PILAR ALBARRACÍN

Workshop presented in partnership with BoCA - Biennial of Contemporary Arts 

The desire to expand the art field and erase the borders between the various subjects is one of the fundamental interests in Pilar Albarracín's work. By means of events, actions, performances, and photographic staging, the artist has contributed to bringing the visual arts and theatre closer together, encouraging the transformation of everyday experiences and objects into artistic matter. Parody and theatricality have functioned as an exercise in questioning artistic, religious, or identity traditions. 
In this workshop, Pilar Albarracín will use a selection of her own works as a starting point for an analysis of the visceral nature of her own culture, the anthropology linked to Andalusian folklore, and the role of women in these and in other contexts. 
This workshop will deal transversally with themes such as the different processes of creation, concept, production, and market. The new applications of art as a vehicle for well-being. Reflecting on works that are born from a perspective that is not purely intellectual or philosophical, but more closely connected to emotional aspects.

Day 1
Presentation from a selection of works, sharing of expectations from the workshop and the experience. Analysis of dominant narratives: 
- women's roles in the distribution of power;
- clichés representing Andalusian/Portuguese identity;
- the neutralisation of clichés. 
The body. 
Ritual and trance. 
The body as a vehicle of transmission: between controlling and letting go. 
Setting the pace. How to structure a performance?

Day 2
Popular traditions, folklore, food rituals, religion, and myths. An approach from the particular to the universal based on the anthropology of everyday life. 
How to materialise ideas? Concept. Production. Market. 
Final conclusions. 

Pilar Albarracín (Spain, 1968), a graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Seville, lives and works between Seville and Madrid. She is one of the most significant artists on the Spanish contemporary scene. Her productions have focused on the analysis of dominant narratives and specifically the clichés that represent Andalusian identity, through an emotional and subversive immersion in the anthropology of everyday life. Popular traditions, folklore, food rituals, religion, myths, and the roles of women in the distribution of power are some of the recurring themes. She has exhibited her work in numerous museums, art centres, and foundations, both in Spain and internationally: MoMA PS1, İstanbul Modern Sanat Müzesi, Reales Atarazanas de Sevilla, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, Nykytaiteen Museo Kiasma, ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, Musée Nacional Picasso-Paris, La Maison Rouge, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Tabacalera, MAIIAM or the Museum of Contemporary Art. She has participated in various international events such as the 51st Venice Biennale, I Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Busan Biennale 2014, Manif d'Art - La biennale de Québec.

Further information available at www.pilaralbarracin.com