Madrid,
Within two years, the space alone, whose headquarters in front of the Alcalá Puerta houses, in a rotating manner, the contemporary art collection of entrepreneurs Ana Gervás and David Cantolla, composed of 1,200 pieces, will fulfill a decade of activity. The notion of the urban focuses both its architectural design, in charge of the Juan Herreros study (which received the Coam Prize in 2018), as well as its exhibition program, in which they grant prominence to virtual reality and new media, sound art and hybrid creations.
Since this June, it only has a new redoubt for art (the first of several to open) in the capital. Located at number 36 of the Cuesta de San Vicente, it is called Bowman Hal and will offer proposals of national and international artists: for next September, its organizers announce the presentation of a collaboration with the French room Almine Rech, in which it will be the starting point of Movement 37a collaborative network that aims to boost the dynamic exchange of spaces and ideas between artistic institutions around the world.
Like traditional galleries, Bowman Hal will accompany their authors facilitating resources for their creation, research or conservation processes and the exhibition with which it opens, which can be visited until July 12, is for the Australian William Mackinnon.
Under the title of “Snakes and Ladders”, it brings together pictorial works of diverse techniques – it has been used in acrylic, oil, industrial materials, plasters, assembly adhesives, glitter and organic elements, also of a thorough treatment of light – in which this author seeks to refer to the complexity of life from domestic scenarios (tables, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic cubes, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic signs, traffic cubes, traffic cubes, traffic cubes, traffic cubes or family pool hoses), rural roads and empty roads.
These little traveled paths can send to future objects of uncertainty, the march or return home and the elusive sense of belonging: they have to do with the experiences of the artist, which resides between Ibiza and his very distant Melbourne, with loved ones in the respective antipodes. Along the same lines, in the work The Silent Scream A surfer crosses only one beach carrying a broken table, heading to an insecure future after an accident.
This love for the liquid condition of what is coming is present, also, in its creative processes: you can use sketches, and dedicate months to the elaboration of its creations, but always leaves space to surprise. Almost inevitable, in reality, if we think of the plural of their procedures, achieving an extensive variety of textures and forms.
The spectator will have to pay attention to all these material layers, the fruit at the same time of the meticulousness, the game and the inertia of each composition: apply sponge touches, let the paint drip and splash the fabrics, it has a solvent on the surface or sandpaper to give rise to unexpected topographies.
Directed by Mun-Jung Chang, Bowman Hal’s space has also been designed by Juan Herreros, in the old facilities of the Rivadeneyra printing press and with an area of 4,500 square meters. Its various interconnected rooms will be revealed to the public as the initiatives linked to only Onkaos (About New Media and Digital Culture), Lecluf (around experimental music) or The extraordinary (which prepares sound documentaries).
That lack of hurry to show all its possibilities is part of Bowman Hal’s philosophy: in the words of Oscar Hormigos, creative director of Solo, We want to open CSV alone in phases, inviting visitors to a progressive discovery process. Our goal is for the public to explore and be surprised with the projects to the natural rhythm with which they grow, without the urgency of rapid consumption.
