Newsletter #37 – October 2011

'Amikejo: Fermín Jiménez Landa y Lee Welch', final show of the exhibition series, Laboratorio 987, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, 24 September 2011–15 January 2012.

Documentation archive | Photo Gallery (exhibition) + (performance)

Fermín Jiménez Landa (1979 Pamplona. Lives between Pamplona, Valencia and Barcelona) & Lee Welch (1975, Louisville. Lives in Rotterdam) did not know each other before the invitation to participate in Amikejo. As if engaged in international diplomacy, the artists have had to get to know each other personally and artistically before issuing what might be regarded as a joint statement based on what they have agreed and negotiated, in the form of an exhibition. Jiménez Landa & Welch have chosen to establish their collaboration in relation to the notion of the micro nation and devices which delineate sovereignty – borders, stamps, anthems, flags, and so on.

Their project comprises a constellation of diverse performative, discursive and exhibited elements, some of which are directly apparent in the Laboratorio 987, while others have occurred at remote locations, or exist only in the imagination. A series of platforms and border markers constitute a space of assembly and discussion while a marching band of 60 musicians from León has been recruited to compose and perform a national anthem for a new autonomous island state. Companioning this, another element comprises a series of letters sent by the artists using fake stamps from Neutral Moresnet, the state which anteceded Amijeko. Jiménez Landa's & Welch's joint endeavour considers how art can produce new understanding, memories and communicative possibilities together with an audience.

Mousse Publishing will release the publication of the exhibition series In January 2012.

Follow us on Twitter: #amikejo

With the support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam.

MUSAC | Avenida de los Reyes Leoneses, 24 | 24008 León | ESPAÑA | MAP | Tue–Fri: 10–15 / 17–20h; Sat–Sun: 11–15/ 17–21h. Monday closed.

Participants in the symposium 'Anti-monument. Criticism in Public Space', Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló, Castelló, 22 October 2011.

Convened by Ángela Molina

Participants: Patricia Esquivias (Artist, Madrid), Sara Dauge & Alejandro Giménez (Racons Públics, Barcelona/Paris/Sâo Paulo) and Iria Candela (Assistant Curator, Tate Modern, London).

The symposium will be structured around individual presentations by the participants and a final round table discussion. Iria Candela will focus on some of the public space interventions in Latin America, such as those realised by Héctor Zamora in Bogotá or Regina José Galindo in Guatemala; Patricia Esquivias will observe Castellón from the distance and reflect upon its geographical identity; and Racons Públics will talk about the ongoing transformation of the contemporary city and the residual and empty corners that are left behind. (+ symposium info...)

Latitudes will focus discuss 'Portscapes', the commissioning series that took place throughout 2009 in and around the Maasvlakte 2, the ongoing 2,000 hectare land reclamation project of the Port of Rotterdam. Latitudes will focus on four case studies, the projects by Jan Dibbets, Jorge Satorre, Lara Almarcegui and Cyprien Gaillard (unrealised), and discuss the various practical and challenging artistic and curatorial aspects that rose throughout the commissioning process. (+ project info...)

The presentations will be in Spanish. + info: actividades@eacc.es / Tel. (34) 964 72 35 40

Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló | c/ Prim s/n | 12003 Castelló | T +34 964 72 35 40 | eacc@eacc.es | www.eacc.es