Contemporary art returns to Girona with the twelfth Art Biennial

This year, the biennial has awarded two very different proposals but with the same common thread: the relationship between people and their environment. On the one hand, the work 'Passepartout' by Eduardo Ruiz , which reflects on borders and migration; on the other, the project 'four two / four four four four / four / four by four four times' by Judit Bou , an exploration of the magic of rituals and everyday gestures.

The work of Eduardo Ruiz (Sant Boi de Llobregat, 1990) is a collage that mixes fragments of wire from an airport fence with passports, and adds illustrations of migratory species such as the stork, salmon and monarch butterfly. This combination opens the debate on how the barriers imposed by humanity not only affect people, inviting reflection on how human migratory flows and species movements share similar dynamics, and how the obstacles created by society also limit the natural cycles of animals. Ruiz, a visual artist and teacher, tends to work with everyday materials to question the limits that define territory, exploring concepts such as maps, passports or even tickets.

Fotogrames Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, Chantal Akkerman. Projecte 'quatre dos / quatre quatre quatre quatre / quatre / quatre per quatre quatre cops’, Judit Bou.

The artistic creation project category has awarded the proposal of Judit Bou (Vic, 1996), a project that explores, through the medium of photography and video, how rituals and magical beliefs influence the perception of time and space, and how everyday objects – such as a lamppost, a window or red flowers – can acquire a special value in the face of uncertainty, becoming fundamental to the well-being of some individuals. Bou compares the human mind to a camera, highlighting the need to freeze moments of reality in order to understand them. In addition, the project investigates how some people are forced to perform these rituals for emotional survival, creating a network of practices that, over time, can intensify anxiety and exhaustion.

Both projects can be seen at the Casa de Cultura de Girona from March 27 to May 18 in an exhibition that will include ten more works selected from the 137 presented at the Biennial, by artists such as Guillermo Basagotti , Mariona Cañadas , Azahara Cerezo and Mayte Gómez Molina , Jorge Conde , Miquel Garcia , Marcela Jacarilla , Marta Rosell , Mar Serinyà and Fina Miralles , and Irena Visa . In addition, following the line initiated in the previous edition, 'Forest. An imaginary landscape', the winning project of the eleventh biennial by the artist Edu Comellas , which explores new limits between reality and fiction in the representation of the landscape, will also be presented.

'Track 8 M', Guillermo Basagoiti (2024)