The Basque Government, through the Etxepare Basque Institute, which enacts as an ambassador for the Basque culture abroad and encourages the international diffusion of the Basque artists of all disciplines, has launched ZABAL, an international program determined to host international curators in the Basque Country.
This program has been designed and is coordinated by Artingenium.
In the aim of offering new possibilities to Basque artists and creating new means of making contact with the international context, ZABAL aims to show the art context of the Basque Country hosting international curators, art critics, and Museum directors, in the Basque Country. The program will be mainly based in generating individual encounters between international curators and the artistic community in the aim of driving and promoting the internalization of Basque artists abroad.
Ruth Estévez, co-curator of the 34th Biennial of Sao Paulo. Her stay in the Basque Country took place from the 18th to the 21st of November, 2019. During her stay, Ruth Estévez made an open presentation on the 34th Biennial of Sao Paolo, on the 20th of November, at the Fine Arts Museum, in Bilbao.
Ruangrupa, curators of documenta 15, Kassel. The stay of Ade Darmawan, Indra Ameng and Ayse Gülec took place from the 16th to the 22nd of February, 2020. During their stay, they made a public presentation of documenta 15, on the 18th of February, at the Fine Arts Museum, in Bilbao.
As a result of this visit, the publisher and independent public space of Bilbao, Consonni, has been chosen to participate in the renowned international exhibition Documenta 15, which will open in June 2022 in Kassel, Germany.
Marina Otero, co-curator of the 13th Biennial of Shanghai. Her stay in the Basque Country will take place from the 15th to the 17th November, 2021. During her stay, Marina Otero will make an open presentation on the 13th Biennial of Shanghai, on the 16th November, at the Artium Museum, in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
June Crespo’s participation in the Venice Biennale is a result of the ZABAL programme launched by the Etxepare Euskal Institutua. Through this project, the curator of the Venice Biennale, Cecilia Alemani, had the opportunity to learn about the work of several Basque creators, being one of the results the invitation of June Crespo to participate in the exhibition.
David Teh, curator of the Istanbul Biennale, visited the Basque Country to get to know the local artistic context first-hand.
During his stay, he has known museums, creative centers, artistic institutions and artists and creators/ whose research refers to regionalism, in a broad and inclusive sense, and its connection with contemporary art. His interest also lies in the intersections between experimental art and literature.
Rahul Gudipudi, curator of Art Jameel, visited the Basque Country to learn first-hand about the local artistic context.
During his visit, in addition to visiting museums, creative centers and artistic institutions, he has shown interest in meeting artists who work with public art projects and integrate nature and communities into their practices. Agriculture, climate crisis, food systems, water rights, land sovereignty, governance, rurality, collective practices or indigenous knowledge systems.
The 35th edition of the São Paulo Biennial will be held in 2023 and its curators have visited the Basque Country these days to know first-hand the context of the Basque artists and creators/as/as of the performative and audiovisual arts fields. The capitals of Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa have hosted Manuel Borja-Villel, art historian and Director of the Reina Sofía Museum; Diane Lima, independent curator, writer and researcher; and Hélio Menezes, anthropologist, critic and researcher.
