In the ornate rotunda of the Anfiteatro Anatómico de la Real Academia de Medicina de Catalunya, a screen, a camera and a few people in their 20s opening notebooks indicate the beginning of a press conference. Just before it begins, Carlos Durán—a man with vivid blue eyes that are as intellectually penetrative as they are childishly playful—talks about LOOP, the festival he co-founded 15 years ago, which is now one of the most significant video art festivals in the world.
“Upon concluding that video art did not have an adequate arena to be appreciated in, a group of gallery owners including myself decided to create a video-friendly context, and this is how the festival came to be. Nowadays LOOP is the result of a lot of people’s efforts, with roughly 100 spaces and 600 artists involved. This accumulated energy has projected a discourse and interest for the contemporary and creation.”
Durán believes LOOP gives artists an excellent platform from which to establish the interchange between the audience and artistic information.
“There are many aspects to LOOP. If we view the festival from the standpoint of Barcelona as a tourist metropolis for example, it is certainly creating elite tourism made up of museum directors, artists and collectionists.”
Asked about how the video art world—in which LOOP has established itself as one of the foremost festivals—sees it, Durán said it likely perceives it as a community made of locals and foreigners who can speak openly and without taboos. He explained that there have been offers for the festival to take place in other cities, but the love the organisers feel for Barcelona, combined with the singularity of the environment, make the city fundamental for the festival.
“Loop events are completely open to the public. We divide the programme into two parts. A fair, which is where professionals meet their peers, and a festival, which tries to be as accessible as possible to the general public. Of course we are talking mainly about the projections in the museums and galleries, but there are some who don’t like to visit these establishments. That’s why we don’t shy away from presenting work in a context that the audience sees as less hostile and distant. In the past we have done screenings in restaurants, coffee shops and supermarkets. This year we will show an epic historical piece in a parking lot. It is our objective to bring the work as close to the audience as possible.”
This year, the festival, running between May 18th and the 27th, will focus on presenting more historical video art pieces from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Among the artists whose works will be featured are Eugènia Balcells, David Hall, Beryl Korot and Chip Lord. There will also be monographic exhibitions showcasing the works of significant artists from the same time period, including Andy Warhol, Martha Rosler and Tony Oursler. Aside from the festival and the LOOP Fair, which will feature 45 videos and films in total, leading video artists will share how the past and the present of the genre interact at LOOP Talks.