I am currently based between Benlloc, Spain and Amsterdam, Netherlands. As an artist and individual I often consider myself an urban agriculturalist or a rural cosmopolite. I think with my hands while crafting with my brain. I meander between rural communities and contemporary cities, that’s where my work is at home. The intersections where these two realms meet constitute the soil from where my artistic practice grows. Taking shape through photography, video, installations, public art and performance.
My social practice is collaborative and participatory in nature, while principles of care and listening are core values of my work. Drawing from feminist, indigenous thought and rural knowledge, my practice addresses and mediates between dichotomies like human vs. nature, countryside vs. city, local vs. global, with the aim to deconstruct such distinctions created by Western scholarship in the first place. Notions of ‘making together’ are crucial to decentralize the artist ‘as the genius and unique creator’ and to foster a space for transformation were the act to create collectively is key.
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Laura Palau
Photographer
In late summer 2022 I successfully completed the Master’s program ‘Photography & Society’ at Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK), the Netherlands. A time that essentially contributed to the development and growth on a personal and professional level. With its emphasis on socially engaging themes and the social role of photography and art within society.
Fostering interdisciplinary approaches between art and science or design and sociology, my studies at Polytechnic University of Valencia, from where I successfully graduated in 2017, assisted me to set the foundation stones for my artistic practice. Completing my studies with the opening of my solo show Edits at Romà de la Calle Foundation I returned to Benlloc, the village I grew up in, to build up my own studio space situated within the local community. While living and working between the countryside and the city I presented my work in different exhibitions and events, among them PhotoEspaña, EACC, CCCC, among other institutions.
Being awarded the Habitat award for Las Bañistas granted me the possibility to develop the project further during an artist in residency program at GlogaAIR in Berlin, Germany. Which exposed me to a new and enriching cultural context, where I could extend my personal and artistic network in a vibrant art scene shaped by diverse influences and ideas of national and international artists, makers and thinkers.
Following my stay in Germany I went to Normandy, France, to produce a new work for the PALMA festival (a festival for music and visual arts in Caen). Cuando haga bueno juega fuera y, cuando haga malo, juega dentro, an interactive camera obscura realized with a local institution and adolescents from marginalized backgrounds. A severe accident and the begin of the pandemic forced me to stay in France for 8 months, leaving me with 18% permanent physical disability and a good command of French.
Laura Palau
Photographer
In late summer 2022 I successfully completed the Master’s program ‘Photography & Society’ at Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK), the Netherlands. A time that essentially contributed to the development and growth on a personal and professional level. With its emphasis on socially engaging themes and the social role of photography and art within society.
Fostering interdisciplinary approaches between art and science or design and sociology, my studies at Polytechnic University of Valencia, from where I successfully graduated in 2017, assisted me to set the foundation stones for my artistic practice. Completing my studies with the opening of my solo show Edits at Romà de la Calle Foundation I returned to Benlloc, the village I grew up in, to build up my own studio space situated within the local community. While living and working between the countryside and the city I presented my work in different exhibitions and events, among them PhotoEspaña, EACC, CCCC, among other institutions.
Being awarded the Habitat award for Las Bañistas granted me the possibility to develop the project further during an artist in residency program at GlogaAIR in Berlin, Germany. Which exposed me to a new and enriching cultural context, where I could extend my personal and artistic network in a vibrant art scene shaped by diverse influences and ideas of national and international artists, makers and thinkers.
Following my stay in Germany I went to Normandy, France, to produce a new work for the PALMA festival (a festival for music and visual arts in Caen). Cuando haga bueno juega fuera y, cuando haga malo, juega dentro, an interactive camera obscura realized with a local institution and adolescents from marginalized backgrounds. A severe accident and the begin of the pandemic forced me to stay in France for 8 months, leaving me with 18% permanent physical disability and a good command of French.
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I am currently based between Benlloc, Spain and Amsterdam, Netherlands. As an artist and individual I often consider myself an urban agriculturalist or a rural cosmopolite. I think with my hands while crafting with my brain. I meander between rural communities and contemporary cities, that’s where my work is at home. The intersections where these two realms meet constitute the soil from where my artistic practice grows. Taking shape through photography, video, installations, public art and performance.
My social practice is collaborative and participatory in nature, while principles of care and listening are core values of my work. Drawing from feminist, indigenous thought and rural knowledge, my practice addresses and mediates between dichotomies like human vs. nature, countryside vs. city, local vs. global, with the aim to deconstruct such distinctions created by Western scholarship in the first place. Notions of ‘making together’ are crucial to decentralize the artist ‘as the genius and unique creator’ and to foster a space for transformation were the act to create collectively is key.
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Olafur Eliasson: Trembling horizonsNov 3 – Jul 2, 2023Olafur Eliasson transforms the Manica Lunga wing of Castello di Rivoli by installing a new series of six immersive wedge-shaped optical device-like artworks in the long gallery. Inside each, the viewer can watch complex patterns unfold in fluid motion within a 360-degree panoramic space (more…)
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Karl Sczuka Prize 2023Open Call / Deadline May 23, 2023The Karl Sczuka Prize for Works of Radio Art, established by the SWR in 1955, will be awarded this year for the 62st time. The invitation to submit works is public and the award consists of a main prize, endowed with 12,500 euros, and a support grant of 2,500 euros. (more…)
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Aesthetica Art Prize 2023Deadline August 31, 2023The Aesthetica Art Prize celebrates contemporary art in all its forms, offering opportunities for exhibition at a major public gallery alongside publication in Aesthetica Magazine and the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology. The winner will receive £10,000 (GBP) prize money. (more…)
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Spirit in the LandFeb 16 – Jul 9, 2023Spirit in the Land is a contemporary art exhibition that examines today’s urgent ecological concerns from a cultural perspective, demonstrating how intricately our identities and natural environments are intertwined. (more…)
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