THE ZOOM OF BEING IN THE WORLD
POLLINATE CULTURE
“Humanity is at a crucial point where it cannot forget its capacity to inspire. We have to be resilient and hopeful. That’s why stories about resilience and hope are needed now more than ever.”
“La humanidad está en un momento clave donde no puede olvidar su capacidad para inspirar. Debemos tener fortaleza y esperanza. Es por ello que son necesarias las historias”
—Gema Álava, 2018
On November 2018, Álava founded the bilingual digital platform HEXAGONSGLOBAL.COM which enhances culture’s potential to generate change. Since 2017 Alava has been placing 24 carat gold hexagons, marking spots around the world where talent and inspiration are concentrated. Each hexagon tells a story of hope and resilience.
JOHN HEMINGWAY PRESENTS HEXAGONS
“In Gema Alava’s latest work the message, subversive in these troubled times, is that we do not need more borders or walls to divide us, we need something akin to a global commons, a place where artists and others can inspire and be inspired. In her installations, gold leaf hexagons, initially placed on the floor where people can walk around them, stomp on them or do whatever they please with them, represent the apparent frailty but ultimately the fundamental strength of any artist who, to realize his or her vision, must persevere in the face of sometimes overwhelming adversity.
In this struggle to be heard, perseverance helps but even more important to the work of an artist are the conversations and the inspiration that can be had through the free exchange of ideas. Artists, in short, need to mingle and to constantly challenge their own points of view.
My grandfather, Ernest Hemingway, once said that Paris was the perfect place to write, and I agree, not only because of the illustrious company that he kept from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Joyce to Pablo Picasso, but also because of the mentors that he had. Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein helped him to publish his short stories but also challenged his worldview and exposed him to the ideas and the work of the avant-garde in both literature and in art.
Just like Gertrude Stein, Gema Álava in her own way is bringing together the artists of this century, not just in one city but on a global level. Travelling back and forth to Europe and South America and throughout the United States she is creating her own network of creative souls. One that I fervently hope will someday rival in importance the literary and artistic salons of her Parisian predecessors.”
—John Hemingway, writer, Montreal, 2018
Many artists and scientists live under the same threat as bees. Bees are generous and intelligent with a great sense of ethics but when exploited and poisoned with insecticides they get sick and abandon their beehives.
When artists, scientists and bees are not allowed to pollinate -due to ignorance, lack of attention or premeditation. their panels and nectar of knowledge fall to the floor.
Einstein predicted that without bees, without pollination, there would be no flowers, fruits or humanity since resources that are not sustainable become obsolete.
Our future and thus of our children, requires that we learn to walk in between hexagons.
Gema Alava, 2015
Artistas y científicos corremos el mismo peligro que las abejas. Las abejas son generosas, inteligentes y tienen una gran ética, pero al ser explotadas y envenenadas con insecticidas enferman y abandonan sus colmenas.
Cuando al artista, al científico y a la abeja no se les permite polinizar -ya sea por ignorancia, falta de atención o premeditación.- sus panales y néctar de conocimiento caen al suelo.
Einstein predijo que sin abejas no habría polinización, ni flores, ni frutos, ni humanidad pues los recursos no sostenibles se vuelven obsoletos.
Nuestro futuro y el de nuestros hijos exige que aprendamos a caminar entre hexágonos.
Hexagons is a multidisciplinary project, a manual of synergies, that via artistic and didactic expressions -with installations, seminars, exhibitions, lectures and books- wants to mark, store, distribute and grow with the participation of professionals, in interconnected spaces, with the goal of generating conversation about the future of humanity in planet earth, while improving the state of culture and artists
Hexágonos es un manual de sinergias: un proyecto multidisciplinario que a través de expresiones artísticas y didácticas –con instalaciones, seminarios, exposiciones y publicaciones–quiere marcar, almacenar, producir, distribuir y crecer con la participación de profesionales y espacios interconectados, con la finalidad de generar conversaciones y mejorar el estado de la cultura actual y los artistas.
–Gema Álava, 2018
For more information visit the bilingual English/Spanish platform HEXAGONSNET.com
To book a lecture or seminar of “HEXAGONS” go to CONTACT