![Grimanesa Amorós](https://img.artlogic.net/w_492,h_360,c_lfill/exhibit-e/5570913907a72ca707c6918d/a23d5bf46b88db4f5f7914a32e781106.jpeg)
Artist Statement
Creating immersive large-scale sculptures requires an understanding of how our environment affects our state of mind and wellbeing. My site-specific light sculpture SCIENTIA will engage visitors in a dialogue with the surrounding architecture and community, encouraging moments of self-reflection and personal realization while simultaneously creating connection through the medium of light.
The project’s name SCIENTIA is a Latin word meaning knowledge, experience, and expertise. The word implies a socially interactive activity; the seeking and sharing of wisdom. This artwork will explore the human connection using our elemental understanding of the world—fire, water, earth, and light. Through this primordial immersion, SCIENTIA provides a means of accessing our emotional selves that nurtures wellbeing and promotes community engagement.
About The Wellbeing Project
The Wellbeing Project is a global initiative focused on catalyzing a culture of inner wellbeing for all change makers and structured in four pillars - model programs; research and evaluation; learning, convening and enabling; and storytelling and connecting. The organization is inspired by love, care and compassion for all the people who work to build a better world, as well as to support the many causes and movements for which we all work. The Wellbeing Project is co-created with Ashoka, Impact Hub, Porticus, the Skoll Foundation, the Synergos Institute, and Georgetown University. Learn more at wellbeing-project.org.
The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change
The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change is a global event bringing together social change, governmental, arts and business leaders working at the intersection of individual and collective wellbeing, in Bilbao-Biscay, Spain from June 1- 3, 2022. The summit represents a critical moment in driving systemic cultural change for the improved mental health and wellbeing of all change makers. The three-day summit will consist of ground-breaking talks, conversations and panel discussions highlighting the connections between individual, organizational and societal wellbeing. Speakers will delve into how a deeply embedded culture of wellbeing can alter and inform our approach to driving positive systemic change. The arts play an integral role in the development of a new language for inner wellbeing and social change and can provide a greater understanding and expression of the human experience.
Azkuna Zentroa
Azkuna Zentroa is the Bilbao Society and Contemporary Culture Centre, with a local and international perspective open to dialogue with different community groups. Azkuna Zentroa is a place to take part in culture as a practice, process and space for experiences. We work with artists, agents and artistic communities with hybrid, multilateral programming models that showcase the day-to-day dimension of all that which is contemporary to reach all types of audiences. We pay special attention to modern Basque creation and to feminist perspectives in art, with mediation and education as a way to generate critical knowledge and transform society through art and artists.
About the Artist
Grimanesa Amorós is a Peruvian-born American artist whose work explores community connection within the intersection of history, technology, and architecture. Her monumental lighting sculptures incorporate video, lighting, and electronic elements to create immersive environments. Technology compliments the concepts of her work without defining it. She draws upon important cultural legacies for inspiration. Still, she does noes not hold a nostalgic view of her subjects. In the art of Grimanesa Amorós the past is meeting the future.
Amorós is often invited as a keynote speaker at museums, foundations, and universities where her lectures empower young women, attracting future artists, students, and faculty working in architecture, science, and technology.
Amorós has exhibited in the United States, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America. She was a guest speaker at TEDGlobal, a recipient of the 'NEA Visual Arts Grants Fellowships, and has the distinction of being part of the 'Art In Embassies Program of the U.S.' and the Civita Institute NE Chapter Fellowship Grant. Her work has been exhibited in numerous museums including the Ludwig Museum, CAFA Museum, Katonah Museum, and Seoul National University Museum of Art.