photo Simon Beckmann

english translation below / traducción ingles al pie de pagina

“Otoño 2021

En el camino, Simon dice: ‘ahora ya puedes decir adiós a la civilización’!

Cuando llegué a Joya: AiR era de noche y la luz provenía del dosel celeste de estrellas, la luna estaba saliendo ... dentro de la casa alrededor del fuego estaban aquellos con los que compartiría mis siguientes 168 horas de residencia.

Entre idas y venidas tardaron 9 meses en llegar a ese día.

Simon mientras me lleva a dar un paseo para presentar el proyecto con los árboles frutales me pregunta:

¿cómo puedo ayudarte?

Le respondí: vine a hacer un compost.

Así comenzó mi narrativa simbiótica de días y noches en este lugar de los vientos.

Ocho cuadernos en mi maleta y en la nube un "diario de viaje" con ciento treinta y ocho paginas: año 2020.

Guías/mapas/coordenadas de pensamiento: borradores de proyectos: muchos no realizados, conversaciones escritas, apuntes de los más diversos estudios: libros, cursos, conferencias, practicas de meditación, sueños...

Me propuse generar energía creativa a partir de las memorias/transformación catalizadas por parámetros de los territorios materiales e inmateriales del paisaje y entorno de Joya: AiR para generar un proyecto que recibió el nombre de Compost: laboratorio vivo.

Somos parte de este Compost:

El inspirador proyecto de generar vida eco-evolutiva de nuestros anfitriones y guardianes Donna, Simon, Frida y FouFou, los estimulantes procesos/proyectos artísticos de cada uno de los residentes, las charlas en la cena donde nos reuníamos todos,

... la comida fresca, vitalizante e deliciosa preparada ceremoniosamente cada dia. ... todos los silencios y ruidos .... los colores.Las noches frías y los días calurosos ... la tierra con cicatrices y el ecosistema abundante ..., la convivencia empática de plantas, animales y humanos...el natural y postnatural.

Tengo los poros abiertos y un proyecto semilla alimentado por Joya: AiR. Y como dijo la bella Donna cuando me devolvió a Vélez Rubio:

¡Todo es una elección!”

Daniela Ruiz

Arquitecta y urbanista formada por la Fundación Armando Alvares Penteado - FAAP - SP en 2004.
2005 posgrado en Arquitectura, Imagen y Diseño en Elisava Escuela Universitaria en Barcelona, ​​España.
2005 parte del grupo de arquitectos Bamboolab en colaboración con COAIB, UIB y ESB - Palma de Mallorca - España.
Formación en visual merchandising por SENAC-SP
Formación en permacultura por IPEC - Pirenópolis
Formación en Paisajismo Biodinámico con el Prof. Manfred Osterroht en Sao Paulo.
2007 hasta 2010 product development para la empresa Ethnix, en India, Vietnam, Filipinas y China
En enero de 2017 hasta 2018 periodo sabático y recibió el nombre de Our Own Way.
2017/2018 parte del equipo de periodistas de la revista Casa e Jardim manteniendo una columna digital sobre Our Own Way
En junio de 2019, vine a vivir en Barcelona.
Durante los últimos 15 años he tenido mi propio estudio en Sao Paulo, donde trabajo en colaboración con otros arquitectos y diseñadores en proyectos arquitectónicos y paisajísticos.

en inglés

“Autumn 2021

Along the way, Simon said: now you can say goodbye to civilization!

When I arrived at Joya: AiR it was night and the light came from the celestial canopy of stars, the moon was rising ... inside the house around the fire were those with whom I would share my next 168 hours in residence.

Between comings and goings it took 9 months to get to that day.

Simon while taking me for a walk to present the project with fruit trees asks me:

‘how can I help you’?

I replied: I came to make a compost.

Thus began my symbiotic narrative of days and nights in this place of the winds.

Eight notebooks in my suitcase and in the cloud a "travel diary" with one hundred and thirty-eight pages: year 2020.

Guides / maps / thought coordinates: project drafts: many unrealized, written conversations, notes from the most diverse studies: books, courses, conferences, meditation practices, dreams ...

I set out to generate creative energy from memories / transformation catalyzed by parameters of the material and immaterial territories of the Joya landscape and environment to generate a project that received the name Compost: Living Laboratory.

We are part of this Compost:

The inspiring project of generating eco-evolutionary life of our hosts and guardians Donna, Simon, Frida and FouFou, the stimulating artistic processes / projects of each of the residents, the talks at dinner where we all met,

... fresh, invigorating and delicious food prepared ceremoniously every day. ... all the silences and noises ... the colors, the cold nights and hot days ... the scarred land and the abundant ecosystem ..., the empathic coexistence of plants, animals and humans ... the natural and postnatural.

I have open pores and a seed project powered by Joya: AiR. And as the beautiful Donna said when she gave me back to Vélez Rubio:

Everything is a choice”!

Daniela Ruiz

photo Simon Beckmann

“Joya: AiR is spare and nearly silent in October. Located in Almería at the eastern extreme of Andalucía, its valleys extend like long stairways, alternating dwarf pines with almond orchards. I feel privileged to have worked on a couple of projects suggested by this setting at the cortijada Simon and Donna have restored in beautiful regional style.

Here, I found an intimate, light-filled courtyard to set up “Water Trick.” This installation, in which glasses of water are suspended upside down on a pane of glass, relates to the complex methods of channeling water to agricultural and urban centers in semi-arid regions like Almería and Southern California. The “trick” is to trap a measure of water, which creates a mirror-like effect on the multicolored glasses. However visually alluring on the surface, the floating table is ephemeral and ultimately subject to failure in the same way that lush gardens and oasis-like golf courses conjured from semi-desert are unsustainable.

My other project involved constituting the local soil to clay, which I worked into portraits of historical and fictional characters, including Hamda bint Ziyad, one of medieval Andalucía’s foremost women poets. Hermenegildo, a Jamaican subject adopted and highly educated by a childless plantation owner, emerged from the clay next. I also sculpted the woman for whom Francisco de Quevedo’s flame swam cold water and Shakespeare’s Dark Lady, possibly the final descendent of a Nasrid subject who fled Granada in 1492. I left this gallery of characters near a furrowed field where they are gradually going back to dust”.

Carolie Parker

Carolie Parker is a visual artist and writer with a background in foreign languages and art history. Along with studying studio art and Spanish literature at UC Irvine, she earned an MA in comparative literature at UCLA (Latin American, US and French poetry). Her poetry has come out most recently in Sixth Finch, The Yale Review and Denver Quarterly. What Books Press published Mirage Industry, a book-length collection of her work, in 2016. In 2019, the Fellows of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles) selected her for a Curator’s Lab Award, which funded Medium, an exhibition focusing on the relationship between language and visual image. Her visual work has been shown at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, LAVA Projects, The Armory Center for the Arts and 515 at the Bendix Building among others; residencies include a MacDowell Fellowship and three weeks as a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome.

photo Simon Beckmann

“My residence at Joya: AiR was like living on an island. A lovely arid white-clayed island surrounded by pine-covered slopes. The borders were set by the distance you could travel by foot and return to the house in a day. By doing so I had more time to get to know the area, as opposed to when you only look in passing (as I mostly do when I do my walks). Here I had more time to observe the details, the little gems, the particulars telling the story of the ground. Collecting items I found instead of photographing the landscape was a new experiment of mapping the the landscape, which makes an interesting addition to the vocabulary I use in my books.

Additionally the time to quietly get to know the surroundings gave my the opportunity to find suitable places to make some interventions in the landscape so they are more rooted and connected with the land. And by being here longer gave the greater possibility to invest far more time realising it. Which resulted in far bigger, detailed and profound work.

Beside the great hospitality there was the meeting of other artist and their practice was a great inspiration. The time spend helped me to really position my work better and gave me the incentive to continue on the path chosen. So my visit really worked out well and was a great encouragement”.

Roelant Meijer

He makes special publications of walks near and far. With photography, short texts and the form of books bring the story to life, but above all they give his walks a deeper experience, which connects to universal human dreams. His search for silence and emptiness, fascination for the horizon - and what lies beyond it - call for recognition and expose deeper values.

On the road or on location, he intervenes in the landscape (land art). Previous interventions are made at Concots-Escamps (France), Along the walk - different locations in The Netherlands

photo Roelant Meijer (for Joya: AiR)

“My time at Joya: AiR was part of a larger review of my creative practice with the aim of experimenting within the landscape: making shorter walking journeys; creating and documenting ephemeral artworks; using natural materials, artefacts, and the landscape itself; and to consider the relationships between lifestyle and the warming European environment.

I arrived equipped with field recording equipment to learn more about how to capture sounds and images and quickly realised the challenge I had within such a quiet landscape. But with this came a slowing down, listening, observing and connecting. Walking each day, I let things unfold naturally recording birdsong, insects, wind, bells, rockfall, water, and footsteps, whilst also using what I found around me to create a record of each walk as lines and forms on the ground.

Thanks so much to Simon and Donna who have made Joya: AiR such an incredible place. I loved having the space and time to be able to explore working in this way; being alone; and also, in amazing company with them and the other artists and writers in residence.

Hannah Scott

Hannah is a graduate of Central Saint Martins MA Art and Science 2017 and BA Arts and Design 2000, and Middlesex University MSc Multimedia Application Design 2003; a member of the Wilderness Art Collective; a MullenLowe NOVA award winner; and an alumna of The Arctic Circle artist residency. Her work is grounded on scientific research and she has worked with climate and environmental scientists, and other professionals, to accurately inform her research. Key collaborations include a project about waste with the UK Government Office for Science; and a project about microplastics with Kings College London MRC-PHE Centre for Environment & Health. Recent works include: ‘270 Single Uses’, an installation highlighting the relationship between marine plastic litter from Britain and Arctic sea ice; ‘All At Sea’, a collaborative installation about the sea with artist Maria Macc; ‘All This Stuff Is Killing Me’, an installation reflecting on mass-consumption at the Royal Geographical Society, featured on BBC Radio 4’s ‘All In The Mind’, longlisted for the 2021 Aesthetica Art Prize; ‘To The Ends Of The Earth’, a film about the sea projected onto a shipping container in the central Australian desert. She worked for BBC News until 2018 when she left her job to pursue her career as an artist full time.

photo Simon Beckmann

'During my residency at Joya: AiR I was particularly drawn to the microscopic communities that I found myself a part of, both immersed and juxtaposed with the vastness of the landscape. Shells, insects, millions of individual leaves and stones, bones and stars at night, that co existed as part of this intense environment of beauty and extremes.

Time became different, the days were wholesome. The bond that was formed between Grazie, Hanna and myself felt like it was magical. We engaged in slow drawing and completed a collaborative work together, that is possibly somewhere in Barcelona by now.. I felt real positive energy from this tribe, brought together by Simon and Donna through our evening meal, a nourishing ritual where we would share the experiences of our day together and our thoughts about the world. I left feeling that this experience was the beginning of a new and intriguing journey that I had only just about started'

Petros Chrisostomou

Petros’s family are originally from Cyprus, but he was born and grew up in London. He studied Fine Art at St Martins College before moving on to do his MA at The Royal Academy Schools in London. Having completed his education in 2008 he was awarded a scholarship from Galerie Xippas in 2010 to live and work in New York for a year.
He completed the ISCP Program at the end of 2011 and decided to stay in New York for a longer period. Consequently he started working with Nicholas Robinson Gallery and Linda R Silverman Fine Art, both in New York City.
His work has been published in over five different languages and he has his work included in both commercial and Museum shows. Most recently he has participated in residencies at The Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Alberta, Canada, and also at The Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY, as well as in exhibitions at The SCAD Museum, Savannah, Georgia, and the Centquatre 104 in Paris as part of the collection of BIC. Other exhibitions include, 'Nirvana-Strange forms of Pleasure' Gewrbemusum, winterthor, Switzerland, and 'In present Tense, Young Greek Artists' EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens.

photo Simon Beckmann

'When I arrived at Joya: AIR I was determined to start working on a writing project. During the pandemic it was hard for me to find space to create, the space already felt occupied with bad news, worries and expectations.

With my time at Joya: AIR I wanted to make up for this waste of time and disappear into my computer for a month so I could come home with a lot of results.

The complete opposite happened.

 When I arrived, I was blown away by the beauty of it all. I could not ignore the space. The nature, the mountains, the beautiful studio, the other artists, the food, the stunning white building, the sun, the heath, the art, the time.

I could not bring myself to my computer, I had to do something with the space. I played with objects collected from the nature, rocks, bones, roots, old tuna cans from generations of sheep herds. I started creating things with my hands instead of on my computer.

I decided that It is okay to take up space, to take time, to not feel pressure, to just have fun, to just breath and exist. Sometimes that is enough and as an artist I have to trust that everything will start flowing once I decide to let go.

In the Netherlands we use the word ‘onthaasten’ directly translated ‘de-hurrying’ to slow down. It became an practice in ‘onthaasten'.

When I came home, I did not have any physical results but I gained way more than I had expected.'

Hanna Fleer

Hanna has just finished two theatre schools of (both) four years. The first one was in the direction of performance and the second, the one she graduated from in 2020, was for writing for performance. She makes installations, podcasts, movies and theatre. She has just finished a multilingual play that will be performed in France directed by Anne Berelowitch and right now she is working on a play for children that will be performed at schools in the Netherlands. Her work has recently been published by 'Buitenkunst' a bundle of very short plays.

photo Simon Beckmann

“During my stay at the residency I have been working with the paper “Working with chronic pain in maternity. Practical implications of art therapy practice in mother-child relation.”. The main attempt of this research is to investigate intersubjective affective space provoked by chronic pain experience and to question ethical modalities of maternal subjectivity by analysing the work of affect, sensation, and emotion. My research interest focuses on exploring how chronic pain is constructed and how traumatic experiences are born on the level of affect and on the level of emotion. I explore the concept of “extended body” in pain, “absent body” and “present body” in pain addressing art practices of collaging and clay work which help to shift foci of strong chronic pain experiences and to re-establish intersubjective affectivity and sensibility of female subjectivity and of mother-child relation. Also together with my partner David Muñoz González we were developing a project “My Happy Pain” which can be found here https://myhappypain.com”

Irina Poleshchuk

Poleshchuck received a PhD in Social Sciences at the university of Helsinki, 2010, from 2013 to 2017 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the university of Helsinki. 2005 -2021 She is an Associate Professor at the European Humanities University (Lithuania), She teaches different subject on arts, history of European civilisation, contemporary art and architecture. Recent articles: • In collaboration with Yolanda Blanco, ‘Fenomenologia del dolor a traves el collage”, Ciutadans. Revista de Ciencies Social d’Ándorra, 2020, 17, p. 46 – 52. https://www.iea.ad/publicacions-cres/revista-ciutadans/ciutadans-numero-17; • “Temporalization of mother-child relation: experience of chronic pain”, Topos 2020, P. 158-175, ISSN: 1815-0047. - http://journals.ehu.lt/index.php/topos/issue/view/56 ; • “Formation of Sensibility in Mother-Child Relation: Temporal Dephasing and Traumatic Displacement”, Journal of Clinical Philosophy 19, Osaka 2018, p.64-78, ISSN: 1349-9904. http://www.let.osaka-u.ac.jp/clph/pdf/vol19.pdf

photo Simon Beckmann

“As an artist passionate about nature and drawing, the time spent at residency at Joya: AiR was exactly the place I needed to be after an intense pandemic year. Being in touch with the soul of the south of Spain through the walks around the area, sketches made directly from nature, the stare of trees during the day and the stars at night is something that is indescribable in just one sentence. The days at Joya: AiR not only informed my PhD research in drawing, but also allowed me to deeply connect with the nature around me and to myself. It is a process that just started there, and that I know will open more doors to my artistic practice.

Needless to say that the love that Simon and Donna give to this place is the most important piece that makes the experience at Joya: AiR impeccable. I felt nourished and taken care of in all details. I will never forget the delicious meals shared with the other residents during the nights full of interesting conversations around history, life, ecology and, of course, art.

Thanks for bringing such joy to the world”.

Grazielle Portella

Grazielle Portella is a Visual Artist, Designer and PhD Fellow in Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon, with full-scholarship funded by Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT (Portugal). Informed by philosophy, neuroscience and aesthetics theories, in her Doctorate research she develops the concept of slow drawing in a context of an accelerated post-digitalized world.
Her research emerges from her personal artistic practice, crossed by an extensive professional experience at big tech corporation (2011-2017, Google) and a Master in Digital Design (2016, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo), in which she problematized the greater usage of new technologies and the effects in both visual art and design fields. In this paradigm, she currently questions the importance of a contemplative, meditative and affective practices in contemporary art, proposing the act of drawing as a tool to engage into deeper levels of the presence, intuition, and empathy.

photo Simon Beckmann

“Joya: AiR is astonishing and mesmerising. 

Arriving, I immediately forgot the plan I wanted to work on, I even forgot it instantly on arrival when I saw everything around me. 

There was so much beauty, silence and at the same time sounds, dryness with so much colour and energy. 

It was so great to feel the wind, meeting the fox in the middle of the night, walking up the mountain early in the morning.  

Being so small as a human being and unimportant and at the same time questioning myself: Can I be part of this thing that is bigger than me?

I decided to start playing, intuitively playing with what I see, feel, hear and smell. I transferred my feelings of all the things I saw when I had my walks or was just sitting and feeling the wind while looking at the mountains. 

While working in the studio and at the same time bringing these works outside back to connect with the world around me made me play even more. 

The importance of being connected to your unconsciousness became really intense and powerful at this place. Realizing that the place where you are dictates your actions when being aware of the energy that surrounds you. 

I am very thankful I could spend some time at Joya: AiR. I felt so welcome and surrounded by such beautiful warmth that will resonate with me for quite a while”.

Tinca Veerman

photo Simon Beckmann

“I arrived at Joya: AiR with the intention of documenting and observing the environment. I hoped to create images while creating no waste and find new ways of working and learning, attempting to utilize or understand but not abuse the environment itself. As I settled in, the landscape began to manifest images on my behalf, I looked for ways to capture them a while longer - the midsummer hot winds, or the stillness of midday, the sound of a fly in your ear and little else, the ash of the clay, the feel of dusty grasses, the emptiness of a dry river, or the solidness of the sun -  revealing what I can only imagine would be the landscape developing images for itself in ways I would never have imagined. Using the detritus of the landscape, the clays, discarded tree fruits and dried up plants, I looked for the hidden worlds, from plant dyes to sun stains to begin to understand how they receive light and how we receive them. How does the sun trace its own image? Can a stone speak through its own strength? I came to understand the boundlessness of questions we can occupy given the access space and that time becomes constructed within its beginnings as well as it's remains. The experience has taught me immense patience and exploration but also the capacity to listen to the body in space, understanding that it can reveal relationships and languages we don't understand how to hear or see, it can allow us to consider dust or even the discarded as a new cosmos ready to be formed. 

Lara Orawski

Lara Orawski is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and educator, exploring the boundaries and paradoxes of consciousness, sentience, as well as accepted and alternate realities. She graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2019 with a Masters in Photography and Philosophy. Her previous studies were focused in psychology and political science, at the University of Ottawa. Her interdisciplinary background across humanities and politics serves as a deep influence for her current research; much of which is rooted in the concepts of manipulation, evolution, and emergent identities among ecological, technological, and political shifts. 

photo Simon Beckmann

sun by sun

“For our project to create a sun-made image of the sun the Joya:AiR studio was just what we were looking for.
The new project called “sun by sun” required reliable sunshine because an image of the sun had to be burned onto a 1,6 m2 wooden surface by the means of concentrated sun light.

And also the fusion of arte + ecología corresponded perfectly to us as the duo sunWorks (www.sunworks.click).

sunWorks

Alexandra Centmayer (www.alexandracentmayer.com) is an artist trained at Kunsthochschule Kassel, Universidad Complutense Madrid, and University of the Arts Berlin. In her painting she creates worlds that often have their origins in her immediate surroundings. Individual colour spaces are created through serial work, layering, and superimposing. The repetition gradually refines the ever-new view of the initial situation.

Rolf Behringer (www.solarezukunft.org) does projects on education for sustainable development. He has established a production of solar stoves in Germany and some small-scale solar cooker productions around the world. In 2009 he founded the international solar food processing network.
He developed several schemes such as bicycle cinema, experiments with renewable energy and some solar projects in schools.

All collaboration work is inspired and driven by the sun. 

In 2014 the duo won the audience award with “Von der Sonne gezeichnet” (drawn by the sun) at the international exhibition EnergieWendeKunst in Berlin.

Alexandra:

“Transforming high-tech NASA images of the sun with a very low-tech approach seemed to be a very appropriate work in this secluded and rural place of the world. The meditative act of drawing dot by dot onto the wood in preparation of the burning of the image turned the studio into a nun´s cell. 

The sensation of shifting from this very small unit to the big picture was completed when stepping out at night under the gorgeous sky with trillions of stars and the milky way”.

sunWorks

Rolf: 

“First of all, I was so happy when I saw the autonomous energy system. All electricity and hot water are produced by sun and wind. Both sources are available in abundance and it shows us so clearly that it really makes sense to use decentralised renewable energy.

Burning our image of the sun with different sized lenses for 19 days, spending hours and hours in the sun, covered by sun protecting clothes, wearing welding goggles and burning thousands of different sized dots in the wooden surface was a very special experience. It is very intensive, working many hours with the sun. Thanks to Donna und Simon for this wonderful space that has given so many artists a chance to work focused and relaxed on their projects and at the same time bringing international artists together and giving us a chance to exchange and share experience and thoughts, mainly during the fantastic dinners, sometimes under the moon”. 

sunWorks

photo Simon Beckmann

Josechu Tercero

(Barcelona 1967)

Artista plástico y visual.

Memoria de actividades realizadas durante la residencia en JOYA:AiR, Belez Blanco, Almería entre los días 1 y 18 de julio de 2021. 

Animal Farm 1 / Josechu Tercero y Nathalie Rey

“El planteamiento de los trabajos artísticos durante la residencia artística en las instalaciones de la Cortijada de los Gázquez, Vélez Blanco, Almería Joya: AiR conjuntamente con al artista Nathalie Rey (París 1976) discurrió en dos ámbitos diferenciados. Por un lado, realizamos una serie de grabaciones en vídeo de dos proyectos de videoarte bajo los títulos genéricos de PornCity y Guiris en busca del agua, consistentes en grabarnos a nosotros mismos en acciones en localizaciones de la zona en un caso como cerdos estalinistas en referencia a la novela Rebelión en la granja de Georges Orwell, con caretas reales de cerdo realizando danzas y movimientos inquietantes; y en el segundo caso, ataviados cual guiris grotescos despistados en biquini y bañador y elementos de atrezzo como un gran flotador en forma de Unicornio, manguitos, sombreros, gafas de buzo, pelota de plástico, pequeña bañera inflable, etc en busca de alguna playa en los paisajes áridos del altiplano o cursos secos de ríos y rieras. Asimismo, realizamos fotografías de ambas acciones.

Animal Farm 2 / Josechu Tercero y Nathalie Rey

“También realizamos la documentación fotográfica del proceso diario de la acción del sol en nuestro cuerpo, en nuestras pieles, con las marcas propias de las quemaduras. Como una manera de documentar ese proceso diario de la sobreexposición al sol”.

Josechu Tercero y Nathalie Rey

Josechu Tercero y Nathalie Rey

Josechu Tercero y Nathalie Rey

Josechu Tercero y Nathalie Rey

“Por otro lado, cada uno de nosotros realizó en paralelo un trabajo propio. En mi caso, y con motivo del dossier presentado para la solicitud de esta residencia, sobre la temática que vengo desarrollando durante años en los ámbitos del dibujo, la pintura, la fotografía y el vídeo, las construcciones de piedra seca como usos agrarios, ganaderos y de caza de zonas deprimidas. Me propuse después de unas excursiones de observación por la zona, la creación de un “majano”, llamado así en la región de Castilla La Mancha, región de mis antepasados y próxima a la provincia de Almería, una construcción con piedras en forma de cono como marca de los lindes del territorio”. 

Josechu Tercero

“Dicho majano constaba de 54 piedras recogidas en la zona (mi edad actual) que antes de ser pintadas con spray de colores de la gama de los rosas y fucsias, como afirmación feminista y de ser instalado en un lugar acordado próximo a la cortijada y de su zona de influencia, fui dibujando en láminas DIN-A3 en lápiz y grafito en polvo, como una manera de catalogarlas”. 

Josechu Tercero

“Así disponía del documento en forma de 54 dibujos para ser mostrados como pequeño mural y del propio “majano rosa” que instalé el día 17 de julio para que quedara como señal de parte de mi trabajo durante la citada residencia”.

Josechu Tercero

photo Simon Beckmann

“Joya: AiR is a unique experience, where there are as many stones as inspiration, as much calm as reflection.

It’s an encounter with yourself, your thoughts, your creativity and your palate.

Thanks to its unparalleled dishes that nourish your body and your ideas, you can explore new methods, techniques and resources to create from new and different perspectives.

Joya: AiR marks a before and after in the life of an artist or writer. The residents and hosts, Frida (the giant schnauzer) and For Fou ( the goat) are the perfect compliment for the creative process”

Jacobo Márquez

Jacobo es CEO en Here Comes The Sun, compañia productora de entretenimiento en vivo. Ha representado artistas nacionales e internacionales, producido teatro, festivales culturales en alianza con gobiernos y conciertos. El Festival Roxy es uno de los proyectos más grandes que ha realizado atendiendo a más de 22,000 personas. Actualmente prepara su segundo documental sobre la Hoja Santa en Oaxaca, México.

Adicional a eso es co-creador de “Cobarde Bar”, el cual abre en septiembre su segundo lugar. Dirige la Fundación “Sabrá Dios” donde apoya los proyectos del campo realicionados con el mezcal, co dirige el Centro Cultural Squash73 y Dirge la Galería de Arte Carni.Galería.

photo Simon Beckmann

“Mi nombre es Marta, actualmente estoy terminando el grado de bellas artes en la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. A nivel artístico me sitúo en la continua búsqueda de un estilo más concreto y sencillo, esa sencillez me ha llevado a explorar el ámbito de la abstracción. Ahora mismo la instalación y la explotación de los límites de la pintura son en mi obra, claves fundamentales.

Mi estancia en Joya: AiR ha sido una de las experiencias más gratificantes y especiales que he vivido.

Fui con la expectativa de simplemente aprender inglés y mejorar en mi obra plástica. Acabé viviendo momentos maravillosos, conociendo a gente increíble y conectando con el entorno natural que rodeaba la residencia y con mi propia paz interior.

En lo práctico, aprendí nuevas técnicas como teñir a base de elementos naturales.

Fue de gran inspiración para mi obra; la luz y la observación detenida de la naturaleza. Ver como el paso del tiempo bañaba de diferentes colores y luces el paisaje fue para mí un espectáculo que quise inmortalizar en mis obras.

En lo personal, la estancia en la residencia me ha aportado cosas increíbles y he aprendido muchísimo de todos mis compañeros y compañeras. Pasábamos el rato dibujando, leyendo, jugando a juegos de cartas, paseando por la montaña y acariciando a Frida. Las noches alrededor de la mesa hablando sobre las diferentes culturas y ciudades y cenando platos deliciosos de otras culturas me hizo abrir mi mundo y valorarlo mucho más. El estar mirando al cielo nocturno durante horas y alucinar con la vía láctea y las estrellas fugaces fue algo mágico también.

Para finalizar mis eternas y más sinceras gracias a la familia Beckmann por haberme cuidado como a una hija y por haberme permitido vivir esta experiencia”.

Mart Nieves Bonillo

photo Simon Beckmann

“My two weeks at Joya:AiR were so beautiful that it is hard to fully describe in words yet also a source I will endlessly tap to write about, on and on.

In August, in the dry and dramatic Parque Natural Sierra María, I met my most authentic self while sweating in the heat of the day and laid out under the blanket of the Milky Way. My heart was flaked with gold by the people who I spent my time with at Joya. I was filled with joy and bliss every day.

The magnificence of Joya: AiR is in the balance of all things. There was no commute for any element of my day. Every evening, the dinner together allowed me to have a genuine social connection each day. I could choose to retreat into my studio or room for pure solitude when desired or run up to the top of the hill, encountering new sights every step of the way and not a single person. I could linger around the common space or kitchen if I wanted company or conversation. I had absolutely no problem doing exactly what I wanted each day, every moment. I could follow my intuition and desires. For my art and whole self, this was the most important and powerful piece of my time at JOYA.

There I learned how I often make pictures of things in order to look closer at something that catches my eye, mind and heart. I photograph things that I want to spend more time with but unclear on why I’m drawn to photographing them in the first place. Clarity comes only when it’s pictured and processed through a series of sketches, writings, and revisits. At Joya, I made many pictures of love before I even knew what was there. I spent time exploring forms and objects in sumptuous light. I attempted to watercolor and photograph directly from any stuck feelings in my mind and body, which appeared in repeated circular forms. Rocks, limes, circles, death, hands, sun. In the shelter of the studio, I also learned that dancing is a deeply important part of my practice and my general happiness. I danced alone in my studio many afternoons to release energy. I will continue to work with these new findings about my practice and build upon the images I made at Joya: AiR”.

Aysia Stieb

Aysia Stieb is a photographer and artist located in Berkeley, California. She received her BFA from California College of the Arts in 2016. Her work spans genres, from still life to travel, where themes of intimacy, desire, and sensuality reoccur as unlikely subjects and objects to portray these ideas. She has been commissioned by publications and brands such as The New Yorker, The California Sunday Magazine, Levi’s, and Airbnb.

photo Simon Beckmann

“I applied for Joya: AiR two years before my actual arrival. Since day one of my stay I decided to move away from my initial plan as I felt that the idea of “a plan” - something controlled, something rigid cannot be applied to a space such as Joya: AiR. I was focusing on what the surroundings can offer - the changing light, the sandy hues of the sky which came round with a strong wind, the heat I haven’t felt before and the feeling of an endless space - horizontally and vertically. The feelings were repetitive but different each time. I didn’t feel like I had to offer anything back - I could just observe, ground myself and let some air inside my head. I should probably write more on the prints I’ve done there, the photographs I took, but it’s of less importance. What I learned from Joya: AiR and Vélez Bianco is that I need a slow pace in my work and a lot of space where the air and ideas can mix without any pressure on the outcome. I will definitely keep it to myself and experiment and stop for a moment and experiment and stop for a moment and experiment and stop for a moment”. 

Monika Orpik

Monika Orpik

Suwałki Poland

2016 - BA (Hons) Photography at London College of Communication

Publications:
2018 : Blue Zone
2017: Certa Incerta

Solo shows :
2018 : What happens when the guns fall silent, Artists Crossing, Prague, Czech Republic
2018 : CERTA INCERTA, Espacio Fidencia, Mexico City, Mexico
2016 : baptism , Pracowania Duży Pokój, Warsaw, Poland

Group shows:
2018 : What happens when the guns fall silent, Recording Changes : Balkan Spatial Perspective, Ferrara, Italy
2017 Rosa & Curtis , Inter Alia, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
2017 barzakh , International Photography Festival : Analog Mania, Timișoara, Romania
2017 : Rosa & Curtis , Panta Rhei , Total Refershment Centre , London, UK
2017 : barzakh , Festiwal Przenikania , Officyna Art & Design, Warsaw, Poland

photo Simon Beckmann

“I am a post disciplinary artist born in New Zealand/Aotearoa. My first costume was an Aladdin costume for a fancy-dress-up for a fancy-dress party. I made the pattern and sewed the costume, with the assistance of my mother Madeleine, in 1977 when I was five. 

My practice led PhD ‘Costume in Art Education and Institution’, (Chelsea College, University of The Arts London, supervisors Dave Beech, Malcolm Quinn and external advisor Carol Tulloch) attempts through practice to address the under-theorised role of costume within the context of contemporary art. 

While in residence at Joya: AiR, I continued to explore my research practice interest in costume along with personal history/archive, anecdote, environment and landscape”…

Amanda Newall

“Blue Ted is from memory, a life size to scale replica of Blue Ted, my first teddy bear which my grandmother purchased for me when I was newly born. Rather than making the bear costume so that it covers the entire body, my intention was to make the dimensions accurate to scale for the actual bear. These dimensions highlight the fact that I was/am not trying to create a seamless illusion of Blue Ted, I am presenting Blue Ted as an uncanny impossibility. Blue Ted is illustrative in that it gives a recognisable outline of a Teddy bear/Blue Ted. The human body (my arms and legs sticking out of the costume / garment) suggests a hybrid symbiosis between Blue Ted and myself as the wearer of Blue Ted, which in turn shows that Blue Ted is also a form of human experience”. 

Amanda Newall

“I was wearing my tiger print swimming togs inside Blue Ted in Andalusia in the arid climate where many Spaghetti Westerns were filmed such as ‘The Good the Bad and The Ugly’. It’s soundtrack, which I own on vinyl, I often listened to it whilst at art school. While I was walking around the dry landscape becoming Blue Ted the temperature was often forty degrees. With only the soundtrack in my mind (as I could not see and could barely breathe through a tube behind Blue Ted’s right ear), I was reminded of the legacy of the films created in this unique landscape. I was also thinking about the Sierra del Oso (Oso being the bear in Castellano) that I could see on the horizon when not inside Blue Ted. The Sierra got the name because bears once lived there, no more. I thought about the origins of the ‘Teddy Bear’, and how Theodore Roosevelt did not want to shoot a bear that had been tied up, saying “it’s not fair game”.

Walking over dry rough ground barefoot, continually being prickled, the sounds of the crunch of the foot to ground/prickle, resonating, along with noises of local insects, flies, cicadas… and wind”... 

Amanda Newall

“I also thought about the vast landscape with the various horizons, yet I could only see the darkness of the inside of Blue Ted, cotton lining, polyester stuffing/filling and breathing tube pressed up against my face. I wondered why I often make costumes for myself to inhabit which are uncomfortable for the wearer/me. What was I getting from being Blue Ted in the environment, was I restricted or enabled or both, what would other people get from seeing/experiencing Blue Ted in that type of landscape, especially within the context of Covid? The way humans are currently conditioned to experience public space has been predetermined by threat. Was Blue Ted walking around in a public space. If so what type of public space. Was Blue Ted a threat? During my two-week stay at Joya: AiR living within Blue Ted, outside of the resident artists and founders of Joya: AiR I only encountered three other people. One sheep farmer a few kilometres up the road and two men who drove a water truck to fill up the irrigation tank”... 

Amanda Newall

Amanda Newall

“Why was it important for me as an aging artist to summon Blue Ted at this stage of my life? I am more than aware the original Blue Ted (about 25cm high) was packed up and put into my parent’s Pukeuri stables against the dirt. Left to rot without my knowledge. When I last encountered the original, I picked up a black plastic bag, seemingly full of dirt. Which must have been my bears, Blue Ted included. Did I remake Blue Ted as a garment to test out if he functioned like a costume. I am wondering. Was I rewilding myself through the isolation of the landscape and the further abstraction of experiencing it through the context of inhabiting Blue Ted – as a performative costume”?

Amanda Newall

P:S. I’d like to thank fellow Joya: AiR Laura van de Lisdonk for her help in photographing and videoing my work during the residency.

BIO:

I am a post disciplinary/post object artist. Making skills drive my artistic production. This contradiction - provides mystery and interest for my pattern making. Giving me scope to fully explore artistic forms and production methods in new experimental ways. My PhD ‘Costume in Art Education and Institution’ University of the Arts London. I develop ideas through my bespoke costumes, often only used once, as a form of drawing out ideas and to activate agency. Sculpture, intermedia, sound, moving image, storytelling, performance and enactment feed into my art.  Costume for me is a key art artform/artefact. Born in Aotearoa/New Zealand I am currently Swedish residing in London. Previously I worked as Senior lecturer in Sculpture at The Royal Institute of Art/ Kunglia Konsthogskolan Stockholm, Sweden 2009-14, and Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Art, Britain, 2005-2009. During 2021 I will move to Beijing, China where my Swedish born partner works in Culture for the Swedish Government. 

I have received awards and funding in NZ, the UK and Sweden, including arts council funding, Sir James Wallace, IASPIS, STINT. I am the recipient of the Olivia Spencer Bower Award 2021- differed to 2022 due to Covid. I have exhibited in Australasia, America, Britain, Argentina and Europe since 1996.

Links to previous moving image works and publications:

Hotel Jaguar, Exposed Arts Projects, Kensington, London.
Curated by Sasha Burkhanova-Khabadze.
Contemporary Hum essay/review Hotel Jaguar- David Lillington. 11.10.2018 https://www.contemporaryhum.com/amanda-newall-hotel-jaguar https://www.contemporaryhum.com/essays-archive
Eye Contact article Hotel Jaguar – Garth Cartwright. https://eyecontactmagazine.com/2018/08/amanda-newalls-hotel-jaguar 

Public Dreaming, Momentum 9, Alienation, The Nordic Biennial, Punkt O, Moss Norway, 2017. http://momentum9.no/contributor/amanda-newall-and-leon-tan/Traders Z33, Hasselt, Belgium 2017; Skanes Konstforening, Malmo Sweden 2017. Berlin Art Link video including footage with Newall about Public Dreaming: https://www.berlinartlink.com/2017/08/03/video-momentum-9-nordic-biennial-of-contem- porary-art-alienation/SHARING DREAMS – DIE DREAM CLINIC VON AMANDA NEWALL UND LEON TAN http://www.yeast-art-of-sharing.de/2017/07/ raum-fuer-traeumer-die-dream-clinic-von-amanda-newall-und-leon 

The Hoover Diaries, The Audio Foundation, Wellington NZ, Geraldine Cinema, NZ, Diaries, Wunder Bar Lyttelton NZ, Pyramid Space, Wellington NZ. (pro- grammed by Mark Williams -Circuit Artist Film and Moving Image, Aotearoa), Twenty Third and Fourth Street, New York (space run by-Igor Vamos aka Mike Bonanno from The Yes Men).
Link to: The Hoover Diaries trailer- https://www.circuit.org.nz/film/the-hoover-diaries-trailer 

Full-length film- The Hoover Diaries., duration 40mins- https://vimeo.com/157753543 PASSWORD: 40test; Pod cast review with Mark Amery- https://sound- cloud.com/circuit-2/episode-45-the-hoover-diaries; Article in The New Zealand Herald, Vicki Anderson, Jul 15.2016 http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/82106727/The-Hoover-Diaries-the-Mockers-murders-and-1980s-Timaru 

Projektet Fremantle Art Centre, curated by Ric Spencer, 2012- in connection to SymbioticA residency, school of human anatomy, Perth, Western Australia. https://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/residents/amanda-newall-and-ola-johansson https://www.fac.org.au/whats-on/post/ola-johansson-amanda-newall-projektet/ 

Education
Practice led PhD, Costume in Art Education and Institution, Supervisors Professors Malcolm Quin and Dave Beech, advisor Carol Tulloch, Chelsea College, University of The Arts, London, UK. Master of Fine Arts, Phil Dadson supervisor, specialising in Intermedia, Elam School of Fine Art, University of Auckland Aotearoa/New Zealand (2002-2004) Post Graduate Diploma Fine Arts, Phil Dadson supervisor, specialising in Intermedia, Elam School of Fine Art, University of Auckland Aotearoa/New Zealand (2000-2001) Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sculpture, Supervisor Andrew Drummond, Ilam School of Fine Art, University of Canterbury, Aotearoa/New Zealand (1992-1996). 

Selected group Exhibitions:
The Junction, Otautahi Christchurch, New Zealand 2020.
Sculpture on The Peninsula, Austin Tea Rooms, New Zealand London Farm, Teddington Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2019. Local press including a mention of the work - https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/117232716/sculpture-on-the-peninsula--epic-art-on-canterburys-cultural-landscape
The Edge, Folkstone Fringe Festival, in connection to the Folkestone Triennial, United Kingdom, curated by Diane Dever and Lewis Biggs, 2017.
Solar Circuit, SCANZ Aotearoa, Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth NZ/Aotearoa, 2009.Curated by Mercedes Vicente and Sarah CookFrom from an ini- tial call for proposals for the exhibition, Mercedes Vicente, Govett-Brewster curator, and Sarah Cook, UK guest co-curator, have selected eight projects by Stella Brennan (NZ), Nina Czegledy Greg Judelman Daniel Barber (Canada), Sean Kerr (NZ), Naomi Lamb (NZ), Alex Monteith (NZ), Sally Jane Norman Jacques Sirot (NZ/France), Amanda Newall (NZ), The Polytechnic (UK) and Dan Torop (USA). Mostly Harmless, Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth NZ/Aotearoa, 2006. Curated by Charlotte Huddleston, post object- performance driven works were the focus of the show, other artists included Carey Young UK and Jim Allen, Daniel Malone. Inspiration to Order, Visual Intelligences, curated by Rebecca Elliot Fortnum, exhibited in both CSUS Gallery, California, USA 2006, and Winchester, WCA, U.K, 2007. Other artists included Vong Phaophanit, Michael Ginsborg and Paula Kane http://www.visualintelligences.com/inspiration-to-or- der.html 

photo Simon Beckmann

“Hi I am Laura and I am the very first Yoga resident at Joya: AiR.

I am not proud of this but simply grateful to Simon and Donna for having me.

When applying I spoke my truth. 

During Covid I think that many of us lost a little of our identity. Being unable to do any of the things we love; travel, galleries, meeting friends, general freedom. (Oh how I missed the freedom!) 

Instead having to do so many things we might not love or at least might not love to fill our days with…

All of a sudden I was a cleaner, a menu planner, an entertainer, a chef, a teacher, a full time girlfriend, a digital friend and much more that I hadn’t anticipated to do 24/7 while being unable to leave the house for so long.

I wanted to give a positive spin to it all and so during this time I decided to completely change my career. 

Now was the moment to become a yoga & meditation teacher. Another whole new identity. But a dream fulfilled.

I dove in deep and  I started to study and practise every day. While still doing all of the above relentlessly but with love for the people around me. 

At least I can say that I was never bored.

When I applied to Joya: AiR in the middle of our third lockdown I said: Hey. Yes I have an artistic background. I have gone to fashion school. I háve studied graphic design. I have worked as an interior designer in London. I do love photography and paint. I would like to edit the final draft of my book while there…

Yes, I am creative in so many ways, but mostly (and here comes the truth): I am just a human being, a yogi who likes to find her truth after having lived this strange life that was forced upon us for so many months.  I am exhausted from the work and exhausted from all the input and opinions. All the politics, guidelines and laws on how to live. I need some time to breath and think for myself. 

I want to dive deep and find my true self. Remember what I represent and how I feel as me. What my wants and my needs are in life.

Please pretty please.

And so I got here. 

Enthusiastically on day 1, I opened my laptop and started the final edit of my book. After a few hours of editing I just sat there and stared at the pages.

And then I selected the whole lot and pressed delete.

As quick as you just read this.

A little drastic? Maybe.

But this book that I wrote over two years was no longer me. That was no longer my true self speaking.

What a revelation.

Had I changed that much or was I just being me again after a tough period years ago. Had my true self come back out when I no longer needed to spend all my energy on dealing with pain and restarting a new life for me and my two fantastic kids.

Will we ever know?

All I know now is that this, in so many ways is a new start in life. A new start as the true me. I no longer need that book to tell my story.

So what did I do while here; I took a photo every day that inspired me to write a meditation. I wrote 6.

I made my own clay from the grounds and then created a small installation based on two of the meditations: ‘How to be soft in a hard world’ & ‘ Finding the small joys of life in your day’. 

I then took my Yoga mat and with a black marker I wrote sentences of my book on it. They are not connecting but still they tell a story.

As I was doing this I felt like I was writing my past on my future and leaving this mat here will be like a rite of passage.

I also hosted yoga, meditation and breathing sessions for all the wonderful people here who wanted to join. I walked the beautiful Frida. Helped an artist film her work. Read a book. Laughed out loud lots. The sound of laughter is beautiful.

Doing all this made me realise that this is 100% me. I am not lost. My true self is right here more than ever. 

While here I had the peace and time to see that.

I am now ready to go back to London and to start opening the Yoga studio I have built at the back of my garden. 

(Insta: @thematsanctuary or www.thematsanctuary.co.uk if you like to find me) 

From there I want to offer grounded calm, healing and moments of quiet to those who need it in their busy life through yoga, meditation, breathing and sound). It is where life is slow. It is where I am me.

Thank you Donna & Simon and family for sharing your space with me. For being the perfect hosts knowing how to inspire. How to draw you in and then let you be.

It has been an amazing experience and I hope that in time, more yoga residents will step through your doors.

Namaste”

Laura van de Lisdonk

photo Simon Beckmann

“Collapse - This project was born in the context of an artistic residency in Joya: AiR, Almeria, the driest region in Spain. The current owners of La Cortijada los Gázquez in the Sierra de María los Vélez, needed several years to restore the facilities abandoned for decades, in particular the irrigation system, and to gather information on the ancient management practices of this modest self-sufficient family farm.

As the owners of Joya: AiR, the first question that came to my mind when I discovered this desert place was "Where is the water?".

From there two complementary works emerged: a joint movie project with the artist J.L. Tercero in which two tourists desperately seek the beach, in other words, the water, and this individual project entitled "Collapse".

This title refers to the essay by Jared Diamond (Collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive, 2005) that describes the causes of the disappearance of different civilizations throughout time, before warning about our disastrous contemporary management of natural resources.

Despite a common preconception due to its arid climate, Andalusia does not lack water. However, and as in most territories occupied by humans, the water system has become completely artificial, thus requires constant maintenance, especially since water consumption keeps increasing.

The history of La Cortijada los Gázquez teaches us that the efforts of generations of families to make a piece of land fertile can be reduced to nothing in a short time. It takes us back to the urgent need, in the current context, to think about sustainable development options, since there is a risk of exhausting our natural resources and that contemporary civilization collapses like so many other civilizations before.

These considerations are reflected in this small installation consisting, on the one hand, of a symbolic landscape made of polychrome cardboard trees and small crocheted animals, and, on the other, of a video projection composed of a series of fixed images of landscapes from Almeria in which a crochet stuffed animal appears from time to time. In the video, the stuffed animals are lying down and their eyes are sewn in the shape of a cross or a dash - that is, eyes closed in the manga / kawai symbology - and therefore look dead, while in the “model” the eyes have been sewn again in such a way that they look open. In addition, all the animals that inhabit the cardboard forest are looking towards the projected image, which therefore becomes a symbol of the future, like the primates of The Planet of the Apes who look suspiciously at the monolith erected in the middle of the desert”.

Nathalie Rey

Nathalie Rey is a French artist based in Barcelona since 2006.

She had a long academic career in the field of Humanities, with a Ph.D. in architecture, a degree in Literature and in Fine Arts, before dedicating herself to artistic creation. Currently, she works with galleries in Barcelona, Madrid and London.

Her work, technically eclectic, has followed a kind of narrative thread for years, which oscillates between episodes of contemporary history and personal events. Thus a disturbing parallel is being generated between the dramas of Humanity and individual wounds.

At the same time, she adopts an anti-mercantile position, since she relates and expresses through an ironic pop aesthetic characterized by the artistic re-use of waste and materials of industrial origin, the attraction / repulsion that the human and ecological tragedies inherent in our society arouses in her.

Castellano

“Colapso - Este proyecto nació en el contexto de una residencia artística en JOYA: AiR, Almería, la región más árida de España. Los actuales propietarios de La Cortijada de los Gázquez en la Sierra de María los Vélez, han tardado varios años en restaurar las instalaciones abandonadas durante décadas, en particular el sistema de riego, y en recopilar información sobre las antiguas prácticas de gestión de esta modesta finca familiar autosuficiente.

Como los dueños de JOYA: AiR, la primera pregunta que me vino a la mente cuando descubrí este lugar desértico fue "¿Dónde está el agua?".

De ahí surgieron dos trabajos complementarios: un proyecto conjunto de película con el artista J.L. Tercero en el que dos turistas buscan desesperadamente la playa, el agua en definitiva, y este proyecto individual titulado “Colapso”.

Dicho título hace referencia al ensayo de Jared Diamond (Collapse : how societies choose to fail or survive, 2005) que describe las causas de la desaparición de diferentes civilizaciones a lo largo de los tiempos, antes de advertir sobre nuestra desastrosa gestión contemporánea de los recursos naturales.

A pesar de la idea que se pueda tener por su clima árido, Andalucía no carece de agua. Sin embargo, y como en la mayoría de los territorios ocupados por el hombre, el sistema hídrico se ha vuelto completamente artificial, por lo que requiere un mantenimiento constante, sobre todo porque el consumo de agua no para de crecer.

La historia de La Cortijada de los Gázquez nos enseña que los esfuerzos de generaciones de familias por hacer fértil un pedazo de tierra se pueden reducir a nada en poco tiempo. Esto nos remite a la imperiosa necesidad, en el contexto actual, de pensar en opciones de desarrollo sostenible, pues se corre riesgo de agotar nuestros recursos naturales y que la civilización contemporánea se derrumbe como tantas otras civilizaciones anteriormente.

Estas reflexiones se ven reflejadas en esta pequeña instalación consistente por un lado un paisaje simbólico hecho de árboles de cartón policromado y pequeños animales de ganchillo, y por otro, de una proyección de video compuesta por una serie de planos fijos de paisajes de Almería en los que de vez en cuando aparece algún peluche de ganchillo. En el video, los peluches están tumbados y sus ojos están cosidos en forma de cruz o guión, es decir, ojos cerrados en la simbología manga / kawai, y por lo tanto parecen muertos, mientras que en la instalación los ojos se han vuelto a coser de tal forma que parezcan abiertos. Además, todos los animales que habitan el bosque de cartón están mirando hacia la imagen proyectada, que por tanto se convierte en símbolo del futuro, como los primates del Planeta de los Simios que miran con recelo el monolito erigido en medio del desierto”.

Nathalie Rey

Nathalie Rey es una artista francesa afincada en Barcelona desde 2006.

Tuvo un largo recorrido académico en el ámbito de las Humanidades, con un título de arquitecta, un grado de Literatura y un grado superior de Artes Plásticas, antes de dedicarse a la creación artística. En la actualidad, trabaja con galerías de Barcelona, Madrid y Londres.

Su obra, ecléctica a nivel de técnica, sigue una especie de hilo narrativo desde hace años, que oscila entre episodios de la Historia más o menos contemporánea y acontecimientos de la vida de la propia artista. Así se va generando un paralelo turbador entre los dramas de la Humanidad y las heridas individuales.

A la vez, adopta una postura anti-mercantil, ya que relata y expresa, por medio de una irónica estética pop un tanto Kitsch cuanto elegante, caracterizada por el re-utilizo artístico de desechos y materiales de origen industrial, la atracción/repulsión que le generan las tragedias humanas y ecológicas inherentes a nuestra sociedad.

photo Simon Beckmann

“What I found at Joya: AiR was a soundscape of uncrowded sounds — a place for deep listening and reflection. At Joya: AiR I developed new site-derived systems for improvisation with sound and movement, investigating the many unique features of the landscape and the interstitial spaces within the architecture. Much of my work during these 9 days dealt with sound mapping: measuring and recording features in the infrastructure, then using discrete elements from these source materials as different instruments in a kind of ensemble —like the sound of the electricity of the undulating wind turbine plays against the crackle of the solar panels as revealed by electromagnetic microphones, or the continuous whir of cicadas in the midday sun.

Working alongside my partner and collaborator Dana Hemenway, I approached video with a similar kind of improvisational approach, featuring small flowers in various stages of life, insects, and Dana’s ephemeral clay sculptures rendered as dance partners in daily movement improvisations. These exercises ended up becoming a part of my live set choreography for subsequent concerts in Barcelona. I also took short percussive samples and built drum machines entirely from Joya: AIR found sounds: rocks from the barranco struck together to produce various tones, the long bass of the  stove in our studio opening and closing, the ubiquitous chain curtains dividing the inside and out. 

Being part of an international residency introduced us to 3 fellow artists from Birmingham UK, Barcelona, and Paris. Our respective artist talks gave us an in-depth introduction into each other’s practices, and led to some exciting spur of the moment collaborations. On one of our last nights we staged a night shoot / dance routine that will not soon be forgotten! “ 

— Matt Robidoux, July 2021 

Matt Robidoux is a San Francisco based composer / improviser interested in accessibility within contemporary music and the communicative capacities of musical improvisation. In 2017 he established the Adaptive Instrument Ensemble (AIE), a community based practice focused on expanding the improvising community across abilities, demographics, and geographies. Beginning with a pilot workshop in 2019, he founded the Prepared Guitar Ensemble in collaboration with Creativity Explored, a studio-based collective that partners with people with developmental disabilities to celebrate and nurture the creative potential in all of us.

He has worked with Eclipse Quartet, Henry Kaiser, Maggi Payne, William Winant, Jaap Blonk, Stuart Dempster, Laura Steenberge, Sunburned Hand of the Man, gabby fluke-mogul, Elizabeth Millar/Craig Pedersen (Sound of the Mountain), J Mascis, TONED, and Alan Courtis. His scholarly work is scheduled to be published as a chapter in "Improvising across Abilities: Pauline Oliveros and the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument" book on University of Michigan Press in 2021.