CSM Alumni - Gala Knorr wins Generaciones Award -Fundación Montemadrid, Spain

Written by Gala Knörr - MA Fine Art (Alumni 2011), Central Saint Martins

I decided to share with you a story that well, it is probably one you have heard of from many of us right now since the pandemic has affected the cultural sector tremendously just as many other sectors.

I won the Generaciones Award from Fundación Montemadrid, Generacioness in Spain is an initiative that was launched in the year 2000 with the aim of supporting the work of young artists. This competition has become an essential showcase for the promotion of young art on both the national and European stage. After 6 months working on my winning project, I exhibited my installation 'Good Bad Not Evil' at La Casa Encendida in Madrid along with the other seven winning emerging artists this year.

The Generaciones Award meant something big for me, it meant that working all those years, sacrificing a million things actually payed off. I was happy, installing my first museum show in the capital of my homeland, but back in early February we all thought of ourselves as invincible, unaffected by the possibility of the virus ever hitting our shores, until in early March when things started to get out of control. All cultural institutions have been closed since then, the exhibition that I was so proud of being part of, in the company of seven ultra-talented peers, was shortened to one month due to the global pandemic. Our show would have ended just about 5 days ago, and I was just fed up with all these virtual tours, gallery online shows, art fair viewing rooms… Who are those actually made for?

Incapable of understanding the plausibility of generating any kind of excitement from experiencing a PDF or the VR experience of an exhibition on my computer, I decided that I too would try to extend the life of the show I was so proud of, and had worked to achieve for the past 4 years.

Taking the idea of an online viewing room where one can buy works, not being able to work at my studio during quarantine, I decided to perpetuate my installation from the homes or offices of the rich, famous and powerful, which have been subjects of a lot of the original content that my artworks where inspired by, and pertaining to the universe we consume online.

Here are some images from my fictitious online viewing room which is posted on my Instagram almost daily:

Thank you guys for reading!  Hope your well and safe.

Gala Knörr

Instagram: @Galaknorr
studio@galaknorr.com
http://www.galaknorr.com

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