2023-11-12 17:53:43
The morning sun illuminates the autumn of the City of Light and from the cafeteria of the Grand Palais Ephémère, headquarters of Paris Photowhere the Spanish artist living in London Almudena Romero He talks to ABC about his career and, exclusively, about his new project, the tip of the Eiffel Tower appears covered in fog.
The environment is ideal for the largest photography fair in the world, which ends this Sunday, and in which Romero exhibited his work.The Pigment Change‘ in 2021, after being crowned the tenth winner of the BMW Residency, which aims to support emerging talents by offering them mentoring and visibility. That opportunity, she admits, opened many doors for her, although she had already been collecting triumphs in the United Kingdom, among other countries, for a long time.
Romero, born in Madrid with Valencian roots, has lived in London for more than a decade and also has British nationality. Her creative practice predominantly uses photography, as she does in that work of hers, in which she uses «photographic processes that occur in plants such as photoperiodicity, photobleaching and photosynthesis to produce art that grows, fossilizes and disappears”, a work that was already presented in June of this year also in Spain at the CaixaForum Barcelona, as part of the exhibition ‘Expanded Visions’.
Now he aspires to produce one of the largest works of art ever created: the ephemeral image of an eye, which will have dimensions of 30,000 square meters, a project in which he has a luxury companion: the scientist Nicolas Langladeresearch director of the ASTR team of the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae), a French research organization specialized in agricultural sciences, food and the environment.
Both have come together to “develop a unique and pioneering method based on photosynthesis to cultivate the largest photograph ever produced” thanks to “utilizing genetic differences in wheat that result in tonal variations of grass to make, or rather, cultivate, agricultural photographs.”
To achieve the image, which will grow in the Inrae fields “over a period of eight months, from November 2024 to June 2025, and will reach its peak from March to June 2025,” they have “the help of a specifically developed algorithm» for this idea, as well as «from the genetic information in the Inrae databases». Langlade and Romero aim to grow ancient seeds without pesticides, and having developed a series of simulations, this month they are planting the first test pallet “which will allow us to know the accuracy of the simulations produced digitally using a technique based on pixel matching.” of an image with plots of wheat.
36 shades of green wheat step
Thus, the artist explained, they identified a series of varieties that result in 36 Shades of Green Wheatgrass and 22 shades of ripe wheat brown, a “palette rich enough to produce a distinguishable image when the plots are combined in a specific order.”
The project, which thus combines artistic and scientific research with socioecological concerns of the moment, “reflects on the historical practices and cultures of wheat in Europe, their legacy, as well as their future relevance in terms of food sufficiency and sustainable agriculture.”
The work of Romero, who also presented his book ‘The Pigment Change‘ (Fisheye Editions), which “explores questions about our relationship with nature and about production and reproduction in the context of the current climate crisis”, was acclaimed by Thomas Girstglobal director of Cultural Engagement at the BMW Group, which has been a sponsor of Paris Photo for 21 years.
Protect beauty
In conversation with ABC, this German doctor and art expert positively valued the creations of Romero and other artists that the group has supported over the years, such as Eva Nielsen and Marianne Derrien, artist and curator respectively, who this year won the BMW Art Makers program with their project ‘Insolare’. One of the favorites of 2023, according to specialized critics, it reflects on the changes in the environment that are causing the disappearance of certain urban, industrial and natural landscapes, where the human footprint is always in question.
For Girst, “there is a discourse in art now that it is leaning towards plantss, he did works like Almudena’s” and “that giant eye project is amazing… And do you know what is incredible? “That is not for sale.” For him, it is essential that artists receive fair compensation for their work, but art that does not sell, like this latest project by Romero, needs the sponsorship of companies and organizations committed to culture that give them absolute creative freedom. “We have been working with museums, art fairs and many incredible artists from around the world for fifty years, but also with emerging artists” who are offered the opportunity “to gain more exposure and have platforms to present their work.”
The author of several books also reflected on the importance of art in the current context, when “ugliness is spreading, with wars, nationalism, xenophobia… And it is ridiculous. I feel that beauty is something that must be protected», perhaps now, more than ever.
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