Experimental Station, LABoral, Spain

Estación experimental [Experimental Station] presents the work of those artists whose work is inspired by an irrepressible impulse that connects them to the purest part of scientific research. Steering away from pre-established guidelines in contemporary art, these creators share a certain fascination in their work for extra-artistic themes - not only for what happens in the field of reality but also in the beyond.

Formal research, pseudo-science, science-fiction and paranormal events are some of the experimental terrains in which these authors navigate and materialise their works. An artist interested in the latest technology who applies it to his/her work to achieve aesthetic results is not the same as another one more inclined to research whose experiment is the artwork itself, with such research converting the artist’s studio into a laboratory and testing ground for error and results.

Both artistic and scientific devices transport us to places of change and discovery, whether it be with a real purpose or an imaginary one. We are referring to creation as a place for experimentation, and in this respect, science and art share a common aspiration: to conduct experiments that question our current knowledge, looking for a new frontier.

Science and art also share a common poetry. Where do they cross paths and where do they become separate? Ethics and aesthetics are concepts that separate and yet unite: convergence points that invite both the artist and the scientist to think and reflect. The latter works in a wonderful space of observation based on knowledge where rigourous procedures are followed in the obtaining and collecting of data. Artists delve into this limited field in a parallel way.

Throughout history an immense source of ideas has been investigated leading to breakthroughs or to nothing. Utopias and failures are commonplace in art and science.

Curated by: Andrés Mengs y Virginia Torrente
Coproduction: CA2M-Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo
Artists: Julio Adán, Guillem Bayo, Alberto Baraya, Luis Bisbe, Ingrid Buchwald, Carlos Bunga, Caleb Charland, David Clarkson, Björn Dahlem, Karlos Gil, Faivovich & Goldberg, O Grivo, João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, Lyn Hagan, Ilana Halperin, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Esther Mañas and Arash Moori, Milton Marques, Alistair McClymont, Rivane Neuenschwander and Cao Guimarães, Jorge Peris, Paloma Polo, Rubén Ramos Balsa, Ariel Schlesinger, Alberto Tadiello, Jan Tichy, Ben Woodeson and Raphaël Zarka.

October 28, 2011 - April 9, 2012

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