7 years ago Joan Duran launched the Landings Project – an opportunity
for young artists to showcase their work at art centres across the region. 7
years and 100 artists later – we are at Landings 10 – the final
in the series. It should have been a grand finale at the historic Meiac Art
Gallery in Spain which would have been symbolic – as the exhibition from
Central America and the Caribbean would have been held in the heart of Europe.
But that didn’t happen and so after delaying for more than a year –
Landings 10 was launched today in Belize. But it wasn’t on the walls of
an art gallery – it was in the pages of a book. Duran told us why they
made the decision and reflected on the broad sweep of the Landings project.
Joan Duran,
“We suddenly cancelled the event. We lost a lot in money, in time,
but not one of the 30 artists involved in project criticized our decision, just
the opposite. They applauded it and they said yes, it is about time that a group of artists tells them it is enough and no more playing around as if we were
puppies. So we began thinking that perhaps a book by itself in which the same
artists that were going to participate in the exhibition would take the book
by the horn so to speak, deal with it is an event on itself.
Dealing with the book, looking at the book, you will notice that I am not
far from what it is. The book does not reflect an exhibition, the book is the
exhibition itself.
In Landings we put a lot of emphasis into these aspects, that art must
be something good and in order to be something good we have to be smart and
if we are not smart enough, as we certainly are not, then we have to learn and
we have to educate ourselves. And instead of educating each one of us by ourselves
in our hidden mini rooms, why don’t we educate as a team. So that is why
we put together almost 100 people, young artists from 15 different countries
from the region, and we went doing seven years exhibiting and working.”
The Landings 10 book is available at the Image Factory Store.