Bombas Gens Centre d'Art unveils its programme for 2023 under the artistic direction of Sandra Guimarães with three major monographic exhibitions by renowned national and international artists: Carlos Bunga, Antoni Miralda and Timm Rautert, as well as the launch of a publication with Thomas Hirschhorn.
These projects will explore current and urgent issues such as human relations with the natural world or the potential of collective rituals to reinforce the senses of belonging and community, as well as revealing the evolution of the photographic canon in the history of art from the 20th century to the present day.
Carlos Bunga: Performing Nature
February 17–October 15, 2023
Curated by: Sandra Guimarães
The first major anthological exhibition in Spain of the artist Carlos Bunga. A comprehensive show that offers the opportunity to delve into the author’s complex and poetic work.
Performing Nature reflects for the first time on the temporalities and living qualities of nature, linked to an inescapably ethical dimension: the question of how to live in and with it. It thus delves into an unknown yet persistent aspect of Bunga's work, who carefully observes the organic shelters, structures and architectures that animals erect in nature. The exhibition shows a selection of representative works by the author ranging from his early career to the present day, some of which have never been exhibited before.
The exhibition will also feature works specially produced for the exhibition, as well as a monumental site-specific installation, also created expressly for the occasion. In Inhabiting Colour, (2023), Bunga sees the public as one more element of the work: their experience integrates the installation itself and transforms it.
With the support of the Portuguese Embassy in Madrid/Instituto Camões.
Miralda. Honeymoon: Unclassified
April 27–November 26, 2023
Curated by: Sandra Guimarães
A documentary exhibition that shows for the first time the unpublished projects that Antoni Miralda conceived as part of his “Honeymoon Project.”
Honeymoon: Unclassified is being held on the occasion of the exhibition of the Gondola Shoe (1990-2023) for the first time in Spain at Bombas Gens. This monumental piece, made to fit the foot of the Statue of Liberty, was presented in the Spanish Pavilion at the 44th Venice Biennale and sailed down the Grand Canal. Moreover, a parade will be held in the city of Valencia followed by a series of ceremonial events open to the public.
Presentation of the Gondola Shoe in collaboration with Fundación Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain). With the support of DKV Seguros.
Timm Rautert and the Lives of Photography
October 27, 2023–April 10, 2024
Curated by: Thomas Seelig and Sandra Guimarães
A comprehensive retrospective of photographer Timm Rautert that spans five decades of his artistic production. The exhibition begins with Rautert’s experimental early work, passing through some of his most emblematic series, collages and recent works. The exhibition will include works belonging to the José Luis Soler Vila Collection (formerly known as Per Amor l’Art Collection), among others.
Exhibition in cooperation with Folkwang Museum (Essen, Germany).
Spring 2023
Thomas Hirschhorn: Energy = Yes! Quality = No! (Digital publication)
In spring 2023, Bombas Gens will launch a book conceptualized and designed by Thomas Hirschhorn, that will document the different phases, methodology, process and development of the critical workshop Energy = Yes! Quality = No! that the artist carried out at Bombas Gens in 2021. The publication, which will be available free of charge on the museum's website —both in Spanish and English—, will include documentary material of the preparatory phases, Fieldworks and sessions through which the workshop took place, as well as texts by Thomas Hirschhorn and Sandra Guimarães, along with a wide range of testimonials from workshop participants describing their experiences within the activity, among other resources.
Ongoing programme
Earth: A Retrospective. El Ultimo Grito and the Per Amor a l’Art Collection
July, 2023–January, 2024
Curated by: El Ultimo Grito [Rosario Hurtado and Roberto Feo]
