This exhibition gathers and presents works by the performer, poet, and political and cultural activist Miguel Benlloch (Loja, 1954 – Sevilla, 2018) in the form of actions, photographs, books, writings, speeches, or banners, displayed in dialogue with works by the authors Equipo re, Julio Jara, Guillermina Mongan, Álvaro Romero, María Salgado, and Fran MM Cabeza de Vaca.
Benlloch’s actions, texts, and political and aesthetic activity have been developing since the late 1980s, when he began his performances with Cutre Chou, creating a unique space to read and understand the development of art and aesthetic, political, and social activism in Spain at the turn of the century, which placed the questioning of binary and heterocentric categories at the center of discourse.
The title of this exhibition, Assajos sobre “lo cutre”, pays tribute to a moment of condensation in which political militancy began to experiment with the body and voice, turning “lo cutre” into a tool of dissent against the norm and formal obedience.
Presentation by the exhibition curators:
Mar Villaespesa
Since the 1980s, she has worked in art criticism and independent curatorship. Co-founder and director of the magazine Arena, she has developed numerous exhibition projects and, from 2001 to 2015, was part of the management team of the program arteypensamiento at UNIA – Universidad Internacional de Andalucía.
Joaquín Vázquez
In the 1970s and 1980s, he was active in the Communist Movement and promoted the creation of the Andalusian Homosexual Liberation Front (FLHA) and anti-NATO movements. Since 1988, alongside Miguel Benlloch, he was a founding member of BNV Producciones, where they organized, coordinated, and produced exhibitions, projects, publications, and film and video programs. From 2001 to 2015, he coordinated and produced the program UNIA arteypensamiento at the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía. In 2006, he participated in the creation of the Platform for Reflection on Cultural Policies (PRPC), Sevilla.
Alejandro Simón
Researcher, artist, and professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Salamanca. He has been part of the R&D MINECO research groups Critical Visualities: Cultural Ecologies and Common Research and Critical Visualities: Rewriting Narratives through Images at the Complutense University of Madrid. He is conducting research on the performer Miguel Benlloch at the Study Center of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
