THE SPANISH ARTMADA

You probably already think London is a city open to new ideas and projects, a melting pot of cultures and nationalities, and possibly the city with the biggest density of creative people in the world. And you would be right to think so. But, how do new artists make his or her voice heard? Specially if you are a foreigner, trying to make it in London can prove to be hard.

As a spaniard myself, i was amazed by the strong creative Spanish community I discovered when I moved to London nine months ago. But this is not only in the back streets of Camden Town. From Ángela de la Cruz’s (b. 1965) nomination to the Turner Prize in 2010, Tamara Rojo’s (b. 1974) nomination as the Artistic Director of the English National Ballet, to last year’s exhibition of Spanish Artists in London at Messum’s Gallery (8 Cork St, London W1S), the increase of the Spanish presence in the London art scene is evident. And they are taking the city by storm.

The first weekend of may, the surroundings of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank centre were invaded by the Streets of Spain Festival, a celebration of all Spanish food, wine, culture and art. But what is happening in the world of photography makes the Spanish presence in the city even more obvious.

Photographer Jordi Ruiz Cirera (b. 1984) won last year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award 2012 presented by the National Portrait Gallery for an image of a camera-shy Bolivian mennonite woman named Margarita Teichroeb. She is part of a religious minority which forbids images, hence the uneasy relationship between her and the photographer, who had to earn the trust of the community in several trips to South America.

Today, photographer Cristina de Middel (b. 1975) is exhibiting her publication The Affronauts (self-published, 2011) at the Photographer’s Gallery London (16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F), a finalist at the annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2013 (until 30th June, 2013).

She explores the myths and truths of one of Africa’s most incredible projects, the 1964 attempt by Zambia to send the first African astronaut to the moon. And this may be a great metaphor to understand what happened in Spain after the global financial crisis of 2008.

In this scene, the collective Círculo Creativo London (CCLND), launched in October 2012 by the Spaniards Belén Balado, Manu Sáinz de los Terreros, Pablo Amade and Isabel Sierra is a 2.0 answer to a 2.0 problem. If you are from Spain, residing in London, and you work in fields from fashion to design, illustration, art, photography, video or advertising, this is your place. This project works as a creative platform, not only to put your name literally on the map, but also to allow you to be a part of a growing community of creative people, in which established artists help newcomers to form a network in which new projects and collaborations can be born. And this is a project that can work here and now because of the openness of the city’s art world and the real interest for talent that new galleries in Hoxton and Shoreditch have. CCLND aspires to be the virtual framework and the tool that shapes the Spanish creative presence in the city.