LONGITUDES

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

2020 in 11 monthly Cover Stories

 Mon, Dec 28 2020
Since Spring 2015, Latitudes has published a monthly cover story on its homepage www.lttds.org featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, as well as ongoing research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or travel related to our curatorial practice. Here's how 2020 looked like on our homepage.

 #Latitudes15Years, 2020, art-agenda, Barcelona Producció, cover story, Incidents of Travel, latitudes, looking back, Projects, things things say, writing
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Cover Story—January 2020: Safeguarding Gestures

 Thu, Jan 2 2020
Latitudes' homepage www.lttds.org

The January 2020 monthly Cover Story ‘Safeguarding Gestures’ homepage: www.lttds.org

 ‘‘‘Poems for Earthlings’, by Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas, transforms the Oude Kerk, a monumental church in the heart of the Amsterdam’s Red-light District which dates back to 1306. Unveiled during the Amsterdam Art Weekend two months ago and continuing until April, Villar Rojas’s installation features in the recent art-agenda Roundup from the city by Latitudes' Mariana Cánepa Luna.”
 
→ Continue reading
→ After January 2020, this story will be archived here.

Cover Stories' are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes' homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial activities.
 
→ RELATED CONTENTS: 
  • Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
  • Cover Story—December 2019: Cover Story—December 2019: Curating in the Web of Life 3 December
  • Cover Story—November 2019: ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’ 1 November 2019
  • Cover Story—October 2019: Mercedes Azpilicueta in Helsinki 1 October 2019
  • Cover Story—September 2019: ‘Polperro to Detroit’ 4 September 2019
  • Cover Story—Summer 2019: Francesc Ruiz’s Brexit Bristol sequel, ten years ago 1 July 2019
  • Cover Story—June 2019: Thinking like a drainage basin: Lara Almarcegui’s ‘Concrete’ 1 June 2019
  • Cover Story—May 2019: Buenos Aires in Parallel 1 May 2019
  • Cover Story—March-April 2019: "Icelandic refraction" 3 March 2019
  • Cover Story—February 2019: Schizophrenic Machine (1 February 2019)
  • Cover Story—January 2019: “Seesaw” (7 January 2019)
 2019, 2020, Amsterdam, art weekend, art-agenda, cover story, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Oude Kerk, Reviews, roundup, writing
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2019 in 10 monthly Cover Stories

 Mon, Dec 23 2019
Since our 10th anniversary in Spring 2015, Latitudes has published a monthly cover story on its website (www.lttds.org) featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, as well as research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or travel related to our curatorial work.  

2019 has been an active year of field trips. We have been lucky to visit ARCOmadrid, Buenos Aires (May 2019), Valencia (to research for an article and to participate in a conversation), Devon and Cornwall (September 2019), to Chicago and Detroit (hinted at in the September 2019 Cover Story), Helsinki (October 2019), Bilbao, Moscow (December 2019) and Amsterdam (and Reykjavík from the screen as featured in the April-May cover story).

Happy holidays and a joyful 2020!

Cover Story—December 2019: Curating and the Web of Life.
Cover Story—November 2019: ‘Fighting fires in Valencia: the 30-year story of the IVAM’.
Cover Story—October 2019: Mercedes Azpilicueta in Helsinki.
 Cover Story—September 2019: ‘Polperro to Detroit’
Cover Story—Summer 2019: Francesc Ruiz’s Brexit Bristol sequel, ten years ago.
Cover Story—June 2019: ‘Thinking like a drainage basin: Lara Almarcegui’s ‘Concrete’.
Cover Story—May 2019: Buenos Aires in Parallel.
Cover Story—March-April 2019: Icelandic refraction.
Cover Story—February 2019: Schizophrenic Machine.
Cover Story—January 2019: "Seesaw".


 → RELATED CONTENT:
  • Cover Story—December 2018: "Treasures! exhibitionism! showmanship!" 1 December 2018
  • Cover Story—November 2018: "Joan Morey—postmortem judgement reenactment" 1 November 2018
  • Cover Story–October 2018: "I can’t take my eyes off you: Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler" 1 October 2018
  • Cover Story–September 2018: Harald Szeemann’s travel sculpture, 10 September 2018
  • Cover Story–August 2018: Askeaton Joyride, 2 August 2018
  • Cover Story–July 2018: No Burgers for Sale 2 July 2018
  • Cover Story—June 2018: Near-Future Artworlds Curatorial Disruption Foresight Group, 4 June 2018
  • Cover Story – May 2018: Shadowing Roman Ondák, 7 May 2018 
  • Cover Story – April 2018: "Cover Story—April 2018: Dates, 700 BC to the present: Michael Rakowitz" 3 April 2018 
  • Cover Story – March 2018: "Armenia's ghost galleries" 6 March 2018 
  • Cover Story – February 2018: Paradise, promises and perplexities 5 February 2018 
  • Cover Story – January 2018: I'll be there for you, 2 January 2018 
 2019, art-agenda, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Chicago, cover story, end of the year, field trip, Francesc Ruiz, Frieze, Joan Morey, Lara Almarcegui, latitudes, looking back, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Moscow, report
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Mariana Cánepa Luna's Amsterdam Roundup for art-agenda.com

 Tue, Dec 17 2019
https://www.art-agenda.com/features/306593/amsterdam-roundup
“Many cities have adopted the gallery weekend format, and while there is a risk that this proliferation can lead to homogeneity, the particular strength and energy of Amsterdam Art Weekend lies in its steadfast commitment to art and artists, and to not limiting its remit to the commercial sector. Now in its eighth edition, the event grew out of the Rijksakademie Open, the yearly open studio presentations by the forty-plus artists in the institution’s two-year postgraduate residency program.”

→ Continue reading. 

Originally published in art-agenda on December 13, 2019.

Below a broader selection of images from the exhibitions and events mentioned in the review, as well as others that couldn't fit in the 1,000-word review, such as Andrei Tarkovski’s exhibition at the Eye Filmmuseum, AKINCI’s group exhibition, Rozenstraat — a rose is a rose is a rose, more Rijksakademie artists’ studios and a short visit to Rotterdam's Witte de With and the new space of Wilfried Lentz in the Port. 

 (Above and below) Adrián Villar Rojas, “Poems for Earthlings”, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. All photos by Mariana Cánepa Luna (unless otherwise specified in the photo caption).
Adrián Villar Rojas, “Poems for Earthlings”, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Photo: Jörg Baumann. 
Adrián Villar Rojas, “Poems for Earthlings”, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Photo: Jörg Baumann. 
  (Above and below) Carlos Amorales, ‘Orgy of Narcissus’, 2019. Courtesy of the artist, kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York, and Nils Stærk Gallery. These works were developed in collaboration with the TextielLab, the professional workshop of the TextielMuseum.
 Carlos Amorales during the press tour presenting ‘Life In The Folds’ a work produced for the Pavilion of Mexico at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.
 Carlos Amorales, Black Cloud, 2007 (installation view). Collection of Diane and Bruce Halle.
 Carlos Amorales, Aprende a joderte (Learn to Fuck Yourself), 2019. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York. 
  (Above and below) Patricia Kaersenhout, ‘Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Too?’, 2019, installation view, De Appel, Amsterdam.

(Above and below) Installation view of Andrei Tarkovski at the Eye Filmmuseum presented an interesting curatorial challenge: how to translate the oeuvre of a filmmaker into an exhibition. In the case of Tarkovski, his limited filmography (8 feature films, plus 3 short films) reduces the challenge considerably, yet the decision of screening 20-minute clips from each film and splitting those clips on two or three large screens simultaneously raises further artistic questions—how far can the immersive experience be stretched? Tarkovski’s unique imagery and tempo multiply throughout the exhibition space far from the durational, one-image-at-a-time consumption offered by the cinematic experience (not to mention the cacophony, which must be said, was reduced here thanks to state-of-the-art hovering speakers above visitor seats). The second challenge has to do with the institutional programme. The next exhibition at the Eye Filmmuseum will be dedicated to (yet another man) Belgium-born, Mexico-based visual artist Francis Alÿs, and in March 2020 to Chantal Ackerman, the Belgian avant-garde filmmaker who passed away in 2015. This will be the first institutional solo exhibition dedicated to a woman since the museum opened in 2012, which is quite eye-opening (intended pun) and significant in the context of the low number of institutions programming female artists solos — yet it's also important to take into consideration the larger picture of female representation in the filmmaking industry.
 Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, "Accidents Waiting to Happen", installation, sculpture, video, performance, 2019. Prix de Rome 2019. Courtesy tegenboschvanvreden, Amsterdam.
Femke Herregraven, "Diving Reflex (Because We Learned Not to Drown, We Can Sing)", multimedia installation, 2019-ongoing. Prix de Rome 2019.
Esiri Erheriene-Essi, "The Inheritance" (or Familiar Strangers), 2019. Prix de Rome 2019.
Rory Pilgrim, "The Undercurrent", multimedia installation, 2019-ongoing. Prix de Rome 2019. Courtesy the artist and andriesse eyck galerie. Pilgrim's film received the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2019 award for his work, receiving 40,000 euros and a residency at the American Academy in Rome.

 Studio by Shahidul Zaman during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
  Studio by Christopher Manon during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
  Studio by Jude Crilli during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
 Studio by Aldo Esparza Ramos during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Artor Jesus Inkerö during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Catalina González during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Catalina González during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Salim Bayri during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Remco Torenbosch “Now” (2019), video, 180min, during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
 Studio by Antonio Vega Macotela during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019. 

Studio by Anderu Immaculate Mali during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Dan Zhu during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.

Studio by Lotte van Geijn during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.

Studio by Özgür Atlagan during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
Studio by Arturo Kameya during the RijksakademieOPEN 2019.
  (Above and below) Claudia Martínez Ayala solo show ‘A las revoluciones, como a los árboles, se les reconoce por sus frutos’ [Revolutions, like trees, are recognized by their fruits], 2019, installation view, Courtesy the artist and GRIMM Amsterdam | New York.
Rozenstraat – a rose is a rose is a rose presented the multichannel video-installation “Beyond Index” (2017) by Dutch artist Gerald van der Kaap.

LA-artist Matthew Monahan at Fons Welters, Amsterdam.

Day trip to nearby Rotterdam to visit three unique solo shows at Witte de With, by Rossella Biscotti (above and two below).


(Above) Alejandro Cesarco and Cecilia Vicuña (below)


(Above and below) Also had a chance to visit the new venue of Wilfried Lentz in the Port area, next door to Atelier van Lieshout studio, which had a solo show of James Beckett.


(Above and below) Back in Amsterdam, kunstverein’s presented ‘Who's Werner?’ a group exhibition concerned with recognised authorship in collaborative artistic practices.


Next door, Martin van Zomeren presented a solo show of Marcel van Eeden.

Tahmina Negmat at Althuis Hofland.
Charbel-joseph H Boutros and Stéphanie Saadé at rongwrong.


Maarten Vanden Eynde's work at Cargo in Context, part of the group show "On-Trade-Off: The Weight of Wonders", an artistic trajectory initiated by the artists' initiatives Picha (DRC) and Enough Room for Space (BE).

And last but not least, the solo show presenting a site-specific sculpture by Belgian artist Leyla Aydoslu at P/////AKT.

→ RELATED CONTENT:
 2019, Amsterdam, art weekend, art-agenda, collaboration, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Oude Kerk, Remco Torenbosch, Rijksakademie, rongwrong, Rossella Biscotti, Rotterdam, roundup, Stedelijk museum, Witte de With, writing
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Latitudes' "out of office": wrap up of the 2018–2019 season

 Thu, Aug 1 2019
Seen in Malasaña, Madrid. Photo: @marianacanepaluna

This is our tenth ‘Out of Office’ post, a tradition which started with this 2008-9 post in pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter, pre-Instagram days. We’ve come a long way, but remain faithful to the idea of sharing behind-the-scenes moments. Below we share a selection of the art we’ve seen, the trips we had a chance to take, the conversations we began, the meals we shared, and (oh, we particularly love these) installation scenes. Subverting the institutional convention of the year-end report, our ‘out of office’ mixes official and unofficial photos, screengrabs and we-fies, even! Revision, reflection, remembrance, re-ignition. Create or die!

September 1, 2018: New season, new month, and new cover story on the Harald Szeemann exhibition in Bern (cover story archive here).
September 5, 2018: Launch of a new dispatch of ‘Incidents (of Travel)’ from Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this eighth episode, Móvil co-founder and curator Alejandra Aguado followed the itinerary devised by the artist Diego Bianchi around the self-regulated community Velatropa, the buzzing commercial area of Once, identifying human and non-human flows and interactions. This became an entry point for discussing Bianchi’s interests in how, as consumers, we define a particular zeitgeist and appropriate trends that enable us to affirm our identities.

 Each of the 20 photographs is augmented by one or more extra assets – a brief commentary, a sound or a caption – accessed by clicking the words overlaying the images. 

 ‘Incidents (of Travel)’ is an ongoing editorial project edited by Latitudes and produced by KADIST. Earlier offline conversations have taken place in Chicago (USA), Jinja (Uganda), Suzhou (China), Lisbon (Portugal), Terengganu (Malaysia) and Yerevan (Armenia).


September 11–15, 2018: Installation and opening of the exhibition ‘Cream Cheese and Pretty Ribbons!’ at Martin Janda Gallery, Vienna. 

But before that, works like those by Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler were carefully crated and traveled to Vienna from their studio in Barcelona.
Photo: Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler.

Installation process of ‘Cream Cheese and Pretty Ribbons!’. Photo: Martin Janda Gallery.

Exhibition file with correspondence, floor plan, artist's CVs, checklist, price list, technicians notes, etc. Above and following photos: Latitudes.

Mariana installing David Bestué’s ‘Trencadissa’ (2013).

(Left) Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler’s ‘Els peus fixats al terra delatant cap impaciència’ [THE FEET FIXED TO THE GROUND BETRAY NO IMPATIENCE] (2016) and (right) photograph series by Sean Lynch, part of the installation ‘A BLOW BY BLOW ACCOUNT OF STONE CARVING IN OXFORD’, (2013-14).
Eulàlia and Adrian holding their print. Where shall we hang it?

With Sean, Eulàlia and Adrian. Unanimously decided Adrian’s arm was the longest and therefore would perform better as a ‘we-fie’ stick. 
September 14, 2018: The day after the opening Eulàlia and Adrian presented “One motif says to another ‘I can't take my eyes off you’” a new performance produced for the occasion at the gallery (focus of the October Cover Story), and Sean Lynch performed the lecture ‘A Blow by Blow Account of Stonecarving in Oxford’, parrots and owls! More photos.
October 2018 cover story. Archived here.

September 2—18, 2018: Intermittent installation of Joan Morey’s exhibition ‘COLLAPSE’ at the Centre d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona — Fabra i Coats.
Deciding among the two options for the façade banners. Italics or not?

Last-minute proofreading of exhibition captions and panels.
Planning the next steps during the installation with technician guru Alberto Calvete.
A heads up to visitors.
Listing the contents in each vitrine.
Wall labels, exhibition guide, essay and remote controls.

September 19, 2018: Opening of Morey’s exhibition ‘COLLAPSE’, Centre d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona – Fabra i Coats. 
 Opening photos: Eva Carasol. 

September 27, 2018: First reenactment of Joan Morey’s performance ‘POSTMORTEM. Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu’ [POSTMORTEM. To have done with the judgment of God] (2006–2007) interpreted by Sònia Gómez, in the context of the exhibition ‘Desiring machine, Working machine’ at the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona – Fabra i Coats.

‘POSTMORTEM. Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu’ [POSTMORTEM. To have done with the judgment of God] (2006–2007) published in frieze magazine Instagram.

September 28–October 7, 2018: Research trips to London  during Frieze art week (blog post here, art-agenda round-up here) and Liverpool for the Liverpool biennial (photo report here). 

While in London we met with Valentina Ravaglia, Assistant Curator, to donate Lawrence Weiner's limited edition tote bag, designed in 2015 to commemorate Latitudes’ 10th anniversary. Shortly after, the tote was included in Tate's ‘ARTIST ROOMS: Lawrence Weiner’ exhibition, on view from November 2, 2018, at The McManus Museum and Galleries in Dundee, Scotland, until February 17, 2019.

(Above and below) View of ‘Lawrence Weiner. ARTIST ROOMS’, National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. ©Lawrence Weiner. 

October 11, 2018: Second reenactment of Joan Morey’s performance within the exhibition ‘Desiring machine, Working machine’ at the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona – Fabra i Coats. ‘LLETANÍA APÒRIMA’ [APORIC LITANY] (2009) was interpreted by Jordi Vall-lamora.

Joan Morey. LLETANIA APÒRIMA (2009). Performance reenactment within the frame of the exhibition ‘COLLAPSE. Desiring MKachine, Working Machine’ (2018–2019). Photo: Noemi Jariod. Courtesy the artist.

October 12, 2018: art-agenda.com publishes Mariana Cánepa Luna’s Frieze Roundup review. Read it here.


October 12–14, 2018: Train to Arlès to visit the exhibition ‘Picture Industry: A Provisional History of the Technical Image’ at LUMA Arlès (Max Andrews’s review was published in December).


Frank Gehry’s building under construction. 
 A large exhibition devoted to Gilbert & George works. 
Saturday morning reception at LUMA.
Before the morning reception, a quick walkthrough Arlès busy Saturday market. 

October 19, 2018: (Secret) Site-visit to La Modelo prison with Joan Morey (artist) and Esther Doblas (executive production) to check the spaces, discuss script possibilities (plan A, B, C, D...), identify mobility issues, etc. At this point in time, nobody knew the location of the event which was only disclosed the very same evening of the performance.

Salvador Puig Antich, the last political activist executed by Franco’s dictatorial regime, was jailed in this wing, in the cell 443. He was garroted in March 1974 in a room where parcels were delivered to the prison.
 Advanced tangle wiring techniques.
 Central space. Morey makes notes on his map of all the access, exits, gallery numbering, etc.
 Exit to the largest prison yard.
 Cisterns placed outside the cells in cages to avoid prisoners hiding anything in them.

 Joan taking further notes nearby the room where prisoners were given methadone.

Joan, Esther and Mariana discuss options in the Panopticon-inspired central space (this cabin is not the original structure).

 October 25, 2018: Fifth reenactment of Joan Morey’s performance within the exhibition ‘Desiring machine, Working machine’ at the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona – Fabra i Coats. ‘GRITOS Y SUSURROS. Conflicte dramàtic cinquè (amb l’obra d’art)’ [CRIES & WHISPERS. Fifth Dramatic Conflict (with the Work of Art)] (2009) was interpreted by Carme Callol and Tatin Revenga.

Carme Callol and Tatin Revenga rehearsal. Photo: Joan Morey.

Joan Morey, ‘GRITOS Y SUSURROS. Conflicte dramatic cinquè (ambos l’obra d’art)’ [CRIES & WHISPERS. Fifth Dramatic Conflict (with the Work of Art)], 2009. Interpreted by Carme Callol and Tatin Revenga. Performance reenactment within the frame of the exhibition ‘COLLAPSE. Desiring Machine, Working Machine’ (2018–2019). Photo: Noemi Jariod. Courtesy the artist.

October 26–27, 2018: Attending the opening of ‘Te toca a tí’ in Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló (EACC). Mariana’s review of the exhibition would be published on January 7, 2019, in art-agenda. 
Teresa Lanceta’s work, exhibition view of ‘Te toca a tí’ in Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló (EACC). 

November 1, 2018: Morey’s first performance of the series is this months’ focus on Latitudes’ home page. 
November 13, 2018: frieze.com publishes the review of Pere Llobera show at Bombon Projects and SIS galería by Max Andrews. Read the review here. Also included in the January-February 2019, issue #200, page 242.

November 15, 2018: Fourth reenactment of Joan Morey’s performance within the exhibition ‘Desiring machine, Working machine’ at the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona – Fabra i Coats. ‘BAREBACK. Fenomenología de la comunión’ [BAREBACK. Phenomenology of Communion], (2010) was interpreted by Manuel Segade.

Preparation of Manuel Segade’s outfit before the reenactment of the performance ‘BAREBACK. Fenomenología de la comunión’ [BAREBACK. Phenomenology of Communion], (2010) by Joan Morey. Photo: Noemi Jariod. Courtesy the artist.

Portrait of Manuel Segade at the end of his performance ‘BAREBACK. Fenomenología de la comunión’ [BAREBACK. Phenomenology of Communion], (2010) on Max Andrews’s Instagram.
November 18–22 Vienna Art Week; November 22-25 Amsterdam Art Weekend: This blog post documents the exhibitions and studios visited during our trip to Vienna, hosted by the Vienna Art Week. As part of the programme, Latitudes participated in a panel discussion on ‘Some Current Positions of Curating’ at das weisse haus.
(Above and below) Photos by eSeL.


 November 22, 19:30h: Unfortunately due to our earlier engagement to attend the Vienna Art Week and a sudden change of dates, we were unable to attend the opening of Joan Morey’s ‘COS SOCIAL’ at Centre d’Art Tecla Sala, the second chapter of ‘COLLAPSE’. Below some install shots when the works arrived from Lleida’s La Panera.
Morey striking a pose on the façade of Tecla Sala. Photos: Latitudes.

November 22-25, 2018: Amsterdam Art Week. Visited De Appel, Rijksakademie OPEN Studios, Andriesse, Oude Kerk, RongWrong, Stedelijk museum, Ellen de Bruijne, Fons Welters, tegenboschvanvreden, andriesse eyck, a.o. Photo report here (with photos from the Vienna Art Week, too).

 November 29, 2018: Fifth reenactment of Joan Morey’s performance within the exhibition ‘Desiring machine, Working machine’ at the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona – Fabra i Coats. ‘IL LINGUAGGIO DEL CORPO. Prólogo’ [IL LINGUAGGIO DEL CORPO. Prologue] (2015–2016) was interpreted by Catalina Carrasco and Gaspar Morey.

The final shot of ‘IL LINGUAGGIO DEL CORPO’ published on Max Andrews' Instagram (later deleted by Instagram due "not following their community guidelines on nudity").

December 1, 2018: Following on our recent trip to Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum to see their historic Brueghel exhibition, we decided to dedicate December’s cover story to another of their current shows: ‘Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures’ conceived by filmmaker Wes Anderson and his partner Juman Malouf. 
December 2018 cover story on www.lttds.org

 December 2–4, 2018: Short research trip to Madrid to visit exhibitions: group show ‘Querer parecer noche’ at the Centro de Arte 2 de Mayo in Móstoles; Lúa Coderch’s ‘La vida de O.’ at CentroCentro; comprehensive solo shows by Luigi Ghirri, Luis Camnitzer, Dorothea Tanning, and Dierk Schmidt at Museo Reina Sofia; Lina Bo Bardi at Fundación March; works by Portuguese artists Alexandre Estrela and João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva at La Casa Encendida; and a few solo exhibitions in commercial galleries such as David Goldblatt at Elba Benítez; Alejandro Cesarco in Parra & Romero; Eva Fàbregas at garcía galería; Enric Farrés Duran at NoguerasBlanchard and Daniel Jacoby at Maisterravalbuena. We also had time to squeeze in a visit to the Museo Geominero, a place we’ve long wanted to visit and never managed to find time for. And it didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended to everyone not only into minerals and stones but also nerds (as we are) on exhibition display and cabinets.

Lúa Coderch’s ‘La vida de O.’ at CentroCentro.
Alejandro Cesarco at ParraRomero, Madrid.

Above and below: Museo Geominero, Madrid.


Group exhibition ‘Querer parecer noche’ at the Centro de Arte 2 de Mayo (CA2M) in Móstoles.


Dierk Schmidt at Museo Reina Sofia’s Palacio Velázquez.

December 13, 2018: Sixth and final reenactment of Joan Morey’s performance within the exhibition ‘Desiring machine, Working machine’ at the Contemporary Art Centre of Barcelona – Fabra i Coats. ‘TOUR DE FORCE. El cos utòpic’ [TOUR DE FORCE. The Utopian Body] (2017) was interpreted by Eduard Escoffet.
Backstage makeup and application of fake tattoos – in the hurry the ‘Memento Mori’ tattoo on one on Escoffet’s arm was upside down. No big deal. 

December 20, 2018: frieze.com publishes Max’s review on the exhibition ‘Picture Industry: A Provisional History of the Technical Image’, a survey exhibition at LUMA Arlès captures the history of mechanically-reproduced imagery from the 19th century to the present. Read the review here.
January 7, 2019: art-agenda publishes Mariana’s review of the group exhibition ‘Te toca a tí [It's your turn]’ at Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló (EACC). Read the review here.

The review is also the focus of our January’s Monthly Cover Story on Latitudes home page (archived here).
January 8–10, 2019: Set up for the performance ‘Schizophrenic Machine’ by Joan Morey, the closing event of the three-part project ‘COLLAPSE’. Both exhibitions at the Centre d’art contemporani de Barcelona – Fabra i Coats and Centre d’art Tecla Sala close on January 13, 2019. 

January 10, 2019, at 7pm: Performance ‘COLLAPSE. Schizophrenic Machine’ by Joan Morey. Performance structured in a prologue and five acts inside Barcelona’s La Model prison. A group of people was driven by coach to the location from each of the two art centres that hosted the first two parts of ‘COLLAPSE’. The performance was integrated into the architecture and the memory of the building, creating an imposing immersive experience. Public restricted by capacity to 113 spectators. Attendance had to be requested in advance and was subject to prior selection and the acceptance of specific rules and a strict dress code. More here.

‘COLLAPSE. Schizophrenic Machine’ by Joan Morey.© 2019. All documentation photographs by Noemi Jariod. Courtesy of the artist.

January 14, 2019: frieze.com publishes Max’s fan letter on ‘Frank Zappa’s Genre-Defying ‘Civilization Phaze III’’. Published in Issue 200, January - February 2019. Read the text here.
February 1, 2019: New cover story focusing on Morey’s closing performance ‘COLLAPSE. Schizophrenic Machine’ at La Model prison in Barcelona.
February 8, 2019: Launch of a new ‘Incidents (of Travel)’ dispatch from Reykjavík (and cover story on Latitudes’ home page between March-April 2019). In this new itinerary, Canadian curator Becky Forsythe and Icelandic artist Þorgerður Ólafsdóttir navigate Reykjavík’s surroundings considering Þorgerður’s “current interest in Icelandic Spar (a form of transparent calcite), its double refraction and light-polarizing properties. In a race with daylight, they travel between sites, collecting moments and considering the ways in which geologic time surfaces in the context of human time.”

Each of the 27 photographs is augmented by one or more extra assets – a brief commentary, a sound or a caption – accessed by clicking the words overlaying the images.

‘Incidents (of Travel)’ is an editorial project that began in Spring 2016. It’s edited by Latitudes and produced by KADIST as part of their online projects. Earlier offline conversations have taken place in Chicago (USA), Jinja (Uganda), Suzhou (China), Lisbon (Portugal), Terengganu (Malaysia), Yerevan (Armenia) and Buenos Aires (Argentina).




February 20, 2019: After a few weeks facing the screen and months mining hard disks, we finally upload Latitudes’ redesigned portfolio, available to download for desktop/laptop/tablet view (83pp, 30.9 MB), for mobile (164pp,15.8 MB) or for print (164pp, 155.3 MB).

February 26–March 1, 2019: Three intensive days navigating ARCOmadrid events. We enjoyed Reina Sofía’s exhibitions dedicated to Chicago-based artist H. C. Westermann (reviewed by Mariana in the April issue of L’Officiel Art International) and Mapa Teatro’s site-specific installation as part of the Fisuras programme; David Bestué’s solo show at García Galería; Catalina Lozano’s exhibition ‘Winning by Losing’ at CentroCentro; Charlotte Moth’s subtle play with three works from CA2M’s collection in Móstoles, and Armando Andrade Tudela also at CA2M.
Above and below: David Bestué solo show at García Galería, Madrid.
(Above and below): Following on from Joao Laia’s earlier exhibition ‘Transmissions from the Etherspace’ in the same institution, his latest exhibition ‘Drowning in a sea of data’ —despite the ubiquity of the topic of the incessant presence of technology and algorithms in our daily lives — included great works such as Clemens von Wedemeyer’s film and Tomasz Kowalski’s small canvases.

Downstairs the highlights of this year’s Generación 2019 were Susanna Inglada and Lucía P. Moreno.
 Catalina Lozano’s group exhibition ‘Winning by Losing’ at CentroCentro. Above: work by Patricia Esquivias. Below: Work by Asier Mendizábal and (next images) Jorge Satorre and Xavier Salaberría.
(Above and below) Bravo to Charlotte Moth’s subtle play with three pieces in CA2M’s collection in dialogue with some of her work. A highlight was the two-part theatre backdrop painted by Leonor Fini in the 1950s and commissioned by Antonio el Bailarín for the 1956 International Festival of Granada.


March 13, 2019: Max’s review on ‘Domènec. Y la tierra será el paraíso’ exhibition at adn galería, Barcelona, published on frieze.com (also included in frieze, issue 202, April 2019).
23 March–16 April 2019: Montevideo (family trip) and Buenos Aires (work trip). Read a fully documented report of our week in Buenos Aires, invited by arteBA.

Max Andrews and Lara Marmor conversation ‘First Things First: Making Exhibitions for a General Audience’ covered the contradictions for curatorial and artistic strategies addressing larger audiences. Photo: Art Basel.

In ‘Beyond the Museum: New Institutional Frames for Art’ Mariana Cánepa Luna and Solana Molina Viamonte discussed some of the current transformations institutions undergo, as well as identifying forthcoming challenges. Photo: Art Basel.

Pizza and fugazza at El Cuartito with Alejandra Aguado.

April 2019: Two articles were published this month. Latitudes wrote a 14-page feature on Joan Morey for THE SEEN—Chicago’s International Online Journal of Contemporary and Modern Art, and Mariana wrote a review of H. C. Westermann’s retrospective ‘Goin’ Home’ (Volver a casa) exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, published in L’Officiel Art International’s issue #29. More on our writing archive.

The first page of the 14-page feature on Joan Morey’s performative practice was published on THE SEEN—Chicago’s International Online Journal of Contemporary and Modern Art.

Views of the H. C. Westermann's retrospective "Volver a casa" exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. Photo: Latitudes.

Additionally, a third text appeared later this month: the essay ‘Thinking like a drainage basin’ included in the exhibition catalogue ‘Lara Almarcegui. Béton’ published by Silvana Editoriale, accompanying her solo exhibition at CAIRN centre d’art in Digne-les-Bains in southern France.

In 2011 Latitudes edited the monograph ‘Lara Almarcegui. Projects 1995–2010’ published by Archive Books.

(Two above) IVAM’s new sculpture park under construction.



(Two above) Views from their current permanent collection display ‘TIEMPOS CONVULSOS. Historias y microhistorias en la colección del IVAM’.

(Above and below) Views from the exhibition ‘Ice and Earth: The Shimmering Abstractions’ by Anna-Eva Bergman at Bombas Gens, Valencia. Read here. 


May 2–4, 2019: Trip to Valencia to research for an article on the Valencia art scene in the framework of IVAM’s 30th anniversary (to be published in November 2019 in frieze magazine).

 May 6–31, 2019: Intense jury duty selecting Barcelona Producció awardees of the 2019–2020 season, an initiative of La Capella. Three long weeks reading 259 applications, debating with the rest of the jury, and interviewing 32 shortlisted candidates in order to award 15 production grants.


On June 3, winners are announced. Latitudes will tutor three of the fifteen awarded projects: ‘Joc d'infants’ [Children’s game] by Lola Lasurt (solo exhibition, June-October 2020), the offsite project ‘La Balena del Prat al Prat’ [The El Prat Whale to El Prat] by Consol Llupià, and the research ‘Nombrar, poseer. Crítica de la práctica taxonómica’ [To name, to own. Critique of taxonomic practice] by Agustín Ortiz Herrera.
May 29, 2019: Frieze published Max’s review ‘Ice and Earth: The Shimmering Abstractions’ on Anna-Eva Bergman’s retrospective of the terrestrial geographies at Bombas Gens, Valencia. Printed in the September 2019 issue of frieze (#205). 

Exhibition catalogue ‘Lara Almarcegui. Béton’ published by Silvana Editoriale.

 June 4, 2019: We received copies of the publication ‘Lara Almarcegui. Beton’ (Silvana Editoriale, April 2019), which includes Latitudes' essay ‘Thinking like a drainage basin’. 
One of the cleverest interventions: (Theresa) ‘May you live in interesting times’, Venice Biennale 2019.

June 10–14, 2019: Visiting the Venice Biennale. Highlights: Jannis Kounellis at the Fondazione Prada; in the biennale enjoyed works by Khalil Joseph, Ed Atkins, Gabriel Rico, Hito Steyerl, Otobong Nkanga, Haris Epaminonda, Ulrike Müller, Michael Armitage, Gauri Gill (a highlight of Documenta14), Cyprien Gaillard, Jimmie Durham and Lara Favaretto, et. al. The group show at Punta della Dogana (always impeccably installed) had great pieces by Hicham Berrada, Charbel Joseph H. Boutros, Stéphane Saade, and Ari Benjamin; Christopher Kulendran Thomas at V-A-C; mixed feelings about Luc Tuymans at Palazzo Grassi; visited the empty Lithuanian (performances were only on Saturdays, Wednesdays has now been added to the schedule). In the Giardini, we enjoyed the presentations in France, Brazil, Belgium and Switzerland, and elsewhere Ghana, Cyprus, Wales, France, Madagascar, Dineo Seshee Bopape's work in the South African pavilion, the maze-like Italy and Hong Kong. Future Generations is always good to visit, though we'd be grateful if they could provide a leaflet or sheet with information on the exhibited works and artists. We enjoyed the presentations by Toyin Ojih Odutola, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Daniel Turner and Gala Porras-Kim and had time to swing by Victoria Miro which presented great paintings by Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Others are photographed below.

Detail from Cathy Wilkes’s work at the British Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2019.

Ingela Ihman’s work at the Nordic Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2019.

 Sergio Prego’s sculptures at the back of the Spanish Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2019.

Yu Ji sculptures in the Central Pavilion, Giardini, Venice Biennale 2019. 

Jimmie Durham’s ‘Black Serpentine’ in the Central Pavilion, Giardini, Venice Biennale 2019.

Lara Favaretto's ‘Thinking Head’ in the Central Pavilion, Giardini, Venice Biennale 2019.

Haris Epaminonda in the Arsenale, Venice Biennale 2019.

Joël Andrianomearisoa at the Madagascar Pavilion, Corderie, Venice Biennale 2019.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings at the Ghana Pavilion, Corderie, Venice Biennale 2019.

 Irish pavilion with work by Eva Rothschild, Corderie, Venice Biennale 2019.

Welsh Pavilion presented work by Sean Edwards, Venice Biennale 2019.

July 1, 2019: New cover story rewinding 10 years to Francesc Ruiz's (visionary?) participation in the group show ‘Sequelism, part 3: Possible, Probable and Preferable Futures’ in Arnolfini, Bristol.
July 11, 2019: Conversation with Lara Almarcegui at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) in the context of her new exhibition ‘Lara Almarcegui. Agras volcano. Mining rights’. 


Photo © Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM).

July 16, 2019: Website update with a new page on our forthcoming participation in PUBLICS’s ‘Today Is Our Tomorrow’ art festival taking place in early September in Helsinki. Running parallel during the same week (9–15 September), Frame Contemporary Art Finland is organising ‘Gathering for Rehearsing Hospitalities’, a six-day gathering in which artists, curators, researchers and other critical minds ‘are invited to rehearse and debate hospitality towards diverse ways of knowing and challenging of dominant knowledges’.
July 19, 2019: As a board member of the Fundació Privada AAVC governing HANGAR since 2015, Mariana attends the last HANGAR board meeting before the Summer break. This is a longer than usual session as 2018 accounts have to be approved. Enjoying the blue sky and bright colours before entering the spreadsheet world.

Nearby building to HANGAR on c. Marroc / Espronceda.


July 22, 2019: We learn Joan Morey is one of the eight beneficiaries of the 27th edition of the Botín Foundation’s International Visual Arts Grants. Yey! 

 July 26-28, 2019: Trip to Madrid to catch a few exhibitions before they finished and the August exodus. Henrik Olesen, David Wojnarowicz, Miriam Cahn, Sara Ramo and Rogelio López Cuenca at the Museo Reina Sofía; Inéditos 2019 at La Casa Encendida; Eva Fàbregas and Aimée Zito Lema at CentroCentro; the recently inaugurated Paloma Polo at CA2M in Móstoles; Joël Andrianomearisoa (at Galería Sabrina Amrani) and Darío Villalba at Sala Alcalá 31, two shows ending this weekend.
 Joël Andrianomearisoa at Galería Sabrina Amrani.

 Above and below: Darío Villalba at Sala Alcalá 31

 Eva Fàbregas ‘Gut feeling’ at CentroCentro.

  Paloma Polo, ‘A Fleeting Moment of Dissidence Becomes Fossilised and Lifeless After The Moment Has Passed’ 2014, at CA2M in Móstoles.

 Henrik Olesen, ‘SOME GAY-LESBIAN ARTISTS AND/OR ARTISTS RELEVANT TO HOMO-SOCIAL CULTURE BORN BETWEEN C. 1300–1870’ (2007) at Museo Reina Sofía.

David Wojnarowicz's photograph ‘What Is This Little Guy’s Job in the World’ (1990) at the Museo Reina Sofía. 
The 2019–2020 season will kick off on 9–15 September. We'll be in Helsinki participating in two events. Firstly the art festival ‘Today Is Our Tomorrow’, a three-day event (12, 13 and 14 September) initiated by PUBLICS presenting a collaboratively curated program of temporary public art commissions, live performance, music, dance, theatre, literature and symposia, local and international organisations. Latitudes’ has invited Mercedes Azpilicueta to present the performance ‘Yegua-yeta-yuta’ (2015) at Club Kaiku, an underground music venue renowned for hosting an innovative lineup of DJs. 
Skype conversation with the artist Mercedes Azpilicueta and Paul O'Neill from PUBLICS.

And secondly, we'll be part of Frame Contemporary Art Finland's ‘Gathering for Rehearsing Hospitalities’, a week composed of a series of talks, performative dialogues, interventions and screenings developed in collaboration with a number of local partners.

 A few days later, we'll be participating in the 2019 EXPO CHICAGO/Red Bull Arts Global Curatorial Initiative visiting a range of institutions and artists in Chicago (17–21 September) and Detroit (21–23 September).


 2018, 2019, art-agenda, Barcelona, Barcelona Producció, Buenos Aires, Frieze, Incidents of Travel, Joan Morey, Lara Almarcegui, out of office, performance, Portfolio, Reviews, Vienna
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Mariana Cánepa Luna reviews ‘Te toca a tí! [It's Your Turn!]’ for art-agenda

 Tue, Jan 8 2019


‘Te toca a tí’ [It's Your Turn]
Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló, Castelló de la Plana
October 26, 2018—February 17, 2019

 "Two pairs of hands play a game of cat’s cradle, forming a star from a loop of string; viewers may imagine one person pulling the string while the other interprets their instructions. This photograph, which appears on the cover of the booklet accompanying the group exhibition “Te toca a tí” [It’s your turn] at the Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló (EACC), epitomizes the exhibition’s conceptual framework. Curated by Laura Vallés Vílchez and including works by ten artists, the show asks whether a gallery can become a site of negotiation, and if so, in what ways it can be re-signified."

—> Continue reading here.

Text originally published in art-agenda on January 7, 2019.


Teresa Lanceta, selection of tapestries and sewn fabrics, 2003-2018. Variable dimensions. Courtesy of the artist and Galería Espacio Mínimo. Photo by Ester Pegueroles.


Luca Frei, ‘Simone Forti's See-Saw’, 2015. Variable dimensions. Performance with plywood see-saw. Courtesy of the artist and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Committee on Media and Performance Funds, 2018. Photo by Luca Frei.


Céline Condorelli, ‘Models for a Qualitative Society’, 2016. Variable dimensions. Painted blackwood acacia, steel. 84 x 119 cm, Inkjet prints. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Ester Pegueroles.

RELATED CONTENT:
 2018, art-agenda, Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló, Mariana Cánepa Luna, reseña, Reviews, writing
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Mariana Cánepa Luna's London Roundup of Frieze week 2018 for art-agenda.com

 Mon, Oct 15 2018
Advertising in Pimlico. Above and below photos by Latitudes.

London Roundup
Various locations, London
October 12, 2018

Just as Frieze Art Fair opened last Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May gave her keynote speech—and dared to dance again—at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. She announced that freedom of movement would be terminated “once and for all” by limiting access to “highly skilled workers” (in short, migrants earning over 30,000 British pounds per year). Countless art professionals earn much less (including entry-level curatorial staff at Tate, and yours truly), as well as doubtless many of the myriad gallery and museum folks involved in the city-wide jamboree of Frieze week. How do we imagine London’s contemporary art ecology post-Brexit, a scene that has grown exponentially since Tate Modern’s opening in 2000 and the first Frieze Art Fair in 2003? The question of how the 2019 edition of the fair is going to be affected was the elephant in the tent. Most people I asked shrugged: negotiations are still ongoing, consequences are yet to be seen. “It’ll be fiiiiine,” a London museum director told me. “Maybe we’ll visit a smaller fair, like the first editions—remember those days?” opined a British gallerist friend working in New York. Although one could put this upbeat denial down to the cliché of dark British humor and the spirit of “muddling through,” I nevertheless left worried that something more troubling lay behind it.

If Frieze might have triggered the relocation of many contemporary art galleries from the East to the West of the city, two recent institutional openings are enforcing a southern axis. The new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in New Cross, housed in a listed Victorian bathhouse refurbished by 2015 Turner Prize winners Assemble, kicked off with a sparkling survey show of Mika Rottenberg’s absurdist film installations offering grotesque parodies of current labor conditions. The second home of the South London Gallery at Peckham Road Fire Station, elegantly renovated by 6a architects, opened with “Knock Knock,” a group show about the uses of humor—from political satire to visual puns—in contemporary art. The addition of these spaces will surely benefit Gasworks, a short bus ride away in nearby Vauxhall, whose truly international program of residencies and exhibitions over the last two decades has been a vital antidote to the dangers of isolationism in the British art scene.

 —> Continue reading here.

Text originally published in Art-agenda on October 12, 2018.


Lucy Dodd at Sprüth Magers, London.

Façade of the new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in New Cross.
Detail of Mika Rottenberg's show at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in New Cross.
Part of Tania Bruguera’s 2018 Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern. 
Visitor's comments on the Turner Prize 2018 board.
Installation from Atelier E.B's show at the Serpentine Sackler Galleries, London.
Detail from Cayetano Ferrer's solo exhibition “Demaster” at Southard Reid, London.
Martine Syms at Sadie Coles HQ, London. 
Judith Kopf's "Flock of Sheep" (2017) at the South London Gallery.
Cornelia Parker Transitional "Object" (PsychoBarn) at the Royal Academy.
 Johanna Unzueta at Proyectos Ultravioleta, Focus section, Frieze Art Fair.
 (Above + below) Sam Lewitt, "Core (the "Work")", BMW Open Work commission, Frieze Art Fair.
 Ian Law at RODEO, Frieze Art Fair.
(Above and below) Oscar Humphries' "Sèvres and Japonism" at Frieze Masters, London. 

(Above and below) Chris Burden at Gagosian, London.  

Lawrence Abu Hamdan at Chisenhale, London.
Daniel Silver at Frith Street Gallery, London.
Kemang Wa Lahulere at Marian Goodman Gallery, London.
 Alicja Kwade's work in the "Space Shifters" exhibition, Hayward Gallery, London.
 (Above and below) Elmgreen and Dragset, "This is how we bite our tongue", Whitechapel, London.
Amy Sillman at Camden Art Center, London.

RELATED CONTENT: 
 2018, art-agenda, Frieze Art Fair, London, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Reviews, Tania Bruguera, Turner Prize, writing
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Mariana Cánepa Luna reviews ‘Allora & Calzadilla’ exhibition for art-agenda.com

 Wed, Mar 21 2018

Allora & Calzadilla. ‘Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy, No.3’ (2008). Modifyed Piano Bechstein © Photo: Roberto Ruiz © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2018. 

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla’s “Allora & Calzadilla”
Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona
February 6—May 20, 2018

by Mariana Cánepa Luna

"A piercing whistle punctuates the blaring of a trumpet. But in the columned central space of the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, the only visible instrument is a grand piano. For three days a week throughout the course of the exhibition, the instrument is played—and, one could say, worn—by a pianist who stands in a hole cut into its center. Leaning over the rim of the piano to strike the keys, the performer energetically interprets the fourth movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (1824), while slowly pushing the wheeled instrument around the space. The building has become a musical box, the exhibition orchestrated such that one movement flows into the other, spilling through the gallery’s spaces to create a dissonant soundscape."

—> Continue reading...

Originally published in art-agenda.com on March 19, 2018.


Allora & Calzadilla. ‘Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy, No.3’ (2008). Modifyed Piano Bechstein © Photo: Roberto Ruiz © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2018.

Allora & Calzadilla. ‘Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy, No.3’ (2008). Modifyed Piano Bechstein © Photo: Roberto Ruiz © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2018.

Allora & Calzadilla. ‘Hope Hippo’ (2005). © Photo: Roberto Ruiz © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2018.

Allora & Calzadilla. ‘Lifespan’ (2014) © Foto: Roberto Ruiz © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2018.

Allora & Calzadilla, ‘Sweat Glands, Sweat Lands’ (2006). Video SD, color, sound. Duration: 2 minutes, 21 seconds. Courtesy Galerie Chantal Crousel. Photo: Roberto Ruiz. © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, 2018.

Allora & Calzadilla, ‘A Man Screaming is Not a Dancing Bear’ (2008). 16 mm film, color, sound. Duration: 11 minutes, 15 seconds. Courtesy Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21). Photo: Roberto Ruiz. © Fundació Antoni Tàpies. 

Allora & Calzadilla, ‘Apotomē’ (2013). 16 mm film transferred to HD, colour, sound. Duration: 23 minutes, 9 seconds. Courtesy Galerie Chantal Crousel. Photo: Roberto Ruiz. © Fundació Antoni Tàpies, 2018. 

RELATED CONTENT: 

 2018, Allora and Calzadilla, art-agenda, Barcelona, curatorial writing, Fundació Tàpies, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Reviews
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Latitudes' "out of office" 2016–2017 season

 Tue, Aug 1 2017
 Downtime for physical and mental "reparations" begins. 
Photos: Latitudes (except where noted otherwise).

It's the end of the 2016–17 season, at last. Following a Latitudes' tradition we mark the summer downtime with an "out of office" post (see the 2008-9, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 ones) with a series of "behind the scenes" and "making of" moments from the year gone by. Here are some glimpses of the past season, from September 2016 to July 2017.

We'll be back in September 2017, when we'll be leading a residency programme at Banff Centre in the Canadian Rockies!
 
15 September 2016: The 2016–17 season started with glitter and sparkle as Antoni Hervàs' "The Mystery of Caviria" exhibition opened in La Capella. The eight chapters of his complex scenario revolved around the legend of Jason and the Argonauts’ expedition in search of the Golden Fleece. The spectacular scenography took as its point of origin the section of the tale in which the expedition led by Jason stops for a few months in Lemnos, the island of fire, in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Taking this fragment, Hervàs explored the transformist and genre-bending possibilities of drawing, a medium that enabled him to unite two mythologies: the Cabeirian rites of Classical Greece and figures from Barcelona’s dwindling cabaret scene. Photos of the exhibition here.

Toni's exhibition was the focus of the September and November Cover Story series on our home page, archived here.







Photos above: Latitudes and Toni Hervàs.

18 September 2016: More sparkle awaited on the former site of the Copacabana club and nearby frontón court. The former is currently a parking lot used by the Department of Culture of the Catalan Government. The lone castanets master Juan de la Cruz el Rosillo interpreted a moving repertoire of popular Spanish coplas. For the second part of the event, the audience walked a few meters up Las Ramblas towards the frontón, where Gerard López, Senior Spanish Champion in male rhythmic gymnastics, interpreted newly-commissioned choreography with specially-produced music by Norman Bambi, while wearing a Hervàs-designed garment (exhibited as part of his exhibition).








 20 September 2016: Just as we are catching our breath from the memorable exhibition opening and the first event related to Toni's exhibition, street banners popped up around the city announcing the second Barcelona Gallery Weekend.


 26–28 September 2016: Installation of "Composiciones" projects, five site-specific commissions for the second iteration of the Barcelona Gallery Weekend. Three days of intense preparations! Curated by Latitudes for the second time (see 2015 edition), the project further explored Barcelona as a rich fabric of the historic and the contemporary, the unfamiliar and the conspicuous.

 Above and below: Lola Lasurt at the Biblioteca Pública Arús. 


(Above) Lúa and Mariana admiring the serendipitous finding of "El espejo equivocado" painting at the Club Billar Barcelona. An almost spooky, yet incredibly fitting find. 

(Above) With Rafel Bianchi and Gina Giménez unpacking Gina's works and spreading them around the former textile factory Can Trinxet, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. 

Silkscreened outfits for the runners finally ready to be worn throughout the weekend. Photos: Robert Llimós.

Runners pass by Galeria dels Àngels. Photo: Gabriela Moragas.

 Testing the resistance of a pair of Levi's jeans in preparation for Wilfredo Prieto "Pantalones Rotos" at the Mounted Unit of the Barcelona City Police.


29 September–2 October 2016: Opening and guided visits around the five "Composiciones" interventions by Lúa Coderch (at the Club Billar Barcelona); Regina Giménez (at the former textile factory Can Trinxet, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat); Lola Lasurt (at the Biblioteca Pública Arús); Robert Llimós (connecting all the participating galleries) and Wilfredo Prieto (at the Mounted Unit of the Barcelona City Police) in unique sites across the neighbourhoods of the city. Their projects offered moments of intermission, intimacy and bewilderment throughout the weekend, highlighting some lesser-known aspects of the city’s cultural heritage and municipal life.

Archive of social network posts. Photographs here.


Guided tour by Lúa Coderch in her intervention at the Club Billar Barcelona.

Guided tour by Gina Giménez to ARCOwalks group in Can Trinxet. 

 Interviewed for the radio at the Mounted Unit of the Barcelona City Police.

 
 TV presenter Josep Paris modelled Robert Llimós' 1972 updated runners design during the weekly cultural TV programme Àrtic. Photo: Àrtic.

 Double spread on "Composiciones" in the cultural supplement "Tendències" by the national newspaper El Mundo. Photo: Vanessa Graell.

26 October 2016: Launch of Rasmus Nilausen's book "Soups & Symptoms" at Múltiplos, which includes an essay by Max Andrews. For the event, Rasmus and Max served up a carrot soup (potage crécy) and requested questions from friends, family and collaborators which would be accepted as long as they fitted onto Jacob's Cream cracker.

The catalogue was produced thanks to funding from Premi Art Nou 2015, Art Barcelona, Associació de Galeries d’Art Contemporani in collaboration with the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona, García Galeria (Madrid) and Estrany de la Mota (Barcelona). It can be purchased in La Central.





Max and Rasmus prepare the carrots for a large pot of Potage Crécy, questions are written on Jacob's Cream crackers (that will later accompany the soup) and book launch at Múltiplos.
3 November 2016: Runway show at La Capella with some costumes from the 1980s and 90s designed by actor and impresario Victor Guerrero. Part of the activities programmed on the occasion of the exhibition.


Photos: Latitudes.

 8 November 2016: Mariana Cánepa Luna's review on Ana Jotta's exhibition published on art-agenda, focused on "her ongoing series 'Notas de rodapé' [Footnotes] [which] provide a key to understanding the semantic complexity of her work. It comprises a selection of the eclectic bits and pieces Jotta has gathered for decades and that coexist in her studio alongside works that she has fabricated." Continue reading


18–20 November 2016: Attended the CIMAM 2016 Annual Conference hosted in several venues in Barcelona, and hosted by the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and CaixaForum, focusing on ‘The Museum and its Responsibilities’.

Mariana holding the CIMAM 2016 Annual Conference programme.
CIMAM 2016 Annual Conference speakers and delegates at the Fundació Tàpies, Barcelona. Photo: CIMAM.
 Selfie from Museum Nacional d'Art de Catalunya with Portuguese curator Miguel Amado.

23-24 November 2016: Latitudes participated in a two-day summit "You are such a curator!" organised by the Curatorial Programme of De Appel, Amsterdam. With contributions by Mira Asriningtyas, Lucrezia Calabro Visconti, Renata Cervetto, Mateo Chacon-Pino, Galerie (Adriano Wilfert Jensen and Simon Asencio), Natasha Hoare, Kati Ilves, Prem Krishnamurthy, Inga Lace, Latitudes (Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna), Ariane Loze, Shona Mei Findlay, Fadwa Naamna, Kim Nguyen, Emma Ines Panza, Aneta Rostkowska and Kuba Woynarowski, Chris Sharp, Niels Van Tomme, Huib Haye van der Werf, and others. We took the opportunity to extend our stay on the occasion of the Amsterdam Art Weekend 2016, which included the opening of Jordan Wolfson's at the Stedelijk and the Open Studios at the Rijksakademie.

Latitudes' presentation "Following the Holy Greyhound" reflected "on the disinterment of a sculpture from 1991 – part of an exhibition by the Venezuelan artist José Antonio Hernández-Díez curated by Latitudes at MACBA, Barcelona, earlier this year – and their approach to a group exhibition in preparation for CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux in Summer 2017.  

→ Full report here.


  Photos: Carina Erdmann/De Appel.

November-December 2016: Two of Latitudes' projects ("Composiciones" commissions for the Barcelona Gallery Weekend and "El misterio de Caviria" by Antoni Hervàs) are shortlisted for the best exhibition of the year by the TV culture programme Tria33. The audience casts their votes online until January. Antoni Hervàs won with 40% of the audience votes. "Composiciones" ends in the third position with 17% of the votes.

January 2017: Issue of frieze magazines includes Max Andrews' "Salon Selectives" text in the Opinion section, discussing "How open are open calls?":

"While competition organizers typically trumpet the volume and cosmopolitanism of applications received an ebullient endorsement, others may rue the sheer amount of collectively wasted effort made by the also-rans. (In Spain, Bilbao-based studio Taller de Casquería estimated that the hours involved in the 1,715 submissions received for the Guggenheim Helsinki open call for designs represented over €18 million worth of speculative work.) In Gary Hustwit’s 2011 documentary film, Urbanized, Rem Koolhaas stated that such competitions were a ‘complete drain of intelligence’, inviting mass creative thinking with the guarantee that the vast majority of it will be discarded. This addiction in the field of architecture appears to be gaining traction in contemporary art as a means not only of generating exhibitions but of programming institutions."

The text was the January Cover Story on our website.

25 January 2017: Presentation of Antoni Hervàs' La Capella publication at the Antic Teatre in the background of one of his scenographic drawings dedicated to Gilda Love (this was the second time this had been displayed in this space, following the recording in May last year of Gilda performing, a video later included in the exhibition). The evening was followed by the "Desplume" monthly cabaret show.








16 February 2017: A moving evening seeing Toni Hervàs receive the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona for visual arts exhibition of the year at the Sala de Consell de Cent in the Barcelona City Hall. The jury recognised "the artist's research in linking Greek mythology with the Barcelona cabaret scene from the 1960s–80s and for the recuperation of its vitality."


Toni receiving the award from Barcelona mayor Ada Colau. Photos: Latitudes.

 1 March 2017: Launch of the fourth 'Incidents (of Travel)' episode, in which Galician curator Pedro de Llano met Lisboeta artist Luisa Cunha in Lisbon. Their offline day took place in early December and went through key locations in the artist's life – from Ar.Co, the School of Visual Arts in Almada where she enrolled at age thirty-seven, to the Largo da Academia de Belas Artes in Chiado, where she conceived a public project that never materialised. 

→ Project website.
Above: captures from the project website.

2 March 2017: Opening of Joana Hurtado Matheu's "Nostalgic Dissidence" exhibition mentored by Latitudes as part of the Barcelona Producció 2016 season. Repairs and conservation work in the Baroque cupola had delayed the opening by three months, so we were all pleased the day finally arrived. 

  Working on the exhibition layout.

 Francesco Arena's "Mare della tranquillità" (2013) is activated by a performer. "An old wooden table, taken from the family dining room, has been cut into four pieces to form the corners of a much bigger new table. Enlarged with inserts of metal, its size evokes the table on which, on May 7, 1945, the signing of the German surrender ended World War II in Europe. The work is the support for a participative action which consists of walking back and forth on the five-metre table a total of 155 km, the length of the Berlin Wall. Every day during the two months of the exhibition someone will get up on the table and, wearing shoes that have never touched the ground and holding a tally counter, walk from one end to the other 596 times." (exhibition wall label by the curator)

Photo: Pep Herrero/La Capella.

January 2017: The artist Alexandra Navratil posts an image of the work she will present in the forthcoming exhibition "4.543 billion" due to open June 29 at the CAPC musée in Bordeaux.

22–24 March 2017: Third trip to Bordeaux. Packed with meetings. Three months to go to the opening of "4.543 billion" exhibition. In two weeks deadline to submit the texts for the gallery guide. 

 Running through each work through our sketch-up exhibition rendering with the curatorial, collections, registrar, press and installation teams.

23 March 2017: Meanwhile in Barcelona, Toni Hervàs wins yet another award – for the best exhibition of the year, and given by the Catalan Association of Art Critics. 

Hervàs during the award ceremony. Photo: ACCA.

 April 2017: A bit of a website refresh – these things are so darn tedious yet they feel so good when they are done and dusted!

26 April 2017: Fifth 'Incidents (of Travel)' episode online narrating the encounter between curator Simon Soon and artist Chi Too. Their offline day took place in April 2016, when they visited the Malaysian state of Terengganu, where chi spent some time in 2013, surrounded by "men and women who work(ed) multiple jobs as a fishermen, housebuilders, boat builders, farmers, coconut pickers, food producers, and everything else that matters."

'Incidents (of Travel)' is a chartered day-long itinerary as an alternative to the standard studio visit, inviting an extended conversation between a curator and an artist. Previous destinations have included Chicago, US; Jinja, Uganda; Suzhou, China; and Lisbon, Portugal. Produced by Kadist; photographs and video by Awang Ketut; site built by The Present Group.
Above: captures from the project website.

3 May 2017: Conversation with Korean-born, Berlin-based artist Haegue Yang at the Fundació Tàpies, Barcelona. The evening discussion analysed Yang's practice from the perspective of historical development and cyclic fluctuations, asking, as phrased by sociologist and economist Giovanni Arrighi – what is accumulative, what is cyclical, and what is new? 



Photos: Fundació Han Nefkens.

May 2017: After three intense weeks of the jury process, eighteen selected projects of Barcelona Producció 2017 grant scheme are announced. We begin the year-long mentoring process of three projects out of the seventeen selected projects this year as part of the Barcelona Producció 2017 production grants. David Mutiloa's SYNTHESIS (18 July–25 September 2017) is the first to occupy La Capella's 15th-century exhibition space. The other two projects mentored by Latitudes are a publication by Anna Moreno and an exhibition "Artengo2000" at the small exhibition space by Camille Orny and Magda Vaz.

 Jury searching for a solid wifi spot to watch video documentation sent by an applicant.

12 June 2017, in Basel: Max Andrews of Latitudes contributed the essay "C-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H-E-R-K-N-O-W-L-E-S. SO LISTEN UP" about the spoken-word works, "typings", poetry and paintings of Christopher Knowles. The publication is made to accompany his solo presentation in the stand of NoguerasBlanchard gallery at Liste art fair in Basel. The exquisite short-run publication is designed and printed by Barcelona-based independent publishers and Riso printers Do The Print. Read on.



Photos: Latitudes

Photo via @gal_NB


12 June, in Barcelona: Following the announcement of the awardees of the 2017–18 season of Barcelona Producció production grants, we visit David Mutiloa's temporary studio in Hangar. Mutiloa is the first artist to open the season and his exhibition "SYNTHESIS" will take place in the central nave of La Capella from July 18. 

"Using sculpture, video projections and human presence, David Mutiloa’s exhibition Synthesis proposes that this condition has led to the appearance of pharmacologically managed depression, “an illness of responsibility”. It has also induced a terrible form of boredom – the spectre of both the boundless outsourcing of undesirable labour to the developing world and automation leading to a world without work. – Text from the gallery guide, written by Latitudes (pdf here). 

→ Short video of the exhibition.

 Photos: Latitudes

 
19 June–2 July: We're off to Bordeaux for the installation and opening of "4.543 billion. The matter of matter" exhibition in ten days. After two years of preparation, it's a truly exciting moment to see it all coming together.  

→ Press release here. 
→ Archive of social media posts



Lucy Skaer's 26 coal and resin sculptures after Brancusi's 26 different editions of "Bird in Space".

Deciding the layout of Félix Arnaudin's incredible suite of photographs kindly lent by the Musée d'Aquitaine Bordeaux.

Photovoltaic panels charging the batteries that power Nicholas Mangan's double video projection "Ancient Lights" (2015).

 Anne Garde's photos documenting Richard Serra's "Threats of Hell" (1990) production from Dillinger Hütter (Germany) to its exhibition at the CAPC nave, to its current location at a private collector home on the banks of the Garonne, where it changed its name to a happier "Hopes of Paradise".

 Part of the CAPC installation team having a coffee break enjoying Stéphane's awesome chocolate cake.


 Rayyane Tabet's mobile pieces arriving from Hamburg at the CAPC.

Registrar thick checklist file.

 François measuring Lara Almarcegui's works before placing them on the wall.

 Construction of the warehouse and jetty. Statements of works by engineer and architect Claude Deschamps.

 Christophe moving the 600kg rock by Hubert Duprat to the entrance.

 Pascal lighting the exhibition.

Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller stretching their new work "Untitled (Blue)" (2017), a work focused on indigo and colonial trade.

Christina Hemauer and Terence Gower listening to Pep Vidal explaining his sculpture work "19-metre tree cut in 7 equal volumes" (2015).

 One of the many guided visits for press, staff, and friends of the museum during the opening days. Photo: Latitudes/RK.

11–14 July 2017: Installation of "SYNTHESIS" in La Capella. David Mutiloa's solo exhibition is the first of the 2017–18 season of Barcelona Producció. Opening on July 18, on view until September 25.

 "In the modern office workplace, spatial design and brand communication have evolved in step with novel notions of management, business efficiency and a labour market that progressively favours flexibility and adaptability. The typical Western office worker – their physiology as well as their psychology – has also been overhauled. Twentieth-century time-and-motion studies first standardised and rationalised the salaried worker’s time and space. And today the twenty-first-century worker is increasingly a co-working independent contractor who navigates an entirely dissolved working-week structure, continuous competitive ‘disruption’ and the so-called ‘gig economy’." – Text by Latitudes from the exhibition sheet.

Scheme to help assemble the platform.

 Artist at work.




24–26 July 2017: Trip to Copenhagen to visit the impressive solo exhibition by John Kørner, "Altid Mange Problemer" at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, curated by Marie Nipper—the largest exhibition of his works to date. Max Andrews of Latitudes has been invited to contribute an essay for his forthcoming monograph published by Roulette Russe which is due to come out in November 2017. Max has previously written on John's work for his 2006 exhibition "Problems" at Victoria Miro Gallery in London. Our first visit to Copenhagen to see John's work was precisely the subject of our first blog post in September 2006!

 Everything in Copenhagen seemed to have turned yellow – we knew John's love for the colour (first image below), but also Mark Leckey's exhibition at the x-room of the Statens Museum fur Kunst, seemed to have been inspired by "the Nyboder yellow" hue – the historic row house district of former Naval barracks in Copenhagen. 




(Above) Mark Leckey's exhibition ‘He Thrusts his fists against the posts but still insists he sees the ghosts’ recreated the ramps underneath the M53 motorway bridge in Ellesmere Port. 


An example of the "Nyboder yellow" hue – is the historic row house district of former Naval barracks in Copenhagen. 

27 July 2017: Visit Ricardo Bofill's Walden7 and his nearby studio Taller de Arquitectura with Anna Moreno. Moreno was awarded a grant of Barcelona Producció 2017 to produce the publication "The Drowned Giant", a project focusing on a performance–happening staged by Bofill in 1970 to promote his unrealised architectural project La Ciudad en el Espacio in Moratalaz (Madrid). The publication will be launched in late November 2017 and is mentored by Latitudes. As part of Moreno's ongoing research on Bofill's practice, she has been living in Walden7 for the past month to carry out research for a forthcoming commission for the Spring 2018 exhibition "Beehave" at the Fundació Miró. 



 (Above) Taller de Arquitectura studio. (Below) Walden7 in Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona).




Anna Moreno walking around Walden7 in Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona).

 At the time of writing, we are frantically preparing for what will be an intense September. On September 10 we'll travel to Banff, where Latitudes will be Lead Faculty of the month-long residency programme "Geologic Time" at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity which will bring together 10 curators/artists/writers from around the world to discuss geological formations and timescales while speculating about a more expansive and longer-term view of art, exhibitions, and their institutions. We will be “thinking with” geology (beyond the depiction of the landscape) as a potential way to consider non-conventional, deep-time perspectives on curating, exhibition making, programming, and fieldwork within contemporary art. 

 Julius Schoppe (1795–1868), “Illustration of giant stone near the Rauenschen Mountains near Fürstenwalde”, c. 1827. Public domain – Wikimedia Commons.

 RELATED CONTENT:
 2016, 2017, 4543 billion, art-agenda, Barcelona Gallery Weekend, Barcelona Producció, CAPC Bordeaux, Composiciones, de appel, Frieze, haegue yang, Incidents of Travel, looking back, out of office, report
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Mariana Cánepa Luna reviews Ana Jotta’s “Abans que me n’oblidi (Before I forget)” exhibition in art-agenda

 Fri, Nov 11 2016
Installation view of the exhibition "Ana Jotta: Abans que me n'oblidi (Antes de que me olvide / Before I Forget)", 2016, ProjecteSD, Barcelona. Photo: © Roberto Ruiz 

Ana Jotta’s “Abans que me n’oblidi (Before I forget)”
PROJECTESD, Barcelona
September 30–November 26, 2016
 
by Mariana Cánepa Luna

"While it has been widely exhibited in her native Portugal, Ana Jotta’s work hasn’t been presented in depth to the Barcelona public since the early 1990s.(1) So this mini-survey of her production from 1980 to the present, framed as part of the Barcelona Gallery Weekend, is overdue. “Abans que me n’oblidi (Before I forget)” begins (or ends) at the intermediary patio space that one crosses before entering the main exhibition space at ProjecteSD. Part of a curved wall is covered with irregular patches of light gray and pale pink paint, as if emulating swatch tests for a redecoration. This playful gesture sets the tone for the exhibition inside, a somber and subtle palette of delicate intonations and provisional arrangements."  

Continue reading...
 
Originally published in art-agenda.com on November 8, 2016.

Ana Jotta, "Cloud", 2013. Painted steel, 90 x 200 x 4 cm. Photo: ©Roberto Ruiz.

Installation view of the exhibition "Ana Jotta: Abans que me n'oblidi (Antes de que me olvide / Before I Forget)", 2016, ProjecteSD, Barcelona. Photo: ©Roberto Ruiz.


Ana Jotta, "Footnote #1", 2016. Mixed media. Variable dimensions. Photo: ©Roberto Ruiz.


Ana Jotta, "Un Printemps 2008", 2008, Acrylic and felt pen on screen, 160 x 129 x 16 cm. Photo: ©Roberto Ruiz.


Installation view of the exhibition "Ana Jotta: Abans que me n'oblidi (Antes de que me olvide / Before I Forget)", 2016, ProjecteSD, Barcelona. Photo: ©Roberto Ruiz.


Ana Jotta, "Que Sais-Je?", 2011. Marker pen on tape roll, 2,5 x 14,3 diam. cm. Photo: ©Roberto Ruiz.


 Detail of several "Footnote" pieces. Photo: Latitudes.

 Detail of several "Footnote" pieces. Photo: Latitudes.

Ana Jotta, "Sem título", 2016. Paint on wall. Variable dimensions. Photo: Latitudes.

RELATED CONTENT:
 2016, Ana Jotta, art-agenda, Barcelona, Barcelona Gallery Weekend, curatorial writing, Mariana Cánepa Luna, ProjecteSD, Reviews, writing
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