Workshop by Damián Ortega

The mask workshop, led by Damián Ortega, will be held at Fundación Botín from 21 November to 2 December, 2022. This will be a dynamic space for improvisation, learning and collective reflection, where participants can share their own insights, skills and experiences. It will explore the construction of masks using everyday objects and the creation of stories, opening a conversation about shapes, materials, their relationships, narratives and contexts.

This workshop is in conjunction with the exhibition that Damián Ortega will be presenting at Centro Botín in Santander from 8 October, 2022, to 26 February, 2023, entitled Visión expandida (Expanded Vision). The collection brings together his suspended pieces, revealing the infinite number of elements that make up the world around us.

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Damián Ortega (Mexico City, 1967)

Through inventiveness and humour, Damián Ortega deconstructs familiar objects and processes by altering their functions and transforming them into novel experiences and hypothetical scenarios. Ortega’s work plays with a scale that ranges from the molecular to the cosmic. He applies the concepts of physics to human interactions where chaos, accidents and instability produce a system of relations in constant flux. He explores the tension that surrounds every object, focusing on it, rearranging it, examining it and inverting its logic to reveal an infinite world within. His explorations reveal the interdependence of diverse components, whether this takes place in a social system or in the complex workings of a machine. While his projects—envisioned first through drawings—take the form of sculptures, installations, performances, film and photography, for Ortega, the work of art is always an action: an event. His experiments exist in a space where possibility and the everyday converge to activate a new and transcendent way of looking at ordinary objects and mundane interactions.

One of Ortega’s major projects is Alias Editorial, which was launched in 2006 and seeks to publish essential and fundamental texts within contemporary art that have been
discontinued or have not been translated into Spanish, as well as works written by the artists themselves or interviews with them. Thanks to its simple publishing style, Alias makes these texts affordable for the public.

Workshop by Damián Ortega

Director
Damián Ortega

Dates
21 de November to 2 de december

Place
Fundación Botín, Calle Pedrueca 1, 39003, Santander (España)

Schedule
Space available from 10am to 8pm, Monday to Friday

Requirements

The workshop will require creativity openness, artistic aptitudes and drawing or modeling abilities: artists, chefs, jewelers, carpenters, puppeteers, actors, actresses, dancers, writers…
Participants should be open to a collaborative working process. Please note that the workshop will be carried out in Spanish and that participants to the workshop are expected to stay for its entire duration.

Materials
Fundación Botín will provide workspace and materials per the instructions of the workshop director.

Support

Fundación Botín provides accommodation and breakfast to all participating artists who are not residents of Cantabria. In addition, each participating artist will also receive a stipend of 455€ as support for the cost of living expenses; it will be handed out at the beginning of the workshop, after each participant has submitted all the necessary administrative data.

Selection

A maximum of 15 participants will be chosen by the director of the workshop.
Fundación Botín’s decision shall be final.

Deadline

Deadline for applications is 30 September 2022.
The selected artist will be contacted by Fundación Botín from 10 October, 2022. All other candidates may consult the results on the website.

Required documentation

All applications must be submitted electronically, via www.fundacionbotin.org or www.centrobotin.org

• Valid National ID Card or Passport clearly displaying the applicant’s photo, date of birth and nationality.
• Current address of residency an updated contact details (email, telephone number).
• An up to date biography.
• A short text (600 words or less), which outlines the applicant’s interest in participating in the workshop and considerations about the themes of the workshop.
• Documentation of recent work (MPEG, audio files as well as PDF) and/or links to videos and web sites, as well as information that allows knowing their abilities or areas of expertise and if they are familiar with Damián Ortega’s work.

Confirmation of participation

Those selected must confirm their acceptance within the terms and forms indicated by Fundación Botín.
The reservation of a place will be considered formalised once a copy of the travel tickets to Santander that certify the participant travel plans on the dates of the workshop has been received.
The participants are responsible for the planning and financial underwriting of their travel to and from Santander.

Observations

This workshop will be conducted preferably in Spanish.
Please note that applications missing any of those documents will not be considered.