The winning exhibition project of the open call ‘TAPÍS’, by Mònica Fuster, was presented today at a press conference.
The Institute of Balearic Studies (IEB) presented the exhibition project ‘TAPÍS’, by the Mallorcan artist Mònica Fuster, with Sebastià Mascaró as curator, which won the open call launched by the IEB to select a curatorial project for its stand at ARCOmadrid 2025, which is being held from 5 to 9 March at the Institución Ferial de Madrid (IFEMA).
Among the 16 projects presented, Mònica Fuster’s exhibition proposal was the best evaluated by the jury, made up of Pilar Cruz, curator; Bartolomé Marí, curator; Sofía Moisés, member of the Association of Curators and Art Critics of the Balearic Islands (ACCAIB); Gisel Noé, curator and director of Mataró Art Contemporani; Juan Riancho, gallery owner; Karen Müller, head of the visual arts department of the IEB, and Llorenç Perelló, director of the IEB.
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The Institute of Balearic Studies (IEB) participates in ARCOmadrid 2025 with its stand
During the presentation ceremony, which was attended by the councillor for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Jaume Bauzà, the regional secretary for Culture, Pedro Vidal, and the director of the IEB, Llorenç Perelló, the project ‘TAPÍS’ was presented, which is based on a wide-ranging and lengthy investigation that begins in 2020 and focuses on the ancestral part of agriculture in the fields of the Pla, Llevant and Migjorn of Mallorca, to unfold and develop organically in multiple aspects and artistic practices until the end of 2024. The sowing, harvesting and production of the ‘pebre bord’ are emphasised from a multi-sensorial, spiritual and poetic perspective based on highly symbolic rituals.
The artistic project is presented as a recognition of the work of women and the land from an anthropological point of view and, at the same time, as a call for reflection on the lack of cures in the Mallorcan countryside, a mirror that can be extrapolated to the delicate planetary environmental situation in which we are immersed.
Throughout this work, Mònica explores, develops and gathers ethnocultural registers and traditions from contemporary artistic languages such as performance, installation, photography, arte natural, video, sculpture, weaving and artist’s books. A careful selection of these registers is now proposed in exhibition format and adapted to represent the IEB stand at ARCOmadrid 2025.
The Mallorcan artist Mònica Fuster Julia is characterised by her willingness to experiment with new formats. She is known for her installations and in situ projects, which are articulated around a thematic axis to unfold in multiple facets. Fuster has worked with the galleries Lluc Fluxà, Maior, Maserre, Raiña Lupa and Pepe Cobo. He has worked in different public collections, such as the Es Baluard Museum, and private collections. His exhibitions and projects in museums and art centres such as the Casal Solleric, La Capella in Barcelona and the Miró Mallorca Foundation, and in the Open Spaces section of ARCO, where he won the Altadis prize, as well as his solo projects in ARCO with the Pepe Cobo gallery and in Estampa through the Miró Mallorca Foundation where he presented his prize-winning project ‘Traç’, which he edited with the Centro Português de Serigrafia in Lisbon and with Canopo Edizioni a Prato, among others, stand out.
The IEB, as a cultural institution, participated in 2019 with its stand in the section of cultural spaces of ARCOmadrid intending to promote the visibility and internationalization of Balearic artists in strategic events of external projection, since the projects presented to the call must be proposals made by curators with the participation of an artist from the Balearic Islands.
The projects that the IEB has presented so far are: ‘The instant before something happens’, with Lara Fluxà, Gabriel Pericàs and Ian Waelder, curated by Allélon; ‘Réplica. Tour de force’, by Joan Morey, curated by Jesús Alcaide; ’Spleen de Teheran. Càmera lúcida’, by Núria Marqués, curated by Alexandra Laudo; “Mediterranean Souvenirs: Ofrenes”, by Julià Panadès, curated by Àngels Miralda, and “Perímetre de seguretat”, by Isabel Servera, presented by Pilar Cruz.
Minister Bauzà pointed out that ‘the role of public institutions is key to promoting local talent, creating opportunities and strengthening our cultural sector, both inside and outside our community. And we are demonstrating this by allocating 1.7 million euros per year in 2025, divided into four lines of aid for promotion abroad’.
For his part, Llorenç Perelló stressed that ‘the participation, once again this year, of the IEB as an institution with its own stand in the section of cultural spaces promotes the visibility and internationalisation of Balearic artists, and this year also with a Mallorcan curator, in such an important event as ArcoMadrid’.