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LOOP Barcelona – XIII Edition
From 28 May to 6 June 2015, Barcelona welcomes the latest
proposals of video and moving image art.
The XIII Edition of LOOP Barcelona, including its Fair, Festival, and Studies, will develop its
artistic programme and space of debate around two driving themes: What about Collecting
Video Art? and Beyond the Image: Sound.
Through these three sections – Fair, Festival, and Studies – LOOP Barcelona presents a careful
selection of video pieces, a programme of exhibitions in the principal spaces of the city,
interventions in public spaces, and displays a wide programme of discussions and professional
encounters regarding video art between 28 May and 6 June in the City of Barcelona.
On the one hand, the LOOP Fair, 4 – 6 June, will take place in the Hotel Catalonia Ramblas,
where more that 45 galleries will present solo shows by contemporary video artists in various
rooms. Many of these showings will be world premieres. During these three days, LOOP
Studies will present an extensive programme of discussions and professional encounters
regarding video art in a large workspace that will encourage reflection upon LOOP 2015’s two
main lines of work.
Among this year’s new additions to LOOP Barcelona is the launch of the first edition of the
Discovery Award, with the support of Estrella Damm. The purpose of the award is to stimulate
the production of videos and films by international artists through an open call to the artistic
community. The winner of the Discovery Award, that offers a prize of 5,000 euros, will be
announced on 5 June at a party in the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm, where there will also be
an exhibition of the ten pieces by this year’s finalists.
LOOP Barcelona is not only an event for professionals, but it also strives to engage the
audiences. For this reason, between 28 May and 6 June, diverse city spaces will welcome
video exhibitions organized within the framework of LOOP Festival. The recently opened
Museu de Cultures del Món, as well as numerous spaces within the premises of the Antic
Hospital de la Santa Creu, among these, the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya and la Capella,
will join for the first time the city spaces that welcome exhibition projects and artistic
interventions. These spaces include, the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the cine Zumzeig, the Mercat
de la Boqueria, the Virreina-Centre de la Imatge, the Reial Cercle Artístic, the Museu Picasso,
the Ateneu Barcelonès, the Museu Frederic Marès, and the Palau del Baró de Quadras, a
modernist building constructed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and current headquarters of the
Institut Ramon Llull. Arts Santa Mónica will present a new piece by artist Jordi Colomer,
winner of the first edition of the award for video creation recently launched by Xarxa de
Centres i Espais d’Arts Visuals de Catalunya, Arts Santa Mònica, and LOOP Barcelona, and that
also counts on the support of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.
During LOOP dates, there will also be a number of diverse, special interventions in public
spaces of the city with the fourth edition of the project UMVA (Unidad Móvil de video
arquitectura). This project, made in collaboration with the Universidad de Arquitectura de la
Salle, consists of putting architecture students in contact with local artists for the production
of pieces and works of investigation.
The Two Driving Themes
What about Collecting Video Art?
This theme will explore the notion of collecting video art and will highlight the role of the
collector as an active agent in the promotion of contemporary art, who is committed to the
artistic community, and who assumes a proactive position in the art world. Video art collecting
will be the focus of the programme of discussions that will take place from 4 – 6 June in the
Hotel Catalonia Ramblas. This topic will also be addressed through a number of exhibitions in
the chief artistic centers of the city, that from 28 May to 6 June will welcome collections and
collectors of international reference, such as Sammlung Goetz (Germany), Sam Art Projects
(France), collection Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Italy) and Leal Rios (Portugal). At the
same time, LOOP Barcelona 2015 will present the leading video collectors from Spain in the
exhibition, Vídeo- Règim. Col·leccionistes a l’era audiovisual, a project curated by Carles
Guerra that will occur in the Cercle del Liceu – a space that will open for the first time to the
general public for this particular show. El Museu Nacional de Catalunya will also join LOOP by
welcoming a selection of works from the Fundació Sorigué in an exhibition curated by Javier
Panera.
Beyond the Image: Sound
This theme will explore the artistic sound practices that are closely related to the moving
image. For this occasion, the French specialist, Anne-Laure Chamboissier, will curate a
programme of sound interventions in a space within the cloisters of the Antic Hospital de la
Santa Creu by artist Emmanuel Lagarrigue. In addition, the artist Àlex Arteaga will develop a
series of interventions in the spaces of the Pabellón Mies van der Rohe and the Fundació
Tàpies in a project curated by Lluís Nacenta.
For more information, please consult www.loop-barcelona.com or contact press@loopbarcelona.com
LOOP Fair and LOOP Studies
4 – 6 June. Hotel Catalonia Ramblas (C/ Pelayo, 28. Barcelona)
LOOP Festival
28 May – 6 June. Various locations within the city.