POLITICS OF DREAMS

For the 16th edition of Propos d’Europe, a yearly exhibition of contemporary art
dedicated to cultural diversity in Europe, the Hippocrène Foundation is inviting the
Otazu Foundation (Spain). Iberian and Latin-American art are thus put à the honor
through Guillermo Penso Blanco’s and Sofia Mariscal’s collection (Kablanc collection).
From October 12th to December 16th 2017, former modernist architect Robert Mallet-
Stevens’s studio will be hosting about thirty artworks by 19 artists confronted for the
very first time. The exhibition, entitled Politics of Dreams – Manoeuvres de L’équilibre:
Iberoamérica au sein de la Fondation Otazu, features installations, sculptures, photographs, drawings
and videos. It marks the fifth collaboration of the Hippocrène Foundation with another European
private foundation or structure dedicated to contemporary art.
 
With Jordi Bernadó (Spain), Marilá Dardot (Brazil), Gabriel De La Mora (Mexico),
Leandro Erlich (Argentina), Ignacio Gatica (Chile), Dalila Gonçalves (Portugal), Arturo
Hernández Alcázar (Mexico), Bruno Kurru (Brazil), Ximena Labra (Mexico), Daniela
Libertad (Mexico), Fabio Morais (Brazil), Nazareno (Brazil), Karyn Olivier (Trinidadand-
Tobago), Jaime Pitarch (Spain), Celina Portella (Brazil), Liliana Porter (Argentina),
Enrique Ramirez (Chile), Nicolás Robbio (Argentina), and Lucas Simões (Brazil).
 
The Otazu Foundation’s collection (Kablanc collection) offers a comprehensive overview of the
contemporary world with a special focus on Iberian and Latin-American art. In reference to the origin
of its founders, the collection aims at fostering thinking around these two regions. In that regard, it
features a selection of multidisciplinary artworks by artists with an international vision, who
encourage dialogue as well as the understanding of the current artistic reality through painting,
sculpture, photography and others mixed media. The gathering of all these works give way to a unique
exhibition, a testimony of the current creative reality and a source of values within society.
Politics of Dreams – Manoeuvres de L’équilibre: Iberoamérica au sein de la Fondation Otazu is the
first exhibition organized around the Kablanc collection. The Hippocrène Foundation is happy to
welcome it, as the institution promotes concord within the European continent, a shared goal with the
Otazu Foundation. With this in mind, the exhibition offers a vision of art in the Iberian Peninsula and
its relationships with Latin America in Otazu, like a mirror to help us understand the mutual transfers
at play in between these two continents on a cultural, historical and sociological level. Europe and
Latin America have established deep and complex ties throughout the centuries: a source of
inspiration and dynamism that can today be seen as a back and forth of reciprocal influences. Their
emphasis enables us to reflect on the paradoxes, coincidences and visions that enrich both continents.
Artists like Liliana Porter or Leandro Erlich are good representatives of these constant transfers. The
works featured in the exhibition open up on different spheres of contemporary art around knowledge,
magic realism, labor, time and means of communication. All of which builds a story around the
conditions of artistic harmony, helping us understand and discover, from these artist’s point of view,
two open yet connected continents, which dialogue can contribute to progress and peace.
 
The Otazu Foundation was created in 2016 in order to manage the activities of the art center
located in the Navarese city of Otazu (Spain). The Kablanc collection, the collection of contemporary
art displayed in its space, mainly consists of Iberian and Latin-American artworks. The Foundation
proposes a wide panel of artistic activities around the collection. It pursues an objective of general
interest. Its mission is to promote an experimental art space in relationship with nature, environment
and the challenges of today’s society, a space that facilitates reflection, communication and the
production of ideas within the framework of the social dialogue opened by contemporary artists. The
Foundation seeks to foster knowledge and investigates the social, economical and creative mechanisms
that define our time. President, Guillermo Penso Blanco