Fine Arts launches third No Cuesta D’Enero
Kenneth Cardona tapes a cucumber to the wall as Michelle Rugeroni watches on. Photos by Johnny Bugeja.
No Cuesta D’Enero launched its third edition on Monday evening with a live performance, an art installation, a lively discussion, and a cucumber taped to a wall.
The event, which saw art enthusiasts get together, aims to encourage public participation in the arts through a series of free events.
Fine Arts Association member Joseph Alecio launched the programme at the Fine Arts Gallery and welcomed new and old faces.
He also thanked Gibraltar Cultural Services for sponsoring the event and highlighted the importance of community events.
“These walls have held artworks that have been used for charity. These walls have held artworks that are from different places on the Earth,” Mr Alecio said.
“These walls have heard poetry, music. They carry art on them. Let's imagine an artist who paints in his house, in his solitude.”
“He pours himself onto the canvas. He tries to convey an emotion, a feeling, and capture it in time. In an attempt to scratch that creative itch that he has inside him.”
“An unaware viewer may come in here and he's entrapped by what he sees on the canvas. They, in turn, stimulate our memory, an emotion, a feeling. That is a form of silent communication.”
“It's like a symbolism. That is like the magic of art. That is why, in an ever more artificial society, that is why art will never die.”
“Ironically enough, if all that was envisioned in our heads, these walls would be bare, plain, and dull, if it wasn't for us, who keep the community alive.”
Sisters Zoe and Nikki Bishop, who together form part of the Movement Collective, performed a moving piece called ‘Sisterhood’.
Through movement, they portrayed relatable scenes from their lives depicting their bond.
“We divided it into four stages of our lives, so how our relationship has evolved over the four stages, and how we've grown closer in some parts, in some areas we are separate, even though we are doing the same thing,” Nikki said.
“We wanted people to watch it, even though there's certain things which are very specific to us, we thought it was a common theme that other people… would also be able to pick up upon.”
Zoe added that this is the first draft of a wider performance, where she hopes to have more sisters join with their interpretations.
“The vision eventually is to have other sisters who perform in a cast with us and draw also from their relationship,” Zoe said.
“For this first draft, we've been workshopping for about a couple of weeks.”
The evening closed with a discussion, on what is art, titled ‘Art, que arte?’.
Kenneth Cardona led the discussion, opening with a point about how a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $6.2m at auction in New York last year.
At the time, the provocative art piece called ‘Comedian’ drew media attention and critiques on whether this was art at all.
Mr Cardona homed in on this, and created his own art piece ‘El Pepino’ by duct-taping a cucumber to the wall of the Fine Arts Gallery.
“This is more of an installation project,” Mr Cardona said as he pointed to the duct-taped cucumber.
“Because this, to me, is actually symbolic.”
“A mi me importa un pepino.”
The audience chuckled as Mr Cardona put his point across using the Spanish saying.
Mr Cardona alongside Michelle Rugeroni, Stefano Blanca Sciacaluga, and Alan Perez discussed what, in their view, defines art.
The group were sat on Mr Blanca Sciacaluga’s art installation ‘La Sala’ which he created alongside Alex Menez.
The pair recreated a living room built on loose memories and feelings that is recognisable locally.
“Although not exactly a full ‘sala’, it whispers to your imagination and past memories to invoke a certain feeling of nostalgia,” Ms Menez said.
“The beauty of this installation is the fact that 98% of everything in it is new.”
The photos are all taken by Mr Blanca Sciacaluga over the last 10 years and videos by Ms Menez were taken over the last eight months.
According to Ms Menez, all of the imagery attempts to simulate a time between the mid-to-late 1990s.
The programme of events continues this week and the public is invited to use the studio in the Fine Arts Gallery anytime throughout the week.
Programme of events:
Wednesday (today)
Fine Arts Gallery 6pm
Free portrait and photography session with models Johnny Walker and Miss Gibraltar 2024 Shania Ballester
Thursday
Fine Arts Gallery 7pm until 9pm
Free life drawing
Friday
Casemates 5pm (fully booked)
Social historical walk with the Llanito History, Doctor Ryan Asquez, followed by a drawing session at El Kasbah