In this day and age, the art exhibition organiser’s work is almost as important as the artist’s work. At Obra Social Caja Madrid at the start of the year a program was organised with the aim of awarding 3 grants for the production of exhibition projects targeted at helping new organisers. Around 200 proposals were submitted, which in turn were studied by famous organisers. The final result includes three exhibitions that have also served to open a new socio-cultural area in the capital’s centre, La Casa Encendida.

The three chosen projects belong to Paloma Blanco Bravo (Madrid, 1969) with “Ninguna persona es ilegal“, Victor del Rio (Salamanca, 1972) with the exhibition “Cultivos” and “I(de)ntimidados” from Celia del Diego i Thomas (Tarragona, 1974) and Christian Ano Frolich (Barcelona, 1969). All the productions have a current theme in common, which covers and criticises issues such as globalisation, freedom of the individual or immigration. In addition, both the organisers and the artists chosen are young people of around thirty years old.

Ninguna persona es ilegal, exhibition view

“Ninguna persona es ilegal” focuses on immigration and human rights. By way of criticism and irony, the 9 artists chosen show a social reality which, unfortunately, is highly topical today.

Mundos Sonados, El Perro from Ninguna persona es ilegal

We can find fictitious travel brochures with the title “Mundos Sonados”, along with the Travel Box from the group El Perro. A box to transport immigrants equipped with toilet, light, water… so that the immigrant may travel “comfortably”.

i(DE)ntimidados, exhibition view

In “i(DE)ntimidados”, a play on words in Spanish with “identity” and “intimacy”, the exhibition is effectively centred on two concepts, interpreted by eight participating artists. The title of a piece by one of the artists, could not be more explicit: “No recuerdo exactamente cuando me obsesioné conmigo misma (I don’t remember exactly when I became obsessed with myself)”. Other artists, grouped within the exhibition under the title “La vida sumergida II”, deal with more intimate perceptions through pieces that make us stop and think: a well of desires, a cave where we can listen to our thoughts…

Cultivos, exhibition view

The latest project, “Cultivos”, deals with virus, and therefore, what the four artists chosen by Victor del Rio do, is filter it through art, in visual and social codes.

Inéditos 2002
Date: July 31st – September 8th, 2002
Place: La Casa Encendida
Address: 2 Ronda de Valencia, 28012 Madrid
Tel: +34 915 06 2180
http://www.lacasaencendida.com