| 12 May 2010
Eugenio Ampudia (Valladolid, 1958) will participate in the Festival International Film et Video Creation of Beirut between 11th 14th May of 2010. The exhibit has been curated by Elisa Hernando, ARTE GLOBAL director. The following institutions have collaborated on the project: ALBA -Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts- , Beirut; Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, Consejería de Cultura, Junta de Andalucía; Embajada de España en Líbano; SEACEX; AECID; Plan Nacional para la Alianza de las Civilizaciones. The videos “Where to sleep 1 (Goya)”, “Where to sleep 2 (Alhambra)”, “Sunset” y “Reflexion” will be shown during the festival. These videos analyze the juxtaposition and the coexistence of the different cultures in historical harmony and balance. Eugenio Ampudia meditates about the dimension of the public and the private space, historical memory, conflicts and harmony.
The work “Where to sleep 2 (Alhambra)” shows a person sleeping on the ground floor of La Alhambra. The artist meditates about the dimension of the public and the private space; trying to understand the limits and the reciprocal relation between these two areas. The video“Where to sleep 1 (Goya)” was performed at Museo del Prado, the work shows a person (the artist) sleeping peacefully on the ground under the Goya painting “Los fusilamientos del 3 de mayo”. The video “Reflexion” shows a figure and his reflection on the water, dance close to the pool of the Patio de Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles), in La Alhambra. The rhythm between them changes, and they become two different parts dancing one with each other. The unison movement converts itself in a dialogue between two independents persons, but at the same time, inseparable parts. In the work “Sunset” the dusk and the sunset motivate the artist to think about the dimension of this building and its environment: La Alhambra, a place with a prominent oriental component, totally integrated in a western land. The coexistence between the East and the West is represented in La Alhambra.
Born in 1958, Melgar, Valladolid. Eugenio Ampudia lives and works in Madrid, Spain. The basis of Eugenio Ampudia’s work is his abandonment of the manufacture-making of the object in order to shape-show the idea. The artist takes a special interest in the processes and connections that his work establishes with the viewer. The spectator creates the art work and the artist wants him/her to interact.
The technology that Ampudia uses is not creative in its own right; creativity continues to be in the idea shown and his interest in the strategies used. With this pretext of interactivity, Ampudia does not hesitate to use all that modern technology puts at his disposal although, this could implies that he can be classified as a digital artist. Eugenio’s video works often re-creates real and imaginary spaces using visual imagery to explore our emotional connections to them.
Ampudia has shown his work worldwide like in 2009 in ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany ; 10ª Bienal de la Habana, Cuban Pavilion, La Habana, Cuba; II Bienal del fin del mundo Sao Paulo, Brazil ; 2008 Palace of Charles V, La Alhambra, Granada, Spain; Chelsea Art Museum, Nueva York, USA; Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia; 2007 IVAM, Valencia, Spain; Experimenta layground, Internacional Bienal of media Arts, Melbourne, Australia; 2004. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; 1994. Pilar y Joan Miró Fundation, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. In 2008, Ampudia was awarded with an artistic residency by Fundación Delfina and received the ARCO’s Critics Award for Best Spanish Artist.