LABoral will strengthen production, research and education in its programme for 2014
All of the activities will rest on four fundamental pillars: digital design and fabrication, experimental electronics and software, data visualization and the moving image
Digital design and fabrication is one of the axes in which will be centered LABoral's activity during 2014. Photo: LABoral's Archive
Strengthening the activities of production and research through artist residencies, and of education, and the provision of new resources at Plataforma Cero, along with continuing to develop its companies-in- residence programme are the fundamental pillars upon which LABoral’s Action Plan for 2014 rests, as approved by the Board of Trustees of the La Laboral Foundation on Saturday.
The programme of the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón has been designed with the dual purpose of extending the networks of talent and knowledge while fostering a new economic dynamic for the institution. The two great exhibitions of the year will establish a framework for related activities in all the areas of activity at the Centre which rest on four fundamental pillars: digital design and fabrication, experimental electronics and software, data visualization and the moving image.
On 14 March 2014, Datorama. Nuevos paisajes en la era tecnológica [Datorama. New Landscapes in the Technological Age] is opened. This is an exhibition curated by the current Activities Director of LABoral, Benjamin Weil, which explores the relationship between the tradition of landscape painting, the emergence of the graphical interface - a system of representation on its own- and the subject of elastic reality, which has also been the theme of an exhibition with the same title this year 2013. The theme of a new landscape, in itself, is part of LABoral’s programme continuity centred on territory, mapping and new narratives.
Autumn will focus on the subject of “drones” in an exhibition and also as recognition of research activity which began at fabLAB Asturias in 2013. The exhibition A Screaming Comes Across the Sky presents works which address issues such as video surveillance and other ways of controlling and monitoring individuals or groups. For the first time, the show will include “ongoing” research projects. The war in Afghanistan revealed the existence of unmanned flying objects, used primarily for the recognition of territory and later for military attacks. From this time on, the question of public ownership of this technology has been of vital importance. fabLAB Asturias has carried out important research which will be contextualized in 2014.
Continuing with the presentation of moving images, started in 2011 with the series Universo Video [Video Universe], LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial will present at Mediateca Expandida [Expanded Mediatheque] three selections of video art and experimental films:
- Geo-políticas [Geopolitics]: a selection of works by artists from the Asturian Artists’ Archive, in which the participating artists, who are all part of the Asturian Artists’ Archive at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, show through different representation means how the figure -in principle, a purely objective fact, without implications- carries a historical sense of being and existing in the world.
- La Magia de las Imágenes [The Magic of Images], a selection from the collection of Isabelle and Jean-Conrad Lemaître, who have collected video art works since 1983. This French couple has a special relationship with Spain, where they were living when they started their collection. They have played an important role in the development of LOOP Barcelona and have always bought works by emerging artists who have subsequently achieved great recognition.
- In autumn, FICXLAB –the collaboration started in 2013 with Gijón International Film Festival (FICX) – will return with an exhibition of experimental films, a specific programme during the festival, and the filMO competition which will be held for the sixth time.
The Sound Laboratory
Since spring 2013, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial has extended its production residencies to include musicians and sound artists. Linked to this initiative is the project by Daniel Romero (also known as .Tape.), who will undertake a long-term residency, taking charge of the development of a Sound Laboratory in Plataforma 0. This new resource is framed within the LABSonido [LABSound] programme and will also offer backup and support in other areas (education and exhibitions). The laboratory will allow sound artists to produce pieces in situ and later present their work in the best conditions. The space itself will be open to the public as a listening room.
The Production and Research Residencies programme will continue. Guest artists will have access to Plataforma 0 (fabLAB Asturias, Audiovisual Production Studio and Sound Laboratory) to produce works or develop research projects. They will be able to make use of the work spaces and, as always, enjoy the support of the entire team at LABoral for the production and presentation of their work. In 2014 the open calls for the DKV Seguros – Álvarez Margaride Production Grant and Next Things, the research grant in collaboration Teléfonica I+D [R&D], will also go ahead. LABoral is also collaborating with the Museo de Bellas Artes in Asturias to continue the LABJoven Experimenta award.
Through the Projects Office, LABoral additionally aims to support those researchers and local artists who wish to access the tools offered by Plataforma 0 for developing their projects.
Next year, LABoral will also continue developing the companies in residence, providing space to young entrepreneurs interested in establishing a closer relationship with the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón and its activities.
