SPACE AND ACTION: Strategies of Dialogue Between Performative Practices and the Gallery Ecosystem

Participants: Quico Peinado (ArtBarcelona’s director), Pilar Cruz (curator), Manuel Exposito (collector) i Lluís Alabern (performance artist) | Moderated by Oscar Abril Ascaso

Juan Hidalgo, founder of ZAJ, the pioneering collective of this language in Spain, once stated that performance is an art of space and action. A body that does something for a period of time, and yes, in a specific space. A space that has very often, of course, been an art gallery or an independent exhibition venue.

However, the collaboration between performative practices and the gallery ecosystem is usually the result of a circumstantial relationship that, according to broad consensus among agents, would seem today to demand a deeper dialogue, in order to jointly analyze the latent potential within that convergence.

What could a more structural incorporation of performance exhibition programs into the gallery context contribute? From where could new models of professional relationships between galleries and performance artists be developed? How can the collecting of artistic work arising from performative practices be fostered?

PALANCA is a program that has been sharing these questions in encounters with the art sector, held over the past two years at CCCB and MACBA. As an activity linked to the SWAB9 performance program, Space and Action is the first talk of this program to take place within the framework of an art fair, precisely where the sector itself comes together.

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