Last year it had to be in digital format due to the pandemic, but now Woman Is Art has returned to ME Madrid for the fourth consecutive year and, this time, through the front door. Until March 22, the lobby of the hotel hosts a sample of works by women who are a benchmark in the world of contemporary art: from the singer and composer Rigoberta Bandini, through Ana Rujas and Claudia Costafreda, creators of the successful Cardo series, to Carolina Iglesias and Victoria Martin, presenters of the revelation podcast Stretching the Chicle.
“We have taken it as a celebration of all that we are achieving in terms of feminism, the great things that have happened this year, for example Rigoberta Bandini's protest dress", Andrea Savall tells us, referring to the design by Joan Ros that the artist wore in her resounding performance at the Benidorm Festival, one of the jewels of the exhibition.
Rigoberta Bandini with the dress she wore at the 2022 Benidorm Festival.
Savall, the photographer and creator of Girls from today – an internet community that was born as a fanzine five years ago and in which she moves the most interesting of the feminine cultural panorama–, she already participated in previous editions of Woman is Art. “I think they called me because they were looking for the same concept that my platform has, that of bringing together different voices of women”, explains Andrea, who last year published a book, Things you shouldn't talk about also present at the exhibition.
"Until now –the exhibition was inaugurated at the end of February– it has been a very positive balance", comments Andrea, who is one of the reference voices of feminism in the digital age, and she is happy with the freedom that has been given to her to tackle this project. "It's true that when you have participants like these... it reaches a lot more people."
"The opening day it was exciting to see each other again after the pandemic. Many of us had gone to smaller cities and these types of events represent a return, ”she recalls.
The photographer Rocío Aguirre, part of 'Woman is Art ‘22’.
The process of assembling the sample, explains Andrea to Condé Nast Traveler, has been "pretty easy" and very rewarding. "It was easy because I have a community formed, for example Ana Perrote and Alex de la Croix were already part of it. Getting to Rigoberta or Alba Galocha was not so easy a priori, but there was a pull effect”.
And she adds: “I've been doing this type of work for four years, a sort of living documentary of what's happening. I always imagine it that way, something so that in the future they see what we were like through our own eyes and words, instead of what the press or other eyes say.”
Andrea also praises the show's approach. “Many times there is talk of an exhibition of women when it has really been carried out in a somewhat improvised way or without really listening to their voices. I liked to include, for example, Esther Galván, who may not be as well known as Rigoberta or the girls from Stretching gum, but whose work is very interesting. I like to mix them, that is partly the spirit of Girls from today”.
Facade of Me Madrid.
The common thread of this edition of Woman is Art? "Definitely, the celebration. This last year great things have happened, the Ondas award that won stretching the gum it is just an example. We wanted to take stock. We have reached a point where we have to believe it. It's okay to stop and see what you've achieved, that we are doing it right and we are changing things”, says Andrea, and stresses that "feminism is no longer the same as we thought in 2017."
THE BEST SETTING, A HOTEL
The exhibition is hosted by the vibrant ME Madrid, the luxury hotel of the ME by Meliá brand located in the traditional Plaza de Santa Ana, which thus becomes an ephemeral art gallery. The pieces articulate a perfect image of what is happening with women artists and their universe: Rigoberta's dress, which has been the protagonist of headlines, covers and hundreds of publications on social networks, welcomes visitors.
Work by Martina Hache in Woman is Art '22.
Then there is a space for the audiovisual: the Serie Thistle, one of the great successes of the Spanish production at an international level, absolute winner in the last edition of the Feroz Awards, is part of Woman Is Art'22. Ana Rujas and Claudia Costafreda, directors and writers of the series, expose part of the original script, accompanied by a photograph of the shooting signed by Alejandra del Corro.
Photography is another of the protagonists of this edition, with snapshots signed by Rocío Aguirre, Martina Hache and Esther Galván, among other. In turn, the model, artist and actress Alba Galocha hangs one of the spectacular pieces from it, which mix embroidery and various materials.
Photograph of the shooting of 'Cardo', present in the exhibition.
Africa Pitarch, for its part, is committed to illustration in a feminist key to give color to the reception desk of ME Madrid, with five large-format works. Interior design is also represented thanks to the signature Brown Objects, which has intervened the spaces of the hotel with its unique pieces with echoes of the Memphis group. Anna Perrotte, vocalist of the Madrid band Hinds and plastic artist, she also contributes, showing for the first time in an exhibition one of her hand-painted ceramic vases.
The podcast, one of the most celebrated and consumed supports today, has as its representative to those responsible for redefining this format: the creators of Stretching the Gum, Carolina Iglesias and Victoria Martín, an absolute reference mainstream that fills stadiums with its followers.
Carolina Iglesias and Victoria Martín, creators of the podcast 'Stretching the gum'.
For the occasion, they have donated a clothesline in the purest rural style with different representative objects from the programme, such as panties, polaroid, cups, t-shirts, bow ties, and even the original card with the interview that they did to them during their time on Late Motiv, Andreu Buenafuente's programme. The work can be seen in the window of the main facade of the hotel.
Aside from the latest Girls From Today book, from which a text by the artist Alex De La Croix, A testimony that is part of Quítame la culpa, a fanzine by Cris Lizarraga, singer of the band Belako, is also exposed.
Cristina Lizarraga from the Belako group, part of Woman is Art '22.
CHATTING IN BED
And as a novelty within the calendar of this edition, the ME Madrid hotel celebrates on March 7 the Woman Is Art Bed Talks: an inspirational talk in which women from different fields of art will speak sitting on a bed, a more than representative element of any hotel, on the important role of women in creative fields.
Ana Rujas and Claudia Costafreda, directors of the series 'Cardo'.
Among the speakers are the composers and artists Alba Reche and Alice Wonder, the photographer Rocío Aguirre, the director Martina Hache and Carla Prat, artistic coordinator of the Life and Work of Frida Kahlo exhibition.
Who is this sample for? “I always say that feminism is for everyone and art made by women, of course, too. The fact that it is in a hotel is very interesting because it reaches different types of people. From a young girl who sees possible references to a 50-year-old man who may be able to reflect and see that the world is changing. I don't know, for everyone!"