Archipiélago Oeste / Arxipèlag Oest / Arxipel Ouest / Arcipelagu Punenti / Arcipelago ovest / Arcipèlagu Punente

“Arxipèlag oest” (‘West Archipelago’) came into being as a result of the will to connect and make visible the most relevant museums of three Mediterranean islands – Mallorca, Corsica and Sardinia. Thanks to the collaboration of FRAC Corse (Corsica), MAN, Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro (Sardinia) and Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma (Mallorca), this project began with the visibilization of young artists through an exhibition with a six-language title (Archipiélago Oeste / Arxipèlag Oest / Arxipel Ouest / Arcipelagu Punenti / Arcipelago ovest / Arcipèlagu Punente). All of the artists will present projects developed specifically for the display, based on the self-referential and on experience related to their native regions. The exhibition is the result of the collaboration between these three top art centres in the Western Mediterranean and the curatorship is held by the directors of each museum: Nekane Aramburu, Anne Alessandri y Lorenzo Giusti.

The exhibition “Arxipèlag oest” will be held at FRAC Corse in Corti from 28^th October to 15^th January 2018 and different public calls have been made for it to select creators who were already working on the issues proposed by the project, developing specific productions. The artists selected are: Arantxa Boyero (Mallorca), Roberto Casti (Cerdeña), Mimi Enna (Cerdeña), Guillem Portell (Mallorca), Pauline Rognoni (Córcega) and Alexandra Villani (Córcega).

The two Mallorcan artists selected by Nekane Aramburu to form part of the exhibition via the Les Clíniques programme are Arantxa Boyero (1982) and Guillem Portell (1990). Boyero defines all her projects as mini-actions, regardless of the technique they are carried out with. She studies human behaviour by observing the conduct of living beings, like cats and plants. Resorting to conscious attention practices, she plays with her environment in order to question traditions and reflect on issues like intimacy and relationships based on the idiosyncrasy of her close surroundings.

In “Arxipèlag oest” Arantxa Boyero will present the project Seres Marinos (‘Marine Beings’, 2017), with which she constructs a seabed using illustrations of imaginary creatures, created thanks to the collaboration and participation of several groups of children from the islands of Corsica and Mallorca which she has gestated through creative sessions. Alongside this collaborative work, she includes the video piece Bolero Mallorquín (‘Mallorcan Bolero’, 2011), in which the artist interprets her own version of the island’s typical dance.

Through his work, Guillem Portell seeks to reflect on the changes arising from the Balearic identity, environment and context. His work is structured through the representation of current events that are usually related to power, corruption, speculation and the exploitation of the territory, using different media and formats, and employing an ironic language of caustic humour that comes close to the conceptual.

In How to be an artist: el peso de un apellido (‘How to be an artist: the weight of a surname’, 2017), Portell questions a recurring problem for young Mallorcans: whether to continue with the family business or to follow their own professional interests. The performance he will carry out in Corti will be inside the exhibition space, where Portell manages to combine the traditional family work, that of Mallorcan patisserie, with his dedication to the world of art.

“Arxipèlag oest” can be seen until next year and is seen as the start of a stable collaboration that goes beyond this exhibition itself, committing from the beginning to emerging art, the specificity of the regions and networking. The idea is to strengthen links between artists and institutions in order to expand this experience as much as possible, helping and reinforcing the professionalisation and visibilization of contemporary art in the Mediterranean.

The production of this first phase was carried out by FRAC Corse (Corsica), and in different phases will be made visible through the contributions of MAN and Es Baluard over 2018.

Nekane Aramburu