Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

La voz humana [The Human Voice]

Image caption
IÑIGO ROYO

La voz humana [The Human Voice]

  • 2000
  • Digital copy on paper
  • 125 x 125 cm
  • Edition 1/5 + 1 P/A
  • Cat. F_26
  • Acquired in 2001
  • Observations: The work is accompanied by the following text, written by the artist: 'With several companions, I head for a broad, solitary location that is as quiet as possible. When we get there, I place my companions at a random spot and ask them to talk among themselves. As they do so, I move away in a random direction until I reach a spot where I can no longer hear the slightest murmur of their voices. Then I look for a third spot equidistant from the first two, from where I can photograph the distance between us as precisely as possible'.
By:
Isabel Tejeda

The work by Iñigo Royo in the Banco de España Collection is a photograph taken in 2000 and published in an edition of five copies. It is part of a series called The Human Voice, which comprises a total of 12 photos produced using the same procedure, but taken in different locations. At first glance, it is just a woodland landscape, but the text that accompanies the picture sets it in context: Royo walks into the wood with several companions, whom he leaves to talk among themselves. He moves away from the group in a random direction until he can no longer hear their voices, then looks for a spot half-way between the group and the point where there is silence. That is where he takes the picture. He photographs the distance between them. In his own words, 'my intention on taking these pictures at that time was to bring together on the one hand a well-rounded image with a solid presence and on the other hand a procedure that shaped the look of the image but to which the image itself was completely blind'.

This work was shown for the first time in 2000 at the DV Gallery in San Sebastián, and later at the Forum Berlin via the same gallery. It was also exhibited at the Visor and DV galleries in the Arco 2001 fair. The Basque Museum of Contemporary Art in Vitoria-Gasteiz has two more photos from this series which have also appeared in joint exhibitions ('Francesco Petrarca and Contemporary Landscape, 2002') and in the solo exhibition which the same museum staged of Royo's work in 2016 under the title 'The Laughing Man'.

Isabel Tejeda

 
By:
Isabel Tejeda
Iñigo Royo
Donostia / San Sebastian 1962

Iñigo Royo took a degree in Psychology at the University of the Basque Country, but his interest soon shifted towards visual art. He has taught photography, film and video at several visual art schools and at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Bilbao. In 1990 he was selected as a photographer to take part in 'Four Directions: Contemporary Spanish Photography (1970- 1990)'. This itinerant, thesis-based exhibition organised by Lunwerg and by the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid (1991) travelled far and wide and enjoyed a high domestic and international profile. He has also produced and managed cultural events in the Basque Country via the Okupgraf association, working together with Marian Larzabal.

His creative work has focused mainly on photography, video and film. His photographic work is complex, with series of images that build up a story. He presents those stories as conundrums, as his images seek to consciously tell what cannot be told. 'My work is concerned with the impossibility of taking photos that are more than just crude approximations'. Along the lines of Duchamp, Royo thrives on paradox and contradiction, and presents objects as art while denying that this is what they are.

Solo exhibitions of Iñigo Royo's work have been staged at the Art and History Museum in Durango (Bizkaia, 1990), the Sala Rekalde Gallery (Bilbao, 1993), the Botín Foundation in Santander (2006), the General Archives of Gizpuzkoa (Tolosa, Gipuzkoa, 2006), the Tabakalera venue (San Sebastian, 2008), the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea (San Sebastian, 2015) and the Basque Museum of Contemporary Art in Vitoria-Gasteiz (2016). He won the Young Photographer Award from the Ministry of Culture in 1988. He also obtained the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa Art Promotion Grant in 1999 and the Botín Foundation Grant for the 2000-2001 academic year. He took part in the Barcelona Biennial in 1989.

Isabel Tejeda

 
«Iñigo Royo», Galeria DV (Donostia-San Sebastian, 2000). «Art Forum Berlin», Art Forum Berlín (Berlin, 2000). «ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair», ARCO (Madrid, 2001). «ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair», ARCO (Madrid, 2001). «Francesco Petrarca and Contemporary Landscape», ARTIUM Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo de Vitoria-Gasteiz (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2002). «The Laughing Man», ARTIUM Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo de Vitoria-Gasteiz (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2016).
Javier Díaz Iñigo Royo, Bilbao, Sala Rekalde, 1993. Vv.Aa. Art Forum Berlin, Madrid, Art Forum, 2000. Vv.Aa. Arco 01. Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, Arco/Ifema, 2001. Iñigo Royo Esperpento. Dramatis Personae: en mayor o menor medida, todos nosotros, Valencia, Concreta, 2014. Vv.Aa. El hombre que ríe, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Artium, 2016. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.