Calle Mayor 54: 2017

Tuesday 12 December 2017

WINNER ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE: SPRING 2018

Andrea Rodriguez Vial

I am glad to announce Spring 2018 winner artists-in-residence at Calle Mayor 54: Yugo Kohrogi (Japan, 1982), Andrea Rodriguez Vial (Chile,1983) and Kevin Brophy (USA).

Andrea Rodriguez Vial is an installation-ceramic-sculptor who frequently models animals reflecting about plague, domestication, extinction, animal abuse and anthropocentrism concepts. During her residence she would like to create some ephemeral figures to include them in the local landscape.

Andrea Rodriguez Vial

Yugo Kohrogi is a skilled oil-painter who makes distorted, melted figurative women paintings: from sexual poses to scary portraits. I personally see something of Bacon, something of Suehiro Maruo on it.

He says he aims to put together primitiveness and modernity in a painting. He pretends to portrait a landscape with memory, where people and nature melt together.

Yugo Kohrogi

Kevin Brophy is interested in topics which deal with issues of time, language, labor, craft and gender-tropes. For her stay at Calle Mayor 54, she has a project related with the American dream, where the artist will labor in multiple ways on different levels of production, platform, and privilege, while implicating other workers and systems of value.

Kevin Brophy

Saturday 11 November 2017

CALL FOR CURATORS

DEADLINE: 31st December 2017

RESIDENCE: 5, 6 and 7th May 2018

NUMBER: 1 curator

REQUIREMENTS:

-Excellent writing skills in Spanish or in English.

-Hold a phd, master's or postgraduate degree in Art Theory, Aesthetics or related.

-Don't need to have experience as curator but, you need to have at least a written article -published or unpublished- about contemporary art. Of course, experienced curators are very welcome.

-No age limit, nor restriction on nationality.

DUTIES:

-Meet 3 artists in residence. See their portfolio and discuss their artist statement with them.

-Get informed about the work they are doing at Calle Mayor 54.

-Write a 1500 words article about it.

BENEFITS:

-Three night accommodation at Calle Mayor 54.

-Access to common areas in the artist floor: terrace, bathroom and kitchen.

-One 'welcome curator' lunch.

-Your article dissemination.

FACILITIES:

-A desk.

-Internet connection.

HOW TO APPLY:

Send an email to callemayor54@yahoo.com with the following information:

-Resume + nationality + birth date

-A link or an attached pdf with your best art writings.

Friday 10 November 2017

WHAT TYPE OF ARTIST WOULD ENJOY BETTER CALLE MAYOR 54?

Before to apply as artist in residence, probably you are wondering what you will find here. So, what type of artist would enjoy better Calle Mayor 54?

-Artists doing projects in the nature or related with.
-Artists -doing whatever theme projects- who enjoy an open air walk before/after work.
-Artists not interested in nature, but, willing to have a peaceful studio, willing to achieve focus for a great production. Artists who enjoy themselves, not depending on the external circumstances.

So, if you would like to relish all the advantages a big city offers, as: a lot of facilities, great public transport in any direction at any time, shopping, food delivery, an epic social life, a huge specialized library... Then, you will not find any of this in a 600 population mountain village.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

SUMMARY: ROUND TABLE AT CENTRO DE ARTE HUARTE

5-5 Tie encounter: 5 lecturers-5 spectators

Summarizing yesterday meeting about resources for visual artists in the province:

They were present: Jazar organizers (Peio & Mónica), Oskia Ugarte (Centro de Arte Huarte), Javier Gómez (Tudela culture city councillor) and Yolanda Pascual Ruiz de la Hermosa (Calle Mayor 54).

Jazar is a 4 floor building in Pamplona with capacity for 80 artists. Studios are for rent, they have facilities for band rehearsal, pottery, 3D printer, printmaking, photo lab, textile, performing arts... It is based in the idea of sharing, bringing projects in common, art in community.

Centro de Arte Huarte supports artists offering several opportunities (check website for further information). They expressed their will of becoming a production center instead of an exhibition center. Which, personally, I think it is a pity, because it is a great building with beautiful spaces.

Tudela culture city councillor, Javier Gómez, told us about "Des Adarve": young artists ephemeral festival in emblematic buildings in Tudela. There is some budget for production. In Tudela, there is also a residence for dance (contemporary & folk), and in Olite, another one for classic theater.

I was lucky to hear all of us cover different things. If Jazar is for artists who want to share and work in common projects, Calle Mayor 54 is headed for individualist artists looking for some isolation, nature or/and peaceful studio. Also, it seems Calle Mayor 54 is the one with more international overture, but with less facilities than Centro de Arte Huarte or Jazar. Regarding the residencies: in Jazar, there are studios, but, not living spaces; in Centro de Arte Huarte, they only have working space but they offer some cash to rent a room in Pamplona; and, in Calle Mayor 54, studios and living space mix together. So, it is not the most suitable place for artists who really need "to get the hands dirty" with their work.

So, some ideas exposed there, my personal summary:

-There is a lack of interest in the arts in Navarra. Local people has other preferences for their leisure time. This can be a consequence of the poor art education in the schools, not only in Navarra, but in Spain; the lack of superior art studies in the province and the mobility of the artists to other cities more cultural attractive.

-There is too much art offer in the province in relation with the demand. Workshops, art events, residencies, art spaces... frequently don't get enough participants or are cancelled.

-Big art spaces are not suitable for this province, as they have a high maintenance cost and not enough public. Art proposals should have a smaller format to be able to offer a bigger choice.

http://jazar.org/

http://www.centrohuarte.es/es/inicio/

http://desadarve.com/

http://callemayor54.com

Sunday 5 November 2017

EVENTS: ROUND TABLE AT CENTRO DE ARTE HUARTE

This Tuesday, November 7th, at 6 pm, I will be at Centro de Arte Huarte. I have been invited to a round table about the visual arts in Navarra. I will be presenting Calle Mayor 54. The debate will be about the resources for visual artists in the province.
Free entrance.
Address: c/ Calvario, 2, 31620 Huarte, Navarra. Spain.

Saturday 4 November 2017

AUTUMN ARTISTS WORK IN PROGRESS II

Kaori Iguchi is experimenting with eco-prints. She uses plants and flowers to extract natural colours for dyeing fabrics.

She also uses the food leftovers after having dinner with friends to dye natural yarn immortalizing the moment. She is interested in the connection between nature & people and the power of something alive.

Constantin Hartenstein was learning about vulture lifestyle, at the vulture museum in Lumbier, for the video he will shoot soon: "Foz meat".

Martin T Raggio got some possible locations near Lumbier for his photo staging: "The human being insignificance".

Friday 27 October 2017

TRIP TO THE NORTH

Trip to the North with the resident artists.

Kaori Iguchi and Constantin Hartenstein, Autumn 2017 resident artists at Calle Mayor 54.

Sunday 15 October 2017

CALL FOR ARTISTS

CALL FOR ARTISTS
Open call for Spring 2018 residencies at Calle Mayor 54.
Application deadline: 30 November 2017
Residence:1st March- 31st May 2018
Number of resident artists: 3
Call for innovative visual artists.
Read more about:
http://callemayor54.com/about/
Apply online:
http://callemayor54.com/how-to-apply/

Saturday 14 October 2017

AUTUMN ARTISTS WORK IN PROGRESS

"Foz meat", Constantin Hartenstein

Constantin Hartenstein -artist in residence at Calle Mayor 54- is working on two projects now.
One of them is a video called "Love wars", based on a letter exchange between a couple divided by the Berlin wall from 1987-89. Chosen lines from the letters are extracted and re-arranged to become a film script.

Love letters at his studio

He wants to portray the longing, hope and actions being put to test while a political border forces a loving couple to spend time apart.

His second project is a video installation, called "Foz meat", shot in Lumbier gorge scenery. His work aims to recreate a hierarchy between animals and humans, the cruelty of nature, as well as, the fragility and tension of hunting and being hunted.

Martin T Raggio is working on a project with scattered static bodies on a dynamic landscape. He would like to portray the human being fragility in nature.

Kaori Iguchi is experimenting with fabrics: Dyeing and creating textures. Kaori's pattern is inspired by the lace worn by a priest in Navarra long time ago; also in the basque mythology.