Gema Alava (b. 1973 Madrid, Spain) is a multidisciplinary artist, lecturer and writer based in New York City since 2001. In 2012 she was appointed Cultural Adviser to the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations.
She has worked for over a decade at the Education Departments of the museums MoMA -The Museum of Modern Art-, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, where she leads talks for different audiences.
Álava has studied at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (BFA Painting, MA Education); The Chelsea College of Art and Design, The London Institute, England (BFA Erasmus Fellow); The San Francisco Art Institute, USA (MFA, New Genres); Academy of Art University, USA (MFA, Painting); MIT, Vienna, Austria (Postgraduate Bootcamp Program).
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington nominated her project “Verbal Interaction in Museums” for a 2011 SARF Fellowship. Since then, Álava has been lecturing internationally (English/Spanish) leading seminars entitled “Inspiring Audiences” adapted for Master programs in the fields of Art, Psychology, Education, Neurology, Communication and Disability Studies.
Álava’s artwork has been exhibited at the Queens Museum of Art, NY; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; the Rana Museum, Norway; the Jersey City Museum, NJ; the MACBA–Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Murcia, Spain; the London Institute, England, the Museo de la Ciudad de Quito, Ecuador, and MANIFESTA 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art. It has been reviewed and broadcasted in The New York Times, ABC, El Pais, El Mundo, Artforum, NY1 News, Mega TV News, NCI Noticias, RTVE, and TVE National Television.
Currently, Álava is focused on her new art project HEXAGONS. Participants of her projects include artists Alison Knowles, Robert Ryman, Merrill Wagner and Lawrence Weiner.
Statement I
Fragile and subtle materials allow us to enter calm but intense spaces. They represent the power of the minuscule, of the almost.
I am intrigued by how we react to the kinds of situations where we are faced with something that looks like it is about to fall. Do we just let it go and rebuild a new structure? Do we try to hold, maintain, balance what is mostly gone? It might involve indecision; we might just look at it wondering what we should do.
Shadows are important. If you are able to freeze a shadow you are capturing time. Peter Pan got in all that trouble because of his shadow.
I find it extraordinary how people respond in such different ways to the same situation. I’ve been using materials that allow me to work with this ambiguity, these contradictory truths. It is that difference of opinion that I find interesting, and so I always try to make sure that I leave space for interpretation.
Gema Alava, 2009
Gema Álava nace en Madrid en 1973. Reside y trabaja en Nueva York desde el 2001. Ha estudiado en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Licenciatura en Pintura, 1996; Master en Pedagogía, 1997); el Chelsea College of Art & Design, The London Institute (como becaria Erasmus); la Academy of Art College en San Francisco (Master en Pintura y Grabado, 1999); y el San Francisco Art Institute (Master en Nuevos Géneros Artísticos, 2000). Trabaja desde hace una década en los departamentos de Educación del MoMA, Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York, el Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, el Metropolitan Museum of Art, el Whitney Museum of American Art y la Morgan Library&Museum, en Nueva York, donde desarrolla e imparte talleres y conferencias para diversas audiencias. Desde el 2011 escribe para las revistas Centerpoint Now y Fronterad.com. En el 2012 es nombrada Asesora de Cultura del World Council of Peoples for the United Nations (WCPUN). Ha expuesto en los museos Guggenheim, Metropolitan, Queens Art Museum y Bronx Museum of Art, la CUE Art Foundation, el Instituto Cervantes y Naciones Unidas en Nueva York; El Jersey City Museum; el Rana Museum en Noruega; y MANIFESTA, Bienal Europea de Arte Contemporáneo. Es ex becaria de la Peter Reed Foundation de Nueva York; ha sido nominada por la Institución Smithsonian de Washington por su obra artística; e invitada por la Columbia University, el Pratt Institute, la School of Visual Arts y la New York University como conferenciante.
Statement II
My work explores notions of trust, using language as a medium to investigate the interconnections that exist between public, private, educational and interpretive aspects of art.
Museums are perfect ecosystems where differences can be discussed via dialogue and, therefore, they are perfect places for some artists to investigate the transformation of thoughts that arise from these differences.
A museum is a place to meet, to get lost, to play hide and seek; to ask discreet or indiscreet questions; to enter spaces that scare or comfort us. A conversation in a museum can change a life. It can mark a new beginning.
Gema Alava, 2011
Gema Álava: Artist
When Álava was 21 years old she was awarded second prize in Spain’s National Drawing Competition, Premio Penagos, Fundacion Maphre, being the youngest artist and first woman to achieve such recognition. That same year she received an Erasmus Grant, and the following year a Fellowship for postgraduate studies in the United States from La Caixa Foundation. She studied two Master programs, simultaneously, and graduated in 2000. In 2001 she was accepted, also simultaneously, to the emerging art programs from Aljira- A center for Contemporary Art, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York City.
Álava’s artwork has been exhibited, presented, and/or founded by the Ministry of Education and Sciences of Spain; the Queens Museum of Art, NY; the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; the Rana Museum in Norway; the Morgan Library and Museum, NY; the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, FL; CUE Art Foundation, NY; the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; the San Francisco Art Institute, CA; New York University, NY; Columbia University, NY; the Jersey City Museum, USA; the London Institute, UK; the United Nations Headquarters, NY; Fundacion La Caixa, Spain; Fundacion Maphre, Spain; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY; the General Consulate of Spain in New York and the Cervantes Institute. Her art project A Dialogue was selected by artist Cai Guo Qiang and performed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2008. Her art Project Trust Me was selected by Wooloo to be performed at MANIFESTA 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art (Murcia), Spain.
To see the evolution of Álava’s work chronologically, go to WORKS.
Gema Álava: Inspirational Speaker
Álava has conducted more than two thousand talks as an artist and a museum educator worldwide including at United Nations and Caixaforum, Barcelona. Her series of interactive seminars entitled “Inspiring Audiences” have been presented in New York at the Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts and New York University; in Quito at the Museo de la Ciudad, Museo del Hombre-Fundación Guayasamín, and Universidad PUCE; y en Milan en el Baccalaureate School for Global Education.
She is a former Fellow of the Contemporary Art Department of UCM University, Ministry of Science and Education of Spain.
To know more about Álava as an inspirational speaker, go to TALKS & SEMINARS
Gema Álava: Writer
Since 2011 Álava writes for the online magazine FronteraD. In 2013 she edited and published the book “Tell Me the Truth 2008-2013” which was presented at TWIN Gallery in Madrid, and at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City. Her essay “Como perder el miedo dentro de un museo” was selected for the book “Antolojia” by FronteraD, for being one of the best articles published during the first five years of the magazine.
A special second edition of “Tell Me the Truth” was released in June 2019 by the Editorial Club de Ostras, and presented at the Book Fair “Feria del Libro de Madrid”.
To know more about Alava as a writer, go to BOOKS & WRITING
Gema Álava: Cultural Adviser
In 2012 Álava was appointed Cultural Adviser to the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations. She has directed Artistic and Educational Interactive Projects for the International Commemoration of the Eradication of Poverty at the United Nations Headquarters, co-organized by ATD Fourth World, the NGO Sub-Committee for the Eradication of Poverty.
Álava has worked as a jury, Expert in Culture, for the La Caixa Fellowship, Postgraduate Studies in North America, Europe and Asia, and as an Educational Consultant at The Morgan Library & Museum for the creation of an educational program which received an American Architectural Foundation Award for Excellence in Architectural Education.
In 2016, Álava engaged in conversation with the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information at the UN about ways in which the UN goals can be supported by artistic Projects within the field of Social Practice.
To know more about Álava as a Cultural Adviser, go to SOCIAL PRACTICE