eremuak #11

This year’s magazine has taken shape around the conversation as form and symptom.

The longing to fix some kind of image, however partial or transitory, of the state of things in a context of new, publiclyoriented collective formations that then turn back in on themselves, the exhibition has made an appearance; the act of exhibiting as a vibrant, shared element in all of these, which nevertheless is not limiting or thematic. We have not wanted to create any kind of thesis or original theoretical basis, but to give a voice to certain artists and actors whose work calls a number of models of publicly exhibiting work into crisis so that the relevance of the debate continues undiminished. To that end, we have analysed some relevant and stimulating instances from close at hand. These examples exist within or outside institutional contexts, on the edges or even simultaneously, and they make the tensions of these kinds of spaces and manners of working visible.

The contributions in this issue are therefore partial views attempting to each provide a particular perspective on the context they belong to – geographical and historical, social, political and cultural; a kind of imperfect map of the act of exhibiting here and now, which may also involve references – bynallusion or omission – to other realities which are constantly feeding into the weave of art.

To take all of these questions into account, we have tried to understand the act of exhibiting as a complex epistemological tool both conceptually and formally, rather than as a simple outcome of a process most often hidden from view. We see the work of exhibiting more as a means than an end. We have also wanted to place a focus on the exhibition as a collective feat in all of its complexity and to consider all of the actors that contribute to it. A space for critical debate on the fragmented condition of many varied practices that do not have a place of their own. In addition, we try to question the issue of mediation as a necessary membrane between the inside and outside; an

interface that mediates between the different actors (artist, space, curator, institution) in the public sphere.

eremuak #11 starts off with “Essaying the exhibition”, a conversational text between Andrea Rodrigo and Bulegoa z/b, where the collective’s three members put together a retrospective map of the context to explain what exhibiting means to them. They provide some clues on the importance of proactive, responsible mediation, which inevitably means calling the relations between different actors constantly into crisis.

Aimar Arriola with his text, “It happened in Bilbao”, offers his own personal, panoramic look back at the effervescent scene sparked by spaces (Okela, Artiatx, Flex, Puerta, Le Larraskito Club) that have appeared and disappeared, almost inevitably. The next text, “Coda Le Larraskito Club”, places the focus on one of the most emblematic spaces in the music and art scene in Bilbao, where Basque and national artists played. It is an interview with Miguel A. García (aka Xedh), a multi-faceted artist and essential figure in the birth and life of Le Larraskito Club. The interview is run by a chorus coordinated by Enrike Hurtado.

In seeking to reformulate what the act of exhibiting entails, we chose to use a particular example from close at hand in the artist Ibon Aranberri and his approach to it. This particular text was contributed by Atoi (Usue Arrieta and Ainara Elgoibar), who submitted a hybrid proposal containing some of the material from the Kinu #11+1: Ibon Aranberri workshop for the current issue of Distirak, titled Exhibition in time, which includes the first published edition of a comic by Paula Guerrero for the magazine.

To show other ways of reaching the public, we invited the 101 collective, who set up their platform for studying the relation between space, body and matter in 2017. Their contribution

provides a first-hand account of the project Arqueología del desecho, which was supported by eremuak in 2020. The collective worked their way into the Bilbao art context through an exhibition at Divinoteka, and also led a broadly-based programme of events and workshops.

“Open Source” is a re-edition of a text by Pierre Bal-Blanc for the third edition of Expanding Concert (Lisboa, 2019-2023) by the artist Mattin. Here, Mattin introduces the text, contextualising and interrogating it from the perspective of his own work.

We have also invited Antonio Menchen, Estéfana Román and Leire Lacunza to think in this issue about how they see exhibiting, or what bringing your work to the public via an exhibition means in the context of their work. Antonio Menchen, whose work travels between sculpture and the moving image, has given us “debut.”, a sharp look at the moment just before an action: a model preparing to come out on stage. Lights, music, eyelashes quivering; each imperceptible detail becomes urgent: The aspiration of making an exhibition resemble a fashion show.

Estéfana Román tells her own story of the experience of taking her place, paying attention to the subtle transformation of a space both exterior and interior. “Security” reaches out from the fingertips to the flow of thought. A space of one’s own, a way of moving forward by encountering things and events, far from home.

Leire Lacunza’s “Daring to give a kiss” thinks back to the primary image – the mythical space in memory we return to – as a founding moment that drives us forward in life and art. An aesthetic experience she tries to invoke in her studio work and exhibitions.

We will also take this opportunity to let readers know that in eremuak #11 we have begun to transform the design of the magazine. This transformation will gradually be introduced in specific content. In this issue, it comes with the introduction of a new section, FILM MATERIAL, an exhibition space on paper in the magazine itself, which will be curated in a rotating threeyear process. Manuel Cirauqui is opening the section with FILM MATERIAL (I), a mosaic of film images from Tini zabutykh predkiv (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors) (1964), by Sergei Parajanov; a large amount of extraordinary material from the lost archive of a workshop organised by the School of Architecture at Universidad de Talca in 2006 in Curtiduría, Chile, by José Luis Uribe; and Windows Blowing Out (2005), by Jorge Satorre, the recording of an action which appears to be a reenactment of a work by Gordon Matta-Clark. Cirauqui’s introduction takes us into the worlds of film [material]: … matter that’s been organised inside it to overflow from the inside, to tense the work like a challenge to its identity.

Another new feature this year is our invitation to intervene the magazine as an object. Beatriz Olabarrieta was given the task this year and works with radio frequency technology, making each copy unique by means of an RFID.

The magazine’s back cover was commissioned from Mikel Ruiz Pejenaute, who contributed a specifically created collage combining drawing, graphics and design.

Finally, we would like to welcome the artist Raúl Domínguez, who joined us as a member of the eremuak technical committee and the editorial team of this magazine in January 2024.

eremuak #11 is a free magazine, available at different locations in the Basque Autonomous Community and Spain. It can be freely downloaded, including in English, from www.eremuak.eus.

November 2024
Editors:: Leire Muñoz, Iñaki Garmendia, Raúl Domínguez
Coordination: Eneka fernández

Graphic design: Maite Zabaleta Nerecán
Text edition: Marina Balenciaga Juaristi
English translation: Toni Crabb
Print: Artes Gráficas Lorea