Roma Akademia

Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao, Bilbao Society and Contemporary Culture Centre (Spain), presents the exhibition Roma Akademia with the works and projects of 45 artists in residence during the 2018–2019 (Processi 146) and 2019-2020 (Processi 147) at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome through the annual grant of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID by its Spanish acronym).

This exhibition, curated by Jesús Donaire, highlights the programme’s multidisciplinary approach: from painting to photography, scenic arts, research, cinema, architecture, theatre, literature, fashion, and restoration. The common denominator of all the works is the artists’ interactions with the various cultural agents and the multiple realities of the city of Rome.

In the coming months, Roma Akademia will convert the entire Centre into one vast showcase of contemporary creation, where visitors will be able to explore new artistic languages in all its spaces including the Exhibition Hall, Lantegia. Laboratory of Ideas, the Atrium and the Mediateka.

Roma Akademia is part of Azkuna Zentroa’s interest in transcending the conventional boundaries of art in terms of diversity and plurality, seeking the transversality of artistic manifestations, their connection between different areas of knowledge and their relationship with different audiences. It is also the result of Azkuna Zentroa’s vocation to generate, and maintain over time, networks with other international contemporary cultural spaces.

The project is completed with a public program of activities as well as an educational program of visits-workshops. In addition, in these months some publications of the artists of Roma Akademia and the catalogue of the exhibition will be presented.

The Royal Academy of Spain in Rome
Founded in 1873, the aim of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, is to contribute to artistic and humanistic training through creation and research. A meeting place for creators who develop their projects somewhere between the tradition of its monumental complex and the constant innovation of a global and technological society. 

Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao
Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao Society and Contemporary Culture Centre, is a place to take part in culture as a practice, process and space for experiences. Dozens of artists, agents and artistic communities work and develop their projects in Azkuna Zentroa where, through hybrid, multilateral programming models, it favors the daily life of the contemporary to reach all public communities.

Roma Akademia: artists
Processi 146
José Ramón Amondarain (San Sebastián, 1964), Taxio Ardanaz (Pamplona, 1978), Itziar Barrio (Bilbao, 1976), Igor Bragado (Gernika, 1994), Andrea Canepa (Lima, 1980), Nicolás Combarro (A Coruña, 1979), Isolina Díaz (Gran Canaria, 1973), Lara Dopazo (Marín, 1985), Silvia Fernández (Madrid, 1990), María Ángeles Ferrer (Palma de Mallorca, 1973), Pablo Fidalgo (Vigo, 1984), Pedro G. Romero (Aracena, 1964), Begoña Huertas (Gijón, 1965), Julia Huete (Ourense, 1990), María Moraleda (Toledo, 1988), Jorge Portillo Galán (San Salvador, El Salvador, 1973), Marta Ramos Yzquierdo (Saint Mandé, France, 1975), Estibaliz Sádaba (Bilbao, 1963), Fernando Sánchez-Cabezudo (Madrid, 1979), Borja Santomé (Vigo, 1992), Anna Talens (Carcaixent, Valencia, 1978), María del Mar Villafranca (Granada, 1961), Tono Vizcaíno (Valencia, 1985).

Processi 147
José Ramón Ais (Bilbao, 1971), Carla Berrocal (Madrid, 1983), Antonio Buchannan (Madrid, 1984), Ana Bustelo (Palencia, 1982), Joana Cera (Barcelona, 1965), Jorge Cubero (Madrid, 1996), Federico Guzmán (Seville, 1964), Susanna Inglada (Banyeres del Penedés, 1983), Montserrat Lasunción (Canet de Mar, Barcelona, 1977), Jana Leo (Madrid, 1965), Jorge Luis Marzo (Barcelona, 1964), Irene-Clémentine Ortega (Bilbao, 1986), Javier Pividal (Cartagena, 1971), Enrique Radigales (Zaragoza, 1970), Pantxo Ramas (Milán, 1979), Adolfo Serra (Teruel, 1980), Begoña Soto (Seville, 1964), Claudio Sotolongo (La Habana, Cuba, 1982), Eduardo Soutullo (Bilbao, 1968), Javier Verdugo (Seville, 1949), Manuel Vilas (Barbastro, 1962), Ana Zamora (Madrid, 1975).

Roma Akademia is a co-production of Azkuna Zentroa, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID by its Spanish acronym) and the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome.