Highlights Contemporary
It is a monthly contemporary art newsletter featuring exhibition reviews, studio visits, and conversations with artists. While it focuses on the artistic production of the Balearic Islands, it also covers international art exhibitions and events. Stay tuned!
Issue 1: Altars
August, 2023 🔗
In the first issue, we explore altars dedicated to Greek philosophers, archaeological explorations, and the deep blue of the sea through the works of Julià Panadès, Erola Arcalís, and Tomáš Kotas. Additionally, we take a closer look at the exhibition Epic Waste of Love and Understanding by Ragnar Kjartansson at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
Issue 2: Waves
September, 2023 🔗
In the second issue of the newsletter, we dive into the collective exhibition Waves at Casal Solleric and have a conversation with artist Laia Ventayol about her practice. We also visit Mite Life by Eunsae Lee at Gallery 2 and Botched Art: The Meanderings of Sung Neung Kyung at Gallery Hyundai, coinciding with the contemporary art fair week in Seoul.
Issue 3: Breaths
October, 2023 🔗
In the third issue of Highlights Contemporary, we read and listen. We explore Ian Waelder’s exhibition Even in a language that is not your own at Es Baluard Museum, where sound becomes a key part of the experience. We also visit Pixy Liao’s studio during her residency in Mallorca and dive into the exhibition I like to watch by Issy Wood at the Ilmin Museum of Art.
Issue 4: Drifts
November, 2023 🔗
In the fourth issue we dive into the journey of discarded objects that enter a state of drift—not only materially but also semantically. We explore Bat-Ami Rivlin's first exhibition in Mallorca, chat with Julià Panadès about his artistic practice, and take a closer look at El Anatsui’s latest project, Behind the Red Moon, at Tate Modern. Three distinct approaches to understanding the drift of objects, all with a shared ecological perspective.
Issue 5: Landscapes
December, 2023 🔗
The last newsletter of the year focuses on two projects I’ve had the pleasure of curating, which opened in Palma and Barcelona just a few weeks ago: Sobre mesas y paisajes by Álvaro Porras and Ensayo de Fatiga by Vera Mota. These projects draw subtle connections with an exhibition still on view at MACBA until the first week of January: Nancy Holt / Dentro Fuera.
Issue 6: Remnants
January, 2024 🔗
The first newsletter of the year delves into several artistic research projects centered around remnants, the passage of time, confinement, and circulation. In this issue, we explore Joan Morey’s VOT DE TENEBRES. Epíleg at Galería Pelaires, speak with Lara Fluxà about her recent work, and visit Ibón Aranberri’s current exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Issue 7: Etymologies
February, 2024 🔗
This month, I’ve been fully immersed in curating the exhibition Rafa Forteza: Etimologías, which recently opened at Tube Gallery. In preparing this exhibition, I visited his studio numerous times, engaging in long conversations about the significance of language and the sense of circularity in his work. The seventh issue of the newsletter is a special edition that delves deeper into this project and the work of the Mallorcan artist.
Issue 8: Step by step
March, 2024 🔗
I was recently invited to a night of talks organized by 110 Mallorca & PechaKucha in Inca. This small town has a rich tradition of shoe manufacturing. How can the specificity of this context be linked to contemporary art? This new issue of the newsletter is a curatorial experiment that connects Mallorca's shoemaking tradition with the use of shoes in contemporary artistic practices through the work of Rafa Forteza, Ian Waelder, Ana Laura Aláez, Doris Salcedo, Francis Alÿs, Allan Kaprow, and Mona Hatoum.
Issue 9: Journeys
April, 2024 🔗
Berlin is buzzing with great exhibitions, from Naama Tsabar’s participatory sound installation at Hamburger Bahnhof to VALIE EXPORT’s retrospective at C/O. But the main reason for my trip was a collaboration with Ian Waelder and Super Super Markt, writing the text for their exhibition Here Not Today. This new issue of the newsletter dives into the project, along with an unexpected visit to the studio of Núria Fuster.
Issue 10: Fragments
May, 2024 🔗
The tenth issue of the newsletter revolves around fragments. It features La otra orilla, a project I collaborated on with Mallorcan artist Mar Guerrero and TACA, where plastic debris takes shape as creatures of complex temporality. It also explores the surreal encounters between materials in Nina Beier’s exhibition Parts in Helsinki and includes a conversation with Swiss artist Bianca Barandun about her research-driven analysis of language.
Issue 11: Gazes
June, 2024 🔗
The eleventh issue of the newsletter is a special edition dedicated to Prender la mirada, a group exhibition I have curated at Casal Solleric and Can Balaguer. The show maps contemporary painting in the Balearic Islands, bringing together artists connected to the region in different ways. Since the beginning of the year, I have visited numerous studios—some for the first time, others to follow ongoing artistic developments. This issue traces those encounters and offers a deeper look into the exhibition.
Issue 12: Roses
July, 2024 🔗
In the eleventh issue, we dive into Red, Red Roses, a retrospective of Barbara Weil at Studio Weil, spanning four decades of her work in an architectural gem designed by Daniel Libeskind. Alongside the exhibition, I curated The Studio Talks, a series of conversations centered on women artists' visibility, environmental issues, and collaboration. This issue also features a manifesto on promoting female artists through curatorial practices, created in collaboration with Mallorcan curator Aina Pomar.
Issue 13: Pause
August, 2024 🔗
In the twelfth issue, we pause to reflect on a year of the newsletter. We have reviewed 24 exhibitions in galleries and institutions, showcased the work of 48 artists, and interviewed seven of them. We have placed a strong emphasis on female artists, with their work representing over 50% of the content. Additionally, we had the opportunity to travel to cities like Copenhagen, Seoul, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Helsinki, Brussels, Basel, and Venice to explore exhibitions, visit studios, and collaborate on various projects. Thank you for reading!
Issue 14: Networks
September, 2024 🔗
This month, I had the pleasure of collaborating with STAIN Projects and Juan David Cortés to write the text for their exhibition El nombre de algunos peces. It is a project as beautiful as the process that brought it to life. In this new issue of the newsletter we also review the retrospective exhibition of Lygia Clark at Baró Galeria, where I am gradually learning to weave elastic networks.
Issue 15: Flights
October, 2024 🔗
This month, I traveled to Barcelona to visit the latest edition of the SWAB fair and the Manifesta biennial, in addition to exploring the new season’s exhibitions in the city. In this new issue, we review the exhibitions by Jorge Diezma at Galería Alegría and Lara Fluxà at Bombon Projects. We also celebrate an upcoming collaboration with ADN Galería, whose fantastic exhibition of Robert Filliou has sparked reflections on art and politics.
Issue 16: Worlds
November, 2025 🔗
In this issue, we focus on the recently inaugurated exhibition "And This Old World is a New World" at La Bibi Gallery, featuring the work of Bianca Barandun, Anna Nero, Callum Green, Karolina Albricht, and Erika Trotzig. This curatorial project has been a year-long process, developed as the artists participated in the gallery's residency program, where they produced much of the work now on display. We also include a conversation with Callum Green, who reflects on his creative processes during the residency.
Issue 17: Bodies
December, 2025 🔗
I recently visited London and had the chance to explore some incredible exhibitions. From Mire Lee’s monumental installation at Tate Modern to the raw power of Tracey Emin’s paintings at White Cube, as well as the fantastic Haegue Yang retrospective at Hayward Gallery and Lygia Clark’s first major UK exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery. The last newsletter of the year delves into these shows, exploring themes such as the body, vulnerability, movement, and participation.
Issue 18: Postcards
January, 2025 🔗
In this new issue of the newsletter, we focus on the exhibition Eugenio Dittborn. Pinturas aeropostales at Es Baluard Museum, exploring it through a topic that has long concerned me: mobility in contemporary art and its growing environmental impact. This mobility is measured in flows, condensing momentarily in events like art fairs and biennials. Destinations are clearly defined within the global art circuit, transforming into postcards.
Issue 19: Walls
February, 2025 🔗
In this new issue of the newsletter, we return to Berlin to explore the exhibition Gordon Matta-Clark: (Ex)Urban Futures of the Recent Past. We revisit Matta-Clark’s experimental film The Wall (1972) and reflect on the potential of collaborative artistic practices to rethink the context of a divided and reunited border city, through the work of Allan Kaprow and Alexandra Pirici.