Laida Lertxundi is a Spanish artist,

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

Biography

Born in 1981 in

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Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. She moved to study in the United States. Lertxundi received an MFA from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

and a BFA from

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

is central to her practice and she is currently a Professor at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. She also teaches at the

Universidad del Pais Vasco The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initially ...

, and has previously taught at the University of California, San Diego (2008-2014),

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred R. ...

(2015-2019), Pasadena and Otis College or Art and Design, Los Angeles (2015-2017), among other institutions. Her vocation for cinema began during her studies at Bard College, when she learned about the work of different filmmakers such as

Hollis Frampton Hollis William Frampton, Jr. (March 11, 1936 – March 30, 1984) was an American avant-garde filmmaker, photographer, writer, theoretician, and pioneer of digital art. He was best known for his innovative and non-linear structural films that defin ...

Maya Deren Maya Deren (born Eleonora Derenkowska, uk, Елеоно́ра Деренко́вська, links=no;

and

Michael Snow Michael Snow (born December 10, 1928) is a Canadian artist working in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are ''Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Région Centrale'' (1971), with the f ...

. Laida Lertxundi makes the most photographed city in the world seem uncanny. Her films use the visual language of Hollywood cinema but omit the narrative, leaving propulsively edited works that lend equal mystery to the Los Angeles skyline, rumpled sheets, or the curve of a neck. Lertxundi employs

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

to conjure an atmosphere of languorous solitude and longing with bursts of obscure

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

. LUX represents her work in London and is part of the collections of the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,

Centre National des Arts Plastiques The Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre for Visual Arts, Cnap) is a French institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Culture and Communication that promotes creation of visual arts. It provides assistance to artists and ...

in Paris and various private collections. Her monographic book Landscape Plus was published with Mousse Publishing and fluent in 2019. In 2020 she received the Gure Artea award.

Career

In her cinema, the cinematographic forms of narration are diluted and replaced by the revelation of process and materiality. Through an intense work of relationship between images and diegetic sounds, the synchrony creates a sensation of real-time and lived experience, a tension between form and that experience that always surpasses it. In this way, the more formalistic or abstract aspect of her cinema, with a structural vocation, is pierced by an emotional tone while giving rise to false clues about ambiguous fiction. Her work has been exhibited at Cibrían, San Sebastian (2024), Highline Art, New York (2023),

Artspace Aotearoa Artspace Aotearoa (previously known as Artspace NZ) is an art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Karangahape Road in Newton. The gallery was founded in 1987, and focuses on contemporary New Zealand and overseas art. It should not ...

(2023), Whitney Biennial New York (2012), Hammer Museum Los Angeles (2026), LIAF Biennial (2013), Biennale de Lyon (2013), Frieze Projects New York (2014) and in museums and galleries such as

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

in New York (2022, 2017),

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

, London (2016),

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

, London, Angela Mewes, Berlin (2020), Joan, Los Angeles, Cibrían, San Sebastián (2021), ARKO Art Center, Seoul (2022), McEvoy Arts Foundation, San Francisco (2021), Human Resources Los Angeles (2019), MAK Schindler House (2013), ICA, London (2013), Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Colombia (2015), CCCB (2017, 2013, 2021, 20122), PS1 MoMA (2013), Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago (2013), Baltimore Museum of Art (2013), Kunstverein Hamburg (2014) and the Havana Biennial (2015) among others. She has had solo exhibitions at Artium,

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(2023), La Taller, Bilbao (2022), NoguerasBlanchard (2021), Matadero Madrid (2019), LUX London (2018), Tramway Glasgow (2018), FuturDome Milano (2019), fluent Santander (2017), Tabakalera San Sebastián (2017), DA2 Salamanca (2015),

Azkuna Zentroa Azkuna Zentroa (Basque for ''Azkuna Centre''), previously known as Alhóndiga Bilbao (), is a multi-purpose venue located in the city of Bilbao, Spain. It was designed by French designer Philippe Starck in collaboration with Thibaut Mathieu and ...

Bilbao, (2014), Vdrome London (2014) and Marta Cervera, (2013). Her films have been screened at numerous festivals such as

Locarno Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

, BFI, TIFF Toronto, Gijón, San Sebastián or Edinburgh among others.

Filmography

* ''Footnotes to a House of Love'' (2007) * ''My Tears Are Dry (2009)'' * ''Cry When it Happens / Llora Cuando Te Pase'' (2010) * ''A Lax Riddle Unit'' (2011) * ''The Room Called Heaven'' (2012) * ''Utskor: Either/Or'' (2013) * ''We Had the Experience but Missed the Meaning'' (2014) * ''Vivir para Vivir / Live to Live'' (2015) * ''025 Sunset Red'' (2016) * ''Words, Planets'' (2018) * ''Autoficción'' (2020) * ''Inner Outer Space'' (2021) * ''Under the Nothing Night'' (2021) * ''Teatrillo'' (2021) * ''In a Nearby Field'' (2023) * ''Películas'' (2024) * ''Sunrise Slips'' (2024)

Awards

* Premio Gure Artea (2020) * Jury Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lertxundi, Laida 1981 births Living people California Institute of the Arts alumni California Institute of the Arts faculty Film directors from the Basque Country (autonomous community) People from Bilbao Spanish women film directors University of California, San Diego faculty Otis College of Art and Design faculty ArtCenter College of Design faculty