Cristina Mejías (1986, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain). Graduated in Fine Arts from the European University of Madrid and the NCAD (Dublin, IR). Later she developed part of his artistic practice in Berlin, where she would reside for four years. Afterwards she graduated with an MA from the Complutense University of Madrid, where she currently lives and works.
She has recently held solo exhibitions in international institutions and spaces such as Patio Herreriano Museum (Valladolid, SP, 2023), Párraga Art Center (Murcia, SP, 2021), La Capilla Theatre in collaboration with Víctor Colmenero (CDMX, MX, 2021), Provincial Museum of Cadiz (Cadiz, SP, 2020), Provincial Museum of Jaen (Jaen, SP, 2020), Blueproject Foundation (Barcelona, SP, 2020), Museum of Contemporary Art of Zulia|MACZUL (Maracaibo, VZ, 2018) among others.
Recent awards include the Illy ARCO Fair Prize 2023, the First Prize for Internatonal Visual Arts Award IX Obra Abierta edition, the ARCO Foundation Award 2022, The Comunidad de Madrid for Young Artists ARCO Fair 2022, Generación 2020 Prize, Blueproject Foundation, Grant for Creation in Visuals Arts 2022 of the Community of Madrid or VEGAP XXIII.
Recently she has been selected to do an artistic residency at ARTWORKS, No entulho in Oporto (PT) thanks to a collaboration with Matadero Madrid. Previously she has been artist in residency in Pico do Refúgio (S.Miguel Island, Azores, PT), Volcánica (Guadalajara, MX), Blueproject Foundation (Barcelona, SP), Hangar Lisboa (Lisbon, PT), C3A (Cordoba, SP), Tabakalera (Donostia, SP), Ateliers dos Coruchéus (Lisbon, PT) and Museum of Contemporary Art of Zulia|MACZUL (Maracaibo, VZ).
Her work can be found in collections such as ARCO Foundation, The CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo Museum, the Andalusian Center of Contemporary Art|CAAC, Jorge M. Perez. Miami Collection (USA), Kells Collection and DKV, among others.
(This residency was carried out in partnership with Matadero Madrid, Centro de Residencias Artísticas, and concluded with an exhibition at Matadero Madrid, Centro de Creación Contemporánea.) This project reflects on how knowledge is produced, how it occupies a body, and how it is transferred through the intersubjectivity that occurs in any exchange. It observes the existence of two phenomena that occur in nature, each on the reverse or the opposite side of our horizon line.
On one hand, there is a song in the sea that has been circulating around the Earth since humpback whales began inhabiting the seas and oceans. In their communal gatherings, subtle changes are introduced and incorporated into the herd's hymn. All members of the community learn the latest version, even if it changes rapidly. In this way, the oral nature of their song causes it to continuously mutate. Thus, their history is constantly alternated through this circular form. Furthermore, it seems that whales around the world share acoustic information, as if they were singing fragments of the same song. Generating a circular melody around the Earth, one group finishes the song where another begins. As if they were troubadours of the ocean depths, they recite stories that are not genetically encoded but are learned and collected throughout their lives. In a kind of intergenerational pact, all whales learn the songs and their variations, so the song evolves continuously and is transmitted to distant populations.
On the other hand, a phenomenon similar to that in the ocean occurs in its mirrored space, the airspace, where the beating of wings by a multitude of bodies moving in unison produces murmurations. These are aerial choreographies performed by starlings that, in perfect collective synchronization and without a leading figure directing them (unlike other birds such as ducks or geese), paint the sky with a variety of shapes under a tumult that, interestingly, closely resembles the sound of the ebb and flow of ocean waves. In these gatherings, each individual is connected to the six closest companions in space. In this way, any interaction by one animal is perceived and transmitted to its six neighbors, who in turn communicate it to another group of seven, and so on. The whisper passes through the bodies and reaches each member of the community in a transformed state.
This project observes these two phenomena as alternative ways of telling our story, where the construction of the narrative accepts a series of slips, stutters, and vulnerabilities as valid witnesses of their time. The goal will be the construction of a sculptural installation composed of different suspended elements, where the manipulation of one element affects the pulse of another, and the weight of one body, like in a magnetic rhythm, generates a tension that sustains another body...
