b-inspired Exhibitions
The Possibility of an Island
Espai 13 Fundació Joan Miró
The Possibility of an Island is the first cycle of a series of projects that the Espai 13 of the Fundació Joan Miró will dedicate to the current curatorial practices, focusing on how an exhition is curated, beyond the usual attention to what is curated.
The cycle of exhibitions for the 2017-2018 season of Espai 13, curated by Alexandra Laudo [Heroínas de la Cultura], has started with Reserve, by Gerard Ortín, and the next months will host the works of Irene de Andrés (17 / 11- 7/1 2018), Lucía C. Pino (19 / 1-11 / 3), Bárbara Sánchez (23 / 3-17 / 6) and the Gideonsson / Londré duo (29 / 6-11 / 9). The project is articulated around the symbolic and sociocultural meanings that the island has been having as a paradigmatic space in the collective imaginary.
The symbolism of the islands has been forged largely from literature, through the stories of adventures and the science fiction narrative, but also from other disciplines, such as film, philosophy or the political thought. The island has a significant meaning in utopian thinking, to the extent that it symbolizes the possibility of generating a new social paradigm and that has often been associated with certain ideals of self-sufficiency.
From a historical perspective, many islands have functioned from the autonomy and the difference, while many others have been enclaves of economic exploitation and colonial domination. Historically, the islands have been places of exile, voluntary or forced, as well as territories of confinement or exclusion. From a symbolic approach, and in the opposite direction, they have been perceived as idyllic and paradisiacal places, redoubts of purity and authenticity. Despite this multiplicity of meanings, in the cultural tradition insularity has been above all a metaphor of solitude and introspection. In modern times, characterized by preeminent hyperconnectivity, is it possible to be isolated? What forms of solitude and isolation are discriminatory and segregating? Which are positive and desirable? The Possibility of an Island explores some of these meanings with the aim of activating questions and reflections that are relevant to our contemporaneity.
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Gerard Ortín, Reserve, 2017, view of the exhibition. F: © Pere Pratdesaba, Fundació Joan Miró.
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Gerard Ortín, Reserve, 2017, view of the exhibition. Ph: © Pere Pratdesaba, Fundació Joan Miró.
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Gerard Ortín, Reserve, 2017, detail. F: © Pere Pratdesaba, Fundació Joan Miró.
Gerard Ortín inaugurated the cycle with Reserve, a project that investigates the limits that human beings establish to counteract the harmful incidence of their action on certain natural environments from different cases of study, such as traps to hunt wolves, a dunghill to feed carrion birds inside a natural park or a 3D archery championship in the forest, among others. The cycle will continue with Irene de Andrés's Shipwrecked Species, a reflection on the tensions between colonialism and current tourism exploitation, within the framework of postcolonial relations. The project is constructed from the remains of San José, a Spanish galleon sunk more than three centuries ago near the Rosario Islands, in Colombia, and discovered two years ago. Following, in the first quarter of 2018, Lucía C. Pino will occupy Espai 13 with Non-Slave tenderness a sculptural research that takes as a starting point the documentary La isla de las flores (Jorge Furtado, 1989), relying on a theoretical body close to the new six materialisms. Next, Bárbara Sánchez will join with The Odyssey, a project that starts from the myth of Odysseus to work the idea of the trip as a metaphor for personal search, as well as the relations between fiction and autobiographical story. Finally, in June, the Swedish duo Gideonsson / Londré will close the cycle with their exploration of the idea of verticality. Through performative aspects, in I'm vertical the artists investigate the physical and psychological effects that affect the human being at high altitudes and how these sensations enhance mental states of isolation or introspection.
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Irene de Andrés. Image from Shipwrecked Sspecies (November 16th 2017 - January 7th 2018)
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Lucía C. Pino. Tests for a previous project, Derby Bakora, presented in Et Hall from February 3rd to March 18th, 2017.
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Barbara Sanchez Barroso. Preparatory image for The Odyssey (March 22nd - June 17th, 2018)
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Gideonsson / Londré. Tests for I am vertical (June 28th - September 11th, 2018)
The Possibility of an Island will be completed with a programme of reading and discussion of texts and other materials related to the theme of the cycle, led by a guest of the literary scene and the curator, as well as with various activities for family audiences within the framework of Barcelona City of Literature, which will feature the participation of authors such as Oriol Canosa or Alexis Nolla.
- From 22 September to 11 September
- Espai 13 Fundació Joan Miró
- Parc de Montjuïc 08038 Barcelona
- www.fmirobcn.org