Bio

Ramon Churruca was born in Bilbao in 1964. He belongs to an important family from Las Arenas. Since childhood, he´s expressed interest in comedy, film and pornography. He studied at the Agustino school, Padre Andres de Urdaneta, and recalls that it was a concentration camp. A soccer culture existed: if you didnt play, you were gay or weird.

Influenced by the work of Doug Hall, he traveled at the age of twenty to the United States to study experimental film at the Art Institute of San Francisco where he majored in performance/video. His stay in the city made him very open-minded. Nevertheless, Ramon discovered that social class systems exist in the art world. Those supposed liberal worlds are really conservative.This would be a recurring idea in his work.

When he returned to California in 1989, he acted under the pseudonym Ramon Quantalagusta in the Bilbao Safi Gallery on Las Cortes street. That´s where they did the first performances of Botxo where artists like Bada, Alberto Safi or Alex de la Iglesia participated. In this gallery, Churruca talked about for the first time of the unveiling of the new Basque: El Technoaldeano Urbano (The Urban Technopeasant), the illuminated messianic figure that is reflected in Ibarretxe for those that want to build a gigantic bidegorri euskaldun where they can channel their paranoias.

For Ramón, the performance is a declared madness. It takes a lot of mental work and written preparation. I give myself a set of guidelines that I modify according to what I see happening. The public looks for immediacy, the connection and the rush. After Tecnoaldeano Urbano(The Urban Technopeasant), Churruca was Olentzero Farlopero, Siames Separatista and currently acting as Negruri wearing a mask of an elderly man. Often times, the topics are reality. I handle myself according to the language of the topics. From there comes the Negruri. He´s the devil. Like the Euskal Herria of PNV looks at the ancient society of Neguri. I am 100 years old. It has to do with the operation of the social class system in Bilbao and in the art world. For some to prevail, others must fail. Film is one of his greatest passions and he considers himself a very good spectator although he creates the fiction of others but not his own. He has made several short films and acted in a dozen of films, always in special collaborations. Alex de la Iglesia counted with him for El día de la bestia, Muertos de risa y Crimen Ferpecto. In spite of himself, Churruca assures that he works better as a performer.

The apparent tranquility and timidity of Ramón shifts when he goes into battle, in hyperactivity, madness and destruction. In his performances he has a tendency to disrobe, to confront and to criticize everyone. His criticisms are fundamentally directed to society, nationalists, the public and even himself. He laughs about everything and at everyone but he doesn´t consider himself crazy: „They think that you are a lunatic because you do things that venture outside convention.”

Selected Videography:

– Videoacción: el cuerpo y sus fronteras. Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno. 1997.

– Videoacción. el cuerpo y sus fronteras. Museo nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. 1997.

– Programa I. Meta y Pop. En construcció. Espai Video. centre d´Art Santa Mónica. Barcelona. 1998.

– Intervenciones TV. Centro Cultural Montehermoso. Vitoria. 1999

– Temas de Canal Plus. 2000.

– Colección: Mediateca. CaixaForum Barcelona. Espai de Media Art. 2001.

– Incógnitas. Cartografías del Arte Vasco. Museo Guggenheim-Bilbao. 2007.

– Zinebi – Ex Is. Festival Internacional de Cine Documental y Cortometraje. Bilbao. 2008.

– Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. 2008.

– Premio EiTB Kultura Videocreación 2010.

– Bilbao International Short Film Festival 2010.

„Mefisto y Fausto”: http://blip.tv/file/3316518

– Catálogo: HAMACA. Media & Video Arte de España.

http://www.hamacaonline.net/autor.php?id=209

http://www.hamacaonline.net/obra.php?id=6ción37

 

Selected Performances + Shows

2011:

Limbus Europae. Berlin.

Artpotheek. Brussels.

 

2010:

Galeria Windsor. Bilbao. Fiesta presentación La Performeria. http://www.anti-web.com/es/libro/la-performeria-n-1/11120/

Noche Scratche. Vitoria.

Teatracciones. Espacio Tangente. Burgos.

Bilbao La Vieja Puente de la Cultura. Caostica.

 

2009:

Festival de Acción. Accción es León.

 

There´s a 6 year gap…who the fuck knows what happened…

• 2003 Muestra Internacional de Donostia, Arteleku, San Sebastián.

Video: La Mancha de Acteón, Primer premio video, Caos, Bilbao.

• 2002 Catálogo General, Bilbao.

Muro de las Quejas, Espacio Abisal, Bilbao.

Video: 51 vs 49% Confesión. Sala Rekalde, Bilbao.

• 2001 Performance en Arrebato, Bilbao.

Fiesta NoData, El Peñón, Plencia.

Video: La Mancha de Acteón. Presentación en Elektronikaldia, San Sebastián.

Video: 51 vs 49% Confesión. Presentación en espai miau, Barcelona.

Documentacción, Espacio Abisal, Bilbao.

Sala Artsaia, Pamplona.

Conjunto Vacío, Bilbao.

Sala The Image, Berango.

Inauguración El Balcón de la Lola, Bilbao.

En Escena, Bilbao.

• 2000 Anti-Pessimismus Group Show, Show´n´Tell, Praga.

Fiesta Ian Pooley, Sala The Image, Berango.

Performance en San Fermín, Nicolet, Pamplona.

II Festival de Performance de Segovia.

Sala El Congreso, Bilbao.

Festival de Música Avanzada, Sala Itzela, Oiartzun.

• 1999 Tecnoaldeano Urbano en el Caos, Bilbao.

Performance: El Guggenheim explicado a los niños, La Bolsa, Bilbao.

Videoacción VIEJOCALVOLOCOFEORAROPASTILLERO, Programa Temas, Canal Plus.

Sala Universal, Madrid.

Actor: Muertos de Risa de Alex de la Iglesia, España.

POP en el Espacio Abisal, Bilbao.

• 1998 Fiesta Reivindicativa, Palacio de Montehermoso, Vitoria.

Paquete Vasco en Valencia, Museo de Bellas Artes, Valencia.

Champion League, Galeria Arsenal, Bilbao.

Autobus Mediaz por el País Vasco.

Paquete Vasco en Galicia, NASA, Santiago de Compostela,

• 1997 Videoacciones, El Cuerpo y sus Fronteras, IVAM, Valencia.

Videoacciones, El Cuerpo y sus Fronteras, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid

La Carolina, Plencia.

El Kiosco de Kioscos, Galeria Ziemur, Bilbao.

• 1996 Yak el Performador, Facultad de Bellas Artes de Salamanca.

Arteleku, San Sebastián.

Superautopistas de la Desinformación, Facultad de Bellas Artes de Lejona.

Cyberia, Bilbao.

Telonero de los Dictators, Kafe Antzokia, Bilbao.

Performance para Mediaz, Libreria Likiniano, Bilbao.

• 1995 Actor: El Dia de la Bestia de Alex de la Iglesia.

Sotano Primero, Madrid.

Festimad, Sala el Sol, Madrid.

Actor: Death of an Anarchist de Bruce Miller, USA.

Masturbatoria, Facultad de Bellas Artes de Lejona.

• 1994 Art Dealers Introductions, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco.

• 1990-1994: Different actions: Show´n´Tell. San Francisco