LOOP Barcelona - History

History

2003

LOOP - THE PLACE FOR VIDEO ART LOVERS was created by the Barcelona Art Association in 2003 as a platform for active dissemination, discussion and creation of audiovisual art. Together with its network of professionals, they wanted to contemplate the video art discipline as a way capable of removing the boundaries between art and society. LOOP emerged from the transformation of the New Art fair, which for seven editions of art had filled the rooms of a hotel. The LOOP Fair was held from November 27 to 30 at Hotel Barceló Sants in Barcelona.

2004

From November 18 to 21, 50 rooms on the first floor of the Hotel Barceló Sants were once again occupied by 50 international galleries, upon selection, presented their proposals of video art. There was also an area of 900m2 in which institutions and museums could present their collections of video art. Magazines and publications specialized in contemporary art also occupied a prominent place in the Fair LOOP. To encourage collectors, LOOP'04 created a program of video art patronage, formed by a group of institutions and enterprises engaged in the acquisition of works presented at the fair. At the same time, arts centers, galleries and other spaces in Barcelona presented videos through the festival Off LOOP. A series of conferences in the media library of CaixaForum and a course organized by the Friends of the Museums of Catalunya were also scheduled.

2005

The LOOP Festival returned from November 7 to 20 with more than 350 participating artists presenting their video art works along 8 main routes: Route El Raval, Route Eixample, Route Calle Montcada, Route Montjuïc, Route Gràcia, Route Born/Ciutat Vella, Route Playa and Route Nau Ivanow. One of the hits of LOOP'05 was Video London. With more than 150 participants, this large exhibition featured the panorama of contemporary video art by young artists who study, work or exhibit in London. The LOOP Fair was held from November 10 to 13. The 52 invited galleries from different countries presented their latest works of their best video artists at the Hotel Barceló Sants.

2006

The fourth edition of the LOOP Fair, from May 19 to 21, offered international premieres in the rooms of Hotel Pulitzer. In addition, a parallel space, called Video Zone, presented the collections of major video art distributors as well as a diverse sample of the latest contemporary art magazines. Also, the fair hosted video feedback, three days of presentations by collectors, panel discussions, lectures and workshops on key issues and practical matters in the field of video art. From May 10 to 21 the festival of LOOP'06 was held. After three editions Off LOOP continued with an emphasis on the cultural dynamism in institutional spaces, independent cultural locations and entertainment venues. Seeking a balance between length and density, the program sought to explore the directions of video creation and the links of video art with other fields, as well as highlighting the many forms of reproduction and distribution of video as format and support.

2007

In its fifth edition, from May 23 to June 3, 180,000 visitors saw works from over 800 artists in 108 spaces, from institutions like the CCCB and the MACBA to restaurants and shops, presenting 66 curated programs, 20 universities and 20 international festivals. LOOP'07 has established itself as a centre for premieres, essential for all professionals devoted to video art. The 43 galleries selected for the LOOP Fair presented their artists to 4,000 international professionals, journalists, curators, and collectors in Hotel Catalonia Ramblas. In the conferences were involved the heads of major institutions in the sector, such as the MoMA, the Tate Modern, the MNACRS, the Pompidou Centre and the ZKM. One of the successes of the LOOP Festival was the projection of the Cremaster Cycle at the CCCB. For the first time in Barcelona it was possible to see the whole work of artist Matthew Barney. The Cremaster Cycle is a cycle of five films which revolve around the genesis of creation and has as conceptual origin the male cremaster muscle.

2008

The sixth edition, LOOP'08, opened its doors from 6–18 May 2008. The LOOP Festival has changed Barcelona in the capital of video art showing the works of more than 800 artists in 142 spaces across the city. The program LOOP Diverse, which was created last year with the objective to explore the possibilities of video art as a vehicle of intercultural dialog, has been stimulated on the occasion of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008. During this edition the 16 principal collectives of Barcelona’s residential immigrants were involved, and works from their countries of origin has been shown in a total of 37 establishments. The program was closed by a round table in the CCCB with the presence of the artists Hannah Collins and M. Rosa Jijón. The LOOP Fair occupied 44 rooms in the Hotel Catalonia Ramblas, where the 44 proposals from participating galleries were exhibited. LOOP’08 had a high quality of the work presented and the greater influx of national and international professionals, commissioners and collectors, signifying a higher rate of sales and contacts made with regards to past editions.