Tag: vitoria-gasteiz

Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: Vitoria-Gasteiz showcases contemporary art

postcardsfromsanantonioLeave a comment

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.

Continue reading “Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: Vitoria-Gasteiz showcases contemporary art” →

Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: Heart of Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz

postcardsfromsanantonioLeave a comment

Above: Detail of mosaic portion of “Eskuz Esku” in Basque, or “Hand to Hand.” Lead artist John Pitman Weber and assistant Alicia Vallejo Sanz, a 2010 project of Itinerario Muralistico of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

While Bilbao with the Guggenheim and San Sebastian’s Running of the Bulls have made those cities well known in the United States, Vitoria-Gasteiz is the actual seat of government of Basque Country. With a population of about 250,000, the Basque capital lies only 40 miles outside Bilbao. The hyphenation reflects the duality of Spain’s sometimes dueling cultures: Vitoria is Spanish while Gasteiz is the Basque half of its name.

Continue reading “Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: Heart of Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz” →