Wed, April 25, 6–7:30 pm. A talk with art critic, curator and researcher Pau Waelder, hosted by Elina Heikka, Director of The Finnish Museum of Photography
Free admission to the museum from 5 to 8 pm!
Drawing connections from several articles and book chapters written for contemporary art magazines and cultural institutions, the author explores the current situation of contemporary art and new media in Spain. This talk will focus on the presence of new media art in museums, art centers, and the art market, the changes introduced by digital technologies in the status of the image (leading to the concept of “post-photography”) and the wide-ranging influence of Internet culture in the work of a young generation of Spanish artists. Against the backdrop of the growing presence of new media art in the international contemporary art scene, this case study aims to examine a particular context in which the cultural landscape has been affected by the financial crisis and the changing institutional policies, while artists have sought ways to keep producing artworks and participate in the current debates on art, technology and society, within or beyond the geographical constraints of their country of origin.
This presentation will be followed by a screening of video documentation from selected artistic projects by contemporary Spanish artists.
Pau Waelder has been invited to Helsinki by Artists Association MUU.
With the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E).
Top image: Álvaro Gil, HÁGASELO USTED MISMO (2012). Wood, foam, steel, Formica and acrylic. Dimensions variable. Photo courtesy of the artist and L21 Gallery.
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Pau Waelder is an art critic, curator and researcher. PhD in Information and Knowledge Society, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and Bachelor in Art History from the University of Barcelona.
He has given lectures about his research and his work as curator in numerous symposia and conferences, including the new media festivals FILE (São Paulo), Futur en Seine (Paris), Mediaterra International Art and Technology Festival (Athens), Media Art Futures (Murcia) and Art Futura (Bilbao), as well as contemporary art museums and art centers such as CCCB (Barcelona), MUSAC (León) and Arts Santa Mònica (Barcelona), and the following universities: Universidade Federal Juiz de Fora (Brazil), KunstUniversität Linz (Austria), Universidade Católica de Porto (Portugal), University of Arts (Helsinki) and the Spanish universities Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (Huesca), Universidad San Jorge (Zaragoza), Universitat de les Illes Balears, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Universitat Politècnica de València, and Universidad de Murcia.
His recent projects include the exhibitions Real Time. Art en temps real (Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona; Centre Art Lo Pati, Amposta), Remote Signals (Iberofest Festival, Tallinn), Tabula Rasa (MUU Galleria and MUU Kaapeli, Helsinki), Extimacy. Art, intimacy and technology (Es Baluard Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art), and Colmena (Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation).
He has published articles and essays in several publications, among which the contemporary art magazines ETC Magazine (Canada), art.es (Spain), ArtPress (France) and Estonian Art (Estonia), as well as the peer-reviewed journals Leonardo (US), M/C Journal (Australia) and Artnodes (Spain), among others. He has also worked as writer and content manager at the website VIDA Art and Artificial Life from Fundación Telefónica. He is currently the editor of the Media Art section at art.es magazine, editor and writer at the blogs Art Matters and Design Matters from the UOC. He also regularly writes texts for books on contemporary art and digital culture.
