October 27–November 21, 2021
Bombas Gens Centre d’Art has invited the artist Thomas Hirschhorn to develop this critical workshop. Previously, Hirschhorn visited the city of Valencia three times to meet with residents and more than 50 groups, organisations and associations, conducting what he calls “Fieldwork,” crucial for the development of this project. This is the artist’s first Presence and Production work in Spain, and it is curated by Sandra Guimarães, artistic director.
During this project, conceived as a universal inclusive artwork, each participant will bring a single contribution (a text, a song, a poem, a sculpture, a drawing, etc.) and engage in a discussion, jointly with the artist, to judge every participant’s input following the criteria of “Energy = Yes! Quality = No!.”
Coinciding with the workshop, Hirschhorn is producing the artist book V.C.R.T. along with Fundació Per Amor a l’Art and La Fábrica Editorial. This soon to be released book compiles previously unpublished texts by Thomas Hirschhorn in its original languages, accompanied by drawings and sketches. This is the first in a series of artist’s books launched at Bombas Gens Centre d’Art under the artistic direction of Sandra Guimarães.
The critical workshop has been generously supported by Pro Helvetia and Institut Français.
Ongoing exhibition programme:
Web Collection: Ryan Gander, Difficult Ideas and Unrealised Projects
With the aim to expand the Per Amor a l’Art Collection into a digital platform and to promote the use of the World Wide Web as an artistic and conceptual medium, Bombas Gens Centre d’Art has launched a new programme of web commissions to local, national and international artists, curated by Sandra Guimarães.
Through the Web Collection programme, Bombas Gens Centre d’Art considers its website as an extension of its physical space and artistic programme. This first commission, created by the artist Ryan Gander and entitled Difficult Ideas and Unrealised Projects (2021), consists of a royalty-free downloadable screensaver. The programme is already available at Bombas Gens website.
Irma Blank, Blank
October 7, 2021–March 20, 2022
Blank is a solo exhibition by the artist Irma Blank that covers five decades of her work and has been specially conceived for the Bombas Gens Centre d’Art space.
This exhibition, curated by Johana Carrier and Joana P.R. Neves, is part of a collaborative production with different international institutions (Culturgest, Lisbon; MAMCO, Geneva; CAPC, Bordeaux; CCA, Tel Aviv; ICA, Milan and Museo Villa Dei Cedri, Bellinzona) where the work of Irma Blank is presented from the beginning of her career, with the series “Eigenschriften” (1968), to the most recent (“Gehen,” 2017), including pieces belonging to the Per Amor a l’Art Collection.
Sculpting Reality: The Documentary Style in the Per Amor a l’Art Collection
May 21, 2021–winter 2022
Starting from the term “documentary style” (initiated by Walker Evans) and the 1930s, this exhibition shows a series of works by authors who adopted this approach experimenting with the photographic language, followed by the insertion within more conceptual practices. The exhibition brings together a selection of works from the Per Amor a l’Art Collection by artists such as Walker Evans, Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Anthony Hernandez, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Edward Ruscha, Ian Wallace and Xavier Ribas, among others. The exhibition is curated by Vicent Todolí, Sandra Guimarães and Julia Castelló.
Fundació Per Amor a l’Art
The Fundació Per Amor a l’Art is a private and familiar foundation that deploys its artistic, social and research-driven activity in the restored former factory of Bombas Gens, in Valencia. The Foundation develops the artistic domain through the Bombas Gens Art Centre. The Social Area fosters the social integration mission of the Foundation, focusing on the support of underage children in risk of exclusion and people with acquired brain injuries. Moreover, the Wilson Team promotes the research and divulgation of rare diseases, in particular the Wilson’s disease.
