Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero

Points of Return: Open Call

Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero
Points of Return: Open Call

Open Call for Artists

Submissions Now Closed

Arts platform A La Luz [were] seeking entries for Points of Return, an online exhibition that will shed light on the wide-raging environmental issues the world faces in this time of climate crisis, whilst also presenting paths to possible solutions. As a future project, A La Luz will also produce a book / e-book featuring all the artists’ works selected for the exhibition, and ultimately a physical exhibition.

A La Luz [sought] artists from any origin at any career stage to submit works and projects that highlight some of the impacts that human actions have had on our planet and also foster critical thinking about positive change. The title of the exhibition, Points of Return, references the fact that we haven’t reached the dreaded “point of no return”. Therefore there are still many opportunities for our civilisation to curb climate change and move toward a balanced and more sustainable and harmonious way of inhabiting Earth. 

Points of Return will present some of the most alarming consequences that our actions have had on nature, but it will also highlight hope and the possibility of a bright future for our home planet.

Works from any art discipline [were] welcome, and projects that involve collaboration or dialogue with science were encouraged, but not required. Some of the environmental issues under discussion:

  • Plastic pollution

  • Air pollution

  • Biodiversity loss

  • Monoculture

  • Degraded soils

  • Extensive farming

  • Overfishing

  • Melting ice caps

  • Deforestation

  • Water pollution

  • Desertification

  • Extreme meteorological phenomena

  • Changing precipitation patterns

  • CO2 emissions and green house effect

  • Rising sea levels

  • Ocean acidification

  • Erosion

Works that have been developed from 2018 onwards [were] eligible for Points of Return. We also accept[ed] projects that are ongoing or that are currently being developed but that may have not come to a conclusion yet.

JURY PANEL

The jury panel comprise[d] a group of artists, scientists and activists whose practices focus extensively on the environment. They [selected] 5 works to become part of the Special Jury Selection.

Joseph Calleja, Artist

Luce Choules, Artist and Writer, Founder of TSOEG.org

Inés García, Artist

Begoña Izquierdo, Biologist and Activist

Anna Macleod, Environmental Artist

Miranda Massier, Director of The Climate Museum

Elizabeth Monoian & Robert Ferry, Founders and Directors of the Land Art Generator

Yasmine Ostendorf, Founder of the Green Art Lab Alliance

ABOUT A LA LUZ

A La Luz is an international wide ranging platform for sustainable and environmentally focussed creative works. Our name, “A La Luz”, translates from the Spanish as “to bring to light” or, “to shed light on”.

Just as the climate crisis can only be tackled collectively, so too is this art project inclusive and collaborative in nature. A La Luz shares, promotes, and acts as a reference tool and forms a compendium of creative responses to climate change.

 

All content © A La Luz | 2020

Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero studied Audiovisual Communication BA (Hons) at the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain. During those years he was awarded an Erasmus grant that allowed him to study Film and Communication at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris. He lived and worked in Lisbon thanks to a Leonardo Da Vinci grant and in London. Gonzaga has also developed his work in the UK, Spain, France, Morocco, India and Malta. He has exhibited in Spain, India and the USA. He is currently the Co-director of A LA LUZ, an arts organisation that focuses on documenting contemporary art with film and photography and disseminating it to a global audience. He also works with ‘Joya: arte + ecología‘, a non-profit arts organisation based at Cortijada Los Gázquez, in the Sierra María-Los Vélez natural park (Almería, Andalucía), where he collaborates with artist and scientists from all over the world. Gonzaga also collaborates in audiovisual projects as director of photography and film editor.