Aitana López Rodrigo

video, Taal, sociaal-maatschappelijk, sculptuur, schrijven, installatie, Gender, fotografie, Experimenteel, Digitale technologie, Conceptueel, collage, beeldhouwen, Autobiografisch, Audiovisueel, Artistiek onderzoek, Archieven

Lees voor

Aitana López Rodrigo studied Fine Arts in Madrid and Paris 8, later earning a master’s degree in Lens-Based Media from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. She has worked in education, photography, sculpture, and set design.

Her practice spans different mediums, bringing together plastic, rhythmic, and formal interests to establish a dialogue with social and political conflicts. In her most recent work, she explores the concepts of value and labor through artistic interventions within workplace environments.

Her work has been showcased at film festivals and art spaces such as the Eye Film Museum (Amsterdam), UBIK gallery (Rotterdam), and the Lacanian Institute of Psychoanalysis (Madrid). She has also participated in residencies and collaborative projects such as CIAN-m Fabero (León), the archival practices collective Archival Consciousness at FRAMER FRAMED (Amsterdam), and the JUGUETORÍA residency at MediaLab Prado (Madrid). She recently took part in the NOSYMMETRIES symposium organized by Idensitat and IMARTE (University of Barcelona) at La Capella, was selected for the OPEN PANORAMIC in Granollers (Barcelona), and participated in the micro-short film program Paisatges Polifònics at L'Alternativa Film Festival. Her latest short film, "A Piece of Paper", is part of the official selection of the D’A Film Festival in Barcelona and will premiere in March 2025.

**A piece of paper** - Image: installation of "A piece of paper" in UBIK, as part of the exhibition CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY, June 2024. "A piece of paper" is a project that explores a professional dismissal. An 8-minute video and a sculptural approach using paper denounce the violence of neoliberal corporate language.

**A piece paper** - Image: still from the video "A piece of paper". In the video, three moments trace the before, during, and after of a job dismissal. Through a sensory gaze and a special sensitivity to rhythm and detail, “A piece of paper” unfolds a choreography of voices -both real and AI-generated- to explore the fissures between the bureaucratic and the human. Sensitive in its approach and powerful in its message, the film uses the fewest resources necessary to open a timely and urgent field of discussion: how to counter the hidden violence in corporate languages. “A piece of paper” invites us to question the dynamics of authority and vulnerability and reconsider our relationship with the languages of power.

Ok, una escena moderna. — **Okey, vale** - Image: sketch for installation. 2025; work in progress; video and light installation; project in collaboration with Miguel Ruz Velasco. "Okey, vale" is a site-specific installation that, through a theatrical form, explores the echoes and resonances of the male gaze and the role of technology in shaping images. Language interacts with visuals, the text and the voice, simultaneously highlighting and deconstructing the different narratives the viewer might imagine. This piece offers a sharp yet playful exploration of the role language plays in meaning-making.

**I had a boss and I ate him** - Image: symposium NOSYMMETRIES 2024, La Capella, Barcelona. "I Had a Boss, and I Ate Him. Artistic Identity in a Neoliberal World" is a body of work that explores the concepts of work and artwork through feminist artistic practices in within capitalist labor environments. This project approaches workplaces as spaces for fostering a consciousness of resistance, articulated and expressed through artistic practice. In this context, artistic work manifests in different forms: in-situ practices (performance, interventions, hacks) or post-factum practices (text, audiovisual work, embossing). Artistic practice is understood through situated knowledge (Haraway) as a strategy for symbolic and political survival, counteracting the precarity and violence inherent in these work environments. At the same time, it arises from the need to challenge the normalization of patriarchal and neoliberal values that shape personal and social dynamics. The project establishes a dialogue between writing, visual art, and audiovisual creation, resulting in three texts: "Work 1: Language Teacher. What Languages to Learn, What Languages to Unlearn," "Work 2: Photo Retoucher. Art Through Rejection," and "Work 3: Sculpture Technician. Making Space." Additionally, it includes a digital intervention, "The Black Pixel," and an audiovisual piece, "A Piece of Paper."

**The Black Pixel Project** - 2021-2022, digital intervention. The Black Pixel Project originated and evolved during my work as a photo retoucher in a prestigious photographic studio in Madrid, where I worked for a multinational fast fashion company. I retouched approximately 1,800 photos each month, around 60 per day, which adds up to about 19,000 annually, for a monthly salary of €1,000. As the months passed, I found it increasingly difficult to keep working under such hard a fast work pace, I decided to introduce a small step into the retouching chain. Given that the photos went through two quality control checks, and out of fear of being discovered, I chose to intervene discreetly by adding a Black Pixel, as a gesture of protest.

Vocal letters: An invitation to reading — **An invitation to reading** - Image: script for the video "An invitation to reading". This video is part of a larger research project called "Vocal Letters," focused on collective knowledge shared through everyday technologies. "An invitation to reading" (2022) is the first letter in this series, inspired by a message from my friend Isa. In this message, she recounts her experience reading a novel with her sister, highlighting the connection she felt between creation and pleasure.

Still of — **An invitation to reading** - Image: still of the film "An invitation to reading"

**A photographic lesson** - Image: still of the video "A photograpic lesson". 2022, digital video HD, 06'01''. "A photographic lesson" presents a formal flip that explores French photographic magazines from the 1970s and 1980s. At first glance, the images might appear humorous, outdated, or even parodic, but they confront us with the extreme violence and condescension embedded in these modes of representation.

Datum: 13-11-2024 t/m 13-11-2024

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