Esther Ferrer (born 1937 in
San Sebastián
San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
, Spain) is a Spanish
performance artist
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 ...
. Ferrer received Spain's
National Award for Plastic Arts (1999), the Marie-Claire Prize for Contemporary Art in France, and the Velázquez Plastic Arts Prize.
History and career
In 1966 she joined Walter Marchetti and
Juan Hidalgo Codorniu
Juan Hidalgo Codorniu (14 October 1927 – 26 February 2018) was a Spanish composer, poet, an action and visual artist.
Biography
Hidalgo was born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands. After studying piano and composition in Barcelona and Paris wit ...
in the Spanish performance art group
Zaj Zaj was an experimental music and performance art group formed in 1959 in Milan, Italy by composers and intermedia artists Walter Marchetti and Juan Hidalgo with the support of the American composer John Cage. The group received major contributi ...
, famous for its radical and conceptual performances, whose controversial "concerts" were presented in Spanish concert halls despite the censorship of Franco's regime. Zaj also performed in many other countries for 30 years, until 1996, when the group broke up after a retrospective in the
Reina Sofia Museum
Reina (the Spanish word for queen) or La Reina may refer to:
Geography
* Reina, Badajoz, a municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain
* Reina, Estonia, a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County, Estonia
* La Reina, a commune ...
in Madrid.
As a performer she has participated in festivals in Canada, Korea, the United States and Japan, and throughout Europe (France, Italy, Holland Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, England, the Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Slovakia, Germany and Hungary). Her production also includes objects, photos, video pieces, visual systems based on prime numbers, and a large collection of self-portraits in many media.
Ferrer is the author of two radio productions made for
Radio Nacional de España
Radio Nacional de España (acronym RNE, branded rne, "National Radio of Spain") is the national state-owned public service radio broadcaster in Spain.
RNE is the radio division and Televisión Española (TVE) is the television division of R ...
(''Au rhythm du temps'' and ''Ta, te, ti, to, tu ou l'agriculture dans le Moyen Age'') and has given seminars on the performance arts in Universities and in Schools of Fine Arts in Spain, France, Italy, Canada, Switzerland and Mexico.
Ferrer represented Spain in the
Venice Bienal in 1999, and did large individual shows in subsequent years in the FRAC Bretagne (Rennes, France), MACVAL (Val de Marne, France), and with the
Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the government of Spain, Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the ...
in several South American cities. In autumm 2022 opened a solo retrospective exhibit in
Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, as part of Spain being guest of honour at
Frankfurt book fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for internationa ...
2022. In September 2022, Esther Ferrer was the recipient of the Prix international de Littérature Bernard Heidsieck Prix d'honneur awarded by
Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
an
Archivio Conz
She is married to minimalist composer
Tom Johnson.
References
External links
Archivio ConzEsther Ferrer: Works and Process Two-part documentary series on Esther Ferrer
FONS AUDIO #1: Esther FerrerA podcast on the artist and the Za
GroupOfficial Esther Ferrer Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrer, Esther
1936 births
Living people
Spanish contemporary artists
Interdisciplinary artists
20th-century Spanish women artists
21st-century Spanish women artists