María Alcaide (Aracena, 1992) is a visual artist and usually works with video, installation and text. Her research methodology is flexible and porous. She is interested in references that are located on the edges of the academy or are outside the artistic field.
Therefore, she always takes her personal experience as a starting point, and her own economic and spatial limitations as a body of work.
The concept of performativity plays an essential role in her practice, as the artist uses the high potential of performance to create fictions or to reveal the fictional character of reality. Narrative structures similar to those of stories, legends and myths are very present in her work, giving rise to stories in which she questions the social, political and economic constructs that maintain the status quo.
Graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Seville, she studied Licence en Arts Plastiques at the Université Paris VIII and has a Master of Research in Art and Design from Eina-UAB in Barcelona. Her work as a researcher has been presented in academic research environments such as l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris), the Universität Der Künste (Berlin), the Universidad Complutense de Madrid or the Tapies Foundation (Barcelona).
Internationally, she has shown her work in Helsinki (Muu Kaapeli), Berlin (ACUD) or San Francisco (EAS, Reed College). She has been awarded in Jeune Création and Salon de Montrouge 64 (Paris) and has also enjoyed several residencies in Berlin (Agora Collective), Leipzig (LeFugitif) or Western Sahara (Artifariti). She has participated in several group exhibitions in Spain, such as those in Centro de Arte Complutense, Can Felipa, LOOP Barcelona, in the Fran Reus gallery or in Dilalica. She has received the Generation 2021 award and the production grant from the LaCaixa 2020 Foundation, as well as the Sala d'Art Jove creation award and the Injuve grant. She has also held residencies at Fabra i Coats-Sant Andreu Contemporani, La Escocesa, Centro Andaluz de Creación Contemporánea, Bar Projects or Bilbaoarte. Her latest solo projects have been exhibited at the Àngels gallery and at the Rampa de La Capella space, Barcelona.
