Project Description
CELEBRATION is the title that encompasses all the events and activities that have taken place during 2022 and continues in the current year 2023 on the occasion of EXCHANGE Live Art’s tenth anniversary.
“We believe that celebration, despite a convulsive social, political and environmental context, with wars, pandemics and ecological and natural disasters, is more than ever necessary. We propose to unite, reflect, celebrate and free ourselves from the emotional burden that all these events place on us. Celebrate because we are not alone. Celebrate as opposed to a state of withdrawal and fear. Celebrate that we are alive. Celebrate art and the different views that each artist proposes in their work. Moreover, we celebrate that, despite so many difficulties, EXCHANGE Live Art is still alive, that we are still together and enthusiastic after ten years of projects with very intense moments, some hard and others wonderful. We also celebrate that this project has allowed us to share with great people, artists from very different backgrounds, cultures and ways of understanding art and life, and all that this has enriched us. We celebrate and want to share and highlight all the work (a lot of it!) that we have done during this time“.
Isabel León and Ana Matey
“The need to celebrate is no small thing: 10 years in the development and maintenance of an artistic project is quite an achievement, even more so in the case of a discipline that is so difficult to accumulate, to archive, even to transmit. Performance is not counted or stored, it is lived. It is pure process and, as such, it is linked to the strictest present. Ana Matey and Isabel León have always been clear about its artistic and cultural value, but also about its capacities and virtues to deal with life itself, relationships and the way we present ourselves to the world. Action art is a way of expressing oneself beyond the structured language of grammatical sentences. It involves transcending norms to enter the realm of the unexpected. A rupture of schemas and a privileged access to other modes of knowledge. Performance allows us to experience from places that escape the intellect and reasoning, unleashing responses with an air of raw authenticity.”
Nerea Ubieto (Curator)
We kick off the activities of this year 2023 in one of our favourite Museums; it is the fantastic Museo Vostell Malpartida de Cáceres (MVM) where once again we will perform the piece “Celebration” in which we pay tribute to the 35 women artists who have passed through the project in these intense ten years of EXCHANGE Live Art…
The piece is performed by the artists and co-creators of EXCHANGE Live Art, Isabel León and Ana Matey, in an event in which the curator Nerea Ubieto participates, presenting and moderating a talk after the performance. Thus, theory and practice go hand in hand in this meeting where we will talk about the creative processes shared within the field of action art, as well as about communication and the work and contributions to the project of the different artists who have taken part in it.
“Celebration” is a performance of approximately one hour’s duration created from 35 mini-actions inspired by the different artists to whom homage is paid.
PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES
The list of artists honoured in this performance is as follows Alba Soto, Amelia David, Ana Gesto, Ana Matey, Analía Beltrán i Janés, Ana Esmith, Anu-Hanna Antilla, Analeine Cal y Mayor, Belén Cueto, Denys Blacker, Elisabeth Færøy Lund, Elvira Santamaría, Franzisca Siegrist, Ida Grimsgaard, Inger Reidun Olsen, Isabel León, Jenny Kangasvuo, Johanna Speidel, Kenza Bejelloun, Koke Vega, Kristiina Koskentola, Laura Corcuera, Maria Rosa Hidalgo, Maria Kananen, Martine Viale, Nieves Correa, Noa Reshef, Patricia Cabrero, Pascale Ciapp, Shannon Cochrane, Soufïa Bensaïd, Susanne Irene Fjørtoft, Violeta Nicolás, Victoria Rodríguez Cruz and Yolanda Pérez Herreras.
PRESS KIT AND IMAGES
ABOUT THE ARTISTS AND SPEAKERS PARTICIPATING IN MVM:
NEREA UBIETO
With a degree in Art History from the University of Zaragoza, she works as an independent curator, manager and collaborating critic for ABC Cultural. Her discourse is feminist, open, philosophical, accessible and committed. She is currently curating the exhibition “Algo, nada, siempre. Vari Caramés” at the Canal de Isabel II (Madrid); she is preparing a group show at Casal Solleric (Palma) and a solo show at El Almacén (Lanzarote); she is conducting a study of the cultural movement in the Carabanchel neighbourhood (Madrid); she teaches on the “Curso de Género y prácticas artísticas contemporáneas” at Factoría de Arte y Desarrollo and on the platform Cómo ser fotógrafa. She has directed cycles of conferences and workshops such as “Foro MAV 2021” or “A ver si nos aclaramos” (Performance, Feminismos y Compromiso animal) at Tabacalera Madrid and is a scriptwriter for the cultural television programme Metrópolis, for which she has produced the titles “Arte en Estonia”, “1+1=1” and “Arte Entrometido”. He has curated multiple projects at national and international level and in private, alternative and institutional spaces. His latest exhibitions include: “Devenir cuerpx” at the Centro Juan de Salazar in Asunción (Paraguay); “Tensiones escópicas” at Etopía Centro de Arte y Tecnología in Zaragoza; “Mystery Magnet” at the Museo Domus Artium in Salamanca, “Paisajes especulativos” at the Museo de Teruel, “One Project” at Art Madrid and “Artfulness” at the Centre del Carme, Valencia.
Fotografía Luis Garía López
ISABEL LEÓN
Visual artist, performer, independent cultural promoter and teacher. Graduate in Fine Arts from the UPV and “Erasmus” scholarship in Athens (Greece) and “Promoe” scholarship in Havana (Cuba). Official Master’s Degree in Art Production and Research at the UGR.
Her work transitions from video to action art, a practice to which she has been intensely dedicated since 2007. He conceives artistic practice as an act closely linked to life, which is why his work is connected to his most intimate feelings, thoughts and emotions. He is interested in the seemingly insignificant, the game and the absurd with a work that arises from the here and now and intuition.
He has participated in numerous festivals, action art meetings and national and international residencies, including La Mutant in Valencia, Museo Vostell Malpartida de Cáceres, Centre del Carme in Valencia, 2019, La Regenta in Las Palmas, Festival Cáceres Abierto, MEM Bilbao, Festival Internacional de Arte de Acción Acción! MAD, Getxoarte in Euskadi, Centre de Cultura Contemporánea Octubre in Valencia, Grüntaler9 in Berlin, FADO Canada, Museum of Modern Art of Tetouan (Morocco), EAA Grants in Oslo, among others.
Co-creator of EXCHANGE Live Art and gives workshops in art centres, universities and independent spaces.
ANA MATEY
Multidisciplinary artist, performer, photographer, researcher and cultural activist. Her work is a profound exploration of the limits of the human body and its relationship with nature, articulated mainly through three key verbs: to walk, to collect and to move.
Her work has been shown in museums, galleries, theatres and independent spaces in Spain, Europe; and outside the continent in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Canada, Morocco, Indonesia, Japan and currently Costa Rica. In places such as the National Gallery, the Carthage Museum (Costa Rica), the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, FADO Art Centre in Canada, Vostell Museum in Cáceres, Sesama Gallery in Yogyakarta, St. Mark’s Church in Venice, Coliseum Cinema in Berlin, Universum Theatre in Helsinki, Monte Veritá Foundation in Switzerland, Dzialan Gallery in Warsaw, etc. He has received numerous creation grants, the latest at the Centro de Arte La Regenta (2019) and the Centro de Arte Medioambiental Valdelarte (2020). He has participated in festivals such as Acción! MAD, Escenas do Cambio, MEM, Interjacke, Territori, Hours, etc.
Since 2006, she has been working in parallel to creation in the field of dynamisation, research and training. Co-founder of ElCarromato (2006/10), ARTóN (2009/14) and the current EXCHANGE Live Art (2012) and Neomatsu (2012). She regularly participates in round tables, conferences and presentations.
Project subsidised by the Madrid City Council’s Grants for Creation and Mobility programme and awarded a prize by the Bienal MAV 2022 de @mujeresenlasartesvisuales
