22 February 2026: Lunch with Laia Estruch to celebrate the first anniversary of our joint adventure, HELLO EVERYONE, her solo show at the Museo Reina Sofía. At the beginning of the month, she presented “AÜC” at the Festival Llum and was soon travelling back to Madrid to install “Carrau”, a solo exhibition at her gallery, Ehrhardt Florez, opening during ARCOmadrid week.

26 February 2026: Welcome meeting of this year’s Committee of the Acquisitions Commission of the Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani of the Generalitat de Catalunya. This is the third and final year Mariana will be serving as Advisor. The open call runs until March 19th, and Committee Members typically hold 10-12 in-person sessions between mid-April and late Summer to evaluate the proposals and future deposits across the regional museums.

4–6 March 2026: Trip to Madrid to visit the art fair ARCOmadrid, a lot of talking and a lot more walking. We began visiting the new museum collection display 1975–now at the Museo Reina Sofia, as well as solo shows dedicated to Juan Uslé, Oliver Laxé, and Alberto Greco. Then we saw Mónica Mays’s solo exhibition at Matadero and Generación 2026 at La Casa Encendida. On Thursday, we visited a few galleries during their morning breakfast – Diego Delas at Carlier Gebauer, Erick Beltrán at PratsNoguerasBlanchard, Ana Laura Aláez at the new space of The Ryder, the new bookstore and art project by Alejandro Cesarco named Lawrence to honour Lawrence Weiner, and finally, the opening of Laia Estruch at Ehrhardt Flórez before going to the art fair. On Friday morning, we visited a great trilogy of shows at Museo CA2M (Ester Partegàs, Dororthy Ianonne, and Lucía C. Pino), Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk at TBA21. Ended the trip visiting galleries around Doctor Fourquet (Carlos Irijalba at Juan Silió, Antonio Caro and Claudio Perna at 1MiraMadrid and Ana Santos at The Goma).

Laia Estruch's exhibition “CARRAU” at Ehrhardt Flórez in Madrid filled the three doors that give access to the three spaces of the gallery (exhibition space, offices and storage).

Photo by Bea Alonso.

12–13 March 2026: Participation in PEEP, a new Hangar initiative that combines study visits, feedback sessions, and a public programme featuring talks, screenings, readings, and performances. The programme was conceived as “a space for encounter, dialogue and experimentation between Hangar's resident artists, invited professionals from the local, national and international spheres, and the general public” with the aim of “exploring and delving deeper into the artists' creative processes, sharing methodologies and generating new professional connections.”

25 March 2026: Lunch in Gràcia with Stockholm-based curators Herkules Jansson, Silvia Thomackenstein, and Vestige Projects (Carina Sabrina Hundsdahl and Michaela Yarmol-Matusiak), who are visiting artists and art spaces in the region, as part of the new Situated Residencies programme organised by the Associació Catalana de Crítics d'Art (ACCA). Their visit is organised alongside the Xarxa de centres territorials d’Arts Visuals de Catalunya, in collaboration with Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Kulturrådet and M|A|C Mataró Art Contemporani, and supported by the ICEC Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the Institut Ramon Llull.

26 March 2026: Mariana receives 567 applications for this year’s open call Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani of the Generalitat de Catalunya. This is the third and final year she serves as Advisor on the Acquisitions Committee. 

In 2025, the committee approved the acquisition of 46 works by 40 artists – 20 men, 18 women, and 2 collectives. More than half of the acquisitions were made through galleries (23), with the remainder acquired directly from the artists or their rightful owners (17). The acquisitions have been deposited in 12 museums across Catalunya, enabling the purchase of works by mid-career artists such as Pep Agut, Tom Carr, Pep Duran, Begoña Montalbán, and Oriol Vilapuig. With a budget increase, it has been possible to acquire works by established artists such as Antoni Muntadas, Sílvia Gubern, Nazario, Dorothée Selz, Marga Ximénez, Magda Bolumar, and Joan Fontcuberta, among others. Artists from younger generations who work with new materials include Paula Artés, Eva Fàbregas, and Agnès Essonti.

27 March 2026: Jorge Satorre and Gabriel Pericàs (artist and book designer+artist, respectively) present the publication “Río” at ANTI Liburudenda in Bilbao. The monograph was published on the occasion of his 2025 exhibition “Río, Ría” curated by Latitudes at the Museo CA2M in Móstoles (Madrid). ARTIUM Curator, Catalina Lozano, joined the conversation. We were unable to attend the event, but we have this pic by Caniche, co-publishers alongside Museo CA2M.

23 April 2026: Besides the unwanted protagonist of the day – torrential streams of pollen – it was a beautiful Sant Jordi. Morning meeting with Pérez y Requena and the TEA team about the exhibition production, which is going full steam, and confirmation that the exhibition title is set as “Un loro, tres bares y dientes de oro” [A Parrot, Three Bars, and Gold Teeth], quite emoji-friendly 🦜,🍷🍸🍹,🥇🦷. The project is now published on Latitudes’ website.

Latitudes’ website with info on the forthcoming exhibition.

7 May 2026: We received an email confirming that our applications to renew our Active Membership with the Gallery Climate Coalition have been successful. This is the fourth year we have submitted our annual carbon calculation, an updated Sustainability Statement, and either examples of the specific actions we have taken or a Review and Reflect statement. Active Members were announced on 21 May. This year, GCC introduced a slight change to the date stamp: going forward, all Active Member badges will be date-stamped for the current and previous year, which makes more sense!

20–24 May 2026: Trip to visit the Biennale Arte 2026 in Venice. Since the pandemic, we have skipped the opening days because the visiting experience was simply too overwhelming (no more 3-hour queues in the rain to watch a video installation!). We enjoy visiting during quieter times, when we can actually see the art. Of course, we miss seeing friends and colleagues from around the world. Still, we like to prioritise the art experience, especially as durational works have been gaining prominence in recent editions (hence longer queues too), and we rarely have the chance to see so much art in one go.

Gulls in Venice are like dragons; they chase after pizza and anything else they can grab. 

 Near Fondamenta Zattere, noticed this beautiful chaise longue outside a design store and "Google Lensed" it to identify it. It's the cantilever Lido Lounge Chair created by Battista and Gino Giudici of Fratelli Giudici in the 1930s for the Lido club in Locarno, Switzerland. It is now well over 3,000 Euros.

Happy to leave the city having seen a bit of the Vogalonga rowing event along the Gran Canale and enjoyed some stunning sunsets from Lido where we were staying.

21 May 2026: Gallery Climate Coalition announces the 2025–26 Active Members on their socials. We're very pleased to renew our Active status for the fourth consecutive year, demonstrating our commitment to implementing environmentally responsible best practices in line with GCC guidance. 

Active Membership is neither a certification of sustainability nor a claim of perfection. It celebrates the people and organisations that continue to assess, report and reduce their impact while working with their communities to build a more equitable, just and sustainable art world.

26 May 2026: The Col·lecció Nacional de la Generalitat de Catalunya has received the Collecting Award at the Nit del Galerisme Premis GAC 2026, organised by the Galeries d'Art de Catalunya — recognising a “transparent and strategic” acquisitions policy committed to strengthening access to culture across the whole territory of Catalonia. Xavier Fina, Director General of Cultural Rights, Creation and Libraries, explains the programme’s criteria and approach here (in Catalan), alongside images of the 2025 acquisitions. Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes has been part of the Commission for the Heritage and Acquisition of Contemporary Art (alongside another 12-14 members) for the last three editions – the 2026 edition is still underway. See the 2024 and 2025 acquisitions.

29 May 2026: “Unfortunately, we regret to inform you...” After seven months of anticipation, Art Explora – Cité internationale des arts finally informed us that our application for a three-month fall research residency in Paris had not been selected. We are told 5,387 projects were submitted and 12 laureates selected. Our project made the shortlist, which slots it into the already packed archive of neither successes nor failures. It’s a small ego boost and a reminder that someone somewhere thought the project deserved a closer look – a tiny achievement worth acknowledging. As every seasoned applicant knows, rejection is temporary; application portals are forever!

1 June 2026: Artforum's Summer issue includes a review by Max Andrews on Mónica May’s show at Matadero Madrid, titled “Pulgar”.

9 June 2026: Newsletter out with the announcement of the exhibition “A Parrot, Three Bars, and Gold Teeth” opening at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on July 3rd. Graphic design by Nicolás Barreto.

11 June 2026: ARCOmadrid 2027 opened the application period for participation in its General Programme, the core section of the fair. The announcement states that the fair will feature several curated programmes, including the special section ARCO2046, which will return as a space for exploring possible futures and reflecting on new ways of understanding the world and art. In the 2027 edition, ARCO2046 will have two spaces within the fair, curated by two long-term duos, João Mourão and Luis Silva (co-directors of Kunsthalle Lissabon in Lisbon) and Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna (Latitudes, based in Barcelona). More on this soon!

14 June 2026: Visiting Spiritvessel in the beautiful village of Espinavessa, Girona, which recently opened the show “TARTAN TARTANA” by New York-based artist Leah Dixon, “an exhibition that condenses the interwoven process of the original history behind the invention of the wheel. In it, Dixon connects different points across space and time: traces of her omnipresent fictional character — a prehistoric girl who conceives the device that will eventually become global transportation— and the basic geometric gesture that enabled the beginning of this movement — the grid — coexist with an apparently technologically advanced reality, represented by skyscrapers, which simultaneously reflect the infinite potential of human ambition and its fragility.” (excerpt from the announcement email).

Max will be reviewing this show for Frieze magazine (review online in August, printed in their October issue). More photos here.

The day after arriving, we presented our work to the Laboratorio de Investigación y Curaduría (LIC), the first edition of TEA's curatorial training programme organised by TEA for Canary Island-based professionals. 

It's always exciting when the exhibition graphic design is installed; it feels more real.

 

Tropicalising the printed matter.

Guided tour of the artists Pérez y Requena. Photo: Juanjo Velázquez.

6–8 July 2026: From Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Max travels to Santander to be part of the jury for the 2026 Becas Botín de Arte in Santander, a gargantuan two-day task of choosing six proposals from over 1,000 submissions originally received from 87 countries. 

The 2026-27 awardees are: Valentina Alvarado Matos (Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1986); Efrén Álvarez Rodríguez (Barcelona, 1980); Shadi Habib Allah (Palestina, 1977); Miquel Mont Gárate (Barcelona, 1963); Natalia Montoya Lecaros (Iquique, Chile, 1994); Chaveli Sifre Riestra (Würzburg, Alemania, 1987). Congrats everyone!

Meanwhile in Barcelona, Mariana publishes the Summer cover story featuring Pérez y Requena’s “Topacio (or 36 Linear Metres of Pink Neon)” (2026), updates Latitudes' website with installation photos of the show, the “archive” button to gather a selection of reviews, and links to the cute trailer of the show, edited by Sara Begoña Pérez Márquez, responsible for social networks at TEA, incorporating Nicolás Barreto’s graphic design. 

Yet, most crucially, over the coming weeks, Mariana wraps up the final conversations as Advisor to the 2026 Acquisitions Committee of the Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani of the Generalitat de Catalunya. This is the third and final year as part of the Commission. 

A few days later, by chance, we came across a beautifully observed reflection by Bruno Gutiérrez, who suggests that the exhibition helps visitors reconnect with the city's history, symbols, and emotional landscape.

And a few days later, another nice reflection by Ágata Gómez. 

These two posts are the sweet evidence of something we have been talking about for years: the astonishingly outdated communications strategies of many museums and art centres. Too often, press officers are funcionarios (state employees) who have little idea of the art world's intricacies. The workflow is familiar: take the curator's press release or their notes for the press conference, sprinkle in a couple of quotes from the curatorial essay (if you're lucky), export as a PDF, or hit "send" and upload it on Facebook, mission accomplished. Few follow-up calls. Few conversations with local or international journalists to find an angle that suits their media (let alone speaking another language! 🤌🏻). Little sense of cultivating relationships.

Even more baffling is how rarely communications teams involve curators or artists early enough to think strategically about an exhibition's public life, but months beforehand, when there's still time to shape a narrative and identify the audiences who might genuinely care.

Instead, what often happens is a last-minute scramble. Suddenly, we independent curators are expected to provide a ready-made network of editors, writers and publications to contact. Bloggers were once dismissed (despite some producing exceptional criticism and photo documentation); now the obsession is with influencers. Meanwhile, many of those departments still imagine that cultural impact happens primarily in print (newspapers, specifically), despite the shrinking space available for arts coverage. Thoughtful online writing and IG posts often provide more sustained engagement.

The irony is that many institutions have communications departments yet still end up hiring specialist contemporary art PR agencies — Sutton, Pickles, Fitz & Co, Mahala, Acerca, Comunicación, among others — to devise and execute their cultural strategy that their own teams should have been developing all along. In other words, institutions end up paying twice: once for a press office, and again for professionals who actually know how to build conversations around contemporary art. 

(Rant over!)

13 July 2026: We are presenting the closing conference “Promises, paradoxes, and questions” at the day-long symposium “An eco-friendly approach to exhibition spaces” at the beautiful thirteenth-century Sala de Graus de la Facultat de Lletres i Turisme de la Universitat de Girona. The event is organised by the Association of Museum Professionals of Catalonia (AMC), the Catalan Institute for Research in Cultural Heritage (ICRPC-CERCA), the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policies and Cooperation, and the Natural and Cultural Heritage Campus of the University of Girona (UdG).

15 July 2026: Artforum published Max Andrews’s review of Asier Mendizabal's show “Comparateme” at ProjecteSD in Barcelona. Sadly, the show closed the day before ... the review will be printed in the September issue.

23 July 2024: One application period closes, and another begins: the submission window for the 2026 Visual Arts Mentoring Programme, organised by the National Institute of Visual Arts (INAV) under Uruguay’s Ministry of Education and Culture, has ended. This call invites Uruguayan artists with over seven years of experience, encouraging critical dialogue and professional growth through discussions on working methods, ongoing research, and artistic projects in progress. Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes is one of six curators who have been invited to participate in the Curator-x-Artist module. From September to October 2026, she will mentor four selected artists from the applicants, conducting four one-hour individual virtual sessions.

After an intensive month across both personal and professional spheres, we're slowly winding down until September. This summer, we will work on Pérez y Requena’s publication to have it ready before the TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes show closes on 18 October. ¡Felices vacaciones!

RELATED CONTENTS:

• Renewing our Active Membership 2024 with Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), 8 May  2025 
• Latitudes renew their Active Membership with Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), 9 April 2024 
• Cover Story, February 2024: Climate Conscious Travel to ARCOmadrid, 1 Feb 2024
• Latitudes’ Environmental Policy Statement – Extended version here.
• Montse Badia sobre GCC Spain en la revista Bonart #198, 25 Oct 2023
• Active Membership Press Release, 10 May 2023.
• Latitudes qualify as an Active Member of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), 10 May 2023
• Cover Story, March 2023: Art, Climate, and New Coalitions, 1 Mar 2023
• Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) en el Estado español, 25 January 2023
• 18 marzo 2021, 18:30 h: Mesa redonda “Transformación geológica y construcción artificial” con Lara Almarcegui y Juan Guardiola, 8 Mar 2021
• Lead Faculty, Geologic Time, Banff International Curatorial Institute, Visual + Digital Arts Department, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada, 11 September–6 October 2017
• Group exhibition, “4.543 billion. The matter of matter”, CAPC musée d’art contemporain Bordeaux, France, 29 June 2017–7 January 2018
• Editors, “Lara Almarcegui. Projects 1995–2010”, Archive Books, 2011
• Solo exhibition, “Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies”, Kunsthal Aarhus, Århus, Denmark, 22 January–3 April 2011
• Public realm commissions, Portscapes, Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, throughout 2009
• Custodians, Reduce Art Flights (RAF) website (2008–ongoing)
• Touring film programme, “A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art’s Expanded Field 1968–2008”, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, and other venues, April–October 2008
• Group exhibition “Greenwashing. Perils, Promises and Perplexities”, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, February–May 2008
• Convenors, “Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change”, 3-day symposium during the Sharjah Biennial 8, 5–7 April 2007
• Editors, “UOVO #14: Ecology, Luxury and Degradation”, 2007
• Editor, “LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” (2006)
• Curator, Tue Greenfort, Arts & Ecology public realm commission in London, 2005–2008.

Testing the hanging of “Los animales muertos” (dibujos) with photocopies and later (below) calculating the spacing.

The posters/exhibition guide arrived!

(Left to right) The monograph arrived on time! Team relief and extreme happiness holding the publication– Belén Benito (our top Curatorial Assistant), Max Andrews, Jorge Satorre and Mariana Cánepa Luna. 

Jorge explaining “Arruinar las baldosas (portones)” during the press tour; and filming a short video for CA2M website. Photos above and below: Sue Ponce

The publication brings together a selection of Satorre’s solo exhibitions and works from the last fifteen years, arranged in reverse chronological order. It also includes new essays such as “The Weight of the World” by Sean Lynch (artist and curator, Askeaton, Ireland); the conversation “A Matter of Distance” between the artist and Latitudes, the exhibition curators; and the essay “The Virtues of Drawing” by Daniel Garza Usabiaga (Director of the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City).

Meticulously designed by the artist and editor Gabriel Pericàs in collaboration with Satorre and coordinated by Belén Benito, the book has been co-published by Museo CA2M and Caniche Editorial in a bilingual Spanish-English edition.

In the words of Caniche Editorial, it is “a book that offers an exhaustive journey through his career and one we believe will be an essential tool for immersing oneself in the work and processes of a pivotal artist.”

The end result! Pages of the monograph “Jorge Satorre. Río”, copublished by Museo CA2M and Caniche Editorial. Photos: Sue Ponce.

Title: Río

Format: 224 pages, 32 × 24 cm, softcover

Texts: Jorge Satorre, Daniel Garza, Latitudes, Sean Lynch
Price: 30 Euros
ISBN: 978-84-451-4165-6 (CA2M) / 978-84-129787-1-1 (Caniche Editorial)
Available: Caniche Editorial (online), Museo CA2M and bookstores

1 February 2025: Opening of Jorge Satorre’s “Ria” at the Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Móstoles, the culmination of three years of conversations, site visits, ideas that never materialised and others that materialised as beautiful objects. Such is the case of his new work “Triplay” (2025), produced for the exhibition, and the adaptation of his 2016 work “Arruinar las baldosas” [Wrecking the Floor Tiles], which has become a large gate dividing the exhibition space. A selection of works produced since 2013 complements these wonderful projects.

We’re grateful to have accompanied Jorge throughout this process, to have cemented our artist-curator collaboration and a friendship that began two decades ago, when we visited his studio in Hangar, Barcelona. We first collaborated in 2009 commissioning a project for “Portscapes”, a series of interventions in the context of the expansion by 20% of the surface of the Port of Rotterdam, for which produced “The Erratic. Measuring Compensation” (2009–10) (now in the collection of the Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico – in September 2021, hosted by the museum, Jorge and us discussed this work in a conversation online). 

Fascinated by the compensation projects created to ‘offset’ the construction of Maasvlakte 2, Satorre’s project traced the origin of a rock to southern Sweden and returned it there—an act of symbolic restitution. This transposition echoed the monumental land-forming of Maasvlakte, which, like glaciers, though on a much shorter timescale, reshaped the morphology of the Netherlands. Satorre’s drawings documented the process, blending factual and imagined details in a storyboard-like format. Watch the “making of” video here.

Soon after, in 2010, Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes wrote about “The Erratic” and the works “My Dolmen” (2007-8) and “La Visita” (2010) for the catalogue of the group exhibition “Antes que todo” that took place at CA2M – pdf on Issuu here.

In February 2012, Latitudes published an interview in Atlántica magazine #52 with Erick Beltrán and Satorre on their curatorial project “Modelling Standard”. The PDF is available here.

A month later, in March 2012, Max Andrews of Latitudes gave a lecture at the Royal College of Art, London, around Robert Smithson’s ecological and curatorial art and discussed Satorre’s work, based on an essay published in the publication “Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement” (Alauda Publications, 2012).

We began working on the Madrid show in April 2022. In September 2022, we spent a day with Jorge in Barcelona following an itinerary he proposed for all of us to do as part of the final episode of “Incidents (of Travel)”, the online project produced by KADIST (Paris/San Francisco) and edited by Latitudes since 2016, which published twenty dispatches of day-long encounters between artists and curators from around the world.

March 2023: Testing moulding papas y plátanos in Alfa Arte.

12 April 2023: Early group meetings discussing our initial exhibition proposals.

(Above and below) Jorge with the maquette he made of the show in his studio in Bilbao in April 2024. Love this photo!

13 June 2024: Jorge is unearthing the four refiefs “Decorar el agujero (Altkirch)” that have been buried in the garden of the CRAC Alsace since they were first exhibited in 2021. Photos above: Jorge Satorre.

July 2024: Reviewing the first publication draft with Jorge Satorre, book co-designer Gabriel Pericàs, publishers Caniche Editorial & CA2M staff (co-publishers) and publication and exhibition coordinator, Belén Benito.

July 2024: Returning to the maquette to explore a new configuration for some works. Photo: Jorge Satorre.

November 2024: Finalising the production of what will be “Triplay” (2025) and “Arruinar las baldosas (portones)” (2025) in Alfa Arte and Jorge's studio in Bilbao. Photos: Jorge Satorre.

December 2024: Exciting moment of seeing “Triplay” (2025), one of the new pieces produced for the show, installed in Jorge's studio and ready to be photographed by Ander Sagastiberri to be included in the catalogue. Photo: Jorge Satorre.

13–26 February 2025: 7am train to Madrid to install the survey exhibition “Laia Estruch: HELLO EVERYONE” at the Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid. The team had already prepared the space weeks before our arrival, and all the artworks had been unpacked, condition reports completed, and were ready to be installed.

We used the trip as an opportunity to donate copies of all our publications to the museum’s library, making them freely available to readers—from “LAND, ART: A Cultural Ecology Handbook” (2006) to our hot-from-the-press “Jorge Satorre. Río” (2025). As a reminder, most of our titles can also be consulted at the MACBA library and documentation centre (Barcelona), in Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Canada) and in PUBLICS in Helsinki.

Upon arrival, Laia was very moved to see the façade banner announcing her show.

Many strong hands were necessary to hang “TRENA (Cortina)” and to cut it straight. Laia is on a video call with Edu Pagès from Tecnodimension, sharing tips to cut it as straight as possible.

Exhibition gallery with “KITE” (1, 2 and 4) folded on the floor before being installed.

SIT guys mounting one of the modules of “Residua” (2021) on the wall.

Wefie with Rafa García, exhibition coordinator, and Laia while supervising “Residua” (2022) being hung behind us.

After a very long first day, on our way back to the hotel, we see the other side of the building, with a banner announcing the show. #pelldegallina

Testing the different positions of CROL (Barana 1 and 2) with SIT guys.   

Filming stories for Reina's Instagram with David and Alex from the museum's Comms team.

Much needed install plan by exhibition architect guru Antonio Marín (in collab with Edu of Tecnodimensión) for KITE (1, 2 and 4). Grateful to have these two patient humans walking along with us through this and many more challenges. 

KITE-2 is being installed. Laia and Rafa García (Exhibition coordinator) giving indications.

“Ocells perduts (braç de vent)” (2021) about to be plugged in.

Mini tests of the wall labels (written and designed by Latitudes).

/FUD:/ wallpaper in the process of installation.

Pilar from the restoration department worked her magic, found gloves of the very same colour as “Sibina” to protect the legs (not to mention her turquoise matching top and trainers!).

Laia and Rafa García, the magician responsible for coordinating the exhibition.

Sometimes it takes a village to install certain works, especially when the museum courier or lender is on site. We're grateful for the patience of the SIT technicians, who graciously endured our conflicting opinions throughout the morning.

Winter light filtered into the show; the circular windows resonated conceptually with the surrounding works, such as holes in “Zócalo” (seen here) or the windows of the curtain in the next-door exhibition room. Amen!

Installing the vinyl letters of “Performance al teatre” – sentences below.

21 February 2025: Wall labels are finally installed. Happy curator. We're nearly done.

21 February 2025: Final round of sound checks with patient Benji from Audiovisuales Creamos S.L. and (not in photos, and yet crucial) Xavi Lloses, Laia's long-term collaborator, who edited each of Laia's audio compilations.

pi

24 February 2025: The lovely team from “Atención obras” of TV2 is setting up their interview, which can be viewed here (3min): https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/atencion-obras/laia-estruch-arte-exposicion-museo/16567861/ 

24 February 2025: Jonás Bel and one of the museum photographers taking some “fake” performance photos for the catalogue and press conference. The other museum photographer, Joaquín Cortés, comes later. TVE2 would dedicate him a short programme on the occasion of his retirement later in the Summer, after 35 years documenting works in the museum.

24 February 2025: Laia Estruch photographed by Jonás Bel.

16 February 2025: During the weekend between installation days, we were fortunate to visit la Catedral de Justo in Mejorada del Campo. The site itself deserves a full documentary. Built by Justo Gallego (1925–2021), the construction of the cathedral began in 1961, funded mainly through material and monetary donations. It was largely built by Gallego himself over more than 50 years, without plans and with barely any assistance.

The visit was organised by curator Pilar Soler Montes, who had curated the show “Lo camí del sol” by Felipe Talo (aka @leon.fenix and @lotti.fernand1888). 

Also, on this day, our dearest mentor and curator Richard Flood passed away in New York. A few days later, in the press conference presenting Laia Estruch to the media, we dedicated the exhibition to his memory, honouring an important person in our lives. Richard was especially supportive when Max worked at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 2003-4, and we hung out seeing shows around London while we lived there in 2004-5. From those conversations, grew what in 2010 became his “The Last Newspaper” show at the New Museum, for which we live-edited the catalogue on-site for ten weeks. Here is the last part of our notes for the press conference read by Max (which was, of course, followed by a few tears...):

“Mariana and I would like to dedicate this exhibition to the memory of Richard Flood, an American curator who passed away last week and who was a key mentor for us. Flood said: "We only have a limited time to put things in front of the public, and we had better have a good reason to occupy the time of our colleagues and to believe that this will mean something to the public".

I think this project responds to just that idea: to give the audience a clear reason to stop, listen and experience. For fifteen years, Laia has been building a language that overflows the boundaries between voice, body and sculpture. This exhibition not only celebrates her trajectory, but, with the urgency and clarity that Flood demanded, it also asks why her work and her voice deserve this space and this time.

Mariana and I would like to thank you, Laia, for these five years of intense dialogue, for your generosity and for imagining together what it would mean to bring together all your work. The result is this beautifully crazy archive-warehouse exhibition that we are presenting today.”

Max and Richard visited Valie Export's exhibition at Camden Art Centre in the Fall of 2005.

25 February 2025: A very long yet exciting day presenting Laia Estruch’s “HELLO EVERYONE” at the Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid: 9am press interview with Agencia EFE; 11am press conference and tour to general media; 2pm lunch with lenders, catalogue collaborators and museum staff in the museum restaurant; back in the galleries for a 5pm and a 6pm tour for VIPs; and the public opening at 8pm to conclude the year-long ride.  

What we saw from our seats: anticipation.

25 February: Manuel Segade, Mariana Cánepa, Laia Estruch and Max Andrews in front of “Moat-3” during the press preview. Photo by Marc Navarro, author of a long interview with Laia in the forthcoming exhibition catalogue.

Going back in time, remembering how we got here since our first site visit in February 2024...

28 February 2024: First IRL meeting about Laia Estruch’s solo exhibition with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía team in Madrid. Ahead lies an intensive year of preparations towards the scheduled opening on February 26, 2025, on the fourth floor of the Sabatini building (MCL pointing to the future location on the 4th floor).

May 2024: First 3D session with Miquel Cardiel in L'Hospitalet, playing with artworks around the space.

May 2024: One of the eight sessions modelling a 3D render of the exhibition with Miquel Cardiel in his L'Hospitalet studio.

12 June 2024: Zoom call going through some technical aspects of the exhibition with Rafa García and Teresa Velázquez (exhibitions), Antón López (registrar), and Antonio Marín (architect).

July 2024: Zooms debating technical issues around how to hang “Trena (Cortina)” (2025) with the Museo Reina Sofía team, the architect Antonio Marín, and Eduard Pagès from Tecnodimensión before launching the public tender for the installation of the show.

September 2024: Going through the first draft of the publication design with Laia Estruch, Museo Reina Sofía publications team, and graphic designer Ariadna Serrahima.

11 November 2024: Discussing the structure of the book, list of works, registrations, scores, Pantone colours and essays.

24 January 2025: Morning session at Ariadna Serrahima’s studio in Vallcarca finessing the catalogue image selection. 

In the afternoon, as Laia has finally reconnected with her belongings after over 2 years in a storage facility, we can see Jordi Samsó's drawings again and jointly select one for the exhibition.

3-7 February 2025: (Above and below) Remote installation via WhatsApp and video calls. Technology can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, despite the constant feeling of FOMO. Photos above and two below: Rafa García.

11 February 2025: Exhibition banner goes up with Estruch's exhibition on the far right. 

“Laia Estruch. HELLO EVERYONE”

Artist: Laia Estruch

Exhibition Curators: Latitudes (Max Andrews and Mariana Cánepa Luna) 

Project Director: Teresa Velázquez; 

Coordination: Rafael García; 

Management: Natalia Guaza; 

Administrative Support: Nieves Fernández; 

Registrar: Antón López; 

Restoration: Pilar Gª Serrano, Cynthia Bravo and Amaya de la Hoz; 

Space Design: Antonio Marín Oñate; 

Translations: María Enguix; 

Installation: SIT Proyectos Diseño y Conservación S.L.; 

Lighting: Toni Rueda + Urbia Services; 

Shipping: Servicios Logísticos Integrados SLi. S.L.U; 

Insurance: Insurart, S.L.

5–9 March 2025: ARCOmadrid Art Fair week. Laia presented her performance “MIX” (2022–ongoing) in the exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía, a living repertoire that weaves together the full range of vocal registers, modulations, and spoken and sung sounds she has cultivated throughout her artistic practice.

An improvised elevator reunion of natural sweets and Echinacea sprays for sore throats, too many days speaking pretty much non-stop, and shitty weather didn't help.

Breathing exercises for both the curator and artist before the performance. This is the “power pose”, a fun preparation ritual from designer-and-many-more-things, Prem Krishnamurthy.

One of our favourite pictures of the year as we draw the curtain to set up the space before Laia Estruch's first performance on March 6, 2025. Photo: Marc Navarro.

Laia's noted the score that constitutes “Mix” (2021–ongoing), a solo performance compilation that “revisits the diverse voiced sounds, resonances, and articulations that she has developed and learned throughout her projects to date. An exercise in sonic recall and muscle memory, “Mix” is a live non-chronological edit that extracts the most ephemeral aspect of her practice – the voice – while exploring it as a kind of organ of the body, and as a tool for sculpting air”. (Latitudes)

The public is waiting to see the performance in the exhibition space.

Beautiful words by poet, performer and researcher María Salgado on “Mix” on March 7, 2025.

Laia shared notes of her second performance score via WhatsApp, March 9, 2025.

On our way to take the train back home, a final surprise at Atocha train station: Estruch everywhere for everyone.

March 2025: Trying to practice a well-deserved physical and mental rest. Yet, lots of postponed life and admin to be dealt with, photos to be downloaded, filtered, archived and uploaded to our Flickr, website to be updated, reviews and social networks posts to be archived on Wakelet..., but most importantly, we're finessing the selection of Jonás Bel’s photographs documenting Laia Estruch’s exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía, which coincided with the final rounds of proofreading both the Spanish and English editions of the forthcoming catalogue. These stages are difficult to capture, as they largely consist of solitary hours in front of a screen, punctuated by occasional “crisis” phone calls and group meetings to address concerns.

4 April 2025: Mariana receives the 500+ applications to this year’s open call for acquisitions for the Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani of the Government of Catalunya. Long days of reading lay ahead before attending six 4-hour-long online/in-person meetings between April and July.

7 April 2025: Ariadna Serrahima (book designer), Laia (artist) and Max (curator) visit Ce.GE printers in Sant Andreu (Barcelona), where Laia Estruch’s Museo Reina Sofía catalogue is slowly taking shape, from 2D to 3D reality!

11 April 2025: Radio del Museo Reina Sofía publishes an interview between María Andueza and artist Laia Estruch around her solo exhibition “Hello Everyone”, on view at the museum until September 1, 2025. 

24 April 2025: First of eleven work sessions of the 2025 Acquisitions Committee of the Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani (CNAC) of the Government of Catalunya – see 2024 acquisitions (in Catalan). Initial review of the 500+ proposals received in response to this year's open call. Some people are out of the picture; we usually have 14 to 16 people around the table.

For the June 19th session, we enjoyed Fede Montornés’s skills as a patissier with a fabulous coca de crema with oranges (from his garden) and almonds, to celebrate his birthday.

12:33pm, 28 April 2025: Power cut between 12:33h and 18:34h. Went for a walk, spoke to our neighbours, read books, and “prayed” that our freezer would be ok.

30 April 2025: Celebrating 20 years of our curatorial life with the 10th edition of our portfolio (for print, for desktop or mobile versions). Returning to these pages can be a bittersweet exercise of time-travelling, revisiting projects, places, and people that have shaped our path. Updating the portfolio is less about archiving than it is about building memory, and tracing the quiet continuities and the leaps of change that have defined our practice.

4–13 May 2025: Family trip to Bath and a few days of art hunting around London. After 7 years, the city feels the same yet strangely very different. 

Sunny Bath.

Our trip to London began with a long-overdue visit to Charles Jencks’ The Cosmic House. Each nook and cranny is unique. Luckily, we are not limited by a 36-photo camera roll to document this wonderful madness in Holland Park.

Jencks' bedroom.

Setting aside the rather disappointing rudeness of Barbican’s front desk staff, Noah Davis’ exhibition was truly moving— from the thoughtful recreation of his curatorial work at the Underground Museum, to the poignant single-painting room featuring a rear view of his father holding a torch as he walks through a rocky valley (his father passed away not long after), to the room showcasing his abstract painting from his first solo show, Nobody, and finally, the last painting he ever made — a haunting image of an internment (below, left).

Good old Penone at the Serpentine Gallery.

A lovely Rosemary Mayer (1943–2014) solo show at Hollybush Gardens. A drawing for my (mental) collection. 

Most recent video and sculptural work by Claudia Pagès at Chisenhale Gallery.

Nora Turato at the ICA.

Richard Wright at Camden Art Centre.

Visited the stunning Siena show at the National Gallery, so in awe, we forgot to photograph any works. The other great surprise was a two-room show of Mexican painter José María Velasco; this giant Cardón cactus in Oaxaca from 1887 also makes it our my mental collection. And of course, this Zurbarán from the 1630s.

 Leigh Bowery at Tate Modern.

Thanasis Totsikas at Sylvia Kouvali – such a great space!

Ed Adkins at Tate Britain. Not a body of work I was entirely familiar with. I started cold sober, but it grew on me as the show progressed—becoming increasingly intimate and punctuated by technically impressive red-coloured pencil-on-paper drawings (below). The strongest works connect to his family universe—his mum, his daughter (these Post-it notes, for instance, were drawn during the 2020 pandemic and stuck to her school lunchbox), culminating in the film Nurses Come and Go, but None for Me. The film is based on the diary kept by Atkins' father during the final six months of his life before dying of cancer in 2009, read aloud by actor Toby Jones to a group of young people.

8 May 2025: The 2024 cohort of 120 Active Members is announced on the Gallery Climate Coalition’s Instagram. This marks the third consecutive year that Latitudes members have achieved individual Active Membership. To maintain this status (see the criteria here), we continued applying environmental sustainability best practices aligned with GCC’s guidelines, focusing on practical short-term actions and fulfilling at least three of the required criteria. Each of our combined carbon emissions was 16.18 tCO2e in 2019 (our baseline year), progressively decreasing to 3.66 tCO2e (2022), 1.91 tCO2e (2023), and 1.63 tCO2e (2024). 

10 May 2025: Museo Reina Sofía shares on their Instagram that Laia Estruch's book is now available at the museum bookstore.

Available in English and Spanish editions.

15 May 2025: Laia Estruch's first monograph is finally in our hands! After many wee and long hours of putting it together—conceptualising, writing, researching, fact-checking, editing texts, and proofreading—we are elated to have both editions in our hands. Feels unreal.

Spanish and English editions of the publication. 

Photos: Latitudes

20 May 2025: First of three conversations with Caimin Walsh, an Irish curator based between Limerick and Co. Cork, currently serving as Curator of Civic Engagement at Ormston House, a Cultural Resource Centre in Limerick. We’re mentoring Caimin by sharing our curatorial experiences and offering feedback on two projects he’s currently developing.

These conversations are supported by a fantastic grant Caimin received from the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon to develop his curatorial practice. It’s heartening to know that such support structures exist, especially as curatorial work can often be a solitary pursuit. Unless one establishes informal peer-to-peer networks, honest and critical feedback is typically scarce. We applaud, once again, the work the Arts Council is doing – we still keep our “Has the artist been paid? ASK” badge from our 2013 research trip to Dublin and Derry.

Caimin was awarded the Visual Arts Bursary Award last year, a recurring scheme that offers up to €20,000 to support individual artists in developing their practice. The award provides recipients with the time and resources to think, research, reflect, and fully engage with their work.

We can’t overstate our envy that such schemes exist—or how much we wish something similar were available where we live. They would go a long way toward easing the precarity of the profession and offering freelancers much-needed relief from the constant pressure to rebuild their foundations—and from the recurring cycles of disillusionment when open calls or job searches, as is the case for us now, lead nowhere.

27–30 May 2025: Press trip to Lisboa on the occasion of ARCOLisboa art fair. As part of the organised trip, we're taken to visit the Alburquerque Foundation, Culturgest, Fundação PLMJ, MAC/CCB, Kunsthalle Lissabon, CAM Gulbenkian and Fundação Leal Rios. On our own steam, we visit MAAT, Galeria da Boavista, Fidelidade Arte/Culturgest and commercial galleries such as Vera Cortês, Madragoa, 3+1 Galeria, Cristina Guerra and, of course, many more gallery spaces at ARCOLisboa's Cordoaria.

Max will write a review of Joana Escoval’s exhibition “Tones of the Spine” at Galería Vera Cortês for Artforum. 

Fundaçao Alburquerque, Sintra.

Storage of the collection of Fundaçao Alburquerque, Sintra.

Theaster Gates exhibition at Fundaçao Alburquerque, Sintra.

Two fantastic solo shows at Culturgest, one by Susan Hiller ("curiously" curated by Andrew Price – Lisson Gallery's Artist & Sales Associate – representing the artist) and the other by Fernando Marques Penteado, curated by Bruno Marchand. 

(Above and below) Sonia Gomes at Kunsthalle Lissabon.

“finger food” and a very loud saxophone at the evening reception at CAM Gulbenkian.

Joana Escoval's exhibition “Tones of the Spine” at Galería Vera Cortês.

Compulsory sunset selfie (despite the 35º heat) with Lawrence Weiner's piece in the background, just opposite MAAT and with the Ponte 25 de Abril in the background.

Elegant solo show “Pau-Campeche” by Flávia Vieira, whom we happened to meet yesterday afternoon at ARCOmadrid, at Galeria da Boavista – GML, Lisboa, curated by dear friend Sofia Lemos. Also curated by Sofia, the group exhibition “Reluctant Gardner” at Fidelidade Arte in Chiado.

Our last Lisboa meal: the first batch of grilled sardines. A classic that never fails.  

2 June 2025: Much-needed refresh to our “About” section on our website (which nonetheless, always feels ‘not quite right’ and very much in progress).

4 and 7 June 2025: Following Laia Estruch's two inaugural performances during ARCOmadrid, the Museo Reina Sofía programmed two further performances. As we are unable to join Laia on this occasion, we are accompanying her via phone, Instagram, and numerous WhatsApp messages. Before jumping into the galleries, Laia shares the “Mix” score she will follow today, and Alex Moltó from the museum's Comms sends us some photos of Laia interacting with “Zócalo” (Baseboard) (2022) that he took during the morning rehearsal to share with the piece's lenders.

(Above and two below) photos by Alex Moltó.

4 June 2025: On our way to Tarragona to meet our artist friend Quim Packard and visit the exhibition “S.I.E.P. (Sàpigues i Entenguis Produccions) Ràbia i desencís”, curated by our colleague Marc Navarro at the Museu d’Art Modern de la Diputació de Tarragona, we join the Instagram live of Laia Estruch's performance rehearsal at the Museo Reina Sofia. Returning to the purpose of the visit, the show revisits ephemera and works by the Reus-based postal art group SIEP, which operated between 1981 and 1984.

12–19 June 2025: Site visit to TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in preparation for a show opening in July 2026. More details in the coming months.

Afternoon tour of the First International Exhibition of Street Sculpture in Santa Cruz (1973) led by the artist Isra Pérez. Above is one of our favourite interventions by Xavier Corberó, curiously titled “Ejecutores y ejecutados” (The Executioners and the Executed) amid a dictatorship.

Another favourite is Eduardo Paolozzi's Homenaje a Gaudí in the Parque García Sanabria.

Coincidentally, we were able to attend two lectures by Octavio Zaya and Lola Hinojosa, organised as part of TEA's participation in the PIT Research. Drawing on her experience as head of the Performing Arts and Intermedia Collection at the Museo Reina Sofía, Lola addressed issues related to the documentation, conservation and reactivation of living and ephemeral works. She briefly mentioned the case of Laia Estruch's show currently on view at the museum.

3 July 2025: Jorge Satorre gives a tour of his exhibition “Ría” at Museo CA2M, followed by one by David Bestué presenting his show in the upper galleries. 

Photos @CA2Mmadrid and @taniapardo

5 July 2025: Review/interview “Laia Estruch saluda a todo el mundo” [Laia Estruch salutes everyone] by Sònia Hernández in La Vanguardia newspaper.

12 July 2025: The cultural supplement of El Correo newspaper publishes a review/interview with Jorge Satorre about his exhibition at Museo CA2M.

Itxaso Elorduy wrote about Jorge's exhibition Ría at Museo CA2M for El Correo.

31 August 2025 and 1 September 2025: Jorge Satorre’s “Ría” exhibition ends at Museo CA2M, and the day after, “Laia Estruch: HELLO EVERYONE” finishes at the Museo Reina Sofía.

Jorge's publication is available online via Caniche Editorial or can be purchased at the front desk of Museo CA2M.

Laia Estruch's catalogue is available at La Central bookstore, at the Museum shop, or at the Librería del Ministerio de Cultura. 

Looking forward to visiting Stockholm in mid-September to attend their September Sessions—a Contemporary Art Festival in Stockholm. 

Also in September, Danish painter John Kørner opens a show in Victoria Miro gallery’s space in Venice, for which Max has written a short text. Max wrote an essay for Kørner’s first show at the London gallery in 2006, “John Kørner: 2006 Problems”, and in 2017 contributed the essay “The Kørner Problem” for his monograph published by Roulette Russe.

RELATED CONTENT:

• Latitudes’ writing – reviews, profiles, interviews, essays, features, and opinions. 
• Latitudes’ “out of office” 2023–24 season, 29 Jul 2024
• Latitudes’ "out of office" 2022–23 season, 25 July 2023
• Latitudes’ "out of office" 2021–22 season, 1 August 2022
• Latitudes’ "out of office" 2020–21 season, 2 August 2021
• Latitudes’ "out of office" 2019–20 season, 3 August 2020
• Latitudes’ "out of office" 2018–19 season, 1 August 2019
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2017–18 season, 2 August 2018
• Latitudes "out of office" 2016–17 season, 1 August 2017
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2015–16 season, 1 August 2016
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2014–15 season, 7 August 2015
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2013–14 season, 31 July 2014
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2012–13 season, 31 July 2013
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2011–12 season, 31 July 2012
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2010–11 season, 1 August 2011
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2009–10 season, 30 July 2010
• Latitudes' "out of office" 2008–9 season, 30 July 2009

In 2024, several works acquired in recent years for the National Collection were presented in the three-part “MACBA Collection: Prelude. Poetic Intention” (2022–2025) at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. Such as Mireia Sallarès’ photographs that are part of her larger project “Las muertes chiquitas” (2006-16); Joan Morey’s multipart project “COS SOCIAL. Lliço d'Anatomia” (SOCIAL BODY. Anatomy Lesson) (2017); Regina Giménez’s large paintings “Geo-gràfics” (2021); Sinéad Spelman’s drawings “Venes” (2020); Pedro Torres’ video installation “House of the Sun” (2020); Daniel G. Andújar “Battle Cry” (2019-2020”; Eulàlia Valldosera’s “Construcció i deconstrucció (I-VIII) (El melic del món #1; El ventre de la Terra #29)” (1991-2001); Lara Fluxà’s glass installation “Delu” (2019)”; Lucía C. Pino’s sculptures “10 Amazon Quarterly vol 03. (content)” (2022); or Lúa Coderch’s “Estil Internacional (Mur d'Ònix)” (2013-14), to mention a few.

Looking ahead, one of the most significant recent acquisitions of 2024, Eugènia Balcells’ 12-channel video installation “From the Center” (1982), will be presented this summer in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya’s Sala Oval, where it has been placed on deposit. The installation premiered at the 1983 Donostiako Nazioarteko Bideo Aldia, II Festival de Vídeo de San Sebastián. It was subsequently exhibited at Barcelona’s renowned Sala Metrònom (1985), Anderson Gallery in Richmond, Virginia (1986), and New York’s El Museo del Barrio (1987). 

“From the Center” is a technically complex and conceptually profound video installation described by Balcells as an “electronic Stonehenge”. Featuring twelve monolithic screens arranged in a walkable circle, it presents fragmented yet unified views of the world, filmed over two years from a fixed Manhattan rooftop. Accompanied by a twelve-channel soundscape by Peter Van Riper (1942-1998), the installation blends technology and spirituality, echoing Romantic ideals of universal connection and inviting comparisons to the mystical vision of Romanesque paintings in the MNAC’s collection.