Swab 2015 grows with more galleries and programs

PRESS RELEASE
INTERNATIONAL FAIR II CONTEMPORARY ART II BARCELONE II OCTOBER THE 1ST UNTIL THE 4TH
Swab 2015 grows with more galleries and programs
TheInternational Contemporary Art Fair attracts 65 galleries from 22 countriesII
The Amsterdam’s De Appel Arts Centre collaborates with the debates forumII
Juan Canela presents a series dedicated to the performance. II David Armengol
acts as curator in a new space dedicated to independent projects. II Two
shuttle bus connects the centre of the city with the Italian Pavilion
Barcelona, from the 1stto the 4th of October
Swab 2015 reinvents itself, one more edition. The excellent response from the public, as well
as the interest for new ways to approach the art made in our days, has encouraged the
director, Joaquín Díez-Cascón, and his team to present new programs. The novelties are
multiple in this fair, which started back in 2006. From the 1st and until the 4thof October, a total
addition of 65 galleries (there were 52 on 2013, and 59 on 2014) coming from 22 countries
from all around the world, will exhibit the pieces created by over one hundred new artists. In
this occasion inedited programmes are presented: Swab Seed, curated by David Armengol,
gives voice to a series of independent proposals that founded their way outside the margins of
institutions in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid and Berlin. Juan Canela presents in Swab
Performance a group of actions and specific interventions designed for the fair. On the other
hand, Swab Fórum counts with the expertise from the De Appel Arts Center (Amsterdam). To
facilitate the visitor’s transit, a shuttle bus connects the centre of the city with the fair.
Swab Thinks: The space remains for questioning about emerging art with the participation of
galleries, artist and renowned curators. This space will host during the 2nd, 3rdand 4thof
October, a series of conferences, debates and round table meetings. There will be dialogues
between artists, curators, collectors and critics about the transformation of the contemporary
world and the place that the artistic practices have in it. Swab Thinks will be developed in the
same fairground building.
Some of Swab’s 2015 proposals are:

Swab Seed by FOCUS ENGEL HORN. Curated by David Armengol. In the last few years
new independent spaces dedicated to contemporary art have appeared, outside the
margins of official institutions, artistic proposals with great quality are getting
recognition: exhibitions, residencies, and events. Swab Seed gives a voice to this
independent proposals that -taking into account the instability and opportunities given
by the fact of depending on their own resources- have become one of the most prolific
and dynamic sceneries in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid or Berlin. On one side, the
work methodologies and artists related with these spaces will be presented
collectively. On the other hand, under the tittle ‘Intensity and survival: artistic practice
from the independent point of view’, there will be a series meetings and speeches.

Swab Performance. Curated by Juan Canela. In harmony with the contemporary art
practices, this performative space will present a series of actions and specific
interventions related with the body, the time, the space and the action itself. It will
host artists such as Mercedes Azpilicueta, Elena Bajo, Ely Daou, Alicia Frankovich, Lara
Khaldi & Yazan Khalili, and Caudia Pagès.

Swab Gate by FUNDACIÓ LLUÍS COROMINA. Consists on individual exhibitions of
African and Caribbean artists, whom work and live in Africa, Europe and both; focused
on the painting. The participant galleries for this section of the fair have been selected
and invited by the curator Eva Barois de Caevel. The four galleries are distributed
between Africa and Europe. This program has as a principal objective, the exhibition of
art pieces of four great contemporary artists, questioning the history and current state
of those painting techniques and their geographical origin.

Swab Fórum. In collaboration with De Appel Arts Center, a new program will be
presented. Two ex alumni from the curatorial program of this Netherlands centre will
create a dialogue between six artists and their art pieces, selected by themfrom
among the different gallery programs of the Fair.

SOLO Swab. Curated by Direlia Lazo and Carolina Ariza. This space gathers individual
exhibitions from Latin-American artists, whom emphasises in the creative practices procedural and documental- confronted with the official statement. The artists
participating are Arturo Hernández Alcázar, Santiago Reyes, Yornel Martínez, Estefanía
Peñafiel, Fredy Alzate & Alejandra Alarcón, and Oscar Abraham Pabón.

Swab “Zhōngguó: the new Chinese photography”. Curated by Na Risong and Susana
Sanz. This selection demonstrates that the Chinese contemporary art is not merely a
copy of that one in the west. These images reveal just the opposite, by gathering a
group of creators that expresses themselves with an original and critical language in
reference to the traditional practices. The artists participating are Bo Mu, Ju Duoqui,
Jin Ping, Lu Nan and Zhon Weixing.

SwabDrawing Applications. Curated by Mónica Álvarez Carega. Design, arquitecture,
jorunalism, psyquiatry, caligraphy and botanic; are some of the numerous cultural and
scientific areas for which the practice of drawing has become an extremely efficient
tool. This program is integrated by eight individual artistic projects that highlight the
recognition of traditional drawing methods as artistic elements. The participating
artists are Paula Rubio Infante, Laura González Cabrera, Cristina Ferrández, Luis
Macías, Juan Escudero, Theo Firmo, Gómez-Bueno y Gonzalo Elvira.
Swab 2015 hosts a wide number of consolidated galleries with great prestige in the global
market of contemporary art with itstraditional General Program.It also gives way to new
creation galleries, giving them the opportunity to participate for the first time in an
international art fair: the program MYFAF curated by Rosa Lleó and Zaida Trallero.
AWARDS
The Fair counts with several prizes, as the Fundación Lluís Coromina award to the Best Catalan
Artist, with the support of Bonart Cultural, which consists on the purchase of one art piece
created by a catalan artist participating; the DKV Seguros Award to The Best Spanish Artist,
which consists on the purchase of one art piece created by an Spanish artist participating in
the current edition of the fair. Swab 2015 counts with other series of awards already
consolidated, in collaboration with different institutions and entities: the Fundación Banco
Sabadell Award to the Best Gallery, Mango Award to the best young artist, Grisart
Photography Award (the acquisition is donated to the MACBA foundation) the Marset Idea Art
Award to the best innovate and creative piece and the ColecciónDiezy7 Award to the Best
Drawing Art Piece.
Swab started in 2006 as an initiative of the private collection from Barcelona: Contemporary
Art Space Diezy7. From then on, it has had the support of important national and international
galleries, as well as Barcelona’s city hall and the Government of Catalonia. The first edition was
celebrated in 2007 at the Museu Maritim. 42 galleries from 13 countries participated and
6.000 people assisted to the event. 2010 was the consolidation year, with 13.000 visitors. It
was located for the first time at the Italian Pavilion, current location. Swab Barcelona 2013,
changes the dates from May to October with the aim of adapting itself to the beginning of the
artistic season in Barcelona, achieving a great success in attendance and sales (more than
15.000 visitors; 75% of galleries sold art pieces). Swab has consolidated as an annual meeting
for emerging international art.
The fair supposes to be also a platform for young creators. In collaboration with Barcelona’s
metropolitan transport service (TMB), it organizes Swab Stairs, for the art and design schools
in Catalonia, so that their students can showcase their creations on the metro stations’ stairs.
It is important to recognize the program Swab Collectors, it counts with the participation of
tens of international collectors that visit Barcelona every year, and can increase their private
collections and those of artistic institutions.
PARTICIPANT GALLERIES
3 Punts Galería (Barcelona), Alidem - L'arte della fotografia (Milán), Alma Gallery (Athens),
Alejandro Gallery (Barcelona), AP Contemporary (Hong Kong), ARTSpaceSWITZERLAND
(Rheinfelden, Suiza), BERLINARTPROJECTS (Berlín), cis-art (Barcelona), Espacio Creativo
Alexandra(Santander), Faur Zsófi Gallery (Budapest), Galería Balaguer(Barcelona), Galería Rafael
Pérez Hernando (Madrid), Galería Servando (La Habana), Galería Silvestre (Tarragona), Galeria
Trama (Barcelona), Galería Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo (Barcelona), Galleria Giovanni
Bonelli (Milán), Kalman Maklary Fine Arts (Budapest), Kaplanon Galleries (Athens), JPS Gallery
(Hong Kong), N2 Galería (Barcelona), OLSEN IRWIN (Woollahra, Australia), Pabellón 4 Arte
Contemporáneo (Buenos Aires), Pantocrátor Gallery (Shanghái-Berlín), PORTANOVA12
(Bologna), prometeogallery di Ida Pisani (Milán), Galería ROCÍO SANTACRUZ (Barcelona), Rea
Gallery (Buenos Aires), RES NON VERBA (Buenos Aires), Savina Gallery (San Petersburgo), Shone
Show Gallery (Beijing), Studio Chuan (Beijing), Sun Art Gallery (Tokio), Galerie Alain Gutharc
(Paris), El Apartamento (La Habana), Galería de la Oficina (Medellín), JosédelaFuente
(Santander), NUBE Gallery (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), Lokkus Arte Contemporáneo (Medellín),
Martin Van Zomeren (Amsterdam), Addaya Centre D’Art Contemporani (Alaró, Mallorca),
etHALL Dibujo Contemporáneo (Barcelona), Galería Alegría (Barcelona), ATM Comtemporary –
Galería Altamira (Gijón, Asturias), Galería Ángeles Baños (Badajoz), Galeria Javier Silva
(Valladolid), Galería Siboney (Santander), Galería Sicart (Barcelona), 3K Art (‘online’), Estudi
Tigomigo (Barcelona), Galería Tiro al Blanco (Guadalajara, México), El Palomar (Barcelona), Arts
Coming (Barcelona), me & the curiosity (Barcelona), La Galería Encantada (Barcelona),
Halfhouse (Barcelona), The Green Parrot (Barcelona), Salón (Madrid), Junefirst Gallery (Berlín),
Angalia Art Gallery (Meudon, París), First Floor Gallery (Harare, Zimbaue), Maëlle Galerie (Paris),
Galerie Van de Weghe (Amberes, Bélgica).
PARTICIPANT ARTISTS
Nikos Moschos, Kleomenis Kostopoulos, Dimitris Rokos, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Anna Taratiel,
Gloria Martin, Germán Portal, Luisa Jacinto, Ella Littwitz, Catarina Bothelo, Liu Dao, Zhu Ye, Bi
Rongrong, Marta Barrenechea, Maria Bueno, Javier Calleja, Mike Swaney, Xuan Yongsheng,
Zhao Lu, Yang Xinshou, Jugo Kurihara, Wang Cheung, Ruppen Sutter, Wirz Wirz, Louise Kalena,
Di Sosio Richards, Hofer Costa, Judas Arrieta, Alejandra Atarés, Aldo Urbano, Ivan Ferreres,
Adrian Espinos, Lourdes Fisa, OPiEMME, Gigi Piana, Carolina Simonelli, Guadalupe Ortega
Blasco, Pachi Giustinian, Sebastian Lahera, Samuel Salcedo, Ramon Surinyac, Gerard Mas,
Efraïm Rodríguez, Alejandro Monge, Mr. Brainwash, Csaba Fürjesi, Csilla Bondor, Áron Gábor,
Agostino Arrwabeve, Giuseppe Gonella, Robert Pan, Sam Havadtöy, Hur Kyung-Ae, Lim DongLak, Kamill Major, Judit Reigl, Suh Jeong-Min, Attila Futaki, Mario Soria, David Moreno, Gil
Gezpi, Jafet Blanch, Martin y Sicilia, Gabriella Ciancimino, Jorge Luis Santos, Adonis Ferro,
David Velázquez, Hector Papadakis, Dimitris Anastasiou, Gerge Karakasoglou, Vasilis Selimas,
Nikos Siskos, Katerina Chadoulou, Lara Merrett, Kepa Garraza, Gustavo Diaz Sosa, Johan
Barrios, Jacinto Moros, Alexander Korzer, Javier Ayuso, Carlos González Castillo, Mikha-Ez
(Miguel González), Lola Guerrero, Ana Varela García, Paulo Cacais, Roberto Turnbull, Fabiàn
Ugalde, Enrique Hernández, Oso Parado, Estefanía Peñafiel, Fredy Alzate, Santiago
Veléz, Arturo Hernández Alcázar, Alejandra Alarcón, Rafael Lain, Alicia Frankovich, Claudia
Pagès, Elena Bajo, Ely Daou, Lara Khaldi & Yazan Khalili, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Luís Macías,
Juan Escudero, Cristina Fernández o Kepa Garraza,Laura González Cabrera, Theo Firmo,
Gómez-Bueno, Gonzalo Elvira, Santiago Vélez, Yornel J. Martinez Elias, Oscar Abraham Pabon,
Arturo Hernández Alcázar, Bo Mu, Ju Duoqi, Jin Ping, Liu Jianan, Zhong Weixing,
SteveBandoma, Hamid El Kanbouhi, Sébastien Jean, Wycliffe Mundopa, Berto Martínez , Tilo
Baumgärtel, Olga Tobreluts, Sonya Fu, Yaşam Saşmazer.
International Contemporary Art Fair Swab Barcelona 2015
Calendar: From the 1st to the 4thof October, 2015.
Address
Fira de Barcelona. Pabellón Italiano. In front of the Magic Fountain at Montjuïc.
Schedule
Thursday 1stof October: Official opening 6.30pm
Friday 2ndof October: 4pm - 9pm
Saturday 3rd of October: 12pm – 9pm
Sunday 4th of October: 1pm – 8.30pm
Tickets
Swab Pass. One Day entrance: 12€. Valid for one day, October 2 to 4.
Swab Clip Pass. Reduced Price for students, concerted groups and visitors over 65 years age.
Valid for one day, October 2 to 4.
Swab free Pass. Free entrance for visitors under 12 years old.
More information
www.swab.es // www.diezy7collection.com
►Press: [email protected] / www.swab.es / +34 93 417 30 04 / +34 608 745 179 (Inés
Martínez Ribas).