The EU supports LABoral and finances a project which includes two exhibitions, a production artist residency and a seminar
Beyond the Exhibition: New Interfaces for Contemporary Art in Europe] is coproduced by the Centro de Arte (Gijón), Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains (France) and Contemporary Art Center, CAC Vilnius (Lithuania)
Pierre-Yves Boisramé, Sans titre, 2012. Photo: Le Fresnoy–Studio National des Arts Contemporains.
The European Union has shown its support of LABoral by financing the project Más allá de la exposición, nuevas interfaces para el arte contemporáneo en Europa [Beyond the Exhibition: New Interfaces for Contemporary Art in Europe], promoted by the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains [Le Fresnoy National Studio of Contemporary Arts] (France) and Contemporary Art Center, CAC Vilnius (Lithuania). In Gijón, this project will result in two exhibitions Realidad elástic [Elastic Reality] and Universo vídeo_Prácticas Experimentales [Universo Video_Experimental Practices], which will be opened this coming 15 March; a production residency in which Brazilian artist Maya Da-Rin develops a new production of her work Event Horizon; and a seminar which will be held this July in collaboration with Universidad de Oviedo [University of Oviedo] and UOC-Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) [Open University of Catalonia].
At a time when Spanish public authorities are cutting back on their contributions to cultural projects as a result of the economic crisis, LABoral’s management team has looked for new avenues to fund its activities developing a strategy that seeks to obtain financial support from private companies and other transnational institutions allowing the art centre to present a programme to the public which aims to continue exploring in great depth new formats for the expression of creative thinking, knowledge sharing and the production of new work.
Also forming part of this search for new partners and networks which allow for a greater independence in relation to regional authorities are the recent agreements reached with DKV Seguros on the call for proposals for the DKV Seguros Production Grant - Álvarez Margaride, for the completion of a project by artists who are either Spanish or resident in Spain, which will be shown to the public from 22 June; with Banco Sabadell Herrero and its sponsorship of Aprendiendo de las cuencas [Learning from Las Cuencas], a research project and exhibition on the cultural landscape of the Asturian mining areas; and the call for Next Things 2013-Next Spaces with Telefónica I+D [Telefonica R+D] for the production of a project linking art and technology for the second consecutive year.
The interdisciplinary project Más allá de la exposición: nuevas interfaces para el arte contemporáneo en Europa will receive €200.000 from the EU’s Cultural Programme 2007-2013 which will be used to finance 48 per cent of its cost at the three locations: Gijón, Tourcoing and Vilnius. According to the European Commission, “This brings together several partners with an international vocation in the field of visual arts who are engaged in the paradigm shift in the digital era and interested in exploring new forms of artistic following and new relationships with the public, embracing the most innovative artistic forms in Europe which challenge previous languages by using digital tools languages.” Decisive in the award of this funding was the fact that LABoral, Le Fresnoy and CAC Vilnius seek to “encourage artists, the public and society as a whole to appropriate digital languages, and also to access contents and digital applications, irrespective of their place of origin, age and abilities”.
Más allá de la exposición [Beyond the Exhibition] addresses the establishment of new cultural habits arising from the digital revolution and how these change access to works of art. As an example of this, the screen - the dominant medium - has become for the new generations of “digital natives” the favourite tool in their relationship with culture
Exhibitions. Realidad elástica [Elastic Reality] analyses through the work of ten artists the evolution of artistic forms normally associated with the concept of interactivity - practices which tend to be formally unstable and of an ephemeral nature. Curated by LABoral’s Activities Director, Benjamin Weil, the show can be seen in the rooms at the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón until 8 September.
Curator: Benjamin Weil, Activities Director at LABoral
Artists/works: Théodora Barat, Dead End; Véronique Béland, This is Major Tom to Ground Control; Pierre-Yves Boisramé, Sans titre [Untitled]; Vincent Ciciliato, Tempo scaduto; Maya Da-Rin, Event Horizon. #Camouflage; Ryoichi Kurokawa, Mol; Joachim Olender, Tarnac; Zahra Poonawala, Tutti; David Rokeby, Hand-held; and Dorothée Smith, Cellulairement
While Universo vídeo_Prácticas experimentales presents in two cycles – the first of which opens on 15 March - a selection of the video-graphic catalogue of Fresnoy. Its ultimate aim is to represent the movement of the world based on contingency, giving structure and sense to its permanent and confused state of change, personified by each of these six films.
Residency. Since 11 February Brazilian artist Maya Da-Rin has been undertaking a residency at LABoral to develop a new production of her project Event Horizon, produced at Le Fresnoy in 2012. Investigating the relationships between the body, territory and landscape, the installation performance Event Horizon #Camouflage will take form through a series of walks which will take place in an Asturian forest and be recorded by cameras guided by a GPS system to question the specific imaginary between the landscape where the action takes place and physical experience.
Seminar. This July LABoral will host a reflection on the new prototypes and interfaces developed by art centres and museums and their relationship with the public. With a format half-way between a seminar and a training course, it will combine a face-to-face and an online part. The event will be organised in collaboration with the Universidad de Oviedo [University of Oviedo] and the UOC-Universitat Oberta de Catalunya [Open University of Catalonia]..
The presentations will be accompanied by a programme of practical sessions with an artistic group which will consider the relationship of the user with museum institutions and exhibition
Scientific direction: Alain Fleischer, Director of Le Fresnoy, Benjamin Weil, Activities Director at LABoral and Kestutis Kuisinas, Director of CAC.
