Women in the Visual Arts

The Women in the Visual Arts Biennial produces and brings together initiatives that make women's talent visible and that have gender as the axis of reflection, debate and creation.

The BMAV, in its fifth edition, strengthens and reinforces the objectives proposed in its previous calls to make visible, support and disseminate the work, artistic, curatorial and research creation of women at national and international level.

The association Mujeres en las Artes Visuales (MAV) was constituted on 9 May 2009. Over the years, it has launched numerous actions, including three editions of the Miradas de Mujeres Festival between 2012 to 2014.

In June 2014, in an ongoing commitment to review procedures and objectives, the members decided in general assembly a change of model and that it should be held every two years, and thus was born the current format of the MAV Biennial, alternating it with a year of reflection and debate, the Forums.

With this objective, MAV has already organized five editions of the Biennials and Forums.

FORUMS: FM2015, in Barcelona and Madrid; FM2017, in Madrid and Seville; FM2019, in Vitoria and Madrid; FM2021 in Madrid and Valencia and FM2023 in Valladolid and Gran Canaria, and the following editions of the Biennial.

 

In 2016, the first edition of the  BMM2016, Biennial was organized, which brought together, from March to December, 168 initiatives and activities that had women and gender as the axis of reflection, debate and creation, from Latin America to Saudi Arabia, passing through the various regions across Spain.

Through a working methodology based on good practices throughout the production process, in the broadest sense, and a horizontal working structure, the BMM-2016 composed in its first edition a program of activities of very different formats with feminism as the backbone.

MAV supported the production of 5 projects, 2 from Latin America, 1 from Saudi Arabia and 2 from Madrid, selected among the 159 received from an international call, and facilitated their presentations in different spaces in Madrid.

The Biennial also had more than 160 guest projects, organized by institutions, galleries, educational centers, foundations and museums.

 

In 2018, second edition of the Biennial,  BMM2018, MAV again supported with 15,000 euros the production of five proposals selected among the more than 100 projects received in the open call for artists, curators, researchers and collectives that are comprised of at least 60% of women.
And once again there were more than 100 invited proposals, 111 exhibitions and activities whose main objective was the visibility of women in the field of visual arts from a feminist perspective, and whose axis of debate and reflection was gender.
Initiatives from 61 organizations, museums, foundations, cultural centers, galleries, universities and educational spaces, selected from among all those invited to join the Biennial program, which were incorporated after evaluation by the Board of MAV, forming a sample of how networking and the sum of common interests drives the creative activity and those who produce it by promoting other modes of collaboration and participation.

 

In February 2020, we inaugurated the MAV 2020 BIENNIAL, for which the following calls were created: Grants for New Technologies and Rural Impact, Emergency Grants for Self-Isolation Residencies, Grants for Artistic, Curatorial, or Research Proposals, and Extraordinary Aid 'Testimonies of a Pandemic.' In this regard, 11 creation grants were awarded, and we had over 50 invited exhibitions.

Finally, the closure of the MAV 2020 BIENNIAL was celebrated through the MAV YouTube channel.

 

Simultaneously, the Biennial featured significant participation from over forty invited proposals, contributing to shaping a diverse and enhanced program.
 In 2022, in the fourth edition of the Biennial of Women in the Visual Arts, BMM2022, MAV continued its commitment to the promotion and visibility of women in the visual arts. Among the more than 80 projects received, MAV awarded 8 grants for creation, economically supporting outstanding proposals selected through an open call aimed at artists, curators, researchers and collectives that shared an approach focused on the active participation of women, representing at least 60% of their team.
Simultaneously, the Biennial had an outstanding participation of more than forty invited proposals, which contributed to make up a diverse and enriching program.