"ESPAI 13: Psychodrome - Curated by Grazia Quaroni and David Renaud"
2002-10-31 until 2003-07-20
Joan Miro Foundation
Barcelona, , ES

Joan Miró Foundation starts off the new season of exhibitions in the Espai 13 with the "Psychodrome" cycle, selected by Grazia Quaroni, curator during the 2001-2002 season, in collaboration with David Renaud. They both live and work in Paris. The Espai 13 is the section of the Foundation devoted to the work of artists exploring new avenues in contemporary art. Those exhibiting this season are young artists from around the world who have consolidated their position in their own countries and are at interesting periods in their careers but whose work has not been seen much in Spain despite being frequently shown abroad.

Psychodrome, the title of the cycle, refers to a circuit in a defined space – the exhibition space in which a basic module will be installed in the form of a circular structure that will change according to the needs of the different artists. It also refers to "psychedelia", a familiar word since the 1970s that means a disorder of consciousness through some external stimulus, in this case visual art.

The artists taking part in the cycle have in common an interest in disorder, be it of the imagination or of consciousness, through images and often through the use of colour, sound or the direct intervention of the architectural space. They explore the disturbances and interferences between reality and illusion, fantasy and everyday life, sleep and wakefulness, the absence of linearity and of beginning and end through a burst of colours and forms and the creation of motifs repeated ad infinitum in an obsessive fashion.

Their ideas embrace painting, sculpture, video, wallpaper and mural paintings as well as more conceptual work, all linked by an uninhibited creativity bordering on the spheres of consciousness and unconsciousness.

What is new this year is that, instead of a succession of individual shows, the programme has been designed as a single exhibition in four phases, with three artists participating at a time in relays and most artists appearing in two phases.

The artists will thus complete a kind of concentric circle – like a shooting target or maze, two strongly hypnotic items related to disturbance. Present in Psychodrome 01 will be David Renaud, Mariko Mori and Michel Gouéry; the latter will continue in Psychodrome 02 accompanied by Franz Ackermann and Fred Tomaselli. In Psychodrome 03 we will meet Tomaselli again, with Beatriz Barral and Tor-Magnus Lundeby; and Lundeby will reappear in Psychodrome 04 with Ugo Rondinone and, completing the circle, David Renaud.

Psychodrome 01

David Renaud – Mariko Mori – Michel Gouéry
31 October – 8 December 2002

Psychodrome 02

Michel Gouéry – Franz Ackerman – Fred Tomaselli
19 December 2002 – 9 February 2003

Psychodrome 03

Fred Tomaselli – Beatriz Barral – Tor-Magnus Lundeby
27 February – 27 April 2003

Psychodrome 04

Tor-Magnus Lundeby – Ugo Rondinone – David Renaud
15 May – 20 July 2003

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Spain

Other Important Exhibitions in Barcelona