October 2, 2014–January 11, 2015
La Casa Encendida
Ronda de Valencia 2
28012 Madrid
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La Casa Encendida Fundación Obra Social y Monte de Piedad de Madrid presents Metamorphosis. Fantasy Visions in Starewitch, Švankmajer and the Quay Brothers. The exhibition Metamorphosis, curated by experimental film specialist Carolina López Caballero, presents the works of four key figures in animation cinema: the Russian resident in Paris, Ladislas Starewitch (1882–1965); a pioneer in the genre, the Czech master Jan Švankmajer (b. 1934); and the unclassifiable Quay Brothers (b. 1947), recently the subject of an exhibition at the New York MoMA. This exhibition can be seen in La Casa Encendida from October 2, 2014 to January 11, 2015 and is a coproduction of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.
Though little known to the general public, these filmmakers are hugely influential in various fields of contemporary creation as references for, among others, filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam.
What makes it a real international event is the fact that it brings together the work of these four animators engaged in an explicit dialogue: the Quay Brothers are self-confessed admirers of Jan Švankmajer, and the three are accompanied by Starewitch.
The exhibition swings back and forth between the specific world of each of these artists and their shared universe, with the direct participation of Jan Švankmajer and the Quay Brothers, who are producing an installation specially for the show.
The exhibition sets out to rediscover and awaken curiosity in a brotherhood of artists who, with their radicalness, imagination and their very stance, are open to reinterpretation in the framework of culture today and a contextualization of their potential for subversion. The Metamorphosis experience (the exhibition plus its parallel activities of a film cycle and talks) begs a reflection on the curiosity/knowledge duality and the new role of the marginal in contemporary creation. At a time of oversaturation of information, it is important to redefine the concept of marginality.