LEKUTAN

The LEKUTAN Cultural Association is an aesthetic research laboratory and cultural producer based in Bilbao and formed by Andrea Estankona Loroño and Juan Pablo Ordúñez/MawatreS. With training in Art History and Fine Arts, they complete their academic studies with a Master’s Degree in Research in Social Sciences and in Conservation and Exhibition of Contemporary Art and a Master’s Degree in Research and Creation in Art. They are currently carrying out PhD research into new institutions for artistic and cultural practices and the search for new languages for commemoration and monuments based on contemporary artistic languages.

Their work takes in mediation, creation and management. They have participated in research projects in the field of innovation studies in the cultural and creative sector at the European (TRANSCREATIVA), national (INNOC) and regional (INNOCREA, INNOCREA2, GIPUZKOA CREATIVA) levels and are currently members of the AKMEKA Research group, acknowledged and funded by the Basque Government in the 2019/2021 call for proposals. Between 2014 and 2016, they were members of the OREA research group on artistic practices as a method of construction of the public sphere. La Publika. Powered by Conssoni. Project carried out for the Donostia-San Sebastian European Cultural Capital programme in 2016.

They have given various presentations at national and international congresses, outstanding among which are “The Basque case: innovation and emerging creative areas”, at the Creative Industries and Social Innovation Congress: Concepts, practices and policies, in Bordeaux, organised by Sinnergiak Social Innovation and Kedge Business School; “Visual Culture: a key concept on the borderline between social innovation and the digital world” at the First International Spanish-Austrian Seminar, organised by Österreichisches Kulturforum, Medialab-Prado, the Complutense University of Madrid; Fundación Cerezales and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC) in the project REGION (The Narratives). “Landscape change and water policies”; Koganecho Art Center in Yokohama, Japan, as part of the project “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”; and Leeds Est Arts, Leeds, UK, in the project “Death or glory”.

They have been awarded various research grants in different institutions, including: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (grant awarded by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia for Excellence of Training in Prestige International Centres Abroad), Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice, Koganecho Art Center in Yokohama, Japan, East St Arts, Leeds, UK, and the National Gallery of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.

As curators, it is worth highlighting the project “Artistic interventions on the Deusto bridge”, an exhibition project financed by Bilbao Ekintza and EHUKultura Bizkaia. Exhibitions and curatorial text: http://artepuentededeusto.blogspot.com/ Annual edition with between five and eight artists per edition. Participation in the exhibition “After 68” at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum 2018/19. Judged as a quality contribution in the call for research proposals for the six-year period 2011-2016.

And the coordination and curating of Bilbao Art District, a project to professionalise the artistic sector that seeks to create new audiences. Exhibition project financed by Bilbao Ekintza.

Exhibitions and curated text: http://www.bilbaoartdistrict.com/ Annual edition with between 20 and 30 artists per edition. A strategic project of the Economic Promotion and Sectors departments of the Bilbao City Council, financed with a budget of €100,000 per edition.