Antoni Abad

Antoni Abad talking at Radio Web MACBA.

Abad's installation, "Mesures d'emergència" (Emergency Measures, 2010) in the Barcelona metro's Vall d'Hebron station.

Antoni Abad i Roses (born 1956 in Lleida) is a Spanish artist. He began his career as a sculptor, and evolved over time towards video art and later in net.art and other forms of new media.^[1]

Biography

Abad was born in 1956 in Lleida, Spain.^[2][3][4] Abad's artistic training began with the teachings of his father, followed by a degree in Art History from the University of Barcelona (1979), and studies of engraving in Cuenca, London and Perugia.

Art career

His work has evolved away from a traditional sculptural practice^[5][6] to the use of new technologies, and in particular the creation of community-based artworks using cell phones.^[7][8] He moved also from photography to video art, followed by interest in computers Net.art. He uses Internet as a creative & research platform. Antoni Abad's expresses the desire to formal experimentation around the concepts of space and time, always present in his work, not exempt lately of certain ironic and critical aspects.^[9]

Exhibitions

Some of his most important exhibits:

• 1986 — Espai 10 (Fundació Joan Miró) Escultures mal·leables^[10]
• 1991 — Premi d'Arts Plàstiques Medalla Morera. Museu d'Art Jaume Morera. June
• 1997 — Medidas de emergencia. Espacio Uno, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
• 1999 — Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires & Venice Biennale.^[11]
• 2003 — The Real Royal Trip. P.S.1. – Museum of Modern Art, New York.^[12]
• 2006 — Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona.
• 2014 — megafone.net/2004-2014, MACBA.
• 2017 — Venice Biennale.^[13][14]

Awards

• Premi d'Arts Plàstiques Medalla Morera (medal) 1990
• Premi Ciutat de Barcelona (City of Barcelona Prize) in the category of Multimedia (2002) for his work Z, shown in Metrònom and Centre d'Art Santa Monica
• Golden Nica at Ars Electronica^[15] within the category of virtual communities in 2006. Considered the most important prize in the world in terms of art and new technologies.
• Premi Nacional d'Arts Visuals (National Prize for Visual Arts) in 2006 given by the Government of Catalonia.

References

1. Nadal Gaya, Juan Manuel. Diccionari de pintors, escultors, gravadors i dibuixants: l'art a la Lleida del segle XX. 1a. ed.. Lleida: Pagès, 2003, p. 46-49. ISBN 84-7935-998-6.
2. Gianfranco Maraniello (2002). Art in Europe: 1990-2000. Skira. ISBN 978-88-8491-111-7.
3. Cyberarts. Springer. 2005.
4. Antoni Abad
5. Archive Past Exhibitions Antoni Abad and Pete Lloyd Lewis | Chisenhale Gallery
6. Rosalía Torrent; Enriqueta Antolín (2003). A century of Spanish art abroad: Spanish art at the Venice Biennale 1895-2003. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ISBN 9788475066110.
7. Alex Frame; Gilles Brachotte (6 November 2015). Citizen Participation and Political Communication in a Digital World. Routledge. pp. 162–. ISBN 978-1-317-38855-5.
8. Helmut K Anheier; Yudhishthir Raj Isar (21 January 2010). Cultures and Globalization: Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation. SAGE Publications. pp. 653–. ISBN 978-1-4739-0379-1.
9. Gabarrell, Francesc. «Abad Roses, Antoni Archived 2013-04-19 at the Wayback Machine». Índex d'artistes del Museu d'Art Jaume Morera (website).
10. Cultura. Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura. 1987.
11. Harald Szeemann; Cecilia Liveriero Lavelli (1999). 48a esposizione internationale d'arte: la Biennale di Venezia : dAPERTutto. Biennale di Venezia. ISBN 978-88-208-0414-5.
12. "Trove".
13. BlindWiki, Venezia raccontata dai non vedenti | Artribune
14. The Catalan nomination at the Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, by the artist Antoni Abad, will be curated by Mery Cuesta and Roc Parés - Institut Ramon Llull - Institut ...
15. Ars Electronica