Mario Gutiérez Cru

“Speaking of art is talking about life, action, being in the world. It is questioning everything: what is happening, what I am doing, why and for whom.

Because painting or drawing without a message to convey, without a question to ask, stopped making sense to me, everything changed. Kounnelis taught me to smell, feel, burn; but above all, he taught me that censorship exists, also in art.

Since then, I learned to imagine that the works are open and that it is the spectator who has to construct them with his mind.

Kabakov taught me to have the will to fly, Beuys the will to fall, Turner the will to lose myself, Rybczyński to multiply myself.

With the belief that there is no work without spectators, my first works spoke of that wandering, of that anonymous being and intrinsic creator, of journeys to no side, crossed communications, paths without objective.

Then I became obsessed with surveillance cameras, visual control, sound. The power of the panopticon that observes everything, that judges us. This led me to develop interest in systems of power, flags, borders … empty hymns, aliens, timeless; Money and Power, control and protection systems; Portuguese Calçada as a symbol of gentrification, and cars of the Civil Guard and muted microphones as icons of the current state of the nation.

As Francis Alÿs would say, Art is a political and poetic tool.”

Biography

Mario Gutiérez Cru was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1979.
Graduated in Fine Arts University UPV (Spain), artist, curator and creative.

As a curator, Mario Gutiérez Cru is in charge of KREÆ [Institute of Contemporary Creation], from 2009-19.
Main projects: DVD Project, international video art show, 2008-19; PROYECTOR, video art platform – 20 venues in 5 countries. 2008-19;
Coordinator of the residences space A B I E R T O Theredoom, 2017, Madrid.
Founder of the experimental art space Espacio Menosuno, Madrid, Spain from 2000-10. He is also co-founder of IN-SONORA, displays and interactive sound art from 2005 to 2010. Colectivos en red*, Online collective art, 2007-17.

As an artist his works were shown in MNCARS – Museum National Centro Arte Reina Sofía, Fair JustMad, Loop-Barcelona; Canal de Isabel II; C.C.C.B., BBVA Foundation , Palais Tokyo – París, C. C. España – Dominican Republic; Museum Oaxaca-MACO, Museo ARAD Rumany, Telefónica de Lima Foundation. At present Mario is in charge of KREÆ [Institute of Contemporary Creation], from 2009-19.

Other projects: Couture’s, Strasbourg 2008; Interference 09 y 11, Breda; Saout Meeting, Tetuán 2009; Sound Res, Salento 2009; Nit´s de Aielo i art, Valencia 2009; ARTe SONoro, La Casa Encendida, Madrid 2009, Decibelio 06, ARTJaén 2012-17, IMERGÊNCIA, Epipiderme in Lisboa, or Abierto de Acción, 2012-19 . FONLAD 2011-17, Festival FUSO 2014 in Portugal.