The ENAIRE Foundation presents Special Mentions to three artists at the Contemporary Art Biennial of Women in Visual Arts (MAV)

The ENAIRE Foundation has presented Special Mentions to three artists at the Contemporary Art Biennial of Mujeres en las Artes Visuales (Women in Visual Arts, MAV).

The winners, Itzal García, Andrea Lería and Aída Colmenero, will receive an individual prize of 1,300 euros to create artistic projects that can be exhibited by the ENAIRE Foundation.

The collaboration between the ENAIRE Foundation and the MAV begins as part of the Contemporary Art Biennial, and features Paloma Navares's exhibition "Luz de intuición" (Light of Intuition)

The collaboration between the ENAIRE Foundation and MAV begins as part of the MAV Contemporary Art Biennial. In addition to the presence of Paloma Navares's exhibition "Luz de intuición", as a MAV guest project, the event will feature these three Special Mentions, which the ENAIRE Foundation has awarded to projects created by Spanish women artists who entered the call for the 2024 MAV Contemporary Art Biennial.

ConcienciArte initiative of the ENAIRE Foundation

The contemporary art collection of the ENAIRE Foundation currently contains over 1,200 works of art, of which only around 15% are works by women artists. To bring more gender parity to the Collection and promote the recognition and visibility of Spanish women creators, the ENAIRE Foundation has signed cooperation agreements with the prestigious Women in Visual Arts (MAV) association. This strategic initiative is consistent with Article 14 of the Spanish Constitution and SDG 5 of the 2030 Agenda, which the 193 countries of the United Nations unanimously approved in 2015.

As part of the ConcienciARTE (a portmanteau of "concienciar" - raise awareness - and ART) initiative, and consistent with the foundation's objectives and activities under its by-laws, to preserve the value of the Collection and expand society's knowledge and enjoyment of it, the ENAIRE Foundation is taking part in the MAV Contemporary Art Biennial, supporting with three Special Mentions the creation of exhibitions and cultural activities to discuss, through art and culture, issues that are important and significant to today's society, on this occasion as seen through the eyes of three female artists.

The works of Paloma Navares in the ENAIRE Collection provide a visionary reference to the feminine universe and combine perfectly with the proposals of the artists selected in the ENAIRE Foundation's Special Mention. Female voices that, through art, present their vision of environmental sustainability and racial and gender stereotypes.

3 artists presented a Special Mention by the ENAIRE Foundation

The proposals awarded the ENAIRE Foundation's Special Mention were selected by a panel of judges made up of María Ortega, the manager, curator, artist and member of the work team of the MAV 2024 Biennial, which is coordinated by María Castellanos, Nerea Ubieto, cultural manager, curator and art critic, and Margarita Asuar, Managing Director of the Foundation.

The three projects selected were:

"Plastic Food", by Itzal García; "Con Fe y Sacrificio: testimonios femeninos" (With Faith and Sacrifice: Feminine Testimonials), by Andrea Oces and "Profunda locura, herida de amor" (Deep madness, wound of love), a project led by Aída Colmenero Díaz, with the participation of Gisela Mangue Nsue Monsuy and Verónica Milagrosa Eyuimana Bibang, as performers, Nuria Clavero, as editing and post-production assistant, and Estelle Foli, as artistic assistant.

["Con Fe y Sacrificio: testimonios femeninos" (With Faith and Sacrifice: Feminine Testimonials), by Andrea Oces]

["Plastic Food", by Itzal García]

["Profunda locura, herida de amor" (Deep madness, wound of love), a project led by Aída Colmenero Díaz]

“At the ENAIRE Foundation, we want to thank MAV for this partnership we have begun because it has introduced us to the excellent work of many women artists", says the Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation, Margarita Asuar. In general, the proposals submitted to the MAV Contemporary Art Biennial are of high quality and have a great deal of work behind them. The ENAIRE Foundation's involvement has materialised in the selection of three technically and thematically diverse projects made by women artists”.

Margarita Asuar notes that “Itzal García's 'Plastic Food' work showcases the use of drone-recorded video, the construction of the project with different media and the generation of data that show how art can raise awareness of social issues, her project is an ecofeminist voice".

The managing director also explains that the work "With Faith and Sacrifice: Feminine testimonies“ by Andrea Lería,"stands out for its performative innovation resulting in a video that transforms other materials into new, and the originality of its production into an introspective of the family and social life of a woman in the second Spanish republic, raising the prominence of silenced women. It is a feminist voice of historic discourse communicated through art”.

Finally, the managing director explains that “Deep madness, wound of love", a project directed by Aída Colmenero Díaz, "is a short film inspired by the poems of Ecuadorian-Guinean writer Cristina Ntumu Nchama, which are included in the project "Ella Poema", created in Equatorial Guinea. This is a project that, through the voices of women, advocates for the need to overcome gender stereotypes and racist ideologies, and seeks to establish identities that transcend national borders. The first phase of recording the short film took place in the cities of Malabo and Bata in Equatorial Guinea, and the subsequent editing and post-production phases were done in O Barco de Valdeorras, in Galicia".

About ENAIRE Foundation

Is a cultural institution of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility that, in addition to managing, preserving and exhibiting the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, engages in a comprehensive annual programme of activities that focus on aeronautical art and culture. Notably, it is one of the institutions that currently provides the most support to photography through its annual prizes - which have become a benchmark for professional photographers - and by hosting exhibits.

It is the only foundation in Spain that combines the two seemingly disparate themes of art and aeronautical culture, bringing them together by undertaking a programme of activities that promote the study, research, knowledge and dissemination of aeronautical culture, integrating history and modernity to raise awareness of the world of aviation in our country.

The Naves de Gamazo are the first permanent home of the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, an example of collaboration between government agencies that was made possible thanks to the partnership and joint efforts of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Government of Cantabria, through the Office for Culture, Tourism and Sport, and the Port Authority of Santander, which share the operating expenses of the centre in order to ensure the present and future viability of this cultural project.

The ENAIRE Foundation is implementing digital museum resources to boost the democratisation of art and make it accessible from anywhere in the world. These new museum resources are now available on the Foundation's website.