Irene de Andrés, winner of the 5th DKV-ES BALUARD scholarship

04th May 2018

Irene de Andrés, winner of the 5th DKV-ES BALUARD scholarship

Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma and DKV Seguros announce that the winner of the 5th production grant to the videographic creation DKV - Es Baluard 2018 is the artist Irene de Andrés (Ibiza, 1986) with the project Complejos de destino. Capítulo I: Prora. This decision has been adopted, on May 3, 2018, unanimously by the jury of the call, consisting of Alicia Ventura (curator and adviser DKV Collection), Javier Hontoria (curator and art critic), Tania Pardo (Responsible of Exhibitions of La Casa Encendida), Juan Bautista Peiró (advisor DKV Collection) and Nekane Aramburu (director of Es Baluard).

The aid, endowed with an amount of 5,000 euros, will lead to the development of the project presented by the artist, which will be exhibited in Es Baluard from November 2018, and will participate in a collective exhibition in Ca n'Oliver, Mahón , Menorca, from October 5, 2018 to January 6, 2019.

Also, the jury wants to highlight the quality of the projects received during the call, which has added up to a total of 104 projects, of which the jury also wishes to highlight two special mentions for the artists Marla Jacarilla, for his proposal Las cosas: una historia del S.XXI, and Serafín Álvarez, by the denominated Abismo.

In the winning project of Irene de Andrés, Complejos de destino. Capítulo I: Prora, the use of its own language is emphasized, through a discourse that the artist has developed in a coherent manner in recent years, applying research and analysis methods that are reflected in highly rigorous works. With this project, Irene de Andrés returns to treat tourism as a theme, but implementing the idea with a turn towards the obsession with travel, for collecting places, and how this colossal industry becomes stronger and stronger, engulfing everything in its path. The buildings themselves in their different stages, being the fruits of the tourism business, tell what has happened, what is happening and what can happen.

Complejos de destino. Capítulo I: Prora is another meaning to refer to the tourist complexes and refers to those hotels that offer everything necessary so that guests do not have to leave their premises. These types of places, along with cruises have become increasingly popular and function as one city within another.

The artist places the project in one of the largest tourist complexes, and one of the oldest, Prora, on the island of Rügen, on the Baltic coast of north-east Germany. This is a building erected in Nazi Germany during the years 1936 and 1939, when it was abandoned due to the outbreak of World War II. What was born as an ideal holiday and tourism is one of the themes widely developed by this artist in recent years, which adapts to new functions by reopening its doors to those who want and can afford an apartment there. A project that, in short, the jury highlights as an advance on the analysis of social transformation and contemporary landscapes.

In previous editions of the call, the projects (Preposición) La Habitación (2014), of Elssie Ansareo i Alaitz Arenzana, Skyline (2015), of Javier Artero, The sun is gone but we still have the view (2016), of Joan Bennassar i En la oscuridad brillante (2017), of Fermín Jiménez Landa..

Irene de Andrés graduated from the School of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid (2004-2009) where she did a Master's degree in research and artistic production (2009-2010). She has been one of the resident artists of the FLORA Ars + Natura School in Bogotá (Art Residency Program A / CE) in 2016 and of The Harbor Beta Local Program in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2017.

Between the scholarships and prizes that it has received they emphasize the prize Circuits d'Arts Plàstiques 2012, Generaciones 2013, Injuve 2014, the Ayudas a la Creación Visual Vegap 2015 and the Premis Ciutat de Palma 2015. It has enjoyed the programs of residence of BilbaoArte, Casa de Velázquez and Atelierhaus Salzamt a Linz (Austria).

Recently, Irene's work has been seen in the MuHKA (Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp), in the MACE (Museum of Contemporary Art in Ibiza) at IFA Galerie in Berlin, in the second edition of the Triennal Frestas al Sesc Sorocaba  (Brazil) and at the last Biennal Leandre Cristòfol held at the Centro de Arte La Panera de Lleida. His last solo exhibition took place at Espai 13 of the Fundació Joan Miró de Barcelona in November 2017.