Espais C. Spaces for artistic creation

Espais C. Spaces for artistic creation in primary schools

Espais C is a programme aimed at state primary schools in Barcelona. It is based on the idea of bringing together individual artists, or artist collectives, within the school, wherein artists develop a one-year residency that also provides them as creators with a space (preferably a studio or workshop) where their residency is located. Residencies in the school can be extended for a maximum of one year.

The Espais C programme is promoted by the Consorci d’Educació, Barcelona, and the Institut de Cultura, Barcelona, ​​with guidance from the Universitat Autònoma, Barcelona. The general coordination and mediation of the programme is conducted by Fabra i Coats: Centre d’Art Contemporani, and by Experimentem amb l’ART, with the participation of Hangar, the Fundació Antoni Tàpies and the Fundació Suñol, with each mediating one Espai C. The Fundació Antoni Tàpies has established its Espai C in the Institut Escola Eixample with the participation of the artist Regina Giménez.

The Espais C project has grown out of the spirit of the Room 13 International initiative, first carried out in 1994 at the Caol Primary School in Scotland. In Barcelona, ​​the first stage of the Espais C project (2015–20) developed its own individual characteristics, but following the same method of creating an art studio within a school, coordinated and run by the children together with the resident artist/s.

The latest stage of Espais C will be launched during the 2021–22 academic year, initiating a new format that emphasises the links between educational centres, art centres and creative spaces. This pilot project, which reassesses the bases and objectives of the programme, will initially be developed in a maximum of three schools, with the possibility of expanding its horizons for future editions.

Link to the programme Espais C.

REGINA GIMENEZ
Barcelona, 1966

Regina Gimenez lives and works in Barcelona. Since the 1990s, she has established herself as one of the most active Catalan artists on the art scene both locally and internationally.

Through the appropriation of elements extracted from her original context, such as old silent maps or geography and cosmology books, and their reorganization into new compositions, Regina Gimenez develops through her works an investigation around the aesthetic and formal aspect of graphic representations. An exploration that results in a world of colors and geometric shapes of great beauty and simplicity, through which universal dialogues such as abstraction and figuration, color and black and white or the whole with the fragment are materialized. It is a versatile body of work composed by objects of a different nature, from paintings on canvas and collages on paper to textile works, passing through other materials and techniques such as methacrylate or photography. That is why, in addition to her pictorial production, it is also worth highlighting the artist’s interest in the Edition of artist’s books and graphic works, as well as her teaching task at the university.

Her most recent solo exhibitions include Brillantes y pálidas. Gigantes y enanas [Bright and Pale. Giants and dwarfs] (Luis Adelantado Gallery, Valencia, 2021), Iremos al sol [We’ll go to the sun] (Patio Herreriano Museum, Valladolid, 2020), El Sol i la taula [The Sun and the table] (Can Palauet, Mataró, 2018) and Adoptar otra naturaleza [To adopt another nature] (Ana Mas Projects, Barcelona, 2017). Her work has also been included in group exhibitions in public and private cultural spaces in Barcelona, Valencia, La Coruña, London, and other cities in Switzerland, Argentina, France and Korea. She has recently published “Geo-graphics” her first illustrated book, edited by Zahori Books. Over the last few years she has been the recipient of different awards in recognition of her artistic career, among which worth mentioning the first prize at the Tarragona Art Biennial (2010), the Ricard Camí First Prize awarded by the Caixa de Terrassa (2001), the First Prize in the 30th and 37th prize of the Sala Parés (1998 and 1995). She also received the Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana Award in 1999.

Her works are part of important collections such as the “la Caixa” Foundation, the Banc Sabadell Foundation, the Vila Casas Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Castilla y León (MUSAC) or the Fondation Comprime collection from Paris; as well as private collections such as those of Lawrence B. Benenson in New York, Adriana Cisneros in New York and Miami, the Jameston Group in New York and Atlanta, or Isabel Marant in Paris.