Artista: Por qué el arte no se entiende, se experimenta - Ana Laura Aláez | #122

Ana Laura Aláez, a leading figure in contemporary Spanish art, speaks at Arte en Diálogo about sculpture, installation, women, and the landmark event that defined her career: transforming the Reina Sofía Museum into a real-life disco. Born in Bilbao in a post-war Spain steeped in inherited silences, Ana Laura Aláez decided to rebel against a society and a family that repeatedly told her that "art is useless." She went to study Fine Arts on her own, traveled to New York, and, in the heart of the Basque Country of Chillida and Oteiza, traded monumental ironwork for high heels, wigs, makeup, and vulnerability. Her installation Dance & Disco at the Reina Sofía Museum (2000) transformed a museum room into a neon-lit disco with dancing people. Since then, she has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Palais de Tokyo, the MUSAC (Museum of Contemporary Art of Castile and León), and, most recently, at The Ryder Madrid. In this conversation, we discuss the weight of silence, women in art, the body as material, and why, in her words, "art shouldn't be understood, it should be experienced." 00:00 Preview: "Art doesn't have to be understood" 01:03 Lorena's introduction 01:40 Featured work: Lorena Gutiérrez, "Greatest Common Divisor" 02:02 Welcome to Ana Laura Aláez 03:43 "Sometimes it's better if people don't know you" 04:39 Bilbao, post-war period, and the missing grandfather 05:34 Inheriting silence: the opposite of creativity 08:03 The 80s in the Basque Country: heroin, AIDS, depression 09:31 The carpenter father and the magic of the craft 11:14 "Art is useless and art isn't for you" 11:40 Studying Fine Arts against the family 13:14 Life within art: against Chillida and Oteiza 15:10 The first work: the dress made from her mother's quilt 18:09 The faculty: discovering that it wasn't A monster 22:05 New York: changing course 24:10 "The weird one": the word as identity 25:07 "I've never thought I was an artist" 28:48 1997, first installation: "If astronauts, then women astronauts" 31:29 The white cube is not neutral 33:18 Models, María Corral and the net that holds you up 38:21 The disco at the Reina Sofía (2000) 39:24 I needed to touch a degree of reggaeton 39:46 "Art has become spectacle" 41:30 The pedestal and the trap of comfort 44:32 After Venice, Tokyo, MUSAC: the zigzag 44:57 Women, the body, pain and suspicion 46:05 Young women vs. older women in art 48:30 "The song is always the same: love and death" 49:51 Care, the frenetic rhythm, the Immediacy 51:38 Sculpting with Vulnerability 52:16 The Ryder Madrid: The Present Moment 55:35 "I Believe in Art" as a Key to Questioning the World 56:50 "Art shouldn't be understood, it should be experienced" 57:20 Closing: Why It's Better to Expect Nothing 👉 Stay connected with the art world at Arteinformado: Ana Laura Aláez: https://bit.ly/4uwiqtt Reina Sofía Museum: https://bit.ly/4aov1qm The Ryder Madrid: https://bit.ly/The_Ryder Exhibition of work: Lorena Gutiérrez Camejo — 'Greatest Common Divisor' Installation (Two acrylic paintings on canvas, 100cm x 73cm each, military jacket, presidential guayabera, and military medals) 2024. 'Greatest Common Divisor' is a work that portrays how In totalitarian regimes, military power often leads to a business elite. ℹ️ Information about the artist: https://bit.ly/4mgIK8m Follow us on: 📸 Instagram:   / arteendialogo   🐦 Twitter:   / arteendialogo   🕺 TikTok:   / arteendialogo   🎧 Buzzsprout: https://arteendialogo.buzzsprout.com 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... 🤝 Support us!: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2247281/su...