21/1/2003
Charles and Ray Eames
Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz
A legacy of invention. The first posthumous retrospective of the works of Charles and Ray Eames, two of the American designers who most influenced 20th century architecture and design.
In january, Artium of Alava will present an exhibition of Charles and Ray Eames, two of the most influential designers of the 20th century
ARTIUM of Alava, the Basque Centre-Museum of Contemporary Art, will open its 2003 exhibition programme with a 'chamber' exhibition by Joan Miró to mark the installation of Mural, created by the Catalan artist and the ceramicist Llorenç Artigas, in the museum entrance hall.
The main attraction to start off the year will be the first posthumous retrospective of the works of Charles and Ray Eames, two of the American designers who most influenced 20th century architecture and design. The ARTIUM of Alava exhibition programme includes displays by Javier Pérez, Pello Irazu, Joan Fontcuberta and Perejaume, among others.
The work of Charles and Ray Eames: a legacy of invention (North Gallery, from 22 January to 4 May) will open the 2003 programme of 'major exhibitions' in ARTIUM of Alava. This is the first posthumous retrospective of one of the most influential couples of the 20th century for their contributions to the fields of design, architecture, culture and scientific dissemination.
The exhibition presents some of the Eameses most representative projects, from the well known and useful models of chairs to programmes related to complex systems of human perception and communication.
The work of Charles and Ray Eames exhibition has been organized by the Washington DC Library of Congress and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The exhibition has been shown in museums and art centres around Europe and America and it may only be seen in Spain in ARTIUM of Alava, sponsored by the Basque Government Department of Housing and Social Affairs and the Basque Navarre Association of Architects.
Charles and Ray Eames are situated among the most important American designers of the 20th century, well known for their contribution to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and photography. The core of their philosophy as designers is their desire to resolve the human being's basic necessities regarding security, comfort and knowledge: how to produce inexpensive but high quality furniture; how to achieve accessible habitable or work spaces whilst being well designed at the same time; how to help people to grasp the beauty in daily life; how to help the Americans and other cultures to get to know each other; and how to make essential scientific principles accessible to amateurs.
The work of Charles and Ray Eames allows their responses to these challenges to be illustrated.
The exhibition is organized in five categories which show the broad spectrum of the Eameses interests: furniture (fruit of 40 years of experimentation in accessible and quality designs); space (the Eameses architectural projects); beauty (films and slide shows on the beauty of everyday objects); culture (exhibitions, films and publications); and science (films, books and exhibitions to spread new technologies and their potential).
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Joan Fontcuberta, Javier Pérez and Pello Irazu
After the Eames exhibition has been opened, ARTIUM of Alava will inaugurate an exhibition of Recent acquisitions 2001-2002 (Lower East Gallery, from 5 February to 25 May) with a selection of the works that have increased the museum's own Collection in the last two years. In the month of February another exhibition by the Madrid architect Ãngel Borrego, Watched exhibition II, will be opened (Upper East Gallery, 20 February to 27 April), this is a video installation that reflects on the situation of those people who must be permanently protected by a body guard.
In May, the Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta will present The island of the Basques in ARTIUM of Alava (Upper East Gallery, from 7 May to 21 September), fruit of his research into the presence of the Basque whalers in the 16th and 17th centuries in l'Île aux Basques, situated on the Saint Laurent estuary, near Quebec, Canada, and the traces that still live on in the inhabitants of this 'magical island'. Also in May, ARTIUM will present a retrospective exhibition by the Bilbao artist Javier Pérez (North Gallery, from 21 May to 14 September), co-produced by ARTIUM of Alava together with the Nimes Museum of Contemporary Art. Apart from the above, Retrotábula (Lower East Gallery, from 11 June to 31 August) is the title of the project that the Catalan artist Perejaume will present in ARTIUM of Alava, an exhibition carried out in collaboration with the José Guerrero Centre in Granada.
Once the summer is over, ARTIUM will open an exhibition of Pello Irazu's most recent works, some of which have been made for this display (Lower East Gallery, from 17 September to 6 January). The exhibition will allow the recent career of one of the most acclaimed Basque artists of the moment to be reviewed. The ARTIUM programme schedule for 2003 will be completed with an exhibition of the Basque Government Gure Artea Awards (North Gallery, from 1 October to 11 December).
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Chamber exhibitions
The chamber exhibitions programme, with a reduced number of works, will begin in 2003 with a display by Joan Miró (South Gallery, from 21 January to 30 March), organized to mark the first public and complete exhibition of Mural, the ceramic work of art by Miró and Llorenç Artigas. The exhibition will include the work Femme dans la nuit, and a selection of lithographs by Miró, all belonging to ARTIUM of Alava's own funds. Furthermore, there are chamber exhibitions planned by José Guerrero (South Gallery, July-September) and Nikolás Lekuona (South Gallery, October-November), the latter is in collaboration with the Reina Sofia National Museum.
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ARTIUM of Alava has also programmed a cycle of German and Spanish cinema which accompanies the exhibition So close, so far. Painting in Germany and Spain 1945-1960. From 17 January to 22 February, there will be films shown that were directed in this period by Edgar Neville (Domingo de carnaval), Berlanga (That happy pair and Plácido) and Fernando Fernán Gómez (Life around us) among the Spanish, and Wolfgang Staudte (The murderers are among us) and Edwin Geschonneck (Naked among wolves) among the Germans.
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Acting as both a museum and centre of cultural activities, ARTIUM is committed to the diffusion of present day and recent art, through permanent exhibitions of its modern and contemporary art collections, with the aim of upgrading artistic culture and developing awareness within the Basque Society and among the people of Alava.
The aim of ARTIUM, the Basque Contemporary Art Museum-Centre, is to diffuse present day art through the exhibition of its own collection and the organisation of temporary exhibitions and other parallel activities connected with thought and creative action.
Inaugurated in April 26th 2002, ARTIUM belongs to a generation of contemporary art museums that emerged at the turn of the millennium. Possessing an impressive artistic patrimony, ARTIUM is doing its utmost to divulge the expressions of present day creations to make them accessible for the greater part of the population.
ATRIUM's mission is to accomplish the above-mentioned objectives using the instruments it has at its disposal, namely, its own collection, the temporary exhibition programmes, didactic activities and other parallel services.
ARTIUM, which forms part of the cultural axis of both the mediaeval centre of Vitoria-Gasteiz and the network of Basque museums, is configured as the key component in the cultural dynamics of Ãlava and Euskadi.
Activities
In conjunction with the temporary exhibition calendar, ARTIUM also organizes parallel activities to complement the educational and instructive nature of these events.
The aim is to make ARTIUM a dynamic and active cultural centre capable of establishing multiple relationships between fine arts and other artistic disciplines, and also of enabling different types of visitors to gain access to contemporary creations.
To do this, ARTIUM organizes
presentations, a series of conferences, round tables, seminars and monographic art courses
retrospective viewing of author cinema productions, thematic film and video-creation cycles, documentaries and avant-garde, experimental cinema and
performances including dancing, concerts and other artistically creative activities.
The ARTIUM Foundation of Alava
The ARTIUM Foundation of Alava was constituted in February 2001 at the initiative of the provincial council of Ãlava. Its main objective is the management and steering of ARTIUM, The Basque Museum-Centre of Contemporary Art.
Initially, the patrons of the Foundation were the Institutions that participated in the construction and inauguration of ARTIUM. Nevertheless, the Foundation is open to private participation and patronage, in accordance with the corresponding Collaboration Programmes.
The Foundation is governed by two different organisations, namely the Sponsors' Committee and the Executive Committee. In addition, the ARTIUM Foundation of Alava is also able to rely on the services of various counselling committees, whose assistance promotes greater participation and identification between Museum-Centre collaborators and ARTIUM.
Arabako ARTIUM de Ãlava
Arte Garaikideko Euskal Zentro-Museoa - Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo - Basque Contemporary Art Museum-Centre
Francia 24, 01002 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tel.: +34 945 20 90 23 - Fax: +34 945 20 90 49