Rosa Martinez

Rosa Martínez in Venice. Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti. Courtesy: Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia

Rosa Martínez (b. Soria, Spain) is an independent curator, art critic and international art advisor based in Barcelona, Spain.

Career

As an independent curator, Rosa Martínez has organised international exhibitions, including the 51st Venice Biennale with "Always a Little Further" at the Arsenale (2005); the 5th International Istanbul Biennial "On Life, Beauty, Translations and other Difficulties" (1997); and the exhibition "Chacun à son gout," which celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2007).

As an art advisor, Rosa Martínez has broadened the collection of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, where she was the Chief Curator from 2004 to 2007. Her collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 2007 helped to update its contemporary collection, including works by outstanding young artists.

As an art critic, she is a regular contributor to several newspapers and art journals, notably Le Monde diplomatique en español, Flash Art International, El País, Atlántica, Letra Internacional and La Guía del Ocio. She has also written numerous essays for artists' catalogues.

Exhibitions organised

International biennials

• 2007: Co-curator of the 2nd Moscow Biennale (Moscow, Russia).
• 2006: Co-curator of the 27th São Paulo Art Biennial (São Paulo, Brazil).
• 2005: Director of Venice Biennale
• 2005: Co-curator of the First Moscow Biennale together with Joseph Backstein, Daniel Birnbaum, Nicolas Bourriaud, Iara Boubnova and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
• 2003: Curator of the Spanish Pavilion, Venice Biennale.
• 2001-2003: International advisor for the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial (Japan).
• 2000: Co-curator of "Leaving the Island", 2nd Pusan Biennale, Metropolitan Art Museum of Pusan (Korea), together with Young Chul Lee and Hou Hanru.
• 2000: Curator of "Friends and Neighbours", Biennial EVA 2000, Limerick (Ireland).
• 1999: Curator of "Looking for a Place", the 3rd International SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Santa Fe, New Mexico (U.S.A.).
• 1997: Artistic Director of "On Life, Beauty, Translations and Other Difficulties", 5th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (Turkey).
• 1996: Co-curator of Manifesta I, Rotterdam (Netherlands), together with Viktor Misiano, Katalin Neray, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Andrew Renton.
• 1988-1992: Director of the Barcelona Biennial and coordinator of Barcelona's participation in the Mediterranean Biennials held in Bologna (Italy), Salonika (Greece), Marseille (France) and Tipasa (Algeria).

Group shows

• 2007-2008: “Chacun à son Goût”, Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.
• 2007: “Time Present – Time Past”, co-curated with David Elliot, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (Turkey)
• 2005–2007: Video programs at Istanbul Modern: “Video program 2” (April–July 2005); “Nothing Lasts for Ever” (February-May 2006); “Painting as a Way of Living (May–August 2006), “Is this Fiction?” (February-May 2007), “... And Dreams are Dreams” (May–August, 2007)
• 2006: “Venice-Istanbul”, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (Turkey).
• 2005: “Centre of Gravity”, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (Turkey).
• 2005: Co-curator of “Here comes the Sun” with Daniel Birnbaum, Jerome Sans and Sarit Shapira. Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm (Sweden).
• 2003: Curator of "COPYRIGHT: EUROPE EXISTS" (together with Harald Szeemann), Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece.
• 2003: Curator of "Universal Strangers", Borusan Art Center (Istanbul, Turkey)
• 2002: Curator of "The Song of the Pirate", Centro Cultural Andratx (Mallorca, Spain).
• 2002: Curator of "The Hall of Lost Steps", Borusan Art Center (Istanbul, Turkey).
• 2002-1998: Curator of the International Project Rooms at ARCO, the International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid (Spain), together with Octavio Zaya and various guest curators.
• 2001-2002: Co-curator of "Trans Sexual Express Barcelona 2001: A Classic for the Third Millennium", Santa Monica Art Centre, Barcelona (Spain), together with Xabier Arakistain. Travelling show going to Kunsthalle Mücsarnok (Budapest, Hungary) in January 2002, and to Kiosko Alfonso (La Coruña, Spain) in April 2002.
• 2000: Co-curator of "Living and Working in Vienna", Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, (Austria), together with Paulo Herkenhoff and Maaretta Jaukkuri.

Solo shows

• 2008: Anish Kapoor: "Islamic Mirror", Convent of las Claras, Murcia (Spain).
• 2004: “Nikos Navridis”, Sala de exposiciones de la Fundación la Caixa, Madrid.
• 2004: Pilar Albarracín, Reales Atarazanas de Sevilla (Spain)
• 2003: Curator of three solo shows by Ghada Amer, Shirin Neshat and Oleg Kulik, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon (Portugal).
• 2003: Curator of "Nedko Solakov: Romantic Landscapes with missing Parts", Espacio 1, MNCARS, Madrid (Spain).
• 2001: Curator of three urban interventions by Ghada Amer, Santiago Sierra and Sergio Vega in the context of "Experiences, Barcelona Art Report 2001", Barcelona (Spain).
• 1999: Curator of "Jean-Michel Othoniel", Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (Spain) and Palacio de los Condes de Gabia, Granada (Spain)
• 1999: Curator of "Bülent Sangar", museum in progress, Vienna (Austria)
• 1997: Curator of the season "The Meteors" at La Caixa Foundation's Sala Montcada (Barcelona, Spain) presenting solo shows of: Akane Asaoka, Sam Taylor-Wood, Ana Laura Aláez and Irwin.
• 1992: Curator of the season "5 Values for the Next Millennium" at la Caixa Foundation's Sala Montcada (Barcelona, Spain) presenting solo shows of: Juan Urrios, Sergio Caballero, Patrick van Caeckenbergh, Marcel.lí Antúnez, Nan Goldin and Jana Sterbak.

Articles

• 2010-2011: Collaborator for the "Images" section of Le Monde Diplomatique en español.
• 2006: “Women in Art. A Politically Unbalanced Relationship”, Quaderns de la Mediterrània, 7. European Institute of the Mediterranean, Barcelona.
• 2002: "Is there fear of discussing the basic moral, philosophical and the aesthetic tenents behind the current avant-garde in art?", The Art Newspaper, London, nº 123, March.
• 2001: "Some Islands: International Project Rooms ARCO'01", ARCO Noticias, Madrid, nº 20, April.
• 2000: “On Love, New Feminism and Power”, Atlántica, nº 26.
• 2000: “Buscando otros lugares: el arte como asistencia social", Archipiélago, cuadernos de crítica de la cultura, Barcelona, nº 41. April–May.
• 2000: "In the Society of Spectacle You are Always an Employee: Never the Owner of the Show", Trans, New York, nº 7, May.
• 1999: “Carta desde Estambul”, Letra Internacional, nº 60. Madrid, Spain.
• 1999: “Of Course, Intensity and Art can Change the World. A Conversation between Harald Szeemann and Rosa Martínez”, Lápiz, nº 150. January–February.
• 1999: "En Primera Línea. CREAM: Cien artistas para un nuevo siglo", El País de las Tentaciones, El País, May 7.
• 1998: “Guggenheim Bilbao. What lies behind the titanium esplendor?”, Flash Art, Jan-Feb.
• 1998: “Art Collecting. Interview with Nancy and Robert Magoon.” ARCO Noticias, nº 12
• 1997: “Istanbul Biennial, Curatorial Interpretations”, Flash Art, November–December. pp 98-100.
• 1995: “Arte: hágalo usted mismo”, Lápiz, February.

References

• 2011: El País "TRA, una sílaba multiplicadora" http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/TRA/silaba/multiplicadora/elpepuculbab/20110618elpbabpor_51/Tes
• 2011: Financial Times "Between worlds "http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ca7e02ba-a70c-11e0-a808-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Rv3lm9yW
• 2011: LuxuryCulture.com http://www.luxuryculture.com/goto/LN/articles/0160396/luxury-now/axel_vervoo
• 2008: Rosa Martinez on Anish Kapoor’s “Islamic Mirror” http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/29658/rosa-martinez-on-anish-kapoors-islamic-mirror/
• 2005: Artnet Magazine – Features “Talking a Little Further “ by Augustine Zenakos, Artnet Magazine http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/zenakos/zenakos8-2-05.asp
• 2005: Babelia, El Pais, March 9, nº 693 “Dos españolas al timón de la Bienal de Venecia” by Fietta Jarque ELPAIS.
• 2005: The Economist “Venice Biennale. Girl Power” www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory
• 2003: Rosa Martínez, Babelia, El País. Madrid, Spain. June 14.
• 2000: “Interview with World Curator Rosa Martínez”, by Young Chul Lee, Art, September. Seoul, Korea.
• 1999: “Launching Site. Curators Carlos Basualdo talks with Rosa Martínez”, Artforum, Summer. New York, USA.
• 1999: “Prismatic Visions. An Interview with Rosa Martínez”, by Carolee Thea, Sculpture nº, 6. July–August. New Jersey, USA.
• 1999: "Rosa Martínez" by Udo Kittelmann. ARCO Noticias, Madrid, nº 15, September.
• 1998: "Translating Cultures. A conversation between Rosa Martínez, director of the 5th Istanbul Biennial and Okwui Enwezor, director of the 2nd Johannesburg Biennial" by Okwui Enwezor. SIKSI. The Nordic Art Review, Stockholm, Spring.
• 1998: “Personal viewpoint: an interview with Rosa Martínez”, by Antonio Zaya, Arco Noticias, nº11, May. Madrid, Spain.
• 1998: “Lauschen auf das Geräusch der Stille”, Moderne Weltkunst, November. Köln, Germany.

External links

• Personal web site