Prototipoak is the Azkuna Zentroa’s International Biennial of New Artistic Forms. A meeting of creators with different visions and diverse backgrounds who question aspects of reality and envision the possibility of influencing it through artistic practice. They do so by using contemporary forms, with their codes and creation times, changing scenarios and formats, using diverse languages and creating transformative experiences for the public, which live on in the memory.
Prototipoak’s framework of action and thought comes from one of the meanings of the word itself, “prototype”, which refers to a first version of something, to the preliminary embodiment of a device from which other forms are derived. It is therefore a space that promotes a way of doing things from a place of uncertainty, curiosity and permanent questioning, opening up the possibility of other worlds. Together with the “what”, the “when” or the “why”, these prototypes define the “how” and the “where” culture takes place, which includes the appropriate placement of each project and the diversity and suitability of the supports, formats and spaces.
In the 2023 edition, Prototipoak looks at the social emotions, thoughts and feelings around the experience of everything that happens at Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao and how it impacts people’s lives. It is also a bid to “re-naturalise” the Centre’s space, the urban and rural space, the natural and the artificial, the biological and the robotic, by reflecting on the past and the future of culture and society, the positive aspects of diversity, singularity and specificity, and the interstice between art and society, artists and the communities of audiences.
Prototipoak 2023 features projects that span the visual arts, the performing arts, film and audio-visuals and words, with site specifics, performances, dance, installations, interventions in the public space or ephemeral architecture, in which the creators invite us to reflect and visualise reality differently, as a process, a practice and an experience.
