storm of light: all the deserts are my desert
DESCRIPTION
Photographic, documentary and editorial project by Alfredo De Stéfano. Produced by La Grua, Cultural Engineering “Storm of Light - All the deserts are my desert” is a photographic, documentary and editorial project in which Alfredo De Stéfano has been working since 2008. The main objective is to intervene and photograph a selection of different deserts in the world. An itinerary exhibition is also planned for 2014-2015.TRANSCRIPT
www.misdesiertos.com
ALFREDO DE STÉFANO
Storm of Light All the deserts are my desert
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
It is unthinkable to consider the actual panorama of Latin-American photography without including De Stéfano and this, believe me, is not an
individual consideration, but simply ascertainment of the facts. Armando Cristeto Patiño Photography historian
CONTACT Julia Villaseñor Bell, curator New Delhi, India. [email protected] / +91 75 03 43 03 96
CONTACTBárbara Carroll De Obeso - La Grúa, Cultural EngineeringParis, France / [email protected] / +33 (0)6 30 39 02 99
SAHARA
ARTIST STATEMENT
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
My works always maintain an intimate relationship with nature; they must maintain an internal dialogue with space. For me, each place requires a unique intervention; as if this work was a complement of the place it’s in and of what happens in its surroundings. That is how I establish a dialogue with the place. We could say that my work ”incarnates the place” just as Heidegger proposes in his essay on art and space; “The mutual game of art and space should be thought of through the experience of the place and the spot. This way, art as sculpture would not be the conquest of space, but rather, sculpture would be the incarnation of places.” In the last few years of my photographic practice, I have been intervening in the landscape by creating scenes and scenery with a large variety of elements both natural and manufactured. This is how, in the middle of the sometimes overwhelming vastness of the desert, I photograph intimate spaces, some of which are painful metaphors of the planet’s desertification caused by man, and others work as ironic allusions of our relationship with the desert. My work is and action that reintegrates a reflective act of what the desert has lost, but also a way to give back, through a personal intervention, its devastated memory. This intervention in the desert is obviously an ephemeral action, however it transcends in photographic memory as the concretization of a wish.
Alfredo De Stéfano
ATACAMA
STORM OF LIGHT - ALL THE DESERTS ARE MY DESERT
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
“Storm of Light - All the deserts are my desert” is a photographic, documentary and editorial project in which Alfredo De Stéfano has been working since 2008. The main objective is to intervene and photograph a selection of different deserts in the world. Also, a film documentary will be shot during the trips, allowing to understand the creative process followed by the artist throughout the world, as well as the obstacles and difficulties encountered to reach the furthest regions of the world, things which are imperceptible when we admire the pristine images of De Stefano.
Through the photographs of these landscapes, Alfredo expresses a particular way o understanding our planet’s evolution and allows us to think about our place in the world, about death and emptiness and many other fundamental questions about our existence and our relationship with our environment.
Contemplated deserts in the project
America:Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada – USASonora and Chihuahua deserts – Mexico**Siloli – BoliviaNazca – PeruAtacama – Chile**Puna – Argentina**
Africa:Sahara – north Africa**Namibia – south Africa**
Asia:Goby – ChinaRajasthan – India
Europe:Tundra – Iceland**
Oceania:Gibson desert – Australia
** Photographic shooting accomplished
NAMIBIA
PHOTOGRAPHIC SHOOTING AND TRAVELING EXHIBITION
The shooting project will be concluded by the end of 2013 in order to start a traveling exhibition in important museums around the world.
Provisional production budget:$ 400,000 USD
This amount will allow the following:
* Transport and lodging expenses in the deserts of Argentina, Australia, China, India, Mexico and USA, of Alfredo de Stéfano and a cameraman documenting the artistic process.
* Production and printing of 50 photographs in exhibition format of 1.27 x 1.77 m.
* Filming and editing of video footage for the production of a documentary of approximately 45 min.
* Publishing of a bilingual book on the project of about 3000 copies by internationally renowned Spanish editorial house RM, counting with worldwide distribution.
* Web page creation for the project where a travel log will be kept as well as posts of videos, images, interviews, news articles as well as briefs on history and culture of the visited deserts. The Webpage will be created by the publicity agency Grupo W. www.misdesiertos.com
* Administration and production expenses for the traveling exhibition around the world.
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
PREMIUM
STORM OF LIGHT - ALL THE DESERTS ARE MY DESERT
PREMIUM SPONSOR Amount: 180,000 USD
CREDITS AND BENEFITS
3 photographs from the series “Storm of light - All the deserts are my desert” in 127 x 177 cm format.
50 special folders for your distinguished clients with a photograph from the series in 27 x 42 cm format. Printed on imported cotton paper, signed and numbered.
100 copies of the book published by the Spanish publisher RM with international distribution.
Company’s logo appearance on the back cover of the book and credits in the acknowledgment section.
Special appearance of the company’s image on the Web page and in any content generated through the project’s official web site.
In Museums where the exhibition will be shown:
Words from the director of your company during the exhibition(s) opening event. Company’s logo presence as sponsor of the project in the program and all the press tools used for promotion. (Level 1+)
Company’s logo on the wall of the opening text for the exhibition.
Private event and conference with the artist and curator for special clients and company’s friends.
Credits as project sponsor in the documentary that will be exhibited during the photographic show in the museum; this documentary will also be sent to several film and documentary festivals around the world.
Presence of the company in press conferences before the opening of the exhibition.
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
PLATINIUM
STORM OF LIGHT - ALL THE DESERTS ARE MY DESERT
PLATINIUM SPONSORAmount: 120,000 USD
CREDITS AND BENEFITS
2 photographs from the series “Storm of light - All the deserts are my desert” in 127 x 177 cm format.
30 special folders for your distinguished clients with a photograph from the series in 27 x 42 cm format. Printed on imported cotton paper, signed and numbered.
70 copies of the book published by the Spanish publisher RM with international distribution.
Credits and acknowledgement in the publication. (Level 1)
Special appearance as sponsor on the official Web page. (Level 1)
In Museums where the exhibition will be shown:
Words from the director of your company during the exhibition opening event (selected in advance). Company’s logo presence as sponsor of the project in the program and all the press tools used for promotion. (Level 1)
Company’s logo on the wall of the opening text for the exhibition.
Private visit with the artist and curator for special clients and company’s friends.
Mention in the credits of the documentary that will be exhibited during the photographic show in the museums; this documentary will also be sent to several film and documentary festivals around the world.
Presence of the company in press conferences before the opening of the exhibition.
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
DIAMANT
STORM OF LIGHT - ALL THE DESERTS ARE MY DESERT
DIAMANT SPONSORAmount: $80,000 USD
CREDITS AND BENEFITS
1 photograph from the series “Storm of light - All the deserts are my desert” in 127 x 177 cm format.
25 special folders for your distinguished clients with a photograph from the series in 27 x 42 cm format. Printed on imported cotton paper, signed and numbered.
50 copies of the book published by the Spanish publisher RM with international distribution.
Credits and acknowledgement in the publication. (Level 1)
Special appearance as sponsor on the official Web page. (Level 1)
In Museums where the exhibition will be shown:
Company’s logo presence as sponsor of the project in the program and all the press tools used for promotion. (Level 1)
Company’s logo on the wall of the opening text for the exhibition.
Private visit with the artist and curator for special clients and company’s friends.
Mention in the credits of the documentary that will be exhibited during the photographic show in the museums; this documentary will also be sent to several film and documentary festivals around the world.
Presence of the company in press conferences before the opening of the exhibition.
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
PUNA
ALFREDO DE STÉFANO
Born in Monclova Coah. city in the northeast of Mexico in the middle of the desert. His trajectory of over 20 years has placed him as one of the most important conceptual contemporary photographers of the country. His passion is landscape and more specifically with the desert, which he has intervened, photographed and travelled in.
Amongst his photographic series De parajes sin futuro (1992), Vestigios del paraíso (1996), Habitar el vacío (2002) and Breve crónica de Luz, stand out, using the desert as their stage. He has participated in over 90 individual and group exhibitions and his work has travelled to the five continents as well as international capitals such as Paris, Sao Paulo, New York, Washington, Madrid, London, Lima, to name a few.
His photographs have been featured in many books and magazines and his work is part of many mexican and international private and public collections.
www.misdesiertos.com
Few works by contemporary artist immersed in nature have, at the same time the aesthetic strength and the conceptual profoundness as those by Alfredo De Stéfano. Even though his dialogue with the earth, being so mature and experienced, is only about to begin.
Alberto Ruy Sánchez Writer and editor of Artes de México magazine
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
ICELAND
ALFREDO DE STÉFANO
Prizes and distinctionsSistema Nacional de Creadores, scholarship Fonca MX - (2009 and 2012)El cuerpo y la fruta (Body and Fruit) Photographic Prize, Fonca MX - Honorable mention (2000)Selection prize. International photography Salon of Japan - Tokio, JP (1994)Scholarship for artists with trajectory, FECAC MX (1995)Young Creators’s Scholarship, Fonca MX (1993)
Collections:Centro de Arte Aragonés Contemporáneo, Huesca / SpainColeccion Banco IATÚ, Sao Paulo / BrazilHouston Fine Art Museum, Houston, Tx. / USAThe Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY / USAMuseo del Barrio, NY / USAInternational Institute of Photographic Arts, San Diego, Cal. / USALowe Art Museum, Miami, Fl. / USABanco de México, México, D.F. / MexicoCentro de la Imagen, México, D.F. / MexicoFototeca Nacional, Pachuca, Hgo. / MexicoFreedman Gallery, Reading, Pa. / USAMuseo Pape, Monclova, Coah. / Mexico
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
NAMIBIA
STORM OF LIGHT - ALL THE DESERTS ARE MY DESERT
La GrúaFounded by Bárbara Carroll De Obeso, La Grúa is a cultural management structure specialized in the conception, management and production of art project worldwide. Based in a networking principle, La Grúa gathers different professionals from the field to attain different missions for the realization of high quality projects.
Bárbara Carroll De Obeso, is a professional in the cultural field who specializes in international cooperation, artistic engineering and cultural project management. With more than 12 years of experience, she has collaborated as a free lancer and consultant in art projects in Mexico, France, Spain and USA.
In Mexico she was coordinator for artistic activities of Art Schools from the State of Jalisco Government during two years and she worked as audiovisual producer for mexican and american production companies. In France, she collaborated with the Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes for the organization of the European Forum of Emerging Creation (Luxembourg 2007) and as coordinator of the artistic residencies of the “MAP”.
She is co-founder and director of the non-profit association InC France-Mexique, a structure which specializes in the promotion of mexican contemporary art and culture un France as well as the production of artistic projects of international cooperation. www.inc-francemexique.org
Bárbara has coordinated project such as: “Trackers” solo exhibition by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Gaîté Lyrique, Paris), “Los Sandys en Waikiki”, presentation by Daniela Franco (Paris-Barcelona), “Encuentro de artistas mexicanos plásticos residentes en Francia” a 26 artist collective exhibition (Instituto de México, Paris), “La Périchole” with the Franco-American Vocal Academy (Miller Outdoor Theater, Houston), amongst other projects.
The project is being supported by:
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering
www.misdesiertos.comwww.la-grua.com
CONTACT
Director (Paris, Francia)Bárbara Carroll De ObesoLa Grúa, Cultural [email protected]+33 (0)6 30 39 02 99
IndiaJulia Villaseñor [email protected]+91 75 03 43 03 96
AustraliaPhilippe [email protected]
United StatesFrédéric [email protected]
ALFREDO DE STÉFANO
Storm of Light All the deserts are my desert
La Grúa, Cultural Engineering