In this edition of A*Magazine we publish an article by Sinéad Halkett about the exhibition of Iñaki Bonillas in La Virreina Centre de la Imatge. Sinéad Halkett recently passed away. This is her first article in A*Magazine. With the first article we always say a lot. We talk about what it means to write art criticism, about the tone, about what position to take when writing, about distances and proximities. A dialogue exists, that is generated through the texts, but that goes much further, a dialogue that seeks complicity, comprehension, as well as ideas and points of view. A dialogue that is a prelude, a beginning.
Through dialogue we grow, we define who we are, and what we want to say. In dialogue we come together, we listen and we need one another. With Sinéad Halkett the dialogue has ended abruptly, emails are left unanswered and there is a bitter taste publishing the text of a person, Sinéad, who is already unable to reread her text and see all the responses that are generated, be it online or in life. The loss grieves us and it hurts that something that is just beginning should end so abruptly. The only thing we can do is publish the article. An excellent article, one we thought would be the first of many.
In this edition of A*Magazine, as well as the article by Sinéad Halkett about Iñaki Bonillas at La Virreina, we also publish a text by Diana Padrón about the proposal recently presented at La Capella “Artesans” (Craftspeople) and Marti Manen takes a look at the relation between the Reina Sofía and art in Latin America.
The culture of the archive is revisited with a touch of nostalgia. Nostalgia, an emotionally, and also politically charged word. A look at the past, the familiar and the communal, in the exhibition by Iñaki Bonillas at La Virreina, brings the archive closer to the personal and emotions closer to conceptual work.
La Capella has presented different projects developed over the last few years in relation to the ACVIC centre, in an endeavour to map out the current panorama of dissident art. The proposition wasn´t off track, but it has highlighted the need to reflect upon the changes in artistic production and the urgency of opening up to other possible “ways of doing” things, so as not to end up doing the same, with the same people.
The Reina Sofía is working along various lines in relation to the countries of Latin America. The relation between Spain and Latin America has never been an easy one. Blood, identity, legitimization, money, transport, economy, literature, and also art, form part of a relationship, or lack of one, that still surprises.
