Rosina Gómez-Baeza leaves as Director of LABoral upon considering that an important step has been accomplished
LABoral has succeeded in “keeping up an extraordinarily rich and varied activity which has brought renown and visibility to Asturias, linking its image to such positive elements as innovation”
Rosina Gómez-Baeza at LABoral. Photo: Piru de la Puente
Rosina Gómez-Baeza will leave as Director of LABoral this coming 15 September, upon considering that an important step has been accomplished at the head of the Centre of Art and Industrial Creation. In the four years since its opening on 30th March 2007, Gómez-Baeza sees the implementation stage of LABoral as being fulfilled and is leaving a fully consolidated project in all of its areas -exhibition, training, production and research-.
Since its beginning, the Founding Director of LABoral had the guiding principle of making the Centre of Art and Industrial Creation into a reference site for the cultural dissemination of new artistic practices and creative industries, mainly produced by technological means. LABoral is today a space which has already become consolidated as an important generating centre of knowledge and of artistic, scientific and technological dissemination in Spain.
Rosina Gómez-Baeza took over the Art Centre in 2006 after winning a public contest in which the committee of international experts, including Gerfried Stocker, Director of Ars Electronica Center, Linz; Vicente Todolí Cervera, director of Tate Modern, London; and Manuel Borja Villel, the then Director of MACBA-Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Barcelona and currently Director of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, selected her project.
The panel valued at the time her brilliant track record as a cultural manager and her recognised expertise in team building. “Today we have a completely consolidated team that is really involved and enthusiastic with solid experience in spite of the relatively short time, and concerning myself as I do about constantly encouraging skill-updating and training, it is capable of taking on the challenges ahead in the new stage which is opening up for LABoral”, said Gómez-Baeza.
The Director of LABoral feels “especially proud of the position that LABoral holds today in the world of art and new technologies and of its contribution to the development and dissemination of contemporary culture and creative industries - an aspect which is increasingly consolidated, as proven in the projects such as fabLAB ASTURIAS”.
FabLAB ASTURIAS is a digital fabrication laboratory based on the model inspired by the Centre for Bits and Atoms (CBA) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). LABoral intends to sign an agreement with MIT which will contribute to FabLAB’s growth and constitute an effective partnership with the prestigious academic and research body, as well as being a major boost for this innovative feature which was opened last December in the Centre’s spaces with the financial support of Alcoa. In addition, through the signing of an agreement with the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Catalunya [Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia] (IAAC), the promoter of the first digital production centre in Spain, LABoral will be incorporated into the World Network of Fab Labs
Gómez-Baeza has expressed her appreciation to all those who have made it possible that LABoral is today “a shining reality, in spite of the difficulties resulting from the economic crisis and the cutbacks made by businesses and institutions in cultural projects”. “Yet, in face of this, we have managed to carry out an extraordinarily rich and varied activity that has brought renown and visibility to Asturias and linked its image with such positive elements as innovation”.
LABoral’s director concluded by wishing “the best for this institution, based on the confidence and conviction in its enormous interest for Asturias and the rest of the world”.
A LONG-STANDING CAREER IN CULTURE
Before joining LABoral, Rosina Gómez-Baeza was the Founding Director of the First Biennial of Art, Architecture and Landscape of the Canary Islands (2006), President of the Institute of Contemporary Art from 2005 to 2008, and Director of ARCO between 1986 and 2006.
After graduating with a degree in English Literature and Philology from Cambridge University, Gómez-Baeza went on to study Pedagogy in London and History of Art and French Civilisation in Paris. She worked as a teacher and translator before joining Siasa Congresos as Programme Coordinator. She was closely involved in the setting up of Ifema, the Madrid Trade Fair, having been its first director of national trade fairs.
Throughout her professional career, Gómez-Baeza has promoted various cultural initiatives associated with artistic production and its diffusion. Among these are Arco Foundation and Contemporary Art Collection, the Experimental Film Festival of Madrid and the Madrid Abierto public art programme.
Rosina Gómez-Baeza has headed research into Spanish artists and the results of this was edited in the Encyclopaedia of 20th Century Spanish Art, published in 1992 by Mondadori. She has also led countless forums and courses on contemporary art and promoted many proposal calls that brought about public access to artworks in digital and video media. She is also a lecturer at the Carlos III University of Madrid, Santillana Foundation and other academic centres and artistic forums in Spain as well as abroad, and is currently co-directing a University level course on innovation in audiovisual culture, organised by LABoral in conjunction with the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and the University of Oviedo. She is also a member of the jury for the Prince of Asturias Awards for Arts and of the International Graduate Institute of the University of Catalonia (UOC).
The Director of LABoral was awarded with the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes [Gold Medal for Fine Arts] in its 2009 edition and has been distinguished with various awards including the Gran Cruz de Cooperación Iberoamericana [Great Cross of the Ibero-American Cooperation]; Distinción a la Excelencia Europea [European Excellence Award]; Caballero de la Orden de las Artes y de las Letras de la República Francesa [Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters]; Premio a la Proyección Internacional del Ayuntamiento de Madrid [Madrid’s International Projection Award] and Comendadora de la Estrella de la Solidaridad Italiana [Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity], among others.
