Gas Natural Fenosa : Museum of Contemporary Art inaugurates a collective exhibition featuring its grant-receiving artists of 2015.

• The MAC presents the creative work and artistic evolution of the three winners of its Artistic Creation Abroad Grants:Alberto Gracia, Ruth Montiel Arias and Federico Vladimir Strate Pezdirc.

• Galicia, Ireland, Morocco, South Africa, Peru, Tierra de Fuego (Chile and Argentina)were the destinations chosen by the three young grant recipients to develop their artistic creations.

Today, the Gas Natural Fenosa Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) inaugurates a collective exhibition with work from the artists Alberto Gracia(Ferrol, 1978), Ruth Montiel Arias(Palmeira, A Coruña. 1977) and Federico Vladimir Strate Pezdirc (Buenos Aires, 1983), the three winners from the 2015 edition of the GAS NATURAL FENOSA Artistic Creation Abroad Grants, aimed at artists under the age of 40, born or residing in Galicia.

Galicia, Ireland, Morocco, South Africa, Peru and Tierra de Fuego (Chile and Argentina) were the destinations chosen by the three young grant recipients, who decided to develop their artistic creations in these world-renown centres of contemporary art. The Gas Natural Fenosa grants have allowed them to complete their artistic training, broaden their creative horizons and soak up new artistic trends and influences.

In this exhibition, which will be open to the public until 17 September, MAC presents the three artists' creative work and artistic development from the past two years. For the MAC director, Carmen Fernández Rivera, 'supporting Galician artists is very important to the Museum. This is why we will continue to promote international mobility, as we are convinced that this represents an important creative opportunity for these emerging artists.'

The grant-winning artists and their creative projects

Alberto Gracia(Ferrol, A Coruña, 1978) presents Fascinación, an installation with various screens and poetic objects, fruits of the creation process, that generate a fragmented space. The focal point of his project is the 'evil eye', a cultural superstition more common and relevant within popular Occidental traditions. For his project, he travelled to Ireland, Morocco and Galicia, as these are the chosen places that, in theory, represent the 'evil eye'.

The 'evil eye' superstition was born with the first civilizations, along with belief in the power of the gaze, its destructive capacity and its susceptibility to curse. From these threads the project was woven together, with a satirical edge, developing shapes that revolve around desire and the gaze, as well as the role of image in creating and destructing identity. The viewer's role ended up being very important; as, in fascination, the individual is always two people: both fascinating and fascinated.

The work of Ruth Montiel Arias (Palmeira, A Coruña, 1971) questions, through installations, ephemeral actions, videos or photographs, the intervention in nature of human impulses such as desire of possession and power. In her photographic project Sin oro no hay hombre, Ruth Montial Arias wants to bring to light the relationship between humankind and its origin, its evolution, and to see how mineral exploitation affects the individual, land and the illegality. To accomplish this, Ruth travelled to: South Africa and Peru, two counterpoints of the same reality.

The visual artist Federico Vladimir Strate Pezdirc (Buenos Aires, 1983) presents Cantos del Hain, an expanded documentary about the Selknam, a primitive community in Tierra del Fuego (an island belonging to Chile and Argentina) that was practically wiped out by the European immigrant at the beginning of the 20th century. Their main cultural demonstration was the Hain ceremony, where men dressed up as spirits and narrated Selknam cosmogony to the women and children. The documentary questions the rational practices of colonialism and looks to create a narrative in which the Selknam cosmogony enters into a conflictive dialogue with European cosmogony.

Supporting artistic creation and international mobility

Faithful to its commitment to help establish young Galician artists and its aim of encouraging the ongoing development of the plastic arts in Galicia, Gas Natural Fenosa convenes a biennial competition for grants for artistic creation abroad, and has been doing so since 1991. These study grants are designed to promote and spread the creativity of plastic and visual artists born or living in Galicia.

Recipients of these grants in previous editions include some of the most outstanding Galician creators of the last two decades: Guillermo Aymerich, Berta Cáccamo, Manolo Paz and José Luis Seara (1991); Tono Carbajo and Xesús Otero-Yglesias (1993); Xoán Anleo, Antonio Murado and Pamen Pereira (1995); Xosé Carlos Barros, Manuel Olveira and Carlos Rial (1997); Mónica Alonso, Mar Caldas and Manuel Vázquez (1999); David Castro, Tatiana Medal and Simón Pacheco (2001); Vicente Blanco and Salvador Cidrás (2003); Carlos Maciá; Ana Soler (2005); Mar Cuervo, Álvaro Negro and Jorge Perianes (2007); Félix Fernández, David Ferrando Giraut and Nano4814 (2009); Antón Cabaleiro, Victoria Diehl and Tamara Feijoo (2011) and lastly, the winners of the latest call (2014), Carla Andrade, Loreto Martínez Troncoso and Miguel Mariño.

The MAC seeks to strengthen the company's commitment to promoting training, production, professionalism and internationalisation within Galicia's cultural and creative sector. The Museum will continue to promote programmes that support the cultural sector, as the MAC has done since its beginnings (Art Exhibit Gas Natural Fenosa, Artistic Residences, Picasso Workshop and Artistic Creation Abroad Grants), as well as developing new initiatives and activities in Galicia that support the Galician creative sector, especially for children and adolescents in the region.

A Coruña, 01 June 2017.

Images

Grant Recipients' Exhibition 2015 (PDF 5 MB)