Presencia activa [Active Presence] opens LABoral’s autumn exhibition programme on Friday 5 October
Feather Tales II, Códigos abiertos, ecoLAB and the presentation of the Mapocci prototype are other proposals that the Centro will present until the end of the year
Alastair MacLennan. 'Lain Nail', 2012. Photo: MARCO/Janite
A wide-ranging programme of performance taking place over Friday 5th and Saturday 6th October will serve as a prelude to the opening of Presencia activa [Active Presence] at the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón. The exhibition will showcase works by 12 international artists who are situated along the performance-installation binomial.
Coproduced by LABoral and MARCO. Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo [Contemporary Art Museum in Vigo], Presencia activa. Acción, objeto y público [Active Presence. Action, Object and Audience] will show highly theatrical proposals, in which the spectator has a passive role, alongside other projects which totally engage the public. In between, you find the different possibilities of relations between the two, and the space and environment comprising the work. With the exception of the pieces by John Bock and La Ribot, the rest are new productions specific to this exhibition, which at LABoral include those by Asturian artists Gema Ramos and Nerea Santisteban Lorences.
Beating the solo guitar world record set at more than 15 hours by accepting the challenge launched by German artist Thom Kubli; joining the group of non-professional performers or musicians at the invitation of Bosnian Maja Bajević to chant slogans around Gijón, as part of the work Slogans Remix; doing body building, Pilates or aerobic exercises in a gym-installation created by Danish artist Mads Lynnerup in one of the exhibition rooms at LABoral; or "travelling" in Vas-y!, the huge revolving turbine shaped like a barrel -similar to a hamster wheel- by German John Bock, are some of the opportunities that the exhibition offers to the public from this 5 October until 25 February in 2013.
During the autumn, LABoral will continue with its exhibition programme and presentation of projects produced by the Centre -resulting from proposal calls or artist residencies – which are centred on this year’s five main thematic areas: sound, performance, audiovisual culture, digital design and fabrication -via fabLAB Asturias- and art and ecology –through ecoLAB.
THE AUTUMN PROGRAMME AT LABoral
05.10.2012 – 25.02.2013
ACTIVE PRESENCE
Action, Object and Audience
Performance and installation art as artistic disciplines are a mirror image of each other. Both are based on the same principle of presence: that of active presence. In performance art, the presence of the artist; in installation, the spectator’s. In this manner, when reflected onto one another, installation and performance art develop in opposed yet superimposed directions, creating an axis between two poles —the artist and the spectator— along which there are infinite possibilities of interaction.
Active Presence: Action, Object and Audience shows works —most of which are new productions specifically created for this show— that gain significance at this juncture. Performance and installation converge into a diverse landscape of dynamic installations activated by the artists and/or the audience within the museum’s gallery walls. We can find, on the one hand, works in which the audience takes a more passive role, and on the other hand, installations whose existence depends on their participation. There are also pieces that function in both domains. And in all of them we perceive a unique territory: a place in between genres with stratified relationships uncommon to the practice of pure installation or performance art.
Curators: Sergio Edelsztein, Director, Center for Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv, and Kathleen Forde, Artistic Director of Borusan Contemporary
Artists: Maja Bajević, John Bock, Gary Hill, Thom Kubli, Mads Lynnerup, Alastair MacLennan, Sergio Prego, Gema Ramos, La Ribot, Carlos Rodríguez-Méndez, Nerea Santisteban Lorences
Coproduction: LABoral and MARCO. Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo [Contemporary Art Museum in Vigo]
With the support of: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Secretaría de Estado de Cultura [Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Culture State Department]
In collaboration with: Club Metropolitan, AEPA-Asociación de Empresas de Producción Audiovisual del Principado de Asturias; Restaurante Las Delicias; Pronorte; Sidra El Gobernador; Bilur 2000, S.L.; Blue Hoteles; EMULSA
Space: Galería de exposiciones [Exhibition Gallery and Hall], Sala de Proyectos [Projects Room], Sala Nueva [New Room] and in the lobby and main hall of LABoral.
26.10.2012 – 04.02.2013
FEATHER TALES II
An installation by Ricardo O'Nascimento and Ebru Kurbak
A project chosen in the 2011 proposal call by the Oficina de Proyectos [Projects Office]. Feather Tales II is a work in progress by two artists using clothing items as a form of communication and protection, placing them at the centre of research work which links up design and fashion.
The work which Ricardo O’Nascimento and Ebru Kurbak will present following their artist’s residency at LABoral is a sensitive and interactive environment that arose from an imaginary scenario in which a secret dialogue between electromagnetic waves and its material surroundings becomes slightly visible and, consequently, captivating. The surfaces in the exhibition space that are covered with feathers become hypersensitive to waves emitted by mobile communication devices. Whenever electronic signals circulate in the space, the surfaces start to show involuntary reactions, offering visitors the opportunity to interact with the environment using their personal devices.
09.11.2012
ecoLAB 2012
ecoLAB, the laboratory for experimentation in ecology, art and open electronics at LABoral, will display at Almacén Sur [South Warehouse] a hybrid space in which the work processes carried out during the year are presented and the permanent space set aside for the ecology, art and new technologies resources at LABoral.
Different artists and local groups are collaborating in this exhibition which will be accompanied by various workshops. Cristina Ferrández, together with Lorena Lozano, have produced a video which relates the Narrativas del No-Jardín [Narratives of a Non-garden] with an explanation of the changes at Patio Sur [South Yard], the monthly meetings and the philosophy behind the project. Rubén Suárez will present the documentation of the sustainable design project Low Tech Monitor Architecture based on the study of traditional building techniques in order to apply them in today’s contexts. Re.colectivo prepares a seeds workshop and a mural with illustrations of the plants in the non-garden, and also a map of the local resources related to ecology and art. Similarly, with the slogan Otros espacios para la alimentación [Other Spaces for Feeding], a mobile kitchen and cookbook is prepared which sees the collaboration of Melania Fraga, Nacho, Nieves González, Patricia Vergara, Iwona Pakula and Lorena Lozano..TAPE. of Avilés will present his project Cultivar el sonido [Cultivating Sound] with the display of the atmospheric conditions in the yard. In order to visualise the biodiversity of the water in the well, Andy Gracie will offer a workshop on DIY Microscopio de Vídeo [DIY Video Microscope] in which the attendants turn a USB webcam into a video microscope.
09.11.2012 – 21.12.2012
CÓDIGOS ABIERTOS [OPEN CODES]
El gobierno de los comunes [Common Government]
Last May LABoral launched a call to form a work group to carry out cross-disciplinary research into how the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón can meet the current needs of the local artistic community. With the name of Códigos abiertos [Open Codes], this core group will also focus its research on looking for formulas to develop new ways of interacting with all audiences so as to get their involvement and encourage them to become active participants building their own experiences in the LABoral space.
In these meetings the group proposed for a series of events, workshops and presentations to be started from 9 November. With the title of Códigos abiertos: el gobierno de los communes [Open Codes: Common Government], the activities will be focused on four thematic blocks: new institutionality, psychology-philosophy, technology, art and the public sphere. The events are open to all of the public and will be continued on 16, 23 and 30 November, 14 and 21 December.
22.11.2012
TRASTIENDA [Back Shop]
Trastienda is an experimental research platform in the design field, promoted by LABoral and curated by El Último Grito (Roberto Feo and Rosario Hurtado). It is a collaborative open platform carrying out research on the potential offered by the Internet for the creation, production and distribution of “products” and, as a result, redefines the role of the product and its economical, social and cultural context.
Going beyond the conventional model of an “online shop”, Trastienda sets forth a transparent shop where the final product or service becomes solely an access gate to these processes. Both the processes and the products from this research are available online to users who are able to not only acquire them, but also manufacture themselves their own objects thanks to the information available.
This platform’s research process -which brings together creators, institutions and users- is horizontal and favours dialogue among creators with different specialisations and levels of experience as they explore together the different research areas. This dialogue is also open to the public and education institutions through the website: (www.laboralcentrodearte.org).
Following a seminar at La Casa Encendida in Madrid and two meeting workshops, the first collection of objects resulting from the collaborative work between designers and artists, Jacobo Alonso de Lucas, Clara Boj & Diego Díaz and Jordi Canudas, coordinated by Víctor Viña, will now be presented.
22.11.2012
fabLAB_SHOWCASE
LABoral linked up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in March 2012 to foster and develop its Digital Fabrication Laboratory, fabLAB Asturias, opened in December 2010 at the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón. fabLAB Asturias, the only one in Spain and one of the few in the world to have its base in a space for creativity and innovation as LABoral, belongs to the worldwide network of Fab Labs. From its facilities, it provides users with digital design and fabrication machinery with the aim of supporting local creativity, experimentation and joint learning through courses and seminars, and so getting creators involved in the productive process of their work.
fabLAB_Showcase will show the objects, instruments and designs that have been developed in the digital fabrication laboratory since it began its activities.
05.12.2012 (Provisional date)
Presentation of Mapocci
Mapocci is an interactive toy, designed to promote emotional education in children. The prototype now presented at LABoral has been developed by Laura Malinverni and Lilia Villafuerte following its selection as the winning project of the Next Things 2012 call, jointly promoted by LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial and Telefónica I+D, the research and development company of the Telefónica Group.
The project by multimedia artists Laura Malinverni and Lilia Villafuerte aims to provide new forms of remote communication, capable of generating empathy networks between children in different places, facilitating cultural exchange and offering a tool for sharing and understanding the emotions of others. Mapocci is provided with a 3G connection that enables remote communication of emotional states. The toy is designed as a stand-alone device and does not require a computer in order to operate.
OTHER EXHIBITIONS AT LABoral
03.07.2012 – 22.10.2012
eCLIPse
[retro]perspective of the music video in 50 steps
Since its appearance in 1975 the video has been consolidated as a form of artistic expression in itself. eCLIPse shows a selection of 50 music videos which, over the course of history, can be considered essential in the understanding of this discipline as an intersection between the visual arts and cultural industries.
Curator: Carlos Navarro
Collaborator: Rubin Stein
Exhibition Design: Carmen Castañón
28.04. 2011 / ongoing
crear bosques [creating forests]
crear bosques (Piñera, Asturias 1996–2011) is a participative art action, representing a monument and at once a society. The action consists of the compilation of sponsorship applications, the managment of the action –with the key involvement of museums, art centres, collectives and NGOs– and the planting, reverting to an objectual format by its transformation into a location map that allows sponsors to visit their tree should they so wish.
Project Director: Carmen Cantón
Coproduction: EMULSA-Empresa Municipal de Servicios de Medio Ambiente Urbano de Gijón S.A.
Organisation: crear bosques & Centro de Arte Ego
Curator: Lucía Antonini
In collaboration with: MAV-Mujeres en las Artes Visuales [Women in Visual Arts], FAPAS-Fondo para la Protección de los Animales Salvajes [Fund for the Protection of Wild Animals], Space Invaders, Guerrilla Girls
