LONGITUDES

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

Latitudes’ “out of office” 2023-24 season

 Mon, Jul 29 2024

 

Work by David Shrigley.

Time to put work-related activities on ice. Below is an account of some of the projects, texts, trips, exhibition preparations, talks, and research conducted by Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes this past season. 

Check earlier OUT OF THE OFFICE posts from 2008–9, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 and 2022–23. All photos are by Latitudes unless otherwise noted in the photo caption. For further notes, inspirations, and more, check out our Instagrams, here and here. See you in September!


23 August–3 September 2023: The second part of “The Pilgrim” research residency took us to Dublin, Sligo (including an excursion to Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery), Askeaton (with day trips to Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum, the Rock of Cashel, Holycross Abbey, Philip Quinn’s stone-carving workshop, and the Ardnacrusha Power Station), and Limerick to attend the opening events of EVA International. See photos here.

As part of our thinking around relics, pilgrimage, and twinning, the team of Askeaton Contemporary Arts (ACA) asked Michael Holly to put together a video in part inspired by “The Pilgrim”. Tour guide maestro Anthony Sheehy not only appears giving his account of the Pilgrim’s story in the former Franciscan Friary, but also plays a song on his harmonica. It was through one of Anthony’s tours back in 2018 – he has led tours of the Friary and the Castle for 56 years! – that Latitudes first learned about the Barcelona pilgrim who is buried in Askeaton’s friary. 

Train from Dublin to Sligo.

Our host Ruth Clinton (right) playing the violin at Mc Lynn’s Bar, Sligo.

Photo: Eulàlia Rovira

(Left to right) Mariana, tour guide Anthony Sheehy, Eulàlia, and her son Nil and Max in front of Askeaton's former Franciscan Friary. Photo: Aníbal Parada.

Latitudes, filmmaker Michael Holly and Michelle Horrigan of ACA discussing locations around the Friary. Photo: Eulàlia Rovira.

Anthony Sheehy is being filmed. Photo: Eulàlia Rovira.

Anthony Sheehy playing his harmonica in the Abbey. Photo: Eulàlia Rovira.

Michelle Horrigan of ACA talking to Michael Holly's camera, and (below) Eulàlia Rovira discusses her artistic practice.



September 2023: Montse Badia writes about Gallery Climate Coalition and GCC Spain in Bonart magazine #198, September 2023–February 2024 issue. Read in Català, Español, English or in Français.

Photo: María Gracia de Pedro.


27 September 2023: Max travels to Bilbao to cover the exhibition “Picasso escultor. Materia y cuerpo” [Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body] at the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, for what will be a two-part Picasso review for frieze magazine. In line with Latitudes’ Environmental Policy to reduce our carbon footprint, and as a 2022 Active Members of the Gallery Climate Coalition, Max took the train to cover this 6h50min journey.


Exhibition curator Carmen Giménez was interviewed during the press tour.

(Above and below) Views of “Picasso escultor. Materia y cuerpo” [Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body] at the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. 




October 2023: The October 2023 issue (#238) of frieze magazine includes a printed version of Max Andrews’ review of Miralda’s exhibition at Bombas Gens Centre d'Art, València, published online on June 29. This turns out to be the last exhibition we'll see in this venue, as a few months later, their programme sadly took a radical change to become (yet another) digital centre programming virtual exhibitions – beginning with an immersive show dedicated to Dalí. 😖



9 October 2023: 6h15min train to Málaga to join the press trip organised by the Museo Picasso to celebrate its 20th anniversary and the exhibition “The Echo of Picasso”. The exhibition will be featured in an upcoming two-part review for frieze magazine by Max Andrews. Both the exhibition and the one seen a few days back in Bilbao, are organised within the framework of the international celebrations marking the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). 

For this trip, Latitudes used its 2022 Strategic Climate Fund (SCFs) of €190 to cover the journey costs to reduce our carbon emissions (a return train journey from Barcelona to Málaga emits 0.01 tCO2e, a return flight – although considerably cheaper – emits 0.21 tCO2e according to GCC’s Carbon Calculator). This made it possible for Mariana to visit the exhibition and other art spaces including Pompidou Málaga and CAC Málaga. 

Following GCC’s revised 2021 SCFs guidelines and adapting to the financial possibilities of our modest freelance operation, financing effective lower-carbon options is a direct way to achieve real and short-term change. Going forward, instead of tying the calculation of our SCF to our previous emissions, we will follow GCC's 2023 revised recommendation and set aside a percentage of our year's revenue to be allocated to our 2024 needs. 


Sunset over Málaga from the 14th floor of the hotel.

Museo Picasso Málaga from the roof terrace. At the top is the 11th-century Muslim Palace-fortress Alcazaba.

Views from the terrace of Palacio de Buenavista (Museo Picasso Málaga), towards the Iglesia de San Agustín and the Cathedral de la Encarnación de Málaga. 

Sharing the great knowledge of an excited librarian who has worked in the museum for +20 years. 

Browsing publications found these shots of Picasso’s paintings and sculptures being shipped in the 1960s, a much more relaxed era of art handling and insurance protocols.

(Above and below) “The Echo of Picasso” exhibition curated by Éric Troncy had delightful moments such as the above pairing of Louise Bourgeois’ “Woman in a Shape of a Shuttle” (1947–49) and a 1928 ”Couple of the Seaside” by Picasso, and great works such as Francis Bacon's “Portrait of Michel Leiris” by and a Philip Guston drawing. Yet, on the ground floor, the gear changes (for the worse) starting with an overhang display of sculptures and paintings by (all by men) Markus Lüpertz, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Rashid Johnson, Markus Jahmal, Miquel Barceló, Georg Baselitz and the puzzling inclusion of a “Downton Abbey” (2022) family portrait by Genevieve Figgis.



25 October 2023: Launch at Onomatopee, Amsterdam, of the publication “Sketches of Transition. An Atlas on Growth and Decay”, edited by Italian-born, Amsterdam-based artist Michele Bazzoli. The book includes a reprint of Latitudes’ text on Lara Almarcegui’s project “Graves” originally commissioned to accompany Almarcegui's solo exhibition at Centre d’Art la Panera, Lleida, curated by Cèlia del Diego and on view between February and June 2021. More here.



Reprint scans courtesy of Michele Bazzoli.


27 October 2023: Max Andrews’ review “Celebrating Five Decades of the Picasso-Industrial Complex” goes live on frieze website. The review focuses on the two concurrent shows at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Museo Picasso Málaga appraising the artist’s legacy, although taking a troubling tour through an ethical minefield.

“What else is there to know about Pablo Picasso 50 years after his death? Something, evidently. With the support of the French and Spanish governments, the Musée Picasso–Paris and the artist’s grandson and heir, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, are marking the anniversary with a programme of some 50 exhibitions and events worldwide. ‘Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body’ at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and ‘The Echo of Picasso’ at the Museo Picasso Málaga are two of the more prominent exhibitions of this “Picasso Celebration 1973–2023” series. But what exactly is being celebrated?” Continue reading


Read the review here.


11 November 2023: Visual artist Laia Ventayol presented in Palma, Mallorca, a lecture on Eulàlia Rovira’s video “A knot which is not” (2020-21) in the framework of the LXVIII Anglo-Catalan Society Conference at the Universitat de les Illes Balears. Rovira’s video was commissioned for the exhibition “Things Things Say” (October 2020-January 2021 – watch the trailer with the artist as the narrator of the exhibition) at Fabra i Coats: Centre d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and was premièred online once the exhibition ended, and the exhibition spaces were once again empty. 

Read more here (in Spanish).

Photo: @laia_ventayol

20 November 2023: Heath Lowndes, Managing Director and co-founder of Gallery Climate Coalition, gives a short presentation of GCC during his participation in the “II Jornadas de Instituciones Artísticas y Sostenibilidad”, organised by Fundació MACBA in Madrid. During his presentation, Lowndes talked about the (so far) six International Chapters, one of which (GCC Spain) we have the pleasure of being part of. On Heath’s long train journey from London to and back from Madrid, he stopped over in Barcelona where we had the chance to finally meet in person. Fundació MACBA’s Jornadas continued on November 20 in Barcelona.

Photo: @max.andrews

Photo: mlopezambrana

Photo: @galerialuciamendoza


24–28 November 2023: Trip to Madrid to see some shows at Fundación March, Fundación Mapfre, Museo Reina Sofía, La Casa Encendida, Museo Centro de Arte 2 de Mayo, CentroCentro, Sala Alcalá 31, Museo Nacional del Prado and TBA21, as well as in commercial galleries such as NoguerasBlanchard, Travesía Cuatro, Galería Ehrhardt Flórez, Elba Benítez, Mira1 and Maisterravalbuena. One of the highlights was attending the preview of the long-awaited solo show of Ibon Aranberri at the Museo Reina Sofía, titled “Vista Parcial” (Partial view) which featured as our December 2023 cover story.

Press presentation of Ibon Aranberri’s exhibition (with microphone).


Aranberri and (back) Bea Herráez (curator of the exhibition with Manuel B. Villel, and director of ARTIUM, Vitoria). 

16 January 2024: First general assembly of GCC Spain members and non-members to present the activities carried out by the Committee in 2023 and forthcoming plans for 2024, resolved questions about membership and carbon reporting.


31 January 2024: #TrainToARCOmadrid Instagram campaign is shared between the ARCOmadrid, Gallery Climate Coalition, and GCC Spain, as part of GCC’s ongoing campaign promoting #ClimateConsciousTravel choices. The initiative encourages visitors to address their travel habits, particularly those in Spain and mainland Europe. Changing long-held norms together can have a transformative impact.


16 February 2024: Exhibition preview & publication launch of “Betwixt 2024”, an exhibition and book showcasing the work of 20 emerging artistic practices from Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Sheffield taking place across four sites in central and north London between 17–23 February 2024. One of the participants is the artist, writer, and researcher Crystal Bennes. Latitudes wrote the text on her latest work “O (Copper, cotton, cobalt, crude, naphtha, bauxite, palm)” (2024) for the publication accompanying this Freelands Foundation initiative. 

On 16 March 2024, following the London presentation, Bennes participated in a group show at Talbot Rice Gallery, the public art gallery of the University of Edinburgh, in a survey featuring ten Scotland-based artists from the last two cohorts of the Freelands Artist Programme, the nationwide initiative launched in 2018 that has supported 80 artists across the UK. Involving tapestry, sculptural installation, video, and live performance, Bennes’ new project addresses the rapaciousness and sophistry of commodities trading, an arena in which financial instruments are used to bet on the future value of raw materials and natural resources including crude oil, metals, coffee, and cotton. 


Betwixt 2024. Courtesy Freelands Foundation.




(Above and two below) Installation view of Crystal Bennes’s “O (copper, cotton, cobalt, crude, naphtha, bauxite, palm)”, 2024. Including a bespoke table, conservation boxes, constructed archive, Financial Times pink paint and divination robe – with scheduled performances. Three photos by Sally Jubb, courtesy of the artist and Talbot Rice Gallery.



6 March 2024: Max Andrews writes “What to See During This Year’s ARCOmadrid” for frieze.com. This year there are prominent solo shows and projects dedicated to women – most notably in the Museo CA2M dedicating exhibitions to Ana Gallardo, Asunción Molinos Gordo and Teresa Solar Abboud. Another highlight is Precious Okoyomon's intervention in la Montaña Artificial de El Retiro de Madrid and TBA21’s solo show of Filipino-Canadian artist Stephanie Comilang. And of course, Ibon Aranberri's solo show before it tours to ARTIUM, Vitoria.

6–8 March 2024: Trip to ARCOmadrid. This year we are proud of Gallery Climate Coalition’s presence at the fair with two walls providing information about the coalition and some infographics on travel to/from Madrid. Additionally, in the ARCOmadrid 2024 Special / “Focus (eco)systems”, the magazine Exibart features an interview with one of GCC Spain's founding members, Carolina Grau, and a dedicated second section on GCC’s activities including highlights on some of its Effective Actions guidelines. 


Walls in pavilions 7 and 9 of ARCOmadrid. 


Article in Exibart magazine (issue #5, March 2024) on Gallery Climate Coalition.


21 March 2024: Starting today and until April 14, the Fundación Díaz-Caneja is screening Jan Dibbets’ film “6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective” (2009). The Fundación is a contemporary art museum in Palencia dedicated to landscape, the environment and rurality.

The production of the 8-minute-long film was the inaugural project of Portscapes, a series of commissions taking place throughout 2009 in and around Maasvlakte 2, the 2,000-hectare expansion of the Port of Rotterdam. The film premiered at the FutureLand information centre of the Port of Rotterdam in June 2009 and during Latitudes’ participation in the New York festival No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents (24–28 June 2009). Portscapes was produced by the Port of Rotterdam Authority in collaboration with the sadly now-defunct internationally operating Dutch cultural organisation SKOR | Foundation Art and Public Space (1999–2012).


23 March 2024: Three-hour online session for the third module on “The Curatorial Imagination”, part of the postgraduate diploma on EXHIBITIONS. Curatorship, Design and Spaces, a course organised by EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona, and led by Manuel Cirauqui, director of EINAidea.  


9 April 2024: We are pleased to be on the second cohort of 125 Active Members announced by Gallery Climate Coalition. As part of Latitudes’ ongoing environmental commitment, and as Committee members of GCC Spain, we submitted our individual 2023 carbon footprint calculations to Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) to renew our status for the second year running. We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 “Climate Action”, as well as the Paris Agreement to reduce global carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and as custodians of the Reduce Art Flights website, a campaign devised by artist Gustav Metzger in 2007.

Latitudes’ carbon emissions were 17.4tCo2e (2019), 3.8tCo2e (2022), and 1.5tCo2e (2023). We reduced our emissions by 78% in the first year of the calculations, and over 60% in the second year. The calculation of our carbon footprint considers emissions across various work-related activities: travel (train, air, coach, taxi, car, and ferry), hotel accommodation, and energy consumption (water usage in 2019 and 2022, and gas usage from 2023 onwards). We use the GCC Carbon Calculator (primary calculator) and DEFRA conversion factors to ensure consistent and accurate reporting.

Our 2024 Strategic Climate Fund is €75 (calculated at €50 per tonne emitted in 2023). We set these funds aside to spend on low-carbon purchasing options that would otherwise be unaffordable.




April 2024: Max contributed artwork descriptions and other texts alongside Sofia Lemos, for the publication “Meandering: Art, Ecology, and Metaphysics”, edited by Lemos and copublished by TBA21–Academy and Sternberg Press. The book is part of the namesake art and ecology research programme curated by Lemos at TBA21–Academy “exploring social and environmental justice through the lens of community-oriented practice, presenting a case for the role of artistic research and public programs in revealing our interbeing and shaping new convergences between interdisciplinary and interfaith studies.” 


10 April 2024: Max was commissioned to contribute a text for Secundino Hernández’s catalogue published by This Side Up as part of accompanying his solo exhibition “Problematic Corners”, at Victoria Miro Gallery opening today in London, and on view until 18 May 2024. The gallery is also an Active Member of the Gallery Climate Coalition.

Titled “The Problematic Corners in Question? Or, Fleeing Forward?”, the essay ends “Let’s end with a question? Would it be problematic to conclude that each series of paintings is a way of going beyond your duty as an artist? In other words, are you not keenly aware of wanting to do more than is strictly necessary when something else would still be acceptable? Precisely not cutting corners, then? A method of fuga hacia adelante, fleeing forward? Painting in other words?”


Secundino Hernández's work “Myrtle Beach” (2024), acrylic, vinylic emulsion and dye-transfer print on canvas, 370 x 278cm) in his studio in Madrid.


10 April 2024: Launch of the report “Radiography of the Profession of Art Criticism and Curating” at the Fundació Miró. The study analyses the professional, economic and social conditions under which Catalunya-based Art Critics and Curators work, and was promoted by the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONCA). The study was supported by an independent expert committee formed by representatives of several organisations and profiles such as ACCA (the Catalan Art Criticism Association, amongst them Mariana of Latitudes who joined as a member last year), the Platform of Catalan Artists (PAAC), and the Association of Cultural Management Professionals of Catalunya (APGCC). 

The report can be downloaded here (pdf, 71 pages, in Catalan), and the recording of the event here (in Catalan).


25–27 April 2024: Trip to Bilbao to visit Jorge Satorre's studio and to continue preparations for his solo exhibition at Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), scheduled for February 2025. We had the chance to see exhibitions by Armando Andrade Tudela at CarrerasMugica, June Crespo and Giovanni Anselmo at the Museo Guggenheim in Bilbao, as well as the wonderful rooms of the Museo de Bellas Artes filled with Sergio Prego’s pneumatic sculptures. From there we take an hour-long bus to attend the double opening of Ibon Aranberri and Patricia Dauder at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del País Vasco-Artium Museoa in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Max will review Aranberri’s “Entresaka” for frieze magazine.

Read the review here.

(Above and below) Sergio Prego at the Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao.


(Above and below) June Crespo’s solo exhibition “Vascular”, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao.


(Above) Armando Andrade Tudela at galería CarrerasMugica, Bilbao.

(Above and below) View of Ibon Aranberri’s Entresaka, ARTIUM Museoa, Vitoria. 


(Above and below) View of Patricia Dauder “Unform”, ARTIUM Museoa, Vitoria. 


1–5 May 2024: +72K steps visiting the 2024 Venice Biennale curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Beyond the art circuit of the biennial and collateral events, we also visited the Palazzo Grassi, Punta della Dogana, Fondazione In Between Art Film, TBA21, Fondazione Prada, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Also, we had time to visit the stunning Palazzo Grimani and a delightful vaporetto ride with a lightning storm on the horizon.

A much-needed Spritz and cicchetti after long art days.

6 May 2024: Mariana concludes her involvement as a member of the 2024 Acquisition Committee of the Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani of the Government of Catalunya. This year’s acquisition fund rose to €850,000 (from €599.399,51 in 2023). Once the Committee selects the artworks, they undergo review by a qualification board. From there, they proceed through legal departments for draft contracting, finance, and shipping for their final journey to museums around the region. This process spans the entire year. 

A press conference in early 2025 will announce the 2024 acquisitions—including works of contemporary art, photography, cultural artefacts, comics and illustration, postwar art, and the second avant-garde—publicly. Behind this forthcoming announcement are long days reviewing the 434 applications received, followed by 8 online sessions lasting 3 to 4 hours each debating proposals alongside the members of this year’s Committee.



30 May 2024: Private screening of the documentary “Artefacto 71 –¿Qué hace un artista?” (What does an artist do?), directed by Argentinian-born, Mataró-based artist Carlos Essmann. The film synopsis states “One thing is clear: the contemporary artist can dispense with his or her manual skills and give as much or more importance to intellectual work than to the artistic object. So what does an artist do? Artefacto 71 attempts to answer this question by reviewing the activity of a working-class artist like the Catalan Martí Anson, establishing a dialogue between artist and filmmaker as equals.” 

The film includes footage of “Mataró Chauffeur Service” (2010), a project Latitudes with the artist in the context of their participation in the “NO SOUL FOR SALE–A festival of independents” organised in the context of Tate Modern’s 10th-anniversary. In response to the need to travel to London, Martí Anson set up the Mataró Chauffeur Service company in honour of his hometown and drove the curators from Barcelona to London and back. Designing the livery of the single-vehicle fleet, his uniform, and the journey to Tate Modern and back (including the ferry journey from Santander to Portsmouth) all formed a part of the project. The car formed the basis of Latitudes’ temporary office encampment in Tate's Turbine Hall and was parked up for the weekend alongside a picnic scenario of camping chairs, a folding table, and a parasol as well as a slideshow of images of the journey. The car interior became a comfortable space to watch films and “making of” videos produced as part of ‘Portscapes’, the Latitudes-curated commissions series produced for the Port of Rotterdam in the context of Maasvlakte 2: a five-year construction of 2,000 hectares of new land in the North Sea, which extended by 20% the largest seaport and industrial area in Europe. 

“Artefacto 71 –¿Qué hace un artista?” was selected to participate in the Official Competition Documentary Section at the 27th Malaga Festival, where it had its world premiere, and won the Biznaga de Plata Ex aequo for Best Director.

Watch a trailer of the doc here.


The artist and the curators on their way to Tate Modern, May 2010.

The car was parked on the bridge of Tate Modern in May 2010. Below is a screening of the commissioned films and making of videos produced for “Portscapes” (2009-10).


(Above and two below) Views of Turbine Hall. Photos: Tom Medwell/NSFS.




3 June 2024: Max Andrews’ first contribution to Artforum magazine is out. It reviews “Refugia”, the first solo exhibition of Rosa Tharrats at Bombon Projects in Barcelona, which opened on March 20. 

Read the review here. 

View of Rosa Tharrats exhibition “Refugia” at Bombon Projects. 





June 2024: 20 years of Max contributing to frieze magazine! Max’s first review featured an exhibition of Danish artist Jesper Just at Midway Contemporary, written while he was living in Minneapolis as a Curatorial Intern at the Walker Art Center. 

Over the last two decades, Max has published +60 texts covering topics in ecology, institutional thinking, open call fatigue, the history of IVAM – Spain’s First Modern Art Museum – and Barcelona’s cultural politics, amongst others. He has reviewed art events and exhibitions presented in Arlès, Bordeaux, Bregenz, London, Madrid, Málaga, Montpellier, Venice, and Zurich, and profiled the work of Spanish-based artists such as Ibon Aranberri, David Bestué, Lúa Coderch, Dora García, Adrià Julià, Rasmus Nilausen, Miralda, Xavier Ribas, Eulàlia Rovira, Francesc Ruiz, Julia Spínola, and Teresa Solar Abboud, as well as the international practices of Maria Thereza Alves, Duncan Campbell, Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lucy Skaer, Nicholas Mangan or Bruno Zhu.

Other reviews, opinion columns, profiles, and features are here.



Reviews, opinion columns, profiles, and features here.


4 June 2024: Visited Espinavessa in the Alt Empordà, where Andrew Birk and Sira Pizà run Spiritvessel, with a gorgeous day-long opening of “Llaç” (Ribbon), a new project by Martín Llavaneras. The day was fueled by passion fruit margaritas, tacos de cochinita pibil and, of course, art conversations.

@andrewbirk

27 June 2024: Premiere of “Pass Me, For I Am Strange”, a short film by Askeaton Contemporary Arts’ long-term collaborator Michael Holly, presented during ACA’s yearly festival “Welcome to the Neighbourhood” curated by Michele Horrigan – in which we participated back in 2018.

The film “engages with myths and histories associated with the Franciscan Friary, one of the most extensive sites of its kind in Ireland. Holly’s film listens closely to points of view from characters embedded in the very stonework of the friary, including Fitzgerald, one of its reputed founders; Don Martínez de Mendoza, a repentant Catalonian nobleman who took shelter there, and a now faceless stone carving of Saint Francis. Considering the interpretation of Askeaton’s medieval heritage as an experiment in time and space, “Pass Me, For I Am Strange” is developed collaboratively through research, dialogue and contributions by and with fellow artists Niamh Moriarty, Ruth Clinton, Carl Doran, Eulàlia Rovira and historian Anthony Sheehy, in association with “The Pilgrim”, a residency programme developed between Askeaton Contemporary Arts and Latitudes, Barcelona.” (Text from Askeaton's website)

Listen to Carl Doran’s audio narration of “The Pilgrim” from an article published in Askeaton-Balysteen Community News, Summer 1984. 

Watch the short film here.

Reading the pilgrim inscription while shooting the film.  




2 July 2024: We received a copy of the latest book by our former RCA tutor, Dr Claire Bishop, titled “Disordered Attention: How We Look at Art and Performance Today” (Verso Books, 2024). It includes a photograph we took in 2010 of Wolfgang Tillmans’ work “Truth Study Center” (2005–) while we live-edited a weekly tabloid that ultimately constituted the ten-part catalogue of “The Last Newspaper” (October 2010–January 2011) exhibition at the New Museum. Tillmans’ work shared the floor with our temporary office and is a project he began in 2005 with a show at his London gallery Maureen Paley. 

More on this here.





Looking forward

In the Autumn of 2023, Lisa LeFeuvre, Executive Director of the Holt/Smithson Foundation, invited Latitudes to contribute to the foundation's Scholarly Text Program, writing on one artwork by Nancy Holt and/or Robert Smithson. The works written about range from landmark earthworks and texts to lesser-known drawings, moving image works, and rarely-seen two-dimensional works. Max decided to write on Robert Smithson’s text “Aerial Art” (Studio International, February—April 1969), and Mariana on Nancy Holt's “Ventilation Systems” (1985–1992). The essays will be published on the Foundation's website in October and November 2024 and include images, a short bibliography, endnotes pointing to the author’s references and an ISBN.

And some further announcements in the autumn!


RELATED CONTENT:


 2023, 2024, behind the scenes, CA2M, Crystal Bennes, decarbonising the artworld, Frieze, Gallery Climate Coalition, GCC, Ibon Aranberri, Jorge Satorre, out of office, Rosa Tharrats, The Pilgrim
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Latitudes renews their Active Membership with Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC)

 Tue, Apr 9 2024
Pantallazo con los miembros de Latitudes mencionados en el anuncio de GCC con los 125 Miembros Activos de 2023.

Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes are among the 125 Members who have successfully achieved Active Membership 2023 with Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC). This is the second year running that Latitudes is an Active Member. This new cohort represents a 50% increase in successful applications and a renewal of over 85% of last year’s Active members.

To renew our Active status we continued implementing environmental sustainability best practices in line with GCC’s guidelines focusing on near-term tangible actions, and had to:

  • Complete a CO2e report or audit. Latitudes’ carbon footprint was 17.4tCo2e in 2019 (baseline year), 3.8tCo2e in 2022 and 1.5tCo2e in 2023. We reduced our footprint by 78% of the emissions within the first year of the calculations and over 60% in the second year. We calculate our carbon footprint by considering travel, hotel accommodation, and energy consumption emissions, and use the GCC Carbon Calculator and DEFRA conversion factors to ensure consistent and accurate reporting.
  • Establish and maintain a Green Team. Latitudes is one of the Founding Committee members of GCC Spain, one of the seven International volunteer teams currently operating in Los Angeles, New York, London, Berlin, Italy, and Taiwan.
  • Publish an Environmental Responsibility Statement – our extended and illustrated version here.



Active Membership is not a certification of sustainability. Yet, it entails transparency in assessing, reporting, and reducing climate impact, setting targets aligned with science, and searching for working solutions. Active Membership badges are year-stamped and members re-submit annually to retain the latest Active designation.

Active Membership Announcement here.


RELATED CONTENTS:


 2023, 2024, CO2 footprint, decarbonising the artworld, environmental responsability, environmental responsibility, Gallery Climate Coalition, GCC, GCC Spain, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Max Andrews
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Gallery Climate Coalition en ARCOmadrid, campaña #TrainToARCOmadrid y artículo en la revista Exibart

 Mon, Mar 11 2024

Paredes en los pabellones 7 y 9 de IFEMA con información sobre GCC en ARCOmadrid 2024. Fotos: Latitudes.


Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) es una coalición internacional de organizaciones artísticas que trabajan para reducir el impacto medioambiental del sector de las artes visuales. El objetivo principal de GCC es facilitar la reducción de las emisiones de CO2e del sector en un mínimo del 50% para 2030, así como promover prácticas de cero residuos.

GCC desarrolla y comparte recursos prácticos sobre sostenibilidad y proporciona liderazgo en cuestiones medioambientales específicas del sector, aprovechando el poder colectivo de sus +1100 miembros provenientes de 42 países motivados a lograr cambios sistémicos.

A pesar de la influencia única de las artes en el discurso público, las emisiones de carbono y los residuos generados por este sector son desproporcionadamente elevados en comparación con su tamaño económico. Un informe de 2021 (pdf) estimó que las emisiones globales del sector de las artes ascendieron a 70 millones de toneladas de CO2e al año [*], cifra equivalente a las emisiones anuales producidas por todo el país de Marruecos.

Dicho informe, revela que la mayor parte (74%) de la huella del sector se atribuye a las emisiones por viajes de agentes del sector y visitantes (~52 millones de tCO2e). Es por ello que desde GCC se ha iniciado la campaña Climate Conscious Travel para promover la movilidad a eventos culturales con consciencia climática.


Durante la feria ARCOmadrid, y en colaboración con GCC y GCC Spain, se ha lanzado la campaña en redes #TrainToARCOmadrid instando a sus visitantes a optar por el tren a Madrid en lugar del avión, y a compartir su experiencia de viaje a través de las redes. Para respaldar esta iniciativa, y gracias a la cesión del espacio por parte de ARCOmadrid, se han presentado dos gráficas en los pabellones 7 y 9 de IFEMA, presentando el trabajo que desarrolla GCC y compartiendo gráficos comparativos que ilustran las emisiones y costos asociados con viajar en avión o en tren desde Barcelona, València, Londres y París a Madrid.

Complementando la presencia física y en línea durante la feria, la revista Exibart ha publicado una entrevista con la comisaria Carolina Grau, miembra fundadora del Comité de GCC Spain, sobre sus proyectos curatoriales y planteamientos entorno a la sostenibilidad, y un artículo donde se profundiza sobre la labor que realiza Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) y destaca algunas de sus Acciones Efectivas, uno de los varios recursos prácticos que ofrece la organización.




En julio 2023, un informe de Greenpeace Vienna comparando precios de billetes de tren vs. avión en Europa, rezaba que “la ruta Madrid-Barcelona es una de las pocas en las que el tren es rápido, circula con frecuencia y siempre es más barato que el avión. (...) A pesar del perfecto servicio de tren, en 2019 casi 2,6 millones de personas volaron en esta ruta convirtiéndola en el 5º vuelo de corta distancia más utilizado de la UE que cuenta con una alternativa de tren. Prohibir este vuelo completamente inútil ahorraría 176.000 toneladas de gases nocivos de efecto invernadero.” (...) y concluía que “de todos los países analizados, España tiene la mayor densidad de aerolíneas de bajo coste”.

Según un estudio sobre vuelos cortos presentado por Ecologistas en Acción en octubre 2023, un total de 11 rutas aéreas serían potencialmente sustituibles en España [al contar con alternativa ferroviaria], eliminando más de 50.000 operaciones anuales que podrían proporcionar un ahorro de más de 300.000 toneladas de CO2, equivalentes a casi el 10% de todas las emisiones producidas por la aviación doméstica en España. O, dicho de otra manera, eliminar unos 200.000 coches de nuestras calles y carreteras al año.”


El sector del arte por sí solo no puede resolver la crisis a la que nos enfrentamos. Pero sí puede predicar dando ejemplo, sentando precedentes y cambiando hábitos de movilidad, adoptando acciones efectivas contra el cambio climático y utilizando su influencia cultural para introducir reflexiones cruciales sobre nuestros recursos materiales y económicos, entre otros.

GCC Spain es uno de los siete capítulos internacionales de GCC y representa a la coalición a nivel nacional. Contacte con el grupo escribiendo a espana@galleryclimatecoalition.org o siga a @gcc_spain en Instagram.

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[*] La mayor parte (74%) de la huella del sector se debe a las emisiones de los viajes de los visitantes (~52 millones de tCO2e). Se calcula que el 26% (18 millones de toneladas de CO2e) se debe a la construcción, el envío de obras de arte y los viajes de negocios. El impacto digital, aunque sigue siendo una pequeña proporción de la huella, está creciendo. Esta huella anual equivale a la electricidad generada por 8.692 aerogeneradores de 10 MW.


RELATED CONTENT:

  • Cover Story, February 2024: Climate Conscious Travel to ARCOmadrid, 1 Feb 2024
  • Montse Badia sobre GCC Spain en la revista Bonart #198, 25 Oct 2023
  • Latitudes qualify as an Active Member of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), 10 May 2023
  • Latitudes’ (Full) Environmental Policy Statement, 17 April 2023
  • Cover Story, March 2023: Art, Climate, and New Coalitions, 1 Mar 2023
  • Cover Story, February 2023: Soil for Future Art Histories, 2 Feb 2023
  • Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Estado español, 25 Jan 2023
 2024, ARCOmadrid, climate emergency, CO2 footprint, Gallery Climate Coalition, GCC Spain, travel
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Montse Badia escribe sobre GCC Spain en la revista Bonart #198

 Wed, Oct 25 2023


Foto: María Gracia de Pedro.


(...) “Con el objetivo de proporcionar guías de actuación para trabajar en términos de responsabilidad ambiental desde el mundo del arte, nace Gallery Climate Coalition, una entidad sin ánimo de lucro que trabaja desde Nueva York, Los Ángeles, Taiwán, Londres, Berlín, Italia y desde hace unos meses también desde España, impulsada por Carolina Grau y Latitudes, entre otros. [1]

Y como nada mejor que los datos para visualizar lo que puede ser cambiado, la página web de GCC (www.galleryclimatecoalition.org) ofrece una calculadora que indica la cantidad de CO2 que producimos al realizar un viaje de trabajo, organizamos un transporte, imprimimos documentos o trabajamos desde casa.”


Montse Badia, “‘Green Teams’ vs ‘green washing’”, Bonart #198, Septiembre 2023–Febrero 2024, p. 31.

[1] A fecha de mayo 2023, el Comité de GCC Spain está conformado por María Gracia de Pedro (Badr El Jundi Gallery); Carolina Grau (Comisaria independiente); Lucía Mendoza y Laura Carro (Galería Lucía Mendoza); Cecilia Durán (Galería Senda); Carmen Huerta (TAC7); Nicky Ure (UreCulture); Max Andrews y Mariana Cánepa Luna (Latitudes).


CONTENIDO RELACIONADO:


 2023, Ecology, environmentalism, Gallery Climate Coalition, GCC Spain, press coverage, sostenibilidad
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Latitudes qualifies as Active Members of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC)

 Wed, May 10 2023
https://galleryclimatecoalition.org/our-members/individuals/

We are pleased to announce that Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes have successfully qualified to be in the first cohort of Active Members of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC). To achieve this status we had to demonstrate that our organisation had implemented environmental sustainability best practices in line with GCC’s guidelines.

This initiative marks an evolution in GCC’s strategy from awareness raising and community building to one focusing on the near-term tangible progress of members following three key actions:

As part of the initiative, GCC provides qualifying members with a badge (see below) to recognise and celebrate the actions taken. These badges are year-stamped and members have to re-submit annually to retain the latest Active designation. 

Active Membership is neither a certification of sustainability nor a claim that we are doing things perfectly and have all the answers — none of us are at this point. Yet it does entail transparency in the assessment, reporting, and reduction of climate impact, the setting of targets in line with science, and the search for working solutions.

We encourage everyone to visit the Gallery Climate Coalition website to learn more about the initiative and how to get involved.

Moreover, Latitudes is part of the Founding Committee of the recently formed volunteer team, GCC Spain. To get involved, please contact: espana@galleryclimatecoalition.org

Active Membership Press Release, 10 May 2023.


RELATED CONTENTS:


 2023, climate emergency, decarbonising the artworld, environmental responsability, Gallery Climate Coalition, GCC, GCC Spain, latitudes, press release
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Latitudes’ (extended) Environmental Policy Statement

 Mon, Apr 17 2023

“Postpetrolistic Internationale” choir performance by Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller on Maasvlakte, Rotterdam, 8 November 2009. Commissioned and produced by the Port of Rotterdam as part of “Portscapes”, with support and advice from SKOR and curated by Latitudes. Courtesy: SKOR / Photo: Paloma Polo.


Latitudes recently published an Environmental Policy Statement on the website, below is an extended version which we invite you to read:

Since its beginning in 2005, Latitudes’ curatorial practice has critically engaged with environmental concerns through contemporary art. This has included curating ambitious group exhibitions including “4.543 billion. The Matter of Matter” at the CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux in 2017, and “Greenwashing” at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 2008, as well as solo shows such as “Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies” at Kunsthall Århus in 2011, and convening the three-day symposium “Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change” for the Sharjah Biennial 8 in 2007. 

Cover of “LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” edited by Max Andrews, and coordinated by Mariana Cánepa Luna. Published and commissioned by the Royal Society of Art in partnership with the Arts Council England, 2006. Photo: Robert Justamente.

Spread of UOVO magazine #14, a 500-page issue + two CDs guest edited by Latitudes, 2007. Photo: Alexis Zavialoff.

Cover and back cover of the exhibition catalogue “Greenwashing” (Archive Books, 2008), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino. The 192-page full-colour catalogue embraced environmentally-conscious design with a degree of irony, each of the book's thirteen sections was printed on a different 'eco-paper' such as Shiro Alga Carta (produced by harvesting algae from the Venetian lagoon), KeayKolour Recycled Honey or Shiro Tree Free Naturale, alongside their corresponding eco-credentials. Photo: Latitudes. 

Pages of Lara Almarcegui's first monograph “Lara Almarcegui. Projects 1995–2010” (Archive Books, 2011) covering 15 years of her artistic practice, with commissioned texts by Cuauhtémoc Medina and Lars Bang Larsen, and an introduction by Latitudes. Photo: Latitudes.

Latitudes edited the landmark publication “Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” in 2006, the 500-page green issue of UOVO magazine in 2007, and Lara Almarcegui’s first monograph in 2011. We also have contributed essays including a catalogue essay for TBA21’s exhibition “Abundant Futures” entitled “Soil for Future Art Histories” (2023), and presenting the lecture “Curating in the Web of Life” for Garage Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition “The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100” (2019). 

View of “Ocells perduts” (Stray Birds) (2021) by Laia Estruch in the exhibition “Panorama 21. Apunts per a un incendi dels ulls” (“Panorama 21: Notes for an Eye Fire”), MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 22 October 2021–27 February 2022. Curated by Hiuwai Chu and Latitudes. Produced by MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona with the support of PUBLICS, Helsinki. Research supported by a Premis Ciutat de Barcelona 2020 grant from the Barcelona City Council. Photo: Roberto Ruiz. 

Lecture “Curating in the Web of Life” for Garage Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition “The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100” (2019). Photo: Anton Donikov. © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.

In terms of related public-realm commissions, for our first project we selected Danish artist Tue Greenfort to work on The Royal Society of Arts’ pioneering Arts & Ecology programme (2005–2008) and curated ten public art projects around Europe’s largest seaport, the Port of Rotterdam (“Portscapes” in 2009–2010). We have also organised curatorial residencies around geological agency (“Geologic Time”, Banff Centre, 2017) and a touring film programme on the legacy of Land Art (“A Stake in the Mud a Hole in the Reel”, 2008–2009) in contemporary art.

Last but not least, since 2008 we have been custodians of the RAF/Reduce Art Flights website, a reference resource about the campaign initiated by the late Gustav Metzger (1926–2017).

RAF/Reduce Art Flights website reduceartflights.lttds.org

Latitudes' environmental impact is small, yet we recognize that air travel and the broader mobility patterns within our industry contribute the most to our ecological footprint. Art and culture have a role to play in bringing about ambitious change, applying best practices and setting a positive example to position the climate crisis at the centre of the political and social debate.

In January 2023 we became individual members of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) and began to work with colleagues to set up the Spanish volunteer team, GCC Spain, that meets regularly to track progress on environmental targets and actions. 


Making of Jan Dibbets’ film “6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective” (1969–2009). Commissioned and produced by the Port of Rotterdam as part of “Portscapes”, with support and advice from SKOR, and curated by Latitudes. Documentation included in the publication box “Portscapes” designed by Ben Laloua / Didier Pascal, launched at the opening of the exhibition “Portscapes”, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, 2010. Photo: Latitudes.

Editors of Rotterdam-based magazine Fucking Good Art were ‘embedded’ in the port's Yangtzehaven for a month in the summer of 2009 from where they produced ‘Portscapes_ON AIR Station Maasvlakte’, a series of audio walks, field recordings and conversations with guests from different disciplines for the “Portscapes” website. Photo courtesy: FGA.


We will measure and publish our carbon footprint every year to comply with the GCC targets and commitments of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 (when compared to a 2019 baseline). Rather than purchasing carbon offsets, and following GCC guidelines on this matter, we are also setting aside a fund (€50 per tonne of emitted CO2 per year) to be spent on low-carbon purchasing options that would otherwise be unaffordable. Our intention is to eliminate unwarranted air travel, and we do not take flights when there is an alternative rail or sea route that takes less than 7 hours. The latter policy follows one adopted by the Ajuntament de Barcelona (the City Council) in 2020.

Latitudes requests external collaborators opt for train or alternative low-carbon transit and freight options in line with GCC’s guidelines (as well as Gustav Metzger’s RAF/Reduce Art Flights campaign) and this is reflected in work contracts. We hope to lead by example in implementing a sustainability strategy in the planning of exhibitions from an early stage, and whenever curating projects we always try to build the minimum necessary temporary architecture and ensure that any exhibition-related production is entirely locally tuned. We ask that collaborators use no plastic or other single-use materials when transporting works or for events.

Hike with “Geologic Time” participants to Stanley Glacier in Kootenay National Park, as part of the residency programme curated by Latitudes at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada, 11 September–6 October 2017. Photo: Latitudes.

Latitudes’ website runs on sustainable energy. According to websitecarbon.com (see stats below), LTTDS.org produces 16.76kg of C02 equivalent per year, roughly the amount of carbon that one tree would absorb in the same time, and it consumes 44kWh of energy (equivalent to 280km in an electric car). 


In our personal lives, we prioritise the 5 Rs: Refusing, Reducing, Reusing, Repurposing and Recycling. We do not own a car and use public transport networks. Other practical actions we undertake include periodically donating household or clothing items to charity organisations that offer support to vulnerable communities in our neighbourhood (including Fundació Roure and El Trampolí). Last but not least, since 2013, Latitudes has banked with an ethical bank that finances initiatives contributing to ecological, social, and cultural change.

(Top and below) Entrance A and B to the exhibition “4.543 billion. The Matter of Matter” with the participation of over thirty artists and the presentation of over a hundred works, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, June 2017–January 2018. Photos: Latitudes / RK.
 


RELATED CONTENT:


 2023, art and ecology, carbon cycle, Ecology, energy use, environmental compensation, environmental responsability, Gallery Climate Coalition, geologic time, Land Art, Reduce Art Flights
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Cover Story, March 2023: Art, Climate, and New Coalitions

 Wed, Mar 1 2023

  March 2023 cover story on www.lttds.org


The March 2023 monthly Cover Story “Art, Climate and New Coalitions” is now up on our homepage www.lttds.org

“The terminology of environmental consciousness and carbon emissions has shifted significantly in recent decades, from talk of the greenhouse effect to global warming and sustainable development, and now from climate change to the climate emergency. ” → Continue reading (after March 2023 this story will be archived here).

Cover Stories are published on a monthly basis on Latitudes’ homepage featuring past, present or forthcoming projects, research, texts, artworks, exhibitions, films, objects or field trips related to our curatorial projects and activities.


→ RELATED CONTENTS: 

  • Archive of Monthly Cover Stories
  • Cover Story, February 2023: Soil for Future Art Histories, 2 Feb 2023
  • Cover Story, January 2023: Claudia Pagès’ ‘Gerundi Circular’, 2 Jan 2023
  • Cover Story, December 2022: “The Melt Goes On Forever. David Hammons and DART Festival, 1 December 2022
  • Cover Story, November 2022: Jorge Satorre’s Barcelona, 1 Nov 2022
  • Cover Story, October 2022: Stray Ornithologies—Laia Estruch, 3 Oct 2022
  • Cover Story, September 2021: Erratic behaviour—Latitudes in conversation with Jorge Satorre, 31 August 2021
  • Cover Story, July–August 2022:  Incidents (of Travel) from Seoul, 1 July 2022
  • Cover Story, June 2022: Cyber-Eco-Feminist Incidents in Attica, 1 June 2022
  • Cover Story, May 2022: Things Things Say in print, 2 May 2022
  • Cover Story, March 2022: The passion of Gabriel Ventura, 1 March 2022
 2023, climate change, climate emergency, cover story, Ecology, environmentalism, Gallery Climate Coalition, Land Art, RSA
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Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Estado español

 Wed, Jan 25 2023



El 22 de febrero de 2023 a las 16h tendrá lugar una sesión informativa sobre la Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Exhibitors’ Lounge de ARCOmadrid. 

El encuentro lanza un nuevo grupo semiautónomo y voluntario afincado en el Estado español, GCC Spain – que se suma a los grupos de trabajo alineados con los objetivos de GCC existentes en Berlín, Italia, Los Ángeles, Londres y Taiwán – e inicia su andadura con el fin de desarrollar y compartir buenas prácticas y recursos medioambientales específicos para profesionales del sector artístico español.

Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) es una organización sin ánimo de lucro que agrupa a distintos agentes del sector artístico en Europa que ofrece directrices de sostenibilidad medioambiental para el sector de las artes visuales. La membresía es totalmente gratuita (actualmente cuenta con +800 miembros de 40 países), tan sólo exige un compromiso sincero y firme con la misión y los fines de la asociación.

Preocupados por reducir y compensar el impacto medioambiental que nuestro sector genera, los principales objetivos de la coalición son facilitar una reducción de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero del sector de las artes visuales en un mínimo del 50% para 2030 (en línea con el objetivo del Acuerdo de París de mantener el calentamiento global por debajo de 1.5 °C) y promover prácticas de deshechos cero. 

Información → https://galleryclimatecoalition.org
Contacto → espana@galleryclimatecoalition.org

CONTENIDOS RELACIONADOS:


 2023, ARCOmadrid, carbon cycle, decarbonising the artworld, environmentalism, Gallery Climate Coalition, GCC, GCC Spain, latitudes, sustainaibility
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