EL CGAC PERFORMA. Ciclo de artes performativas

Bringing together a distinguished group of artists from Galicia and across Spain, this programme offers an open, critical and diverse exploration of the multiple expressions and trajectories of contemporary performance art. The selected works share a profound desire to explore the body, voice, language, memory and everyday life as spaces for thought and experience.

Rather than being confined to a single aesthetic approach, the programme is structured around the coexistence of diverse methodologies and sensibilities. In doing so, it cultivates an ecosystem of practices that reveals the scope of the contemporary performative field and its ability to generate knowledge through sensory engagement. Far from being a static programme CGAC Performs is conceived as a flexible installation designed to integrate seamlessly into the museum’s different spaces. The installations are spread across the exhibition halls, transit areas and the auditorium, temporarily reconfiguring the building’s architecture to create a space for engagement, attentive listening and shared experiences with the public.

PROGRAMME

Y/COMPOSTELA
Álvaro Corral Cid
Duration: 45 min
Venue: CGAC Auditorium
Time: 5.30 p.m.
The artistic project Y/Compostela (And/Compostela) creates a hybrid space between rehearsal and live performance, combining archival research and embroidery to offer a critical analysis of the construction of the Galician folk imagination during the Franco regime. In this piece, the author examines materials relating to regional heritage, such as traditional dress and the repertoires of the Sección Femenina (the women’s branch of the Falange) analysing them as propaganda tools shaped by the political and identity-related tensions of the time.

EN HOMBROS DE GIGANTAS
Verónica Ruth Frías
Duration: 45 minutes
Venue: CGAC exhibition halls
Time: 6.30 p.m.
The performance En hombros de gigantas (On the Shoulders of Female Giants) is conceived as a direct critique of the systematic erasure of women from historiography and dominant artistic institutions. Starting from the absence of women in mainstream art history, the artist presents a performance in which body and symbolism converge.

INTERVALOS VARIABLES 2026
Ana Gesto
Duration: 30 minutes
Venue: CGAC lobby
Time: 7. 15 p.m.
Intervalos variables 2026 (Variable Intervals 2016) marks a renewed exploration of a seminal sound piece in the artist’s career, originally premiered in 2011, which has since inspired numerous international reinterpretations and award-winning sculptural variations. Using everyday objects such as metal, string and pots, through physical actions involving tension and dragging, the artist removes the practical utility of these items, transforming them into acoustic conduits.

ÁLVARO CORRAL CID (Ourense, 2000) is an artist and researcher, holding a degree in Fine Arts and a Master’s degree in Art and Creative Research from the UCM. His work explores Spanish folklore and traditional dress, considering their political, visual, and gender implications. His methodology is based on the use of sewing, archiving and performance.
He has been a resident artist in Hangar and Matadero and has exhibited in programmes such as RED ITINER and the Ourense Fine Arts Competition.

ANA GESTO (Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, 1978) is a performer and visual artist and holds a degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad de Vigo and the Saint Carles’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia. Over more than a decade, she has maintained a strong national and international presence, presenting her performances at leading festivals. Notable milestones in her career include her performances in Acción!MAD, Fem Corpología or the Plataforma festival. Her practice reflects a continuous, rigorous engagement with the contemporary performing arts scene.

VERÓNICA RUTH FRÍAS (Córdoba, 1978) centres her artistic practice around performance, using costume, make-up and otherness as key strategies for critically addressing gender inequality while asserting women’s position within the art world. With an established national and international presence and having collaborated with leading curators, Frías is expanding her involvement in cultural management and mediation. As co-director of RARA Residencia, she’s spearheading a project in Villanueva del Rosario (Málaga) that aims to decentralise culture, bringing contemporary art and interdisciplinary dialogue to rural areas.

COOPERATIVA PERFORMA comprises an interdisciplinary team of professionals specialising in strategic development, consultancy and the comprehensive management of cultural projects, exhibitions and festivals. With a focus on innovation and the performing arts, its work ranges from theoretical conceptualisation to the coordination of resources and personnel.
Since 2020, the cooperative has taken over the management of Plataforma, a performing arts festival that has established itself as a leading event in the sector, with its next edition due to take place autumn 2026 in Santiago de Compostela and Santander.
Among its productions, highlights include initiatives such as the exhibition cycle Correspondencias in ABANCA, El museo como escenario or Acciones peregrinas in the CGAC, and site-specific interventions in La Casa Encendida and in the Centro Cultural Condeduque de Madrid.