From April 25 to 28, coinciding with Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024, a representation of socially engaged art from Gran Canaria was on display in the German capital. Promoted by AC Modo Cultura, funded by the Presidency of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, and curated by PSJM, the exhibition “On Present Time” featured works by artists Asiria Álvarez, Luna Bengoechea, and Acaymo S. Cuesta.

Every spring, more than 55 Berlin galleries open exhibitions by both emerging and established artists during Gallery Weekend Berlin, which draws numerous visitors from around the world and has become a must-attend event for international contemporary art. Museums and art centers, as well as various non-profit spaces, also opened their doors during this time with specific programs. The exhibition “On Present Time. Social Art from Gran Canaria” was held in the rooms of the historic Art Nouveau building GlogauAIR, a well-known art space and international artist residency located in Berlin’s vibrant Kreuzberg district.

A large number of visual artists in Gran Canaria connect their work to social concerns. Topics such as feminism, ecology, identity, immigration, historical memory, fascism and neo-fascism, corporate power, bio-power and food, and general toxicity are all themes addressed by many of the artists who live and work on the island. “On Present Time” aimed to serve as a spearhead for the innovative and contemporary quality that distinguishes artistic creation from Gran Canaria.

LOCATION:
GlogauAIR
Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024

DATE:
2024

The feminist work of Asiria Álvarez (Gran Canaria, 1992) represents the era of the photographic image on Instagram. With more than 47,000 followers, Álvarez understands social networks as the natural space for the exhibition of her work: a constant critique of the dictatorship of unreal beauty canons, gender stereotypes and the vulnerability of being sad. Through irony, vintage aesthetics, an intense colour palette and careful production and post-production, she focuses on the everyday reality of sexism. Her photographs have become a way of recounting her experiences and those of the women around her. A similarity is therefore established with real life: images that serve as a mirror for the people who observe them.

Luna Bengoechea (Gran Canaria, 1984) focuses her work on the problems of the food industry and the new models of food production. Through her art, she explores the relationship between human beings and nature in a context marked by speculation with natural resources and dominated by economic interests. She has exhibited her work individually in venues such as Galería Lucía Mendoza (Madrid, 2019), De Fabriek (Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2018) and CAAM – the Atlantic Centre for Modern Art (Gran Canaria, 2023). She has also taken part in different group exhibitions in museums and art centres such as the Centro Cultural de España en Lima (Peru, 2022), MoCAB (Belgrade, Serbia, 2021), La Casa Encendida (Madrid, 2020), Artpace San Antonio (Texas, USA), MUSAC – the Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla y León (2017) and The Vyner Studio Gallery (London, 2013), among others.

The work of Acaymo S. Cuesta (Gran Canaria, 1983) addresses the tensions between the individual, society and the word, materialised through pieces that combine multidisciplinary techniques and that, ultimately, seek to awaken a critical or reflective attitude in the viewer. Recently, his work has been exhibited in spaces such as Rofa Projects (Maryland, USA, 2022), PROGR Art Center, (Bern, Switzerland 2018), Galería Casa D’Alva (Fortaleza, Brazil, 2022), Clamplight Gallery (San Antonio, Texas, 2020), Centro Cultural Placilla (Valparaíso, Chile, 2022) and the CAAM (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2022).

Through the cultural association Modo Cultura, the PSJM artistic team has curated several international exhibitions, such as the three art and ecology “Biotopies” exhibitions, held first at the Gabinete Literario and then at the Parque Doramas and SaladeArteSocial.COM (2018, 2020, 2022), the exhibitions on gender issues “Their ways, our pain” (2020) and “It’s personal” (2019) at the Gabinete Literario in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, “Daniel G. Andújar’s laboratory for small data” (2021) at SaladeArteSocial.COM and “In Good Company. Films by International Art Collectives” at CCA (2022). More recently, the team has curated “Carte blanche for PSJM: Participative art” for the legendary TV programme Metrópolis on RTVE’s channel La 2 (2024).