ABEL AZCONA
ART AS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
13-18 October 2024
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"After twenty years of performing radically biographical pieces and over twelve years of teaching through workshops, classes, and pedagogical encounters for artists and those interested in the art of performance, I have managed to bring together more than a hundred practical exercises that challenge the student to break any type of fear or barrier. Anyone, from any discipline, is invited to the table. Exploring and exposing trauma, sharing it collectively, shouting it out, sweating it, and creating intimate pieces and long-duration performances in a continuous exercise of self-exploration and personal and collective catharsis."
— ABEL AZCONA
An image shows Marina Abramović and participants sharing a meal in nature. They sit on red chairs.
About the Workshop

Abel Azcona's Workshops have been developed as an approach to the theory and practice of performance art for over twelve years, spanning more than one hundred and ten specialized workshops, three hundred encounters, and over five hundred thematic classes. These sessions have engaged with over ten thousand students in museums, art centers, universities, and fine arts faculties, as well as specialized spaces focused on the Live Arts and Fine Arts.

Azcona and his team, in collaboration with the Marina Abramović Institute, have adapted a comprehensive week-long workshop for participants to delve into the theory and practice of performance art that draws from autobiography, using the body, discourse, and text to explore the notion of trauma. Workshop participants will explore individually and collectively the wounds that have marked their life paths, seeking the possibilities of radical transformation through a shared creative process. 
In the midst of nature, participants engage in a series of exercises and activities that encourages them to take a courageous stance not only toward art, but also toward life. In this way, afflicted bodies evolve into empowered bodies that voice their stories through creative output, embracing the idea of individual catharsis and creating empathy through collective experience.

About Abel

Abel Azcona was born on April 1, 1988, as a result of an unwanted pregnancy. His mother, a young polydrug addict engaged in prostitution, abandoned him a few days after birth, and his early years were marked by continuous situations of abuse and neglect. The method of radically autobiographical performance and against the silence of Azcona, or how to expose the trauma and violence suffered.Azcona has always approached performance art as a therapeutic, pedagogical, as well as critical, political, and social tool. Over the years, he has collaborated with numerous universities, educational centers, museums, galleries, artistic spaces, psychiatric clinics, orphanages, and special education centers. His extensive body of work includes conferences, theoretical and practical workshops, live experiences, and publications endorsed by international educational and artistic institutions, underscoring Abel Azcona's use of performative art as a pedagogical tool.As an artist, he has held more than two hundred exhibitions in significant institutions such as the Venice Arsenal, the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, the Contemporary Art Center of Málaga, the Palais de Tokyo, Fabra i Coats in Barcelona, the National Palace of Fine Arts in Bangladesh, and the Art League of Houston. His hometown, Pamplona, the La Panera Art Center in Lleida, the Palace of Arts in Naples, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bogotá, and the Archaeological and Contemporary Art Museum of Ecuador have dedicated various retrospective exhibitions to showcase his entire body of work. In the last year, Abel Azcona has undertaken an international tour, visiting countries such as India and Costa Rica, where he has applied his pedagogical method focused on performance in orphanages with children carrying legacies of violence and child abuse.
www.abelazcona.art

CONDITIONS

Duration of workshop: 5 days
-  13 October - Transfer from Athens to Karyes
- 14-18 October - Workshop
- 18 October - afternoon transfer from Karyes to Athens
The workshop is facilitated by Abel Azcona with the support of a translator.

COST

The total cost of the workshop is €950.
You can choose to pay this in full or with a deposit plan of €450 with a remaining balance of €500.

Bookings include local transportation (shuttle to and from the workshop location to Athens), workshop materials, shared accommodations, and meals prior to and meals after the workshop.

We are excited to offer free tickets to individuals and families facing financial challenges or belonging to underrepresented communities. Please send an email with your motivation letter to us for more information to Paula Garcia, paula@mai.art