The Great Conspiracy (La Gran Conspiración)
The Great Conspiracy continues. Following the unveiling of the virtual exhibition that plays with internet communication’s most common forms of enticement, the direction of this plot keeps on shifting and growing by virtue of a programme of activities scheduled to take place over the coming months, with each of the pieces making up the show to take centre stage in a programme of virtual encounters which, via an array of formats, set up dialogue between the artists involved and professionals from the artistic contexts in which this network is rooted.
In the wake of an encounter between Marc Vives, Clothilde and Samir Noorali, organised by Gerador from Lisbon in December 2020, we start off 2021 with a new activity that brings us closer to Belgium’s artistic landscape via the work of Clara Montoya, before continuing in March with Francesc Ruiz, Agnès Pe and Paco Chanivet, connecting Montevideo, Washington and London, respectively.
The Great Conspiracy project is part of Spanish Cooperation’s Ventana (Window) Programme and is supported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and coordinated by Spain’s Royal Academy in Rome.
Tuesday, February 23, 12pm GTM+1
Clara Montoya and Yannick Antoine (iMAL) in conversation
The Spanish Embassy’s Cultural Office in Brussels. Online encounter
This conversation sets out from Nomads, the work created by Clara Montoya for The Great Conspiracy, and, with Yannick Antoine, it centres on a stretch of the journey put forward by the artist, sparking debate around the conception and perception of territory in the datification era and reflecting on how artistic practices can intervene in these dynamics and other questions this virtual drift leads us towards.
Clara Montoya develops interventions, digital programmes, machines and sculptures that take the form of ritual experiments, testing out real events and broadening the imagery of science-related aspects. She realises her work between Brussels and Madrid and has been honoured with numerous awards, including the Marcelino Botín grant, Junge Akademie der Kunst (ADK Berlin), and the residency grant from TAMAT in Tournai, Belgium.
Yannick Antoine is a programmer and project manager at iMAL, an art centre devoted to digital culture and technology and based in Brussels. He studied at l’École de Recherche Graphique, specialising in Digital Arts, after completing his training in IT. His work focuses on emerging processes, artificial intelligence and (science-)fiction through the use of internet-based community platforms. In 2005 he produced the installation Cellule and in 2007 The Gate, presented most notably at the 2010 Shanghai Biennale.
Participants: Sergi Farré, cultural attaché at the Spanish Embassy in Brussels, and Jaime González Cela and Manuela Pedrón Nicolau, the curators of The Great Conspiracy.
Language: English
Further information. The conversation will be available on Spain’s Royal Academy in Rome’s YouTube channel.
Wednesday, March 3, 4pm GTM-3
Francesc Ruiz´s interview with Leho de Sosa
Spain’s Cultural Centre in Montevideo. Online encounter
This encounter initiates a dialogue between the work of Leho de Sosa and Francesc Ruiz —a conversation which will explore questions and references around the production and dissemination of the comic LGTBIQ in different contexts and at different times.
Francesc Ruiz’s work focuses on experimentation in drawing, comics, and distribution systems. He has carried out projects related to the history of the comic and queer popular culture, imparting a complex and thought-provoking visual universe that opens multiple critical readings of narration connected to specific urban environments. Internationally, his work has been displayed in different art centres and events in France, Norway, Turkey and the USA, and was part of the Spanish Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale.
Leho De Sosa is a visual artist from Uruguay whose work reflects his commitment as a human rights activist, chiefly focusing on granting visibility to “other childhoods and adolescences”, as well as forms of expression from LGTBQ+ dissent. In 2019, he founded, with Delfina Martínez, the art collective LA Contracultural, made up of satellite members in different countries in Latin America. His graphic novel Teen Trans (2018) is the first Latin American manga publication with super guys and girls with trans identities as the leading characters.
Participants: Jaime González Cela and Manuela Pedrón Nicolau, the curators of The Great Conspiracy.
Language: Spanish.
Further information. The interview will be available on Spain’s Royal Academy in Rome’s YouTube channel.
