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  • Juan Zamora, 2017 Princess of Girona Foundation Arts and Literature Award

Juan Zamora, 2017 Princess of Girona Foundation Arts and Literature Award

The award winner was chosen for his aesthetic approach, one of the most esteemed values of which is social intervention. With his choice of basic materials, he creates a polyphony of meanings that is not bound to just one culture.

22/03/2017

Artist Juan Zamora has been named as the winner of the 2017 FPdGi Arts and Literature Award, in the first winners announcement of the 2017 edition of the Princess of Girona Foundation Awards, which took place at the Visitor Reception centre in Córdoba. 

The jury announced its decision this afternoon, emphasising Zamora’s aesthetic approach in which social intervention is one of his most esteemed values. The jury was particularly impressed that, despite specialising in modern art, the artist uses basic materials in his projects, creating a polyphony of meanings that is not bound to just one culture. In this artist’s work, said the jury, the link between art, aesthetics and formal quality is very clearly stated.

The members of the jury in the Arts and Literature category of this edition were essayist and poet Ramón Andrés; architect Olga Felip (FPdGi Arts and Literature Award winner in 2015); journalist and writer Elvira Lindo; writer and journalist Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, and professor, researcher and writer Jorge Wagensberg.

On hearing the verdict, Juan Zamora, who defines himself as a “nomadic, multifaceted artist, who combines digital visual art with sculpture, installations and drawing”, was both surprised and grateful, because “it is unusual for an artist with my profile to receive this type of award”. Zamora, originally from Córdoba but resident in Madrid, feels that this prize is a reward for all his work “because an artist’s life is hard and precarious”, he said, and he appreciated “the opportunity to grow” with this award, which has given his intense artistic career “a real boost”.

The announcement event for the 2017 FPdGi Arts and Literature Award began at three o’clock in the afternoon with a workshop designed by entrepreneur Xavier Verdaguer (Imagine Creative Center). The young people taking part in this creative adventure thought up and presented ideas to improve the sustainability of art. Verdaguer and actor, presenter and director Àngel Llàcer are supporting the FPdGi Awards tour. After the workshop, the winners of the challenge participated in a talk led by Àngel Llàcer with interventions by Verdaguer, soprano Auxiliadora Toledano (2013 Arts and Literature Award) and architect Olga Felip (2015 Arts and Literature Award).

Córdoba was the first stop on the FPdGi Awards tour, which over the coming weeks will stop at different cities across the country, turning them into young talent capitals for a day. The calendar of announcements for the remaining awards is as follows: Scientific Research (23 March, Barcelona), Social (30 March, Soria), Business (6 April, Santander), International Organisation (24 April, Figueres).

The Princess of Girona Foundation Awards, with a prize of €10,000 and a reproduction of a sculpture by Juan Muñoz, recognise the innovative and exemplary work of young people aged between 16 and 35 years, and that of an organisation in the European Union working for young people. The awards will be presented on 29 June in a ceremony presided over by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain at the Girona Conference Centre.

Biography

Juan Zamora González is a graduate in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a Master of Contemporary Art from the Universidad Europea de Madrid. He has been a lecturer at the University of California – Irvine and Long Island University (USA) and at the Universidad Europea de Madrid. Zamora González has received important national recognition, such as the INUVE (2006), ABC (2009) and GENERACIONES2016 awards, and won grants from international centres such as ISCP (New York, 2011-2012), NIROX Foundation (Johannesburg, 2014-16), Lugar a Dudas (Cali, 2015) and the Real Academia de España (Rome, 2015-16). His projects have been exhibited in galleries, fairs, biennials and museums such as ICO (Madrid, 2007), CAAC (Seville, 2008), DA2 (Salamanca, 2010), Matadero (Madrid, 2011), MAMM (Medellin, 2012), Artium (Vitoria, 2013), MCA (Sydney, 2014), La Tertulia (Cali, 2015), NC-Arte (Bogotá, 2016) and La Casa Encendida (Madrid, 2016). In addition, he designed the sets for the play Lorca al vacío, at the Sociedad Cervantina (Madrid, 2012), and was creative director of the fashion brand Redhero. His career began with Animailiyos (2006), a series of cartoons about human beings and their nature. In New York, in 2011, he produced the piece A dead pigeon and its shadow singing based on animist concepts. In 2014, he began the project Ora (bajo el cielo de la boca) in Johannesburg, which is currently on display in the Museo de Altamira. In 2015, he collaborated with the pre-Hispanic indigenous Muisca people in the project ‘Cuerpos de agua’ to revive their extinct language. During his time at the Real Academia de España in Rome he created the ‘Montorio’ project, which portrays nature as divinity.

The Princess of Girona Foundation Awards, with a prize of €10,000 and a reproduction of a sculpture by Juan Muñoz, recognise the innovative and exemplary work of young people aged between 16 and 35 years, and that of an organisation in the European Union working for young people. The awards will be presented on 29 June in a ceremony presided over by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain at the Girona Conference Centre.

 

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