multidisciplinary center that will be fully complete in 2011—few institutions have managed to create a “solid profile.” “For regional politicians, often the architectural gesture was more important than the ongoing maintenance of an ambitious program,” writes Worthmann, who adds that museum directors are often at the mercy of changing ruling parties of the government. Despite new directives for running museums from the minister of culture, the sudden closure of Santa Mónica as an art center is a case in point.
As for ARCO, a public initiative dating from the 1980s, the new director Lourdes Fernández will be decreasing the number of Spanish galleries in order to increase international participation at the fair. Last year, the fair dedicated more space to curatorial projects featuring artworks with an experimental edge. “And the display window has long functioned in both directions,” writes Worthmann. International collectors acquire Spanish art while Spanish collectors are increasingly acquiring works by international artists. In 2009, all purchases may well be welcome, whatever the artist’s origin.
On another note, Matt Elmore from the The Art Newspaper has also written about the Barcelona art scene, though giving a much more simplistic and superficial account - including mistakes such as the "Santa Monica space as a visual arts centre devoted to Catalan artists...", when only one of the three exhibition spaces it had was penciled for Catalan or Spanish artists. See archive of previous shows to see exhibition history between 2003-9.