November 2023

Das Russendenkmal

During a residency at Kunstdepot Göschenen in the Swiss Alps, we produced a series of watercolor paintings based on our study of what is locally known as "Das Russendenkmal" - an imposing sculpture hewn out of bare rock in the Schöllenen Gorge, where in the 18th century Russian troops clashed with those of Napoleon over the narrow passage between North and South Europe. Our focus did not lie on this ancient history, however, but rather on how recent geopolitical events such as the war in Ukraine may influence the significance attributed to this large stone cross by visitors. What symbolical traces did these shifts in perspective leave behind?

Las Lanzas in Breda

The contemporary art platform Witte Rook, together with the Stedelijk Museum Breda, invites the artistic couple formed by Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum to investigate the vestiges of the shared history between Holland and Spain.

Their project takes as starting point three copies of the painting “Las Lanzas” by Diego Velázquez: one made by Kees Maks in 1903, another by Frans Hogerwaard in 1912 and the third one, painted by Fernando Coll in 1931.

Although at first glance the images they represent are very similar to each other, they fulfill very different functions. By focusing on these differences, the artists hope to shed light on the fluidity of these images and the different, sometimes contradictory, narratives they support.

What remains for us to talk about

The installation False Flag will be part of the exhibition What we have left to talk about at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, Chile. Within the framework of the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile, this exhibition proposes a display of alternative narratives, dialogues and reflections on the memory of the dictatorships in Chile and Spain based on works by contemporary artists from both countries. The exhibition is a a sounding board where the elements of the present, the past and the prefiguration of the future reverberate in a framework that challenges our own configuration of the world and leads us to continue acting from new spaces of meaning.

Artists: Núria Güell (ESP), Irene de Andrés (ESP), Alán Carrasco (ESP), Mauricio Toro Goya (CHL), Celeste Rojas Mugica (ARG-CHL), Lorenzo Sandoval (ESP), Alexis Díaz (CHL), Amaia Molinet (ESP), Eriz Moreno (ESP), Art al Quadrat (ESP), Carolina Astudillo (ESP-CHL), Claudio Correa (CHL), Iratxe Jaio + Klaas van Gorkum (ESP-NLD), Manuel Correa (COL-ESP), Oficina de investigación documental (ESP), Fernando Sánchez Castillo (ESP), Marco Godoy (ESP), Noelia Pérez Sández (ESP), Paula Rubio Infante (ESP).

Curating: Soledad Aguirre (CHL).