Laia Cabrera

Eulalia Cabrera Ibars, known professionally as Laia Cabrera, is a Spanish and American contemporary filmmaker and video artist whose artistic expression depends upon projection mapping, video art, immersive art installations, with many projects straddling or blending elements of both fields.Silvina Sterin Pensel. "Proyectando fantasías alrededor del mundo", El Diario, 2014 She is recognized for innovative interdisciplinary work which merges cinematic and digital arts, dance, music, theater and visual arts. Her work focuses on the ideas of identity, consciousness and singularity.
==Early life and education==
Laia Cabrera grew up in Lleida and Barcelona, Spain. She studied musicology and piano at the conservatoire of Lleida. 
She graduated from the Autonomous University of Barcelona with a Bachelor in BFA in Media Studies and a MFA in Audiovisual Communication. She is also a graduate in Film Production from The New School in New York City.
She published early on “Caducidad del Sentido”, a poetic-essay book, nº XII Collection Dama Ginebra, Spain and “La Sangre del Alma”, Collection of poems published by the University of Philology, Spain.
==Career==
Laia Cabrera started writing articles such as “The Ambigious Gaze, An Approach to Neus Buira’s Art Work”, article published by Transversal, #4, Barcelona, Spain, “Arrebatos”, thematic book, Editorial Larousse Planeta, Spain and plays “De la Tierra a las Estrellas” premiered at Teatre Màlic, Barcelona, Spain and “L’Estança” premiered at LA GARGOLA-TEATRE, El submarí, Barcelona, Spain.
She was selected for "Year Lumière" project Two-year research Grant by the Audiovisual Communication Department of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain and won the KrTU Award for Young Creators for the international exhibition and multimedia project "Neutral Identities" by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain
She moved to New York to study at The New School University and started directing short films. She created her production company Vertiginosas (islands) with writer and theater director Maria Litvan with whom she co-directed "Lines" (fiction/16mm Film, 1998) and "Falling Apart" (fiction/digital film, 2000) with Jordi Rico and Carme Poll. directed “A Dos Parto” (Videoart, 1999). She went on to produce and direct her own work, starting with “Under Influence” (experimental/16mm film) who won Best Cinematic Film at the 23rd. Annual Invitational Film Festival, New York, Annual Invitational Film Festival, NY, Land Escape 2001, Two Boots, USA; Screen Addictions Spain, Ocho y Medio, Quito, Ecuador. Screenings and Films Festivals: Land Escapes Mount Desert Symposium in the Arts, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA; The 23rd Annual New School Invitational Film Festival. New York, USA; Enfoque en NY, Quito, Ecuador; Screen Addictions, Exhibition of video creations, Barcelona, Spain, “Dropped”, a multimedia essay (video) Vertiginosas (islands) production. Directed by Laia Cabrera. Knowledge Union, Media Studies Screening program, New York, “Invisible” (fiction/16 mm film) which premiered at Two Boots Pioneer Theater, New York, Official selection: Milano Film Festival 2006, Kinoforum Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival, Mostra International Brasil 2005, Film Screening series at Topia Arts Center, Adams, MA.
She has been collaborating with various theater directors and company and created the scenography and projection design for multimedia plays, starting in 2002 with "Come and Go", "Some Historic, Some Hysteric", 2004, and in collaboration with animator and video mapping artist Isabelle Duverger, "Mapping Mobius" written by Colm O'Shea and Marie Glancy O'Shea, 2010, "Garden of Delights" by Fernando Arrabal, 2012, "Cosmicomics" based on the novel of Italo Calvino, 2014, and "Night" by Charles L. Mee, 2015 with The New Stage Theatre Company. 
She has also collaborated with Puy Navarro and Francisco Reyes on the projection design for the multimedia theater plays "Playing Equality", 2009 commissioned by the Generalitat Valenciana, for the International Universities Forum 2009 and the Fundación por la Justicia, presented at the International University Forum on “Poverty Eradication: A Challenge for Universities Worldwide” at Boricua College of the City University of New York, 2009 and the Festival Internacional de Teatro Social 'ReACT' sponsored by the Fundación por la Justicia, Valencia, Spain, 2010. She created the Scenography & Projection Mapping for “Sincronizada” a play by Mar Gomez Glez, presented at Teatros Del Canal, Madrid, Spain (Finalist of Talent Madrid 2016 Festival) and Microteatro Por Dinero, Madrid, Spain, 2017.
Her recent work in scenography and video design for theater plays count "The Trojan Women", 2018 Multimedia Theater Play written by Euripides, "Lines In the Dust" by Nikkole Salter, 2019 and "Prologue" by Maria Litvan, 2018 at the Jersey City Theater Center, Jersey City, NJ. She also collaborated with dance company Nimbus Dance in the creations of the Scenography and Projection Design for "Falling Sky", 2019, premiered at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and touring the United States in 2020. 
From 2006 on, each piece she has created has been conceived as a site-specific video installation. Some installations have included performance, projection mapping and interactivity:
“Singularity”, 2006 (film & video art) inaugurated the International Video and Animation Festival "Animac", Lleida 2006, with a live painting performance.
“New York”, 2008 (mixed media), was presented as a site specific video and sound installation in the exhibition "NY (p) NY (f) David Besora" at the Sala Gòtica, Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida, Spain.
“Is there an edge of belief”, 2009 (mixed media), was presented at the 2nd edition of the multidisciplinary festival "Jaen en Femenino", Jaen, Spain and the Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo ULA 2010, Mérida, Venezuela.
“Monegros-Nueva York” , 2010 (video New York) Presented at the exhibition Desiertos y Cardenales by Teresa Ramón with the collaboration of the Art-Lab at La Lonja, Zaragoza, Spain.
“Shifting Gaze Film”, 2010 (Film-Video) with music by Erica Glyn and animations by Isabelle Duverger was presented and performed at Spain Art Fest’10, Times Square plaza, New York, closing the REGION 0 International Video Art Festival of New York, 2011, at Georgetown Glow Festival, Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) projected on the main Wall of the Georgetown Canal as a large site-specific immersive video mapped installation and commission by the Georgetown Business improvement district (BID) and the Spanish Embassy in DC, at JCAST HQ, Jersey City, NJ and in various short film festivals such as Instituto Cervantes of London, England, El Tragaluz Digital de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, and the Centro Cultural Cuale, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in 2012.
"Resonant Streams: An Ancient Call", 2011 (large site-specific visual installation performance) in collaboration with LiquidBody Dance Company. “The Value of Water” series at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.
“Untitled mind”, 2013 Simultaneous Indoor and Outdoor Video and sound installation with mapping in collaboration with Isabelle Duverger, on the facade of the Wonderbread Factory for Nuit Blanche, Washington DC, USA, and as a dyptich at Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY, 2019 and JCAST HQ, Jersey City, NJ, 2018.
“City In Motion”, 2014, a triptych Video mapped Installation & animations commissioned by Reebok Creative Hub and Spain Fresh, at the WhiteBox (art center), SoHo, New York.
“Aire”, a Video Installation Performance Concert which premiered at the Tempietto Di Bramante – Rome, Italy in 2014 in collaboration with Javier Moreno (music direction), Isabelle Duverger (Video Mapping, animations), at Art All Night, Washington DC in 2015 projected on the Neoclassical building of the Bank of America as a large scale visual concert performed live with an ensemble orchestra and commissioned by the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities, DC and at the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory, Hudson Valley, New York in 2016, as a large-scale 5000 sq ft visual concert performed live with an ensemble orchestra and sponsored by Art Mid Hudson and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
“Dragons & Books & Roses”, 2017, a building projection mapping on Washington Square Mews with drawn illustrations, animations and videoart based on the legend of Saint George in the Greenwich Village, New York City, organized by The Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the U.S. and the Catalan Institute of America.
Laia Cabrera, with her collaborator Isabelle Duverger have been investigating interactivity, and have developed pieces such as the "Self On the Shelf" using conductive paint, and "The Now" and "Illusion" with motion tracking, working with programmers and interactivity designers, and creating new narratives allowing the audience to become the main characters, and removing from the experience any wearable technology to create the most seamless and instinctive experience for the public. 
"Self On the Shelf" in 2018, an Immersive Interactive Site-Specific Video and Sound Installation, Selected at the Spring/Break Art Show (Part of the Armory Arts Week), Times Square, New York, curated by Christine Miele with interactivity by Nicola Carpegianni.
"The Now" in 2018, the largest Public Art Interactive LED Wall Installation in New York at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, Times Square, New York, with by NoirFlux and Karan Parikh, inaugurating the public art platform Coolture Impact. 
"Illusion" en 2019, a video and sound interactive immersive art installation, at Flutter Experience Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA with interactivity by Aniol Saurina Masó.
==Art work==
As a filmmaker and visual artist, she uses a diversity of media: music, video, narration, projected images that merge cinematographic arts; music, dance; Photography; theater; visual arts; voice; writing.
"Under Influence", her first video art piece, was a non-narrative and cinematic poem about the relashionship between two sisters. Her next video creation "INVISIBLE" explored the connection between micro and macro. "Singularity" was her first video installation. She used a 3 large canvases for projection, as a painter-artist was spray-painting livea motif of windows on the screens.
"Is there an edge of belief?", "Claim your place" and "Shifting Gaze" were an exploration of new forms of identities, and the relationships with others. She explored "the strange with the real and the unreal, combining visual images, movement, music, words and non-linear structures as a perfect juxtaposition of the theme and the style of acting."
"Resonant Streams", “Aire” and “Landscape of the Soul”, by using mapping tools, fragmenting images and incorporating live music and live performance, were creating their own space. These pieces deliberately avoided narrative restrictions to navigate emotions in a non-spoken language. 
"Garden of Delights" is a step forward in the investigation of forms of identity and interactivity with actors.
With her latest works, "Illusion", "Self on the shelf" and "The Now", she creates video art that opens a dialogue with the public and the search for new generative languages.
==Video art projects==
=="Under Influence"==
Experimental film 16mm color film, 2001 
Produced and directed by Laia Cabrera | Cast: Maria Litvan, Carme Poll
Experimentation on how light affects the emotional and mental state of the viewer. This piece was shot in 16mmm and was presented in landscapes among other festivals accompanied by a symposium in which the artist was invited to talk.
"I wanted to talk about making choices in life - choices that are under some sort of influence and that we must accept as a part of our nature. The main character decides not to get up from bed because "being afraid of deception", she prefers to live her life in her mind. But being in bed is a choice in itself. It is not bad or good, it is just a choice. I wanted to point out that living in a mental state is not necessarily a form of escape. In this case, it is the character personal way of approaching existence." Laia Cabrera
Best Cinematic Film at the 23rd. Annual Invitational Film Festival, New York. Land Escapes Mount Desert Symposium in the Arts. Bar Harbor, Maine, USA; The 23rd Annual New School Invitational Film Festival. New York, USA; Enfoque en NY. Quito, Ecuador. New York, USA; Screen Addictions Exhibition of video creations, Barcelona, Spain
=="Invisible"==
Narrative-Experimental 16mm film, 2005
Produced and directed by Laia Cabrera
Oficial selection Milano Film Festival 2006; Kinoforum Festival “Mostra International” Brasil 2005, Spain in New York, calendar of Cultural Events January-February 2005, Consulate General of Spain, Screening of Invisible with filmmaker talk at Topia Arts Center, MA
=="Singularity"==
Digital Film, 2006
Produced and directed by Laia Cabrera
Inaugurated the International Video and Animation Festival "Animac" in Lleida, Spain
=="Is there an edge of belief"==
Mixed Media, 2009
Produced and directed by Laia Cabrera
Presented in the 2nd edition of the multidisciplinary festival "Jaen en Femenino", Jaen, Spain
and at the Bienale Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo, Merida, Venezuela, 2010
==Video installations projects==
=="Claim Your Place"==
Film for Installation performance, 2010
Co-created by Laia Cabrera and Nuria Legarda
Interpretation: Nuria Legarda / Artistic collaboration: Isabelle Duverger
Music: Erica Glyn, Nana Simopoulos / Video recording and editing: Laia Cabrera
"Claim Your Place" is a theater, film and video-installation created for large scale outdoor or indoor spaces that sits somewhere between filmmaking, theater-dance, digital art and sound design.
Performance Installation at the Centro Español, New York City, Nuits Euphoriques, Tournefeuille Festival, France, Festival New Tendencies Terrassa (TNT) and Performance-Installation, Festival Cos Reus, Spain
=="Shifting Gaze"==
Film for Installation, 2010
Produced and directed by Laia Cabrera
Presented At:JCAST HQ, Jersey City, 2018
Centro Metropolitano de Diseño. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012
MARCO. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Vigo, Spain, 2012
El Tragaluz Digital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2012
Festival Close Up, Cuale Cultural Center, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2012
AMA (Art Museum of the Americas), Washington DC, 2012
Region Ø Latino Video-art Festival of New York, King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center of NYU, New York City, 2011
Spain Art Fest '11, Times Square, New York City, 2010
=="Untitled Mind"==
Film for installation and cinematic presentation, 2013
Directed by Laia Cabrera
Based on an original idea by Catherine Correa in collaboration with choreographer Alexandre Proia
with Catherine Correa and Jonathan Royse Windham
production design and visual effects: Isabelle Duverger
music: Javier Moreno Sanchez
sound design: Gisella-Fulla Silvestre and Arooj Aftab
assistant production: Florencia Minniti and Luis Tarrida Ibars
Presented at: Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, New York, 2019
JCAST HQ, Jersey City, 2018
Wonderbread Factory, Nuit Blanche Washington DC, 2013
=="Aire"==
Public Art Installation Performance with projection mapping, 2014
Created by Laia Cabrera, Javier Moreno and Isabelle Duverger
"Aire - Visual Concert for Nomads" is a cinematic, musical and poetic piece designed as a site-specific visual concert created and directed by Laia Cabrera (filmmaker and video artist) and Javier Moreno (composition, double bass) in collaboration with Isabelle Duverger (animation and projection mapping).
Premiered at the Tempietto di Bramante, Academia de España en Roma in Rome, Italy, 2014 and was presented as a feature event as part of Art All Night DC 2015, Washington, DC, 2015 and in Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory, NY, 2016. 
=="Self on The Shelf"==
An Immersive Interactive Video Mapping and Sound Art Installation, 2018
Created by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger with interaction by Nicola Carpeggiani and curated by Chris Miele.
Self On The Shelf is an interactive immersive installation for Spring Break Art Show, as part of the Armory Arts Week, turning a small boy's bedroom into a nightmarish dreamscape in honor of the eponymous elf which has become the symbol of our children's intimate acceptance of 21st century surveillance realities.
Presented at Spring/Break Art Show as part of Armory Arts Week, New York City
=="The Now" ==
Public Art Interactive Video Installation, 2018
Created by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger with interaction by Noirflux and Karan Parikh inaugurating Coolture Impact, the largest interactive public art platform in New York City, located in Times Square-Port Authority Bus Terminal.
=="Illusion"==
An Immersive Interactive Video Mapping and Sound Art Installation, 2019-2020
Created by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger with interaction by Aniol Saurina Masó and Music and Sound design by Nana Simopoulos with Mary Ann McSweeney
“Illusion” is an immersive interactive installation about the art of seeing and experiencing, created by awarded filmmakers and visual artists Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger in collaboration with interactivity designer Aniol Saurina Masó, music by Nana Simopoulos with Mary Ann McSweeney. 
“Illusion” premieres in Los Angeles at the Flutter Exhibition Gallery in June 2019
==Grants, Awards & Residencies==
*2019 Grant from FLUTTER EXPERIENCE to create the immersive interactive video and sound installation "Illusion", Los Angeles
*2018 Resident Artists of COOLTURE IMPACT, the largest video interactive public art platform, New York City
*2018 Official Selection of SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Armory Arts Week, New York City
*2017 Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the U.S. Grant, Spain
*2016 Talent Madrid 2016 Finalist, Madrid, Spain
*2016 Telly Awards 2016 Silver Winner for Best Direction (Highest Distinction)
*2015 Grant from Georgetown Business Improvement District, Washington, DC, USA
*2015 Grant from DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC, USA
*2015 New York Innovative Theater Award Winner for the multimedia theater piece "Night" Outstanding Performance Art Production, and Nominee for Outstanding Innovative Design
*2014 New York Innovative Theater Award Nominee for "Cosmicomics" Outstanding Innovative Design
*2014 Telly Awards 2014 Bronze Winner for Best Art Direction
*2013 New York Innovative Theater Award Nominee for "Garden of Delights" Outstanding Innovative Design
*2013 Telly Awards 2013 Silver Winner for Best Documentary and Best Animation 
*2013 AVA Digital Awards 2013 Gold Winner for Best Documentary and Platinum Winner for Best video Animation and Best Creativity
*2010 CONCA Grant for "Claim your Place" from the Consell Nacional de la Cultura I de les Arts, Catalonia, Spain
*2010 Residency in Topia Arts Center, North Adams, MA, USA
*2009 Residency L'animal a l'esquena. Nu2's, Celrà, Spain
*2002 Best Cinematic Film Award for "Under Influence" at The 23rd Annual Invitational Film Festival, New York City
*2000 KrTU Award for Young Creators for the international exhibition and multimedia project "Neutral Identities" by the Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, Spain
*1997 "Year Lumière" project Two-year research Grant by the Audiovisual Communication Department of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
==In the media==
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==External links==
* Laia Cabrera on linkedin
* Laia Cabrera on facebook
* Laia Cabrera on instagram
==References==
Category:Living people
Category:American video artists
Category:Catalan Americans
Category:Spanish artists
Category:American contemporary artists
Category:Spanish contemporary artists
Category:American installation artists
Category:Spanish installation artists