Artist: Almudena Lobera
Exhibition title: WHAT IS LOST
Venue: Island, Brussels, Belgium
Date: November 22 – December 22, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Island, Brussels
If you are reading me, you will lose something soon. La realidad es tramposa y también el programa simbólico que la significa y la representa. Comme le disait Lucy Lippard «Je vois, tu interprètes», et nous pouvons ainsi indiquer où se trouve un lieu, avec des outils précis. Maar er zijn veel plekken en verschillende hulpmiddelen en ondanks dat we in een globale wereld leven, zijn er altijd verliezen. The only thing that unites everything is the ritual, el ritual de entendernos o de malentendernos, la puissance qui émane de la volonté de se comprendre en die door uitbeelding waarneembaar wordt
As Benjamin tells us, we constantly try to share the spirit of things, their essence. Para ello inventamos una serie de ecos de nuestra experiencia en forma de códigos cognitivos. Ceux-ci réalisent un déplacement, qui va de la réalité au symbole. Echter in deze overgang die nodig is voor de uitbeelding, in deze beweging tussen twee momenten, in this use of borrowed tools, siempre hay algo que se queda en el camino.
Dans WYSIWYG (2017), Almudena Lobera navigue entre ces outils qui lui ont été prêtés, les interroge et leur donne vie par l’art par excellence: la peinture à l’huile. Lobera schildert de dingen die we gebruiken in het proces van digitale uitbeelding en maakt zichtbaar wat er achterblijft in de overgang van het digitale naar het fysieke. As such, she lays out a symbolic pirouette, which propagates itself, disputing the conceptual scaffolding that surrounds every act of representation. Lobera quebranta el código para cuestionarlo. Cette tergiversation à propos du numérique remet également en question la façon de construire des images aujourd’hui, en s’efforçant de «rendre visible ce qui ne l’est pas». Deze politieke actie onthult een daad van anti-uitbeelding die ons laat nadenken over de betekenisstructuren van de huidige beeltenis en dus van onze eigen realiteit.
All the pieces of art that make up this ecosystem challenge the contemporary rhetoric. Estas obras ponen en discusión ese acuerdo que realizamos para poder compartir el espíritu de las cosas, ese ritual para entendernos. Lobera exerce ici –et je vais une fois de plus citer Benjamin, la tâche du traducteur– lorsqu’il tente de libérer ce qui est enfermé dans le code, wanneer ze deze ontrouw is met het doel te tonen wat er zo diep in doordrongen is, het verhaal. Revealing this history, placing it in space, Lobera makes us inhabit it. Habitando este espacio intermedio, caminando a través de la historia del símbolo, realizando un estudio arqueológico de su misma esencia, on relie le tout à notre propre essence de vie. Als je me nog aan het lezen bent, heb je wellicht veel dingen verloren, maar misschien is dit het belangrijkste. Perhaps from this intermediate space within which meaning is turned around to look upon itself, we can revisit the pacts with which we build an ‘us’; Tal vez desde aquí, en ayant conscience de ce que l’on a perdu, onszelf opnieuw bedenken.
-Rafael Barber Cortell
Almudena Lobera (Madrid, 1984) is a visual artist based between Madrid and Belgium. Having studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid (2002-2007) and Universität der Künste Berlin (2007-2009), she obtained an MA Fine Art at Complutense University of Madrid (2009-2011) and she was recently laureate from the HISK High Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium (2015-2016).
Almudena Lobera works alternative ways for the configuration of the visible, and different immaterial natures of the image. Her practice includes: drawing, installation, site-specific projects, documented fictional situations… proposing other ways of seeing what remains hidden or in the state away from the visual, and considering the space and the beholder the integral elements and activators of the works. Her work aims to connect the legacy of the past and the influence of the history and classical authors with the ephemeral and virtual image qualities in our era. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including shows at Emergent, Veurne (2017), Fundación Luis Seoane, Coruña (2016), BOZAR Art on Paper, Brussels (2016), CCI Fabrika, Moscow (2015), Faena Arts Miami (2015), Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (2014), Fabra i Coats, Barcelona (2014), Matadero, Madrid (2012), among others. She has received several awards such as: Generation 2012 Award from Caja Madrid; the Del Plano al Cubo Award CCE_México and the Academy of Spain in Rome Grant 2014.
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, The woman in the portrait, 2017, Diptych, prints on Barita paper, 28 x 38 cm each
Almudena Lobera, What is Lost, 2017, Press release with a text of Rafael abarber Cortell, written in 4 languages together, 117 x 100 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 42 x 31,5 x 4 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), 2017, Oil painting on wood and engraved frames, 33,9 x 24,5 x 2 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, Erasing is Baroque, 2017, Paint and vinyl cut on wall, Variable dimensions
Almudena Lobera, Levels of Exposure, 2016, 10 empty bulbs filled with tinted water, metal structures, led tube, 23,5 x 90,5 x 12,5 cm
Almudena Lobera, Levels of Exposure, 2016, 10 empty bulbs filled with tinted water, metal structures, led tube, 23,5 x 90,5 x 12,5 cm
Almudena Lobera, WHAT IS LOST, 2017, exhibition view, Island, Brussels
Almudena Lobera, The woman behind the window, 2017, X-Ray Lightbox, print on transparent film (Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, 1439 oil on wood painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck), 48 x 38 x 10,5 cm
Almudena Lobera, The woman behind the window, 2017, X-Ray Lightbox, print on transparent film (Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, 1439 oil on wood painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck), 48 x 38 x 10,5 cm
Almudena Lobera, Erasing is Baroque, 2017, Paint and vinyl cut on wall, Variable dimensions