Pedro G. Romero: The new babylonians

The concept of “New babylonians” was developed by Guy Debord, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Har Oudejans and Pinot‑Gallizio on the basis of Constant Nieuwenhuys’ situationist project, New Babylon, and is related to some of the fundamental ideas that underpinned this movement, such as psychogeography, wandering and unitary urbanism. Inspired by these concepts, the artist and curator, Pedro G. Romero, proposes an exercise to the Galeria Municipal do Porto that aims to question our perception of different nomadic groups, gypsy ethnicity, flamencos, political exiles and libertarians.

The exhibition offers an analysis of the sensitive field of these different approaches to life with a special focus on their displacement across the physical and political borders of Spain and Portugal, including several resonances of their relationship with the Atlantic territories of America and Africa. The city of Porto acts as the starting geography for an enquiry into the paths, flows and wanderings of these “new Babylonians,” from the Portuguese context and its trans-border zones.

Public programme:
November 21, 4pm
The Disappearing Act: performance by Yinka Esi Graves

Pedro G. Romero was born in Aracena, Spain, in 1964. He has been working as an artist since 1985 and, between 1999 and 2019, he worked on two major projects—Arquivo F.X. and Máquina P.H. He participated in proposals integrated in the UNIA — arteypensamiento and in the PRPC (Platform for Reflection on Cultural Policies), in Seville.

He is an artist-in-residence at the Real Academia de España, in Rome, and was a participating artist at Documenta 14, in Athens and Kassel, in 2017. He was artistic director of the Israel Galván dance company and, in 2017 and 2018, curated together with architect María García Ruíz, the project Máquinas de Vivir. Flamenco y arquitectura en la ocupación y desocupación de espacios, presented at Centro/Centro de Madrid and at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, in Barcelona. Between 2018 and 2019, he developed the European project una forma de ser, which explored poetic and aesthetic forms developed since the 19th century, focusing on Gypsy, Flamenco and Romani cultures. The project was presented at Bergen Assembly, Norway, and Kunstverein Stuttgart, in Germany. In 2019 he co-directed, with Gonzalo García Pelayo, the film Nueve Sevillas. In November 2021, he will present the project Máquinas de trovar, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, in Madrid, that offers a unique journey through his practice as an artist.

For media inquiries:
Hernâni Baptista: hernanibatista@agoraporto.pt
Tiago Dias dos Santos: tiagosantos@agoraporto.pt