East Asia, protagonist of the new edition of Swab Barcelona
The Fira Internacional d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona is celebrating its 27th edition at the Montjuïc venue.
From Taipei, Tòquio, Seül... Many of the works that you will see in the 2024 edition of Swab, the Fira Internacional d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, which you can visit at the Fira de Barcelona exhibition centre on Montjuïc from 3 to 6 October, come from such far-flung capitals, but also from highly active international contemporary art scenes.
An independent art fair and an experimental platform for emerging artistic proposals, Swab was founded in 2006 and since then has been bringing together galleries from all over the international scene every year, making it a meeting point for the contemporary art sector. In this year's edition, the fair brings together seventy galleries, of which 23 are Spanish and the rest (47 more proposals) come to the Catalan capital from around twenty countries. In total, around two hundred artists of our time are showing their creations at this event.
As we said, in the 2024 edition, art from Asia will play a prominent role. Thus, Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, will be the protagonist of the SOLO Show by Vila Casas and Video Box programmes, a section dedicated to video art. On the other hand, Tòquio and Seül will be the protagonists of the Focus Tokyo - Seoul commissariat programme, where you will be able to see creations from young spaces from both cities.
These are not the only sections of a fair that has a General Programme dedicated to consolidated galleries; a Swab Seed for independent and artist-run spaces and a MyFAF section, where you will find new galleries that have not yet participated in international fairs. Among the new features this year is a Design section dedicated to contemporary design. In addition, there will be a Focus Tòquio - Seül, dedicated to both cities; an Emerging LATAM, with new proposals for emerging Latin American art, the aforementioned SOLO Show by Vila Casas, where independent Catalan projects are related to works produced in other territories, and Vídeo Box, dedicated to audiovisual production.
Among the most spectacular events is Perhutana, a proposal by Jatiwangi Art Factory, an Indonesian art centre. The work is based on the Lumbung movement that began in the last documenta 15. This name refers to a collective printing practice based on the Indonesian tradition of lumbung, a collection of rice and other common resources that are redistributed for the benefit of the members of a community when required.
The work of Jatiwangi Art Factory proposes the creation of an extensive forest of collective ownership in a reclaimed industrial space of eight hectares, an alternative to the technocentric vision of development plans. The project is supported by the business group Romero Polo and Piramidón, a residency in which the artist from the Jatiwangi Art Factory Aldizar Ahmad Grifaldi will develop the works that will be exhibited at the fair.
If you want to see these and many more works that show the state of health of contemporary art, come to Swab 2024, but first check the website for all the information about the fair.