Art Madrid'26 – \"ALL PROCEEDS OF THE WITHOUT REASON\" ANTHOLOGY OF CARMEN CALVO

Grave charming passion, 2014 Mixed technique: collage and photography 120 x 90 cm. Collection of the artist © Carmen Calvo, VEGAP Madrid 2016

 

 

Carmen Calvo (Valencia, 1950) is a Spanish conceptual artist. Formed at the Fine Arts University of Valencia, she has won such prestigious prizes as the National Fine Arts Award in 2013. Carmen's work reflects her life; her three geographical points have been Madrid, Paris and Valencia. These three cities are present at the different stages of her dossier. To exhibit in the 1980s in the art exhibition "New images from Spain" at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, was her springboard. Since that time his career took off until today, and this places him in the international artistic scene.

 

 

S / T, 1969. Mythical technique: gouache on wooden board 90 x 65 cm. Collection of the artist © Carmen Calvo, VEGAP Madrid 2016

 

 

The exhibition recreates a compilation of 77 works from an anthological perspective. The eclectic layout of the room, curated by Alfonso de la Torre, encompasses different disciplines such as painting, sculpture, drawing and installations. The most characteristic of this sample is its chronological and structured organization. Divided into 5 parts, these sections help the viewer to draw a global image of the artistic feeling and to know the artist herself.



The first part, "An archeology of the imaginary", refers to his stay in Paris. We talk about the 80's and the way to represent it is with paintings and elements of sewn clay. This part reminds us of the passion for the archeology of the artist and her relationship with the world of ceramics, since one of her first works was created in her factory.

 

 

Untitled, 1996-1997. Mixed technique on blackboard. Set of 21 pieces of 100 x 130 cm each. National Museum Collection Reina Sofía Art Center © Carmen Calvo, VEGAP Madrid 2016

 

 

The second section, "Ceremony and object", makes a jump forward in time of 10 years. Based on the 90´s, it makes a ceremonial turn towards the relationship between the artist and the object. A clear vestige of how they influence when creating her work and the meaning that she gives them. The third section, "Cannibalism of the images" is directly related to photography, one of the main characteristics of his work. The manipulation of the photos holds no secrets for Carmen, and is one of her trademarks. Since the mid 80´s it is one of the most recurring techniques, to enlarge and alter its original features, a delight for the senses.

 

 

Silence II. I promise you hell, 1995. Collection National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center © Carmen Calvo, VEGAP Madrid 2016

 

 

The fourth section, "The hallucinations are innumerable", dedicates his speech to the work on paper, collage and drawing. And in the last chapter but not least, it winks at the multimedia content. This field, well loved by the artist, reveals his love of cinema and music. Two artistic modalities that have always accompanied her. With this last data we can give meaning to all his work. For this reason she has created the work "Et pourlèche la face ronde”. This is the best farewell, for an exhibition full of looks within itself and to spread the delight of the arts.
 

 

 

 

 


ABIERTO INFINITO. LO QUE EL CUERPO RECUERDA. CICLO DE PERFORMANCE X ART MADRID'26


Art Madrid, committed to creating a discursive platform for artists working within the field of performance and action art, presents Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda, a proposal inspired by Erving Goffman’s ideas in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Amorrortu Editores, Buenos Aires, 1997).

The project unfolds within a theoretical framework that directly engages with these premises, conceiving social interaction as a stage of carefully modulated performances designed to influence others’ perceptions. Goffman argues that individuals deploy both verbal and involuntary expressions to guide the interpretation of their behavior, sustaining roles and façades that define the situation for those who observe.

The body — the first territory of all representation — precedes both word and learned gesture. Human experience, conscious and unconscious alike, is inscribed within it. Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda departs from this premise: representation inhabits existence itself, and life, understood as a succession of representations, transforms the body into a space of constant negotiation over who we are. In this passage, boundaries blur; the individual opens toward the collective, and the ephemeral acquires symbolic dimension. By inhabiting this interstice, performance simultaneously reveals the fragility of identity and the strength that emerges from encounter with others.


PERFORMANCE: OSCURECER UN PAPEL. BY ROCÍO VALDIVIESO

March 5 | 7:00 PM. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.


Nocturnality. Installation. Rocío Valdivieso..


Oscurecer un papel forms part of a series of actions in which the artist engages in reading through repetition, memorization, and a measured degree of improvisation. Within this framework, a non-linear mode of reading emerges from a written text that is transformed when spoken aloud, assuming a different form in the act of articulation. The texts stem from an ongoing investigation into materiality, space, the relationships between body and matter, writing, the sculptural, and a sustained interest in the exploration of voice and orality.

The material from which Oscurecer un papel is constructed consists of a collection of purchase receipts the artist has been accumulating over time. The printed text they contain, together with the action of bringing them into proximity with a heat source—thereby activating the thermal paper on which they are produced—generates meanings that revolve around the notions of consumption and wear.


Rocío Valdivieso. Latent Aura. Performance documentation.


ABOUT ROCÍO VALDIVIESO

Rocío Valdivieso is an artist, researcher, and cultural manager. She is currently a PhD candidate in Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid. She holds an MA in Research in Artistic Practices from the University of Castilla–La Mancha (UCLM) and a BA in Fine Arts from the National University of Tucumán, Argentina. She was a Fundación Carolina fellow from 2022 to 2023. She currently co-directs Errática. Laboratory of Processes and Critique in Madrid, alongside Romina Casile.

She was part of the PEEPA 2023 Program at the Centro de Residencias Artísticas, Matadero Madrid. She completed the 2021/22 Artists Program at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, and in 2020 participated in the Intensive Curatorial Program of Proyecto PAC at Galería Gachi Prieto, Buenos Aires. She received the Visual Arts Promotion Award at the 4th Visual Arts Week of the Ente Cultural de Tucumán. She was awarded an AUGM scholarship for an exchange residency at UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil. She also participated in the International Residency Program La Ira de Dios and in the Acéfala Galería Residency for Argentine artists.