Study Visit: Bernal Espacio Galería, Madrid

El viernes 26 de enero, los estudiantes del Máster Universitario en Gestión Cultural asistieron -gracias al profesor de nuestra asignatura Sociedad y Cultural de Siglo XXI, Miguel López Remiro- a la Galería de arte Bernal Espacio, en donde tuvieron la oportunidad de hablar con su dueño  Efraín Bernal, galerista colombiano que comenzó su carrera trabajando con la prestigiosa galería Soledad Lorenzo, para luego encargarse por siete años de la dirección de La Fábrica Galería y finalmente crear su propio proyecto.

Efraín platea con su iniciativa un nuevo modelo de galería PopUp que no tiene sede física, sino que funciona de manera itinerante, exponiendo a artistas de gran envergadura como Marina Abramovic, Francesca Woodman, Bas Jan Ader o Fischli & Weiss, pero sin alquilar un local durante todo el año, ahorrándose así costes fijos y concentrando sus esfuerzos en muestras planificadas en el marco de ferias o eventos, como por ejemplo ARCO.

Con mucha experticia y amabilidad, el galerista colombiano compartió con los alumnos del Máster los detalles expositivos de la actual exhibición “Balance: Gravity in Contemporary Art”, además de contar los pros y contras de innovar con un modelo de negocio aún no reconocido por el sector de las galerías de arte.

Después de un intenso día en PUBLICA 18, los estudiantes se llevaron una inspiradora visita, que les mostró que aún en un sector tan establecido como el de las galerías se puede innovar y triunfar. 

Iris Kuntze Palomas: #AlumnioftheMonth of the Master's Degree in Arts and Cultural Managament, UIC Barcelona

“The master’s degree gives you insights and tools to manage cultural institutions. I’m currently working with multiple cultural organizations and what I mostly use are the project management skills”

Why did you decide to do the Master’s degree in Arts and Culture Management at UIC Barcelona?  

The Master offered both a practical and a theoretical approach to the cultural management which cannot be found in The Netherlands. The fact that there was a multicultural class of students made it even more interesting. 

What is your current occupation?  

I’m a project manager and online marketeer at the organization INTK.

How did you get your current job position?

I’ve been working here for almost a year and a half. The fact that it’s an international organization with a possibility to expand in Spain, made this job a perfect match with my personal and professional background.

What knowledge and abilities do you consider you have acquired in the Master’s degree and that they have influenced you personally and professionally?

The master’s degree gives you insights and tools to manage cultural institutions. I’m currently working with multiple cultural organizations and what I mostly use are the project management skills. For that, the cultural project has been very useful, because it has taught me all the facets you need in order to make a cultural project succeed. 

Who was your favourite teacher?

My favourite teacher was definitely Mohammed Elrazzaz, also my mentor during the cultural project. A very inspirational person.

Is there any classmate you would like to highlight or do you have any anecdote with your colleagues?   

We organized some cultural diners where everybody would cook something from their countries. These were amazing nights!

¿Are you still in contact with other alumni from UIC Barcelona?  

Yes, we are, with a lot of my classmates. We became great friends. We try to visit each other in our countries. 

TRANSIT media art and digital culture, a project of former students of the Master’s degree in arts and Culture management, UIC Barcelona

The seed of TRANSIT was born as the final project of a group of students of the Master’s course 2015-2016. Now it became real in the city of Berlin by hands of the founders Stella Roeber, Ines Liebich and Khatarina Leser. 

TRANSIT is a regular event series, that presents media art and digital culture in one of Berlin’s most iconic inner-city event locations. The projects’s aim is to connect up-and-coming local creatives with (international) established media artist, and to offer them a continuous platform for presenting their work to a broader audience. By hosting off-events that run parallel to established festivals and art fairs in Berlin, we profit from an already activated audience and can also reach visiting professionals, who come to Berlin to attend international events and congresses. In their exhibitions they join artists, designers, makers and media professionals, help build new networks, and encourage joint discourses across disciplines. As an all-female team of founders, they believe it is important and beneficial for the success of the project to ensure an even gender-balance between all participating artists and partners.

TRANSIT’s upcoming exhibition »Rendered Personas: Digital Perspectives on Image and Identity” is part of CTM / transmediale's Vorspiel, a program of distributed partner events in the field of digital art and culture, where a variety of partner venues invite local and international audiences to a series of exhibition openings, performances, interventions, artist talks and special events across the city of Berlin.

»Rendered Personas« presents 10+ media artists and creatives working at the intersection of art, design and technology, who explore the shifting concepts of perception, representation, and truth in virtual and 'real’ reality. The exhibition runs from Jan 27-30, 2018 and includes a variety of interactive installations, digital animations, holographic illusions, generative art, video works, VR, and much more. For their opening night on January 27th, 2018, They’ll host an additional event programme of artist talks, audio-visual performances, and live VJ/DJ Sets.

To learn more, we recommend you TRANSIT Social:

Facebook Page

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Website

#DGLovesNaples “A unique photo reportage” for a different business strategy by our students Giulia Rotondo and Sofia Cartuccia

An essay written by our students of the Master's degree in Arts and Culture Management, UIC Barcelona, in the subject Cultural Marketing, in charge of professor Alba Colombo

Photo: Twimg.com 

What comes up in your mind when you hear “Dolce & Gabbana”?

Luxury, extravagant and expensive items as well as fashion show or, maybe, slogans cried out by animal-rights activists. Here we are going to show you something different.

First of all, let’s start from the beginning: D&G is a brand born in Legnano in 1985 form the idea of the two fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (with an initial investment of  1,000$). Since then, they shaped the company in order to be, as it appears in their official website, authentic, unconventional, innovative and Mediterranean. Therefore some of the symbolic values enshrined in a, for exemple, D&G bag are modernity, uniqueness, prestige and exclusivity, just to name a few.

During the growth of the business and the consequent popularity, the values of family and Italian beauty have been cornerstones of a fashion industry whose target consumer is a high social status person, brave in fashion as well as aware of their own attractive power on people. It is no accident that Sofia Loren is D&G iconic testimonial.  However, despite the 6-figures income and the thousands of stores in a more than 40 countries worldwide, in 2015 the company registered a significant decrease in sales, partially due to some boycott campaigns (but mostly to banks knocking at the door).

Time for a better business strategy!

For the 2016-2017 F/W Collection D&G decided to use a strong communication strategy through a powerful photography campaign shot by the well-known photographer Franco Pagetti on Naples’s streets. They designed a 98 pieces collection and empowered their product with additional social values through the campaign. Let’s define it better, a media promotion (#DGLovesNaples) establishing then a long-term strategy.

A Collection is a short-life cycle product (an average of 4-6 months of visibility and 12 of purchase) made up of clothes, bags, shoes and accessories for both men and women. At the core of the collection, sensuality, exclusivity and Italian heritage merge and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Maison, the models are not walking in a VIP fashion show but in the busy streets of Naples, surrounded by non-fashion folks. Well, the price tag still shows exorbitant prices since they are indicator of the Brand Positioning, but something unusual is happening.

The colourful clothes are not hanging in a shop window but pass by Via Benedetto Croce, better known as “Spaccanapoli”, and they will appear in magazines, TV and online platforms under the hashtag #DGLovesNaples. The campaign shows models speaking and interacting with locals, eating pizza, dancing at the rhythm of street music, in a joyful and informal atmosphere. A night catwalk under the eyes of the citizens. A way to show the other face of the chaotic and dirty Naples, adding social values to the brand, without forgetting the beloved Mediterranean roots. Moreover, closer to people: less ideal, more normal.

The analysis

Speaking in SWOT terms, the strengths and weaknesses of this campaign have points in common: the unchanged high price and the exclusivity. Strong brand values and the presence of high quality, non-traditional products clearly enforce the strategy while the use of stereotypes makes it vulnerable. Why?

The campaign had the opportunity to open the market to new segments as well as to renovate the image of the brand and to develop a long-term communication strategy, but the final outcome is ambivalent. While a high participation of the community has been registered during the shooting and even during the night catwalk along with an increase in D&G visibility online, they also received critics from local people due to the use of stereotypes about Naples claiming that the city cannot be reduced to “pizza and tarantella”. Then here is the question: is the use of stereotypes about Italian culture a positive or a negative marketing strategy? Does it work using a Sofia Loren model of beauty as the only traditional image of an Italian woman that needs to be flattered and conquered?

Our reflections point out the fact that they actually added a social purpose to fashion, being different from their competitors and establishing a long-term format for their campaigns. In fact, other Italian cities, such as Capri and Palermo, have been the set for following collections. On the other hand, negative effects are evident in the response of the locals, but also in the failed attempt in opening the market to new segments. And the rubbish is still in the streets of Naples.

As a conclusion, we want to share with you what, according to Domenico and Stefano, what Naples represents:

“Naples is reality. Naples is exciting. Naples is music. Naples is passion. Naples is altruism. Naples is good food. Naples is beauty. Naples is family.