Above: Videostills from Soneto de Alimanas, Naomi Rincon Gallardo, 2022, at Artium
Soneto de Alimanas depicts a group of underground, marginal characters who conspire to celebrate ‘delirious entangled re-existences’ amidst a world subjected to the logics of exploitation. It generates a solidarity of rejected beings who communicate across airwaves and defend their existence and the potential driven by their otherness to resist violence and dispossession.”
Curator’s Notes at Artium
It’s hard not to get shoved into the backseat of the artworld when your city lies in the shadow of Bilbao’s Guggenheim. Vitoria-Gasteiz is forty miles away, yet the ambitious leadership of Alava province saw an empty hole – the opportunity to promote the flourishing contemporary art scene of Basque Country.
The province’s lead architect, Jose Luis Caton, was charged with putting Vitoria-Gasteiz on the map of the artworld. Positioning a contemporary museum with a three-acre footprint adjacent to the historic center presented a challenge. A massive tower would not be complementary to the surrounding buildings.
Caton’s solution was to create an above-ground presence striking enough to catch attention but not dominating everything around it. The main galleries were sunken, opening up into the museum’s garden and covered by a large public plaza. The Artium Museum opened in 2002 as a heart for the community, not an intrusive blight.
And the art scene is a vibrant one. One well worth the short and inexpensive train ride.
Above: Stills from video installations of Naomi Rincon Gallardo
Above: Video installations by artist Carolina Caycedo reflect her concerns about the environment.
Above: Artium in Vitoria-Gasteiz
Postcards from Barton Springs 