José Guerrero / Antonio Blanco
ROMA – 3 VARIAZIONI (2017)
Part of the cycles ‘AlbumArte | Residenze’ and ‘AlbumArte | VideoArtForum‘
Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 6:30pm
AlbumArte – Via Flaminia 122, Rome
Video screening (12’) and debate with the artists, Ilaria Gianni, Paola Ugolini, Francesco Buonerba and Nicoletta Guglielmucci / Wonderlust #rome
In collaboration with the Real Academia de España en Roma
Loop screening of ROMA – 3 VARIAZIONI on Thursday, February 9 from 4pm to 8pm
AlbumArte presents, within the deepening cycle on the artist-in-residence programme “AlbumArte | Residenze”: Roma – 3 Variazioni (“Rome – 3 Variations”), a video by José Guerrero and Antonio Blanco, two Spanish artists, respectively, visual artist and music composer. They met during their Artist Residency at the Real Academia de España of Rome between 2015 and 2016 and then, little by little, they decided to achieve this common project.
The project AlbumArte | Residenze shows artworks that have been exclusively produced during artist-in-residence programme and that will be presented in Italy for the first time. We proposed to José and Antonio, who had already presented their works in the final group show of their artist residency at the Real Academia de España of Rome, to make a video that would witness their experience.
José, now an internationally renowned artist who works primarily with photography, was planning to make a video from the beginning of his career and does so today for the first time.
Antonio, a music composer, believes that Rome can make an impression in the narration of his music and warmly welcomes the idea of forming a new artistic partnership, making the video’s voice-over.
The screening will be followed by a talk, in line with AlbumArte | VideoArtForum project, which presents video and artist’s films for the first time in Italy with deepening debates.
The video, finished editing a few days ago, six months after the end of the artist residency in Rome, is very aesthetic and makes us reflect on what the experience in the eternal city has meant to the two artists. They shot the video trying to avoid the most popular places in the city, which are often bulky stereotypes for artists-in-residency and so they used some secondary elements of the city like the ancient “Acquedotto Claudio”, the water of the river Tevere and its tributaries – observed through immersion – and the sea not far from the city, often frequented by the Romans even out of season.
The film trilogy is an indissoluble dialogue between image and sound and tells of the special vision of a Rome almost out of touch with reality, far from a timeline and lived through a path that becomes a metaphor of life feelings.
We will talk about this during a talk with the artists, Ilaria Gianni – art critic and curator, Paola Ugolini – member of the AlbumArte scientific committee and curator of four exhibitions of AlbumArte | Residenze project, and Francesco Buonerba and Nicoletta Guglielmucci – founders of Wonderlust #rome.
José Guerrero was born in Granada, 1979. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Technical Architecture by the University of Granada (Spain), in 2012 he decided to leave his job as Production Manager at a building company to become a professional photographer. In 2005 he obtained the “Joven Autor Andaluz” [Young Andalusian Artist] grant from Caja San Fernando to develop his project Efímeros [Ephemeral]. Since then he has received grants and awards in competitions including “Purificación García” (2008), “Generaciones” (2008), “Iniciarte” (2007 y 2010) and “María José Jove” and “Imagenera” (both in 2010). In 2008 he also enjoyed an artist’s residency at the Spanish College in Paris, and in 2011 he received the 14th Manuel Rivera Grant, working together with Mark Klett at Arizona State University, USA. He has produced a large part of his work in Spain and in the United States, and it has been acquired by several public and private collections in both these countries. In 2015 he obtained a grant from the the Real Academia de España en Roma to reside as an artist in the Italian capital during the 2015-2016 season to develop a new work entitled “Sette Colli” (“The Seven Hills”). In 2015, he has also been selected for the “ArtSituacions” exhibition (Villa Croce Museum, Genoa; MACRO Museum, Rome; Matadero, Madrid).
Antonio Blanco was born in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), 1979. He got a Degree in Composition at the conservatories of Seville and Milan with the Maestros Alessandro Solbiati and Gabriele Manca; he also studied Orchestral Conducting with Daniele Agiman. Choirmaster, pianist and flautist, Antonio Blanco works as a composer and teacher of Piano and Music Theory in Milan. His repertoire includes solo pieces, chamber and orchestral operas, inter-disciplinary works between theater and dance. He composes his works with great precision, exploring the tonal possibilities of each instrument. He obtained several grants for artist-in-residencies in Mexico, Colombia, New York and Italy, among which a residency at the Real Academia de España en Roma between 2015 and 2016.
Ilaria Gianni is a curator and art critic. After her degree in Art History at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, she received an MFA in Curating at “Goldsmiths”, University of London. From 2009 to 2016 she has been co-Artistic Director and curator of the Nomas Foundation in Rome. From 2015 she is co-founder and curator of the exhibition-event GRANPALAZZO, Zagarolo. In 2016 she co-founded “Magic Lantern Film Festival”, a project that explores the intersection between Visual Arts and Filmmaking. She is Adjunct Professor of Art at John Cabot University, Rome and professor at the Master of Art at University “Luiss Guido Carli”, Rome and at the Advanced study course in “Event and Museum Curator” at the “Istituto Europeo di Design”, Rome. She has curated a number of exhibitions and independent research project in museums, international galleries and festivals, such as MAXXI (Rome), MACRO (Rome), GNAM (Rome), American Academy in Rome, Matadero (Madrid), John Hansard Gallery (Southampton), MOA (Seoul), Loop Gallery (Seoul), Museo d’arte contemporanea Villa Croce (Genova), Micamoca (Berlino), Fondazione Pastificio Cerere (Roma), Monitor (Roma), Maze Gallery (Torino), Galleria Spazio A (Pistoia), Furini Arte Contemporanea (Arezzo), Icastica (Arezzo), Kelmm’s Galerie (Berlino), Galerie Opdhal (Berlino), Frutta Gallery (Roma), Fondazione Adriano Olivetti (Roma). In 2008 she co-founded the publishing house IMpress (until 2011) and from 2009 to 2014 she has been a member of the curatorial platform Art at Work. She also has been a member of the Selection Committee of Arte Laguna Prize (2017); Art Situacions (2015-2016), Celeste Prize 2014, Icastica 2014 (Arezzo), MAXXI Award 2014, IX Furla Award (2013), Lo Schermo dell’Arte (2011), Ettore Fico Award (2010).She is one of the news correspondents for «artforum.com», she has contributed with texts to many monographic catalogues and she also published articles and essays in many magazines such as NERO, Lo Specchio+, Circa, Flash Art, Arte e Critica, Psiche.
Paola Ugolini lives and works in Rome. She is an independent curator and art critic. She regularly writes for Exibart and Il Giornale dell’Arte. In 1993, with Laura Cherubini she was the curator of the collective exhibition Macchine per la Pace held in the former Yugoslav Pavilion for the XLV Venice Biennale. In 2006, she was co-curator, with Andrea Bellini and Laura Cherubini, of Gino de Dominicis’ solo exhibition at PS1 and MoMA, New York. Since 2007 she has been the curator of CortoArteCircuito’s artistic projects, a cultural association producing short movies about contemporary art; since 2010, together with CortoArteCircuito, she is the curator of the project Crossing Cultures in cooperation with Asiatica Film Mediale of Rome, a group of Asian directors making short movies on Italian artists (four short movies have been produced in 2010, filming artists such as Maurizio Mochetti, Luigi Ontani, Sandro Chia and Giuseppe Gallo, in 2011 Pietro Ruffo, goldiechiari, Alfredo Pirri, Nunzio, whereas Alessandro Piangiamore, Alessandro Sarra, Alberto di Fabio and Marco Tirelli in 2012); from 2011 Paola Ugolini is the curator of the project filming the “making of” of exhibitions held at MAXXI Museum in Rome (Michelangelo Pistoletto, Indian Highway, Fratelli Campana and Masbedo). Among the most recent exhibition projects that she has curated: THE BODY AS LANGUAGE. BODY ART AND PERFORMANCE. WHAT IS LEFT, Richard Saltoun Gallery London, 2015; Alice Schivardi, Fondazione Pescheria, Pesaro, 2015; Fair Play. Arte, video e sport oltre i limiti e i confini, MAXXI Museum, Rome, 2014; In queste stanze… Malandrino, Gianni Politi, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, 2014; And What is left unsaid… Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Macro Museum, Rome, 2014. Since 2015 she is part of the Scientific Commitee of AlbumArte.
Wonderlust #rome (Francesco Buonerba, Nicoletta Guglielmucci is a project that aims to consolidate a localized network focused on the essential role the Artists in Residence programs in the roman – and italian – art scene, facilitating artists’ growth and mobility and promoting the potential value of cultural exchange between italian and foreign operators. Wonderlust #rome is a bridge between Institutes and Academies, their history, and the envolving social and cultural environment of Rome, creating new opportunities and exploring new directions. A selection of the most recent activities includes: Interdisciplinarità in situ. Landscapes and Mindscapes in Naples – STUDIO ROMA program of Istituto Svizzero di Roma; Industrial Therapy, an AiR program developed with Kolor bnb and LOFT, Lecce; Open Studio 2016 for Real Academia de España en Roma. The main goal of the project is to create connections and collaborations, activatng and enhancing a dialogue between institutions, academies and artists through both workshops and informal meetings, in-depth analysis, exhibitions, guided tours, publications and open call.