Tabakalera and Kutxa Fundazioa present program for 2025

San Sebastián is preparing to host a year marked by the tenth anniversary of the Tabakalera International Center for Contemporary Culture and the 25th anniversary of the Kubo exhibition hall of Kutxa Fundazioa . To commemorate these anniversaries, both institutions have joined forces to present an artistic program that includes a total of twelve exhibitions throughout 2025. These shows will take place in various spaces, including the Kubo hall, Artegunea and the Tabakalera halls.

One of the most outstanding exhibitions will be the double show of the artist Maider López (San Sebastián, 1975) , which will be inaugurated in October and can be seen in both the Kubo room and the main room of Tabakalera. Titled 'Ukitu', this exhibition is considered the most extensive dedicated to her career to date and is the result of a decade of exploration. It will bring together a selection of previously unpublished projects that invite us to rethink our interpersonal relationships and our environment. López's works challenge conventionality, creating a unique connection between the public, nature and architecture. The artist seeks to foster a collective awareness of the perception of reality, breaking the boundary between what is real and what is imaginary through interventions that stimulate both sight and touch.

As part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Kubo gallery , the program will focus on highlighting the support for artists from the Gipuzkoan context and women artists, including works from different generations such as Maria Paz Jiménez (Valladolid, 1909 – San Sebastián, 1975) , María Cueto (Avilés, 1960) and, the aforementioned, Maider López . The Artegunea gallery , for its part, will continue to focus on photography, with exhibitions such as those by Joan Fontcuberta (Barcelona, 1955) and Tina Barney (New York, 1945) , and will close the year with a collective exhibition focused on the production of portraits of current Gipuzkoa.

‘Serie Herbarium. Folium ingenii’, Joan Fontcuberta (2024). Cortesia de Tabakalera

Tabakalera , in its tenth anniversary, will reinforce its commitment to contemporary art, both local and international, and will continue to explore the links between art, technology and society. The program began earlier this year with 'Visions Cuánticas', an exhibition that examines quantum physics through installations. Among the highlights, Tabakalera will also host the first solo exhibition of Icelandic filmmaker and screenwriter Hlynur Pálmason (Hornafjörður, 1984) , as well as the solo show of Marlene McCarty (Lexington, 1957), which will combine her well-known monumental botanical drawings with terrarium and plant installations.

Tabakalera will continue to promote proposals linked to curatorial residencies, with the aim of strengthening the local art scene through support for curators and artists, integrating the resulting exhibitions into the center's annual program. Among these, stand out 'Eremu magnetiko lehor bat [A dry magnetic field]', a project that explores the limits of perception, and the video installation by Basque filmmaker Irati Gorostidi , focused on the connections between art and cinema. In parallel, Tabakalera will host a new edition of Situ-Akzioak, an initiative aimed at family audiences that combines play, learning and artistic experimentation. This year, it will feature the artist Anna Irina Russell (Barcelona, 1993), who approaches play as a tool to investigate often imperceptible communicative structures.

Exposició d'Anna Irina Rusell a Bombon Projects (2020)