While many of Asunción’s projects blur boundaries between art, science, farming and health, the main focus of her practice is contemporary peasantry. She uses scientific methodologies, public interventions and traditional farming techniques, as well as the creative play that art allows, to try to get more people thinking about complex issues such as climate change, the Anthropocene, politics of farming and the nature-culture divide. She has an understanding of how artistic practices can contribute to the wider cultural shift towards a more environmentally sustainable society.
This art project follows the invitation to develop a proposal for the Artist’s Garden commission at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, whose curatorial criterion is to realise work with the ability to riff on our relationship with the natural world.
IN TRANSIT: Botany of a Journey is a site-specific installation consisting of a garden grown from seeds that have travelled in the intestines of Dubai’s diverse population.
About the Artist
Asunción Molinos Gordo (b. 1979, Aranda de Duero, Burgos, Spain) is a research-based artist strongly influenced by disciplines such as anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. In her practice she questions the categories that define ‘innovation’ in mainstream discourses today, working to generate a less urban-centric way of understanding progress.
The main focus of her work is contemporary peasantry. Her understanding of the figure of the small or medium farmer is not merely as food producer but as cultural agent, responsible for both perpetuating traditional knowledge and for generating new expertise. She employs installation, photography, video, sound and other media to examine the rural realm driven by a strong desire to understand the value and complexity of its cultural production, as well as the burdens that keep it invisible and marginalised.She has produced work reflecting on land usage, nomad architecture, farmers’ strikes, bureaucracy on territory, transformation of rural labour, biotechnology and global food trade.
Molinos Gordo won the Sharjah Biennial Prize 2015 with her project WAM (World Agriculture Museum) and represented Spain official section at the 13th Havana Biennial 2019. Her work has been exhibited at venues including V&A Museum (London), Delfina Foundation (London), Arnolfini (Bristol), The Townhouse Gallery (Cairo), Darat Al Funun (Amman), Tranzit (Prague), Art Basel Miami Beach (US), Cappadox Festival (Uçhisar, Turkey), The Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki), Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (Mexico), Museo de Arte de Zapopan (Mexico), MUSAC (León, Spain), CA2M (Madrid, Spain), Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos (Spain), Matadero Madrid (Madrid, Spain) and La Casa Encendida (Madrid, Spain), among others.
She obtained her BFA from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she also pursued her MA in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice. She is currently studying Anthropology and Ethnography at UNED (Spain).
Andrea Pacheco González (b. 1970 Santiago, Chile) is an independent curator and researcher based in Madrid. Her work focuses on the artistic and cultural practices that address the challenges of the present: forced displacements, exile and Latin American Diasporas in Europe, historical memory processes, and artistic strategies of resistance and subversion.
She has a BA in Social Communication, a MA in Art and New Media, and is a Fine Arts PhD candidate at Complutense University of Madrid. She was the Exhibitions Coordinator at the Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art (Chile), where she worked with artists such as David Shrigley and Superflex. As an independent curator, she has curated exhibitions at Sala Gasco, Concrete Gallery, and the Providencia Cultural Foundation in Chile; and individual shows of Dagoberto Rodriguez (CAAM, Canarias Islands, Spain); Teresa Margolles (Solidarity Museum Salvador Allende, Chile) Juan Castillo (Macchina Gallery, Chile) and Los Carpinteros (NC-arte and MAMU, Bogotá). Recently, she co-curated an exhibition with Mônica Hoff Heart Lungs Liver, at Matadero Art Residences Center in Madrid, including a series of public programmes and a publication. She is Director of the FelipaManuela residence platform, focused on exchange between Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean, which collaborates with institutions such as the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, the ARCO Fair and Matadero Madrid. She is Curatorial Studies Professor at the Nebrija University, Madrid, and also teaches courses in contemporary art at La Casa Encendida, Madrid, and MUSAC, León. She is also part of the working group on museums and education at Thyssen-Bornemiaza Museum, Madrid.
About Jameel Arts Centre
Jameel Arts Centre is an independent institution dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art to the public and engaging communities through learning, research and commissions. Founded and supported by Art Jameel, the Centre is located in Jaddaf Waterfront, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates.
About Art Jameel
Is an organisation that supports artists and creative communities. Our arts programmes foster the role of the arts in building open, connected communities; at a time of flux and dramatic societal shifts, we see this role as more crucial than ever.
About the Curators
Dawn Ross head of Art Jameel Collection and associated exhibitions, both those at the Jameel Arts Centre, and loans with partner museums regionally and internationally. Previously, Dawn has worked in arts institutions and festivals in Australia, Scotland and the UAE, most recently heading up not-for-profit projects at Art Dubai. She has experience in museum collections, exhibitions, programming, audience outreach and community projects.
Nadine El Khoury is a curatorial assistant at Jameel Arts Centre, supporting the exhibitions and collections team on researching, developing exhibitions and publications. She holds a double major in Art History and Studio Arts from Concordia University, Montreal, as well as completing Ashkal Alwan Homeworkspace program in 2016. She has experience in exhibitions, publications, institutional/private collections and is also a practising artist.
