Concha Jerez (

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auton ...

, 1941) is a Spanish multidisciplinary artist known as a pioneer in

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

. One of the central axes of her work is the critical analysis of the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

Artistic career

Concha Jerez studied piano at the

Madrid Royal Conservatory The Madrid Royal Conservatory ( es, Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid) is a music college in Madrid, Spain. History The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Mosten ...

, and in 1958–1959 she obtained a scholarship to

Washington-Lee High School Washington-Liberty High School, formerly known as Washington-Lee High School, is a public high school in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9–12. Its attendance area serves the central third of Ar ...

in Arlington, Virginia, where she became interested in political and social affairs. This led her to study for her licentiate in political science at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

. In 1970 she decided to dedicate herself to visual arts, and held her first exhibition in 1973. As she began her career under the threat of censorship by the Franco regime, the role of the media, censorship, and

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...

have often been present in her artistic work. In 1976 she presented her first large

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...

, ''Autocensura'', still restricted to printed paper. In 1983 she exhibited the installation ''Retorno al comienzo'' at the Museo Vostell Malpartida. Later she opened the doors to the use of all kinds of new technological possibilities, such as

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

interactive installation Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

s, photographs, and pure audio installations. Since then Jerez has focused her work on the field of

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

and on the development of the concept of installation as a work ''in situ'', in large spaces, many of them combining the expressive resources of different media. She has been recognized as a member of Spain's first generation of

ists. She began ' in the early 1980s. Her first video installation was centered around a staircase. It was presented at the First International Video Festival of Madrid held at the

Círculo de Bellas Artes The Círculo de Bellas Artes is a private, non-profit, cultural organization that was founded in 1880. Its building, located in Madrid, Spain, was declared ''Bien de Interés Cultural'' in 1981. The CBA is a major multidisciplinary centre with one ...

in 1984. Later in the decade she was invited to perform an installation at the First Media Art Festival in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, Germany. Jerez has produced

radio art Radio art is an aural art form made with sound. Artists use radio technology (i.e. radio transmission, airwaves) to communicate artistic compositions for interpretation – exposing their audience to alternate means to experiencing their art thro ...

pieces for several European stations. Since 1976 she has collaborated on numerous projects with the composer and multidisciplinary artist , with whom she presented ''Media Mutaciones'' at La Tabacalera in Madrid in 2015. This was a tour of their joint projects, covering work connected with the legacy of the 1970s and their current visual and sound practices. From July 2014 to January 2015, the

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, better known as the MUSAC, is a contemporary art museum in the city of León, Spain. Inaugurated in April 2005 by Felipe, Prince of Asturias, this cultural institution aims to be a "Museum ...

exhibited her ''Interferencias en los medios''. In 2015, Jerez won the National Award for Plastic Arts "for her pioneering dimension in the use of technologies, for being representative of a generation of artists that has marked the transition from the analog era to digital culture, with her research, creations, and innovations" and her work in conceptual creation. Jerez was also a teacher at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

's from 1991 to 2011.

Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and a generically

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

stance are prominent within her work, as well as outside it. Jerez has been an organizer, co-organizer, and grassroots militant of various associations of women and artists, including the Asociación de Mujeres en las Artes Visuales (MAV), which granted her an award in 2012 as a recognition of her career. In 2018 she participated in the collective exhibition organized by the CentroCentro, ''La NO comunidad'', with the work ''Soliloquios cotidianos''. This was presented as an essay on loneliness in the modern world. Also in 2018, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the

Constitution of Spain The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was e ...

, her installation ''Textos autocensurados.Versión 1,1976'' was among works selected from the

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...

for the exhibition ''El poder del arte'', which was located for the first time in the houses of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Awards and recognitions

* 2011: Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts * 2012: Asociación de Mujeres en las Artes Visuales Award * 2015: National Award for Plastic Arts * 2017: * 2018:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jerez, Concha 1941 births Living people 20th-century Spanish women artists 21st-century Spanish women artists Artists from the Canary Islands Complutense University of Madrid alumni Conceptual artists Feminist artists People from Las Palmas Spanish contemporary artists Spanish feminists Spanish installation artists Women installation artists Spanish performance artists Academic staff of the University of Salamanca Spanish video artists Women conceptual artists Women video artists Washington-Liberty High School alumni