WHERE DOES REALITY RESIDE ?: A DIALOGUE FOUNDED IN FIGURATIVE REALISM

Curated by Biel Amer, Soad Houman and Catalina Joy ―these two are part of the Artistic Area of ​​the museum― On rau la realitat? opened on September 19 within the program of the Nit de l’Art 2019 ―a three-day program that seeks to promote the cultural scene in Palma de Mallorca― and will remain on Floor 0 of the museum until January 2020.

The exhibition consists of a total of 19 artworks, all of them made during the 2007-2019 period. Amer's curatorial proposal has been the selection of oeuvres that inhabit more an intimate and personal place ―where individual reality is illustrated― rather than a behavioral approach. The signifiers are opened in the dialogues established between the pictorial and other contemporary media such as video art, installation and performance. Under these guidelines, the pursuit is to challenge visitors through the individual's condition, gender perspective, the art system, the urban environment and the new socio-political conflicts of the 21^st century. "The relationship of artists who are part of «On rua la realitat?» is not intended to be a revision or claim of realism, because it is neither new nor realistic," writes Amer in the curatorial text, and closes: "Despite everything, it is curious the amplification of the realistic echo fifty years later and with artists born after the decade of the changes of the 60s, when many of us (our parents, of course) have not assumed the challenges of that decade and do not question what the hell It happened that May of 68 (it should be noted that, for the Frenchman Bruno Latour, the true cultural changes occurred in 1989) ”.

Consistent with the Es Baluard Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma aperture towards the current production of contemporary artists, this exhibition has the added value of locating the eye on the artists of the islands (although not all come from the Balearic Islands but most of them): Irene de Andrés (Ibiza, 1986), Joan Bennassar Cerdà (Palma, Mallorca, 1991), Cati Cànoves (Manacor, Mallorca, 1983), Diana Coca (Palma, Mallorca, 1977), Daniel Loves The Sodomites (Ciudatela, Menorca, 1990), José Fiol (Palma, Mallorca, 1978), Núria Marquès (Ciudatella, Menorca, 1975), Joan Morey (Sant Llorenç des Cardassar, Mallorca, 1972), Albert Pinya (Palma, Mallorca, 1985), Tomás Pizá (Palma, Mallorca,1983), Marta Pujades (Palma, Mallorca, 1990), Olimpia Velasco (Madrid, 1970), Marcelo Viquez (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1971) and Nicholas Woods (Lynchburg, Virginia, EEUU, 1971). Thus, the museum not only becomes a center of reflection for the Balearic community, but also a space that serves as spokesperson for the artistic scene of the region, its points of thought and its use of artistic language.