Curated by Susana Salinas for the II Edition Contemporary Video Art Festival @ Mercado de las Flores, Madrid,
From the 6Th al 8th de December the Foundation Temas de Arte is celebrating their II Edition of “The Contemporary Video Art Festival in The Mercado de las Flores”, located in central Madrid in the plaza Tirso de Molina. The Festival gathers three exclusive programs with a selection of outstanding works of contemporary international video art:
• Especial Selection of VideoartWorld: “Thresholds”. Barcelona
• Especial Selection V National Award of Experimental Video from Baja California. Mexico
• Especial Selection Internacional Festival of Videoart in Casablanca. Morocco
FIRST PROGRAM: VIDEOARTWORD: THRESHOLDS/UMBRALES:
Curated by Susana Salinas.
“Thresholds” presents a body of work of video that gravitates around the thresholds of being, exploring the limits of existence, using the body as a common signifier. This is an invitation to meet somewhere on the way, between being and not being, between all and nothing, between life and death; a body of work of an extraordinary transcendental strength and beauty that invites us to reflect on the lightness of being. Through an awareness of our body and its fragility, it connects us with our existence and the very simple predicament of “I am”.
The title of this program, “Thresholds”, speaks about a transition that is about to happen, about a passage that we are about to cross, but it also tells us about limits; the physical limits of a body. A threshold is also the point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced, as in the case of a threshold of pain. The works of the artists selected here are referring to the body and its limits. It is a body that speaks without words about all that resists representation and that still provokes an emotional reaction in us. There is directly or indirectly an element of performance in all these pieces where the body and its emotions are the real protagonists.
Most of these pieces could very well be displayed as an installation in a loop on their own since many have been conceived as an eternal loop that just goes on and on in time. There is an atemporality and repetitive aspect to this work that in contrast with its other very human component reminds us about our body and our mortality.
Selected Artists:
Xoan Anleo, Amparo Sard, Mayumi Lake, L.A. Raeven, MASBEDO, Glenda Leon
Program:
• "Diálogos quebrados" by Xoan Anleo (Spain)
Video, 2006, 6'20'', 4/3, B/N, Courtesy of Magda Bellotti Gallery, Madrid
• "Dudando del momento perfecto" by Amparo Sard (Spain)
Video 2004, 8', Courtesy of Ferran Cano Gallery, Palma de Mallorca/Barcelona
• "Mimicking" by Mayumi Lake (Japan)
Video, 1997, 2'30'', Courtesy of M.Y. Art Prospects Gallery, New York
• "Echoes of despair" by L.A. Raeven (The Netherlands)
Video, 2007, 4'17'', Courtesy of gallery Ellen de Bruijne, Amsterdam
• "Una constante perdita di magia" by MASBEDO (Italy)
Video, 2007, 3'43'', Courtesy of Pack Gallery, Milano
• "Cada Respiro" by Glenda Leon (Cuba)
Video, 2003, 1'50'' minutes loop, Courtesy of Habana Gallery, La Habana
SECOND PROGRAM: EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO BAJA CALIFORNIA
Especial Selection for the V National Award of Experimental Video from Baja California, México. 15 outstanding works from the final Official Selection of this Award.“Quest” becomes a key word to define these experimental pieces. It is as much a quest referring to their search for new narrative as much as for the subjects matters developed in them. The same quest that does not prevent the artists to drink from the work of authors such as Maya Deren or Jan Savenkmajer, to mention some examples.
Selected Artists:
Iris Topete, Elena Pardo, Daniela Paasch Adame, Erick Urias, Rodrigo Aarón Maya Hernández, Marco Casado, José Arturo Hinojos, Bruno Varela, Juan Carlos de la Parra, Pedro Jiménez, Esther Guizar Mares, Maries Mendiola, David Ojeda Sánchez, Javier Toscazo, Ricardo Vizcarra, Pablo C. Vergara, César Guevara, Omar Bernal Benítez, Xochitl Sánchez, Roberto Sánchez, Jorge Yánez, Gabriela Monroy, Arturo Gil, Alejandra Alarcón, Pablo Cotama, Jorge Hauss, Héctor Ruíz, Mª Eugenia Enríquez, Carlos Ortega, Edgar Torres, Ieve González, Catalina Reyes, Arturo Pulido, José Israel Pérez, Minerva Tapia, Alejandro Montalvo, Patricia García, Marco Ruíz, Carolina Tapia, Raúl García, Omar Mendoza, Blanca Medellín, Bruno Bresani.
THIRD PROGRAM: INTERNATIONAL VIDEOART FESTIVAL OF CASABLANCA
Curated by Ahmed Jaride (Artist, director of the Zon’Art magazine, director of AVAA), Abdelmajid Jihad (Director of the Center Irisson, President of the Festival International des Arts Visuels et des Nouveaux Médias) and Seddati Majid (Director of the Festival Arts Visuels et des Nouveaux Médias).
Selected Artists:
Safaa Erruas, Amina Benboucheta, Mehdi Halib, Khalid Soqbi, Omar Saadoune, Bouchra Ijork.
Program:
• “The ballerina”, by Safaa Erruas and Amina Benboucheta, 2’30”
A white flower, pinned, sodden that turns and turns to a kids song till it is all covered by metal filaments… It is a paradogical image…
• “Ex nihilo”, by Mehdi Halib, 2008, 10′
Theology, atomism, entropy, holism and reductionism. One day and four sesions, departing from this concepts and their contradictory definitions built from nothingness.
• “Taro”, Documental produced by the workshop “Dialoges M’diq-Tarifa-Tánger”, 24′, 2007
“Dialogos de los estrechos” is an iniciative disigned to create create a space for commincation between the youth from both sides of the mediterranean.
• “Parano-Land” by Khalid Soqbi, 6’35”
Entre la multitud se esconden inevitablemente seres maliciosos. The smalles object can carry a shadow of fatality. Should we close our eyes to dream about a bright day or should we open them to see all the darkness? This is the daily nightmare of someone who thinks to understand what happens around them, for whom distrust is become a way of life.
• “Bibliofonia” by Khalid Soqbi, 3’50”
¡Una filing books session that becomes an act of music…!
• “Insomnio” by Khalid Soqbi. 5’55”
To not close your eyes at night, an involuntary obstination o a No cerrar el ojo de noche, una obstinación involuntaria or a challenge to those basic laws that determine our human limitations. Once one crosses these limits craziness becomes the only guidance through this unknown territory!
• “Silent Dreams” by Omar Saadoune, 7’13”
It’s about the meeting of four deaf … their handicap does not bring them the same experience neither the same reason to live and fight their difficulties. Omayma Ben Ayade, Omar Youssfi, Laila Debbah and Omar Nadi, each kid tells their story, their deam, and their right to live…
• “Karawne: Lebanese bird” by Bouchra Ijork, 10’26”, 2003
Photography: Leonado Sette. Brazil / Sound: Julia Korab-Kowalska. Poland / Production: Yasmine Chouikh. Argelia / Post-Production: Antony Cordier. France. This film was produced during the Summer University program organized by FEMIS (École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l’Image et du Son, París). June 2003.
“When I arrived to Paris, I had to chose a subject for the documental I was going to produce. Being myself an actress, I had no doubt to make my film about Gad El maleh. During my second week in Paris I had an encounter that made me reconsider my choice. I met Alexandre Polékivitch, a young student form Libano, Alexander has a double life: during the day he studied at a catering school and he did his practice at a luxury hotel. At night Alexandre practiced a different profession that he was passionate about, and that it was not just a hobby or a just second job, but rather his vocation and his passion: belly dancing. This duality made me see Paris from another perspective; this beautiful city, rich in languages, colors, sounds and contradictions. Paris lives the days and the nights exactly like Alexander, receptionist during the day and ballerina at night.”
