Patricia Esquivias: Folklore. The future was when?

Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is pleased to announce the exhibition Folklore. The future was when? with Patricia Esquivias, curated by Vala Osmani.

Patricia Esquivias builds her stories from memory, anecdotes and information, building up a narrative in which the author reads the text and presents the documents in front of a fixed camera without cutting and avoiding any kind of edition. In her creations, the microhistories mingle with the great History in an apparently dispersed way, revealing the impossibility of narrating the history in a linear, simple and objective way. 

The personal tone that accompanies the images gives credibility to the story, without preventing it from being questioned. Her works can fluctuate freely between informal essay, micro-stories, talk and annotations. The documents have a performative character, made in a single session; they are oral summaries enunciated in English, backed by extensive research conducted by the artist, which she translates into conceptual maps and image archives. Improvisation is also part of the process and is highly valued by the artist because it provides flexibility and also allows weaknesses to show up in the performance.

Patricia Esquivias (Caracas 1979) grew up in Madrid where she now lives. She studied art in London and San Francisco.

Her work has been presented in one-person exhibitions at Centro Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, 2016; Kunsthalle Wintethur, Winterthur, 2013; Museo Arte Contemporaneo de Vigo, Vigo, 2013; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2012; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2009; Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis 2009, White Columns, New York, 2008.

Esquivias has also been included in numerous group exhibitions including Arte y cultura en torno 1992, CAAC, Sevilla, 2017; Ficciones y territorios, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2016; 12th International Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador, 2014; Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear, Tate Modern, London, 2012; Video Art: Replay, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, 2009; Report on Probability, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, 2009; The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, New Museum, New York, 2009; When Things Cast No Shadow – 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2008; and Beyond Paradise, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2008.

Folklore. The future was when? with Patricia Esquivias by Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is organised in collaboration with Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, CA2M, Madrid.

The exhibition at Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, similarly with the exhibition presented at CA2M, takes us through a story of architecture, decorative arts and Folk Art to question the concepts of artist authorship, history, modernity and architecture as tools for collective construction. A walk through several of her recent projects that help us to get not only a better understanding of her work but also a deeper knowledge in the recent history of Spain.

The first exhibition At Times Embellished, curated by Soledad Gutiérrez, part of the collaboration between CA2M and Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, was introduced in 2016 at CA2M in Madrid. Within the framework of her exhibition at CA2M the Regional Government of Madrid and Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina presented the publication of the work of Patricia Esquivias.

This undertaking is clearly articulated in the various lines of work that the CA2M and Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina have been developing around the dislocation that art introduces in relation to popular culture, consolidating the museum as a model of coherence in relation to these subjects.

Folklore. The future was when? is supported by:
Office of the President of the Republic of Kosovo
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo
Ministry for European Integration of the Republic of Kosovo
Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo
Municipality of Prishtina
Network of Independent Art And Culture Institutions - RRIPAK
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