Performing Home: Social and Affective Challenges of At-Risk Artists Esther Belvis Pons

Presentation of projects: December 10 at 6.30pm, Espai Avinyó (C/Avinyó 52)

Exhibition:  December 22- January 10, Districte de Gràcia (Plaça de la Vila, 2)

‘Performing Home: emerging affective and social challenges of artists and writers at risk’ is a project that I am carrying out under the umbrella of Jiwar’s ‘Making Neighborhood’ artistic residency. The project aims to study the affective and social implications that artists face when they immigrate seeking shelter of political asylum in a new country. Barcelona has long tradition in being active in sheltering the displaced. Since 2006, the city is part of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) and prior to this, it has already been one of the oldest members of the City of Asylum Network, until it was dissolved in 2005.

By developing ‘Performing Home’ I want to discover and unfold the main hurdles that displaced artists cope with when they get to the city and how those have an impact on their work. In other words the project addresses thought-provoking relevant questions such as: how the notion of ‘home’ is produced, re-enacted or simulated in the hosting city? How the network of affects is woven? How homeland and hosting-land dialogue? To what extent their new living and working conditions affect or reconfigure their artistic work?  To answer this questions, artists from different backgrounds and nationalities—including Bàssem Al-Nabris (Palestine), Juan Tomás Ávila Laure (Equatorial Guinea), Conchita Pineda (Venezuela) — have participated in different workshops and actions to reflect about what home is.

The project will be presented next Thursday  10  at 18.30 at Espai Avinyó  and the resulting atworks will be exhibited at Districte de Gràcia from December 22 – January 10.  In both events, you will have also the chance to explore the two other projects resulting from ‘Making Neighbourhood’ created by the artists Deema Shahin (Jordan) and Israel de la Paz (Mexico).

For more information:

https://construintveinatges3.wordpress.com/

http://jiwarbarcelona.com/