looking for artists
Interview to Carme Tinturé - Escola d’arte La lacuna and Noemi Agusti, artist
Interview to Josep M. Ubac Bernada - Servei de Promocio Cultural, Principality of Andorra
Andorra La Vella
Juanuary 2005
Escola d’Art La Llacuna
RITA CANAREZZA – Are there cultural centers in every municipality?
CARME TINTURE – Yes, they all have at least a small space for art.
RC – Art, music and theater?
CT – Yes, art and music, but not everywhere. Our art school in Andorra la Vella—active since 1989—has close connections with the school in San Julian, which is fairly large, so we can offer a range of courses and creative workshops in photography, painting, ceramics, art history, film history, and restoration.
RC – When visitors arrive in Andorra, they mainly see shopping centers and sports centers, and don’t immediately notice that there’s also a very lively cultural context.
CT – We have works by many internationally renowned artists. Very important Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan artists, in particular.
CT – Noemí, do you know any young Andorra artists who work with video and installation art?
NOEMÍ AGUSTÍ – Eva Ariza, an artist who works a lot with video and photography, presented an installation—midway between the two mediums—in the government exhibition space. Then there’s Susana Herrador, who has been doing video installations for a long time now, she’s also a very interesting artist.
CT – In recent years, Helena Guardia has taken part in the Pilar gallery project, as well as the residency project for Andorran artists, working quite a bit with installation and video installation.
Government of Andorra
RITA CANAREZZA – How do you work to promote Andorran artists?
JOSEP MARIA UBACH – One has to note that the objectives of an institution often differ from those of artists: we offer young people studios, which as a government institution, we believe are useful for the presentation and promotion of our artists abroad, yet sometimes we encounter objections from people have not received this kind of aid, questioning the merit of others who have benefitted from it. These are circumstances that can cause tensions between the artists and the Ministry of Culture.
RC – Your institutions are actively engaged with young artists. We saw the cultural center and art school and met with the director, Carme Tinture. You seem to be doing good work locally.
JMU – Yes, that’s true. A school like the municipal one has instructors and students who decide whether to exhibit their work or not only at theend of their studies. We, on the other hand, deal with artists who have completed their university training— or in any case are worthy of interest— and offer them a studio in which to work for a year. A place that must not be used to create commercial work, but rather to pursue theoretic investigations and a path of experimentation. Sometimes this effort yields good results, other times less so, but that depends in part on the attitude, work and personality of the artist. This is the approach we are interested in, in part because, as an institution, we don’t want to work in the commercial sphere. We have produced various catalogues of projects undertaken as part of the Tallers d’art initiative—a year long residency for artists in Andorra—which give an idea of what has been done by the last four generations of artists who have received support over the last seven years.
Interview to Carme Tinturé - Escola d’arte La lacuna and Noemi Agusti, artist
Interview to Josep M. Ubac Bernada - Servei de Promocio Cultural, Principality of Andorra
Andorra La Vella
Juanuary 2005
Escola d’Art La Llacuna
RITA CANAREZZA – Are there cultural centers in every municipality?
CARME TINTURE – Yes, they all have at least a small space for art.
RC – Art, music and theater?
CT – Yes, art and music, but not everywhere. Our art school in Andorra la Vella—active since 1989—has close connections with the school in San Julian, which is fairly large, so we can offer a range of courses and creative workshops in photography, painting, ceramics, art history, film history, and restoration.
RC – When visitors arrive in Andorra, they mainly see shopping centers and sports centers, and don’t immediately notice that there’s also a very lively cultural context.
CT – We have works by many internationally renowned artists. Very important Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan artists, in particular.
CT – Noemí, do you know any young Andorra artists who work with video and installation art?
NOEMÍ AGUSTÍ – Eva Ariza, an artist who works a lot with video and photography, presented an installation—midway between the two mediums—in the government exhibition space. Then there’s Susana Herrador, who has been doing video installations for a long time now, she’s also a very interesting artist.
CT – In recent years, Helena Guardia has taken part in the Pilar gallery project, as well as the residency project for Andorran artists, working quite a bit with installation and video installation.
Government of Andorra
RITA CANAREZZA – How do you work to promote Andorran artists?
JOSEP MARIA UBACH – One has to note that the objectives of an institution often differ from those of artists: we offer young people studios, which as a government institution, we believe are useful for the presentation and promotion of our artists abroad, yet sometimes we encounter objections from people have not received this kind of aid, questioning the merit of others who have benefitted from it. These are circumstances that can cause tensions between the artists and the Ministry of Culture.
RC – Your institutions are actively engaged with young artists. We saw the cultural center and art school and met with the director, Carme Tinture. You seem to be doing good work locally.
JMU – Yes, that’s true. A school like the municipal one has instructors and students who decide whether to exhibit their work or not only at theend of their studies. We, on the other hand, deal with artists who have completed their university training— or in any case are worthy of interest— and offer them a studio in which to work for a year. A place that must not be used to create commercial work, but rather to pursue theoretic investigations and a path of experimentation. Sometimes this effort yields good results, other times less so, but that depends in part on the attitude, work and personality of the artist. This is the approach we are interested in, in part because, as an institution, we don’t want to work in the commercial sphere. We have produced various catalogues of projects undertaken as part of the Tallers d’art initiative—a year long residency for artists in Andorra—which give an idea of what has been done by the last four generations of artists who have received support over the last seven years.