Open Program 2020

The eleven conferences were given by Eduardo Bonito, María Langarita, Fabrizio Barozzi, Ivan Pintor, Zaida Muxí, Smiljan Radic, Hisao Suzuki, William JR Curtis, José Manuel Castanheira, Laia Torrents and Roger Aixut de CaboSanRoque, Maria Muñoz y Pep Ramis de MalPelo and Pep Gatell of La Fura dels Baus, all preceded by video art creations from the Materia Bosc II cycle.

In addition, images and reflections of William JR Curtis could be seen in the Teatime with Champagne series.

Forest Matter II is a selection of video art that celebrates the aesthetic and political power of trees as beings of the future. Trees are agents of regeneration that inform and inspire us. With them we learn to inhabit the world in a sustainable way. We live on the planet of trees but we have stopped seeing them, we have forgotten their names and we have forgotten that we depend on them to survive. Now, in the midst of the climate crisis, it is more important than ever to reclaim our bond with them and celebrate them as necessary allies to avoid ecological collapse.

It is a project of the Bunka Foundation under the curatorship of Eduardo Bonito and Isabel Ferreira in collaboration with LABEA – Laboratorio de Artes Vivas y Ecologia.

Words of welcome

Assumption Puig, Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC)

Assumption Puig (Girona, Spain, 1954) is an architect from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB-UPC). She currently holds the position of Dean of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC) and, on behalf of COAC, is part of the board of trustees of the Mies van der Rohe, Docomomo Ibèric, Rafael Masó, Barcelona Center of Design, Institut Técnolocic de la Construction, and is a member of the Business Council of the UPC, and the Advisory Council of the ICAEN.

El Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya, fundat el 1931 i hereu de l’antiga Associació d’Arquitectes (1874), és una corporació de dret públic que representa els arquitectes catalans, impulsa l’excel·lència en l’arquitectura i en difon els valors, especialment la dimensió social i cultural.

Competing for Sunlight: Oak
Austria (2017), 6 min
Director: Dagmar Dachauer

Oak is a contemporary version of the ancient human understanding of the oak tree as a gateway to other realities. It is a series of short dance films that tell small stories about different species of trees. Dagmar Dachauer is a dancer, performer, choreographer and independent filmmaker based in Belgium and Austria. In 2015, he founded the art association Umfug, where he performs performances and film projects with collaborators from various backgrounds, such as music, sound design, cinematography, visual arts and ecology.

Director: Dagmar Dachauer; Choreography and Dance: Dagmar Dachauer, Knut Vikström Precht; Cinematography: Kilian always full; Assistant Director: David Mair; Assistant Cameraman: Benjamin Lachower; Edition: Rudi Maerten; Sound: Daniel Pérez Hajdu; Color classification: Kilian always complete; Playwright: Christine Fentz; Production Manager: Benjamin Lachower; Producer: Dagmar Dachauer; Co-producer: Bert De Somviele, Christine Fentz; Co-production: Secret Hotel, Dommelhof C-TAKT, BOS; Produced by: UMFUG; Supported by the Federal Chancellery of Austria, State of Upper Austria.

Matèria Bosc II

Eduardo Bonito

Eduardo Bonito (São Paulo, Brazil, 1969) trained in Performing Arts and Public Relations at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and Acting at Middlesex University, United Kingdom. He is currently one of the artistic directors of the Madrid Biennale of Body, Image and Movement Arts (BACmadrid) and, since 2005, director of Dança em Foco – International Festival of Video and Dance (Brazil). He was the artistic director of the Panorama festival in Rio de Janeiro (2004-2013) and project manager at Artsadmin in London (1996-2001). He is the founder of several networks and a consultant for institutions and foundations in Latin America and Europe. He regularly works as a mentor for resident artists at the Canal Theatres in Madrid and resident artists and participants of the PEA Project at Graner/Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona. Since 2017 he has been the creative producer of the Danish collective hello!earth.

El bosque hueco de Lucía Loren (Lucía Loren’s Hollow Forest)
Spain (2004), 9 min
Directors: Juanma Valentín, Lucía Loren

Lucia Loren carries out a series of interventions in nature in which she exalts the tree as a fundamental part of a landscape and its memory. These interventions have served as a guiding thread for Juanma Valentín to create a video that highlights a living landscape’s aesthetic and cultural values. Juanma Valentín is an audiovisual and theatrical creator, and director of the production company Ulls de Ullon.

Director: Juanma Valentín; Artist: Lucia Loren; Music: Claudio Recabarren; Audiovisual post-production: Adan Latonda_FONOFOX.

Be part

María Langarita

María Langarita (Saragossa, Spain, 1979) holds a doctorate in architecture from the Escola Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM-UPM), where she teaches projects. In 2005, together with Víctor Navarro, he founded the Langarita-Navarro architecture office in Madrid. His work has received several national and international awards such as the FAD Award for Architecture (2012), the Special Mention to the emerging architect of the Mies van der Rohe Award (2013) or the award of the Spanish Architecture Biennale and Urbanism (2013). His work has been selected for several exhibitions such as the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014 and 2008), the Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennale (2014) or the Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennale (2013 and 2011), the ‘Architekturzentrum de Vienna 2014), the Royal Institute of British Architects (2013) and his work is part of the permanent collection of the Center Pompidou. Their work has been collected in several publications and they have a monographic issue in the magazine 2G.

Ash Dome
United Kingdom (1977-), 9:43 min
Director: Peter Telfer, Artist: David Nash

In February 1977, they were going to plant 22 ashes in a circle to create a vaulted space, a space for the 21st century. The film documents the living sculpture “Ash Dome” by David Nash in the Ffestiniog Valley in Wales for decades. His work connects David Nash with the trees: “I borrow the tree, I work on it and then, if I want, after a while I can return it to the earth so that it absorbs it and starts the life cycle again”. Peter Telfer is a filmmaker whose mission has been to connect and document the art scene in Wales. He is the founder of Culture Colony / Wladfa Newydd, with a space to share and develop ideas for the creative community of Wales.

Director: Peter Telfer; Artist: David Nash.

Three projects in Switzerland

Fabrizio Barozzi

Barozzi Veiga was founded in 2004 in Barcelona by Fabrizio Barozzi (Rovereto, Italy, 1976) and Alberto Veiga (Santiago de Compostela, 1973). His work includes the DO Ribera del Duero Regulatory Council (2011), the Szczecin Philharmonic Hall (2014), the Bündner Kunstmuseum in Chur (2018), the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne (2019) and the Tanzhaus Zürich (2019). They have been distinguished, among others, with the AJAC Young Architects of Catalonia Award (2007), the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture (2015), the RIBA Award for International Excellence (2018) and the Best Architects 20 Award (2019). In addition, they have participated in international exhibitions, among which the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2017) and the Biennale di Venezia (2014 and 2016) stand out. His work has been published in the monographs Barozzi Veiga (2014), a + o 535 (2015) and A-Mag (2018).

The Wind Telephone
USA (2016), 6 min
Director: Jody Stillwater
Choreography: Nicole Klaymoon

The work is a journey into the imaginary world of a girl who has just lost her mother, building an intimate and timeless landscape where the protagonist tries to find her place. Nicole Klaymoon’s company works with narratives silenced by social inequality to inspire critical dialogue and a healthier society. Jody Stillwater’s projects are based on dream logic and tactile reality, with a transformative approach to visual semiotics.

Director/Editor: Jody Stillwater. Choreographer: Nicole Klaymoon. Producer: Lindsay Gauthier. Director of Photography: Michael Epple. Performers: Micah Head, Branca Mahesh Hall, Amber Julian, Jon Lee, Valerie Troutt. Executive Producer: Judy Flannery & Suzanne Oberlin. Post-Sound: Patrick Shaffer. Original Music: Valerie Troutt and Kool Kyle. Original score: Patrick Shaffer and Jody Stillwater. Wardrobe: Jarred Garza. Production direction: Lauren Finerman & Genevieve Hand. 1st Assistant Director: Alex Irwin & Clare Schweitzer. Gaffer: Chris Galdes. Flu: Tandy Kyne. AC: Lawrence Abbot. DIT: Ben Estabrook & Dylan Love. Sound: Alex Irwin & Clare Schweitzer. Photography: Aleksey Bochkovsky. PA: Terrence Paschal & Steve Merlo. Localization Assistant: Anza Jarsche, Rewa Bush & Tom Shean. Catering: Dan Tosh. Sculptural art: Peter Müller. Thanks to Djerassi Resident Artists Program & Margot H. Knight, Little Giant Lighting and Grip Co. and Videofax. This work has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the Fleischhacker Foundation.

RCR Selection 2019: Movement in the Filmic Image

Ivan Pintor

Ivan Pintor Iranzo (Barcelona, Spain, 1975) holds a PhD in Audiovisual Communication. He is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and has taught at universities in Italy, Argentina and Colombia. He has contributed to more than thirty books, including Poètiques del gest al cinema contemporani, Il Cinéma de Juliol Medem i Univers Lynch. He has directed numerous cycles for the CaixaForum and the Congress Mutacions del gest (UPF, 2012). In addition, he has produced several audiovisual pieces for museums and television and regularly writes for La Vanguardia’s Cultura/s supplement.

Drape
Japan (2010), 2:45 min
Director: Toshinori Tanaka

Drape uses the notion of spectrality through a body that is constantly disappearing and reappearing thanks to the assembly. The body is ephemeral, surrounded by a forest of trees that remains solid, while the dance evolves in changing forms of absence/presence. Toshinori Tanaka is a filmmaker who studied at Cavendish College in London and now serves as a professor at Fukuyama University and as the deputy director of the non-profit organization iD Onomichi. Masumi Saito is an artist and movement director who works in theatre, film, art and fashion.

Director: Toshinori Tanaka; Music: Haruka Nakamura; Performer: Masumi Saito.

RCR Selection 2019: Gravity and a bit of Grace

Smiljan Radić

Smiljan Radic Clarke (Santiago de Chile, Chile, 1965) is an architect at the School of Architecture of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the Istituto Universitari di Architettura di Venezia. In 1995 he opened his own office in Santiago de Chile, always in close collaboration with the sculptor Marcela Correa. He has been recognized, among others, with the Architectural Record Design Vanguard Award (2008); the award for the Best Chilean Building of the Major University, Chile (2013, 2015 and 2018), and the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, USA. In 2009 he was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, USA. He has given numerous conferences, and his work has been the subject of exhibitions in Mexico, Argentina, Spain, the United States, Norway and Austria. His projects have been published in international architecture magazines such as El Croquis, 2G, Revista Internacional d’Arquitectura, a+u, ARQ, Casabella, Detail and Lotus.

Water on Asphalt
Germany (2014), 1:25 min
Director: Johanna Reich

The artist is painting with water in the street. The reflections bring the distant sky and the trees closer to the “destroyer” – the asphalt. Water on Asphalt shows the ambiguity between digital progress and a disappearing nature. It becomes a “memento mori” – a virtual memory that reflects the imminent ecological dilemma of our time. Johanna Reich works in the field of video art, experimenting with different media such as video, photography and installation. His work pays particular attention to video performances, in which he plays (literally and metaphorically) with the camera, tricking it and questioning the resulting image.

Visual artist, filmmaker: Johanna Reich.

Photograph with the Five Senses

Hisao Suzuki

Hisao Suzuki (Yamagata, Japan,1957) graduated from the Tokyo School of Photography in 1979. Fascinated by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, he arrived in Barcelona in 1982, where he settled. In 1986 he began to collaborate with the magazine El Croquis. He became their main photographer, contributing to the publication’s recognition as the means of disseminating contemporary architecture with the most prestige worldwide. His photographs have been published in almost all international architecture and design magazines and numerous books.

Ma mère l’oye (extract)
Belgium / France (2001), 5:35 min (Original 27 min.)
Director: Thierry De Mey

Commissioned by the French TV ART, the television version of the film Ma mère l’oye (My Mother, the Goose) by Thierry De Mey is a beautiful multidisciplinary collage, directed, danced and filmed in the forests surrounding Brussels· the original version was made to be displayed on three screens and accompanied by an orchestra playing Ravel’s famous work of the same name.

With: Radek Hewelt, Igor Paskiewicz, Iris Bouche, Tijen Lawton, Cristian Duarte, Shiani Granot, Pascale Gigon, Brice Leroux, Marion Levy, Manuela Rastaldi, Samir Akika, Annabelle Chamgon and Cédirc Charron, Erna Omasdottir, Sidi and Dami Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Jonathan Burrows, Lieve Meeusen, Kate Mc Intosh, Eugénie De Mey, Riina Sastamoinen, Efrat Rubin, Michèle Anne De Mey, Thomas Hauert, Etienne Guilloteau and Marco Paccagnella. Director: Thierry De Mey; Music: Maurice Ravel; Chamber: Aliocha Van der Avoot Thierry de Mey; Edition: Boris Van der Avoot, Isabelle Boyer.

RCR Selection 2018: Dream and Nature. Conversation between William Curtis and RCR at the Venice Architecture Bienniale 2018

William J. R. Curtis (Birchington, Kent, United Kingdom, 1948) is an architectural historian, critic, writer, painter and photographer. He graduated in 1970 from the Courtland Institute of Art, University of London and received his doctorate in 1975 from Harvard University. His book “Modern Architecture since 1900” (1982) is a work of reference in the history and criticism of architecture. He has been awarded by the Comité international des critiques d’architecture (1985), the Society of Architectural Historians (USA, 1982), the Silver Medal of the World Architectural Biennale (1989) and the Alice David Hitchcock Medal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (2004).

Duet
The Netherlands (2013), 2 min
Direction: Jacqueline Kooter

Lubricated love… game or fight? Jacqueline Kooter is a visual artist and filmmaker. Founder of the art organization STOV and board member and curator of the art space Outline Amsterdam until 2000. She works and lives in Amsterdam. Her films have been screened at multiple international festivals (dance and short film) in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Japan.

Direction, choreography and completion: Jacqueline Kooter; Music: Eric Vloeimans and Jeroen van Vliet.

Where does the lost time go?

Jose Manuel Castanheira

José Manuel Castanheira (Castelo Branco, Portugal, 1952) is a Doctor of Architecture and Scenography and has been teaching at the University of Architecture of the University of Lisbon since 1982. The diversity of disciplines defines his vast body of work, mainly Scenography and Theater Architecture, Scenography of Exhibitions and Painting. He has been awarded national and international prizes. He has led practices and seminars at festivals, universities and other institutions in Spain, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Mexico, Cuba and Brazil. He is also the author and consultant of architectural projects for theatres. He has worked in the theatre since 1973, with more than 300 scenic designs. His work reached an international dimension after its retrospective presented by the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. Since 2010 he has been a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Spain and, since 2019, a member of the Academy of Performing Arts of Spain.

With the collaboration of the Academy of Performing Arts of Spain

Abstraction and Light

William J.R. Curtis invites us with this small and poetic cycle to discover his particular look in the exhibition Abstraction and Light in the Chapel of the Palace of Charles V in the Monumental Complex of the Alhambra and Generalife from September 28 to November 22, 2015. Artist, photographer, architectural historian and critic, the exhibition explores ways of seeing architecture and landscape with a particular emphasis on light, geometry, water, space and shadow through a selection of works, in addition to tracing a journey of discovery through a world of images and forms. In Abstraction and Light, Curtis combines historical lucidity and poetic sensibility to offer a new vision of the Alhambra.

The bilingual catalogue “Abstracción y luz. Abstraction and Light” includes an introduction by Álvaro Siza Vieira, several seminal texts on abstraction written by William J.R. Curtis, an epilogue by Juan Domingo Santos, and various critical reflections on the artist contributed by various authors, such as Juhani Pallasmaa.

Waves
Czech Republic (2017), 3 min
Director: Vojtěch Domlátil

Waves is a non-narrative pixelation of the Czech landscape. “An observer, who clears his mind and reduces the number of his means to work only with time and space, not only achieves a certain ecstasy of pixelation, but also, if he joins the ‘wave’ the road absorbs him completely”. Czech independent filmmaker, animator, illustrator, graphic designer and assistant professor at the animation studio at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. In his latest films he focuses on the poetic aspects of stopmotion animation, oscillating between animation, documentary and experiment.

Director, Designer, Producer: Vojtěch Domlàtil.

Conference on nothing Architecture

Laia Torrents and Roger Aixut

cabosanroque is a duo of sound artists born from a large musical collective formed in Barcelona in 2001. Straddling visual and performing arts and experimental music, their work revolves around the performative capacities of the machine, the object and the sound. Since 2015 they have been resident artists at the Lluís Coromina Foundation in Banyoles. cabosanroque are Laia Torrents (Vic, Spain, 1976) with a degree in Advanced Industrial Engineering from the UPC and higher studies in Composition, Harmony and Arrangements, and Roger Aixut (Barcelona, Spain, 1975) with a degree in Architecture, UPC.

Mirrors of the Imagination

The sequence titled Mirrors of the Imagination focuses on the atmospheres of the Alhambra, evoking the spirit of the place, reflective water surfaces, sublime light and mysterious shadows. As mirrors of the imagination, his works reflect inner seas of the mind. If there are similarities between paintings and photographs, it is because they come from the same inner world, from the same thought patterns. These mental structures influence both perception and the creation of forms. His works of various techniques reflect a congruent way of looking at things. Abstraction is what they have in common.

Memories and Resonances

Described as “mental landscapes”, his paintings and abstract drawings suggest many realities and cannot be linked to any particular subject; they are always ambiguous. There is a marked emphasis on materials, but the aim is to explore the immaterial. These works suggest the layers, levels, traces and atmosphere of the landscape while evoking a particular invisible spirit; in turn, they reach the hidden corners of memory and imagination.

Drawings

Over the years, William Curtis has collected his travel impressions and observations in small portable notebooks. His sketches record the places visited, and the sites seen but also penetrate the essential qualities of the buildings experienced.

See William Curtis’ drawings: https://pkk942.wixsite.com/williamcurtis/drawings.

Microcosm

Abstraction can provide a way to condense complex meanings into a seemingly simple form. It allows you to explore hidden realities beyond the surface features of the visible world. Curtis’s works distil his impressions of “nature” in the broadest sense while evoking memories and mythic themes. Sometimes they refer to water, geology, light and landscape mysteries.

View the collection of William Curtis’ Microcosm paintings https://pkk942.wixsite.com/williamcurtis/microcosms

El paraíso de Nunca Jamás (The Paradise of Neverland)
Spain (2013), 4:16 min
Direction: Yago de Mateu

There are magical spaces and extraordinary beings with the captivating power capable of changing the course of life to open our eyes and grant us a clear new look with which to fly fearlessly through the window to the second star on the right and straight until dawn… Yago de Mateo is dedicated to audiovisual artistic creation. With a multidisciplinary profile and trained in illustration, graphic design, editing and video editing, he turns to the investigation of the body in space. From the perspective of dance and video creation, de Mateu explores the languages and disciplines of performance, street theatre, sound and light installation and participates in numerous interventions in urban and natural spaces.

Director: Yago de Mateo; Artist: Cristina Omecanya.

When Silence Comes

Pep Ramis and María Muñoz

Pep Ramis (Manacor, Spain, 1962) is a stage director and dancer-actor. María Muñoz (Valencia, Spain, 1963) is a choreographer and dancer. In 1989 they formed the creation group Mal Pelo, with shows such as L’animal a l’esquena (2001), En el silenci (2003), BACH (2004) and The Mountain, Truth and Paradise (2017). Mal Pelo has received, among others, the 2002 National Dance Prize awarded by the Government of Catalonia and the 2009 National Dance Prize. In 2001 they promoted L’animal a l’esquena, a multidisciplinary creation and exchange centre for experimentation and the exchange of ideas and experiences between stage managers, musicians, video artists, theorists and dancers in a 19-hectare farmhouse in Celrà, Girona.

Transformations of Light

Curtis’ photographs are not mere records of his long journeys, they are also poetic interpretations of places visited and places seen and experienced. Like his paintings and drawings, abstract structure plays an essential role in his images. His photographs evocatively use light and shadow and suggest spaces for meditation. Curtis has written: “A photograph depends on the angle chosen, but it is also influenced by our intuitive filters, by our way of seeing; it registers certain facts of the outside world, but it also responds to an inner configuration. The photographer is guided almost unconsciously by memories and dreams, by formal structures and by favorite images. Photography can shape a worldview; invites reflection on ambiguity.

Closing Words

Miquel Molins, Banco Sabadell Foundation

Miquel Molins Nubiola (Barcelona, Spain, ​​1953) holds a PhD in History and Theory of Contemporary Art. He is currently president of the Banc Sabadell Foundation. He has been a professor at the Eina and Massana schools in Barcelona and thesis director of the Metròpolis Master of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, he was a visiting professor at the Art History, Theory and Criticism Department of the School of Art Institute of Chicago (1994-95 ). Until 2017 he was a Theory and Contemporary Art professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has directed the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona and was curator of the Miró Foundation in Barcelona. In addition, he has curated several exhibitions in Spain and abroad. He has published several essays on criticism and modern and contemporary art in specialized publications and press.

The Banc Sabadell Foundation was established as a private foundation in 1994 to stimulate excellence and promote knowledge and culture. The Foundation aims to facilitate dissemination, training and research activities in the educational, scientific and cultural fields, as well as to encourage and support young talent. It has established itself as the organizer of the prestigious Banc Sabadell Foundation Awards for Biomedical Research, Economic Research and Science and Engineering.

Cinere
Spain (2016), 3:16 min
Director: Nuria Mosqueira

Cinere places us in a mountain burned by the wave of fires in the summer of 2015 in Galicia. From a poetic vision, it shows the earth in ashes and contrasts it with a dreamed or imagined look that lets us see, over there on the horizon, what might have been there or what we would like to achieve. A fragment that, like a landscape, we could choose to paint and contemplate. But reality ravages the fields, and only a few hands are left trying to recover an imagined forest, playing with small flowers and branches that the fire left as remnants. Nuria Mosqueira is a multidisciplinary artist who bases her practice on the exploration of close contexts that cause a shock, strangely in front of a world in constant fracture. It seeks to reconstruct, to show wounds in order to try to heal them, as well as to question every hegemonic vision in the face of these realities.

Visual artist, filmmaker: Nuria Mosqueira.

Architectural Camouflage

Pep Gatell

The interdisciplinary approach of La Fura dels Baus has led to amalgamating the ritual and atavistic with the hyper-technological on stage: from the first impactful fur proposals through Olympic ceremonies, opera stagings or online productions. Since 1979, the company has also been studying collective creation methodologies and consolidating new scenic discourses. The capacity for risk and creative contagion has provided La Fura with wide international recognition at a general and critical level and in academic research. Pep Gatell (Barcelona, Spain, ​​1958) participated in creating and interpreting the company’s first shows that consolidated it internationally, inventing the Fura language: the method of collective creation based on friction. He is the president of the Epic Foundation, with whom La Fura projects his creative solvency and the success of his method through a centre that brings together learning and experience.