Since 2009 the María Cristina Masaveu Foundation, true to the Foundation’s objectives to promote and disseminate culture and art in general, has sponsored the National Week of Contemporary Art, ALNORTE.

The event was inaugurated on 2 October with an extensive activity programme, including round tables, workshops, courses and speeches in different towns of the Principality of Asturias. The goal of the event is to bring contemporary creation closer to different generations of citizens, opting for dialogue and multidisciplinary activities in defence of culture.

As part of the 14th ALNORTE Generation event, the work of the young artists who were awarded with this edition’s scholarship was displayed:

GUILBERT ROSALES (Havana, 1979) displayed his work, Territorio (Territory) in the Corinthian Courtyard of the Laboral University of Gijón, with two exhibits Espacios Comunes (Common Spaces) and Blikfang, punto de atracción (Blikfang, point of attraction). One of the exhibits represents a speedboat, sometimes used as a “patera” (a small boat used to transport illegal immigrants), accompanied by display panels with quotes about an imaginary future of illusions. The other exhibit is a marble sculpture, which represents a “kalashnikov”, suspended on fragile inflatable balloons, a metaphor for absurdity and fear. At an historic moment when such issues have become global, the artist criticises the economic dictatorship of our time, alluding to the illusion of emigrants, advertising, boundaries and borders.

The Asturian artist, JORGE NAVA (Gijón, 1980), displayed his work La Otra Familia (The Other Family) at the Barjola Museum, a joint exhibit using several different supports, that appear to maintain an artistic dialogue. The idea of this other family is the result of his experiences with friends and referential artists, behind which is a thought-provoking symbolic project between figuration and abstraction, in which colour is key to nurturing the spirit.

FÉLIX CARPIO (Gijón, 1982) and ROMÁN CORBATO (Gijón, 1980) presented their work, Una aproximación a la idea de refugio (An approach to the idea of refugee), at the Borrón Gallery in Oviedo. This joint project, which was inspired by a place in West Asturias, analyses the relationship between nature and picturesqueness and the individual and its scope, with the idea of exploring creative dynamics which integrate direct action and studio work.  For two months the artists worked on different kinds of activities, including maps, diagrams, sketches, photographs and sculptures, that were documented through a Work in progress, establishing a personal relationship between the artists, the public and nature.

The Avilés Culture Factory hosted the project Fibras (Fibres) by LAURA DÍEZ (Mieres, 1978) and SORAYA ANDRÉS (Granollers, Barcelona, 1977). This collection of work hovers between installation and sculpture, based on the world of virgin wool. It is a balance between modernity, the recovery of ancestral knowledge and the textile industry, which has enabled them to analyse their fragile sculptures and interact with the public. Natural fleeces have been crafted, dyed, woven and knotted in order to present an open exhibit and to place emphasis on an environmental vision and the balance between people and nature and rurality and urbanism.

14TH WEEK OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN ASTURIAS

From 2 to 10 October 2015