The sixth edition of Phe Gallery brings together twenty proposals from 23 artists and opens its doors this Friday the 28th at the Castillo de San Felipe, with extensions to other spaces in the town

The festival activates its offer in 2023 with this platform for the dissemination of artistic creation in the Canary Islands, which embraces painting, sculpture, photography, video art or installations

The eighth edition of Phe Festival, which will be held on August 18 and 19 in Puerto de la Cruz, opens a window to current artistic creation in the Canary Islands with the inauguration this Friday, July 28, at 8:00 p.m., of a sample collective in the Castillo de San Felipe, which brings together twenty projects selected in the sixth call for Phe Gallery. A varied artistic proposal with which the programming of parallel activities of the Porto festival begins in 2023, which reflects individually and globally on creative current events in the Canary Islands, while placing the accent, gaze, gesture and pulse on contemporary social and cultural reality. The opening of Phe Gallery 2023 will be covered by the actions of the performer Llum Canut and the dj's Bliss and Pedrosa.

Creators who work in formats such as painting, sculpture, graffiti, photography, illustration, video art, action art or window dressing, among others, meet at Phe Gallery 2023. A showcase of the new island creative imprint that presents twenty of works signed by 23 artists who represent voices and perspectives of today for people of today, experiences in the present with a vision of the immediate future. 

Curated in this edition by beatrice rock, an art historian with training in the management of cultural projects, together with a curatorial team made up of agents from the artistic field in different areas and disciplines, the exhibition is made up of a selection of the works registered in the Phe Gallery 2023 call to date. June 9. The curatorial team is made up of: Dailo Boat, filmmaker, curator and cultural researcher; Paula Skull, an urban artist specializing in the creation of murals and whose work addresses issues such as the concept of identity and female empowerment; and Zulo Room, an exhibition space founded by the architects Pablo Delgado and Iñaki Pérez.

The artists and projects selected at Phe Gallery 2023 that will star in the exhibition at the San Felipe Castle and the interventions in other urban spaces are: Alba Peñate, Atri Galván, Azahara Capella, Brenda Cap, Carlotto Rose, CoEXISTo (Víctor Cabrera, Derek Pedrós and Andrea Pérez), Danilo, David Núñez, Elisa Pinto, Fani B. Flores, Gabriel Tondreau, Laura Santana, Noé Pullviac, Pablo Lavers, Patricia Reyes Yanes, Pilar Boullosa, Rethinkyourgarbage (Lucilla Bellini and Magali Brincat), Rubén Guedes and Sara park.

“The artists challenge us to reflect on various topics ranging from tourism and aesthetics, to desire and pleasure, Canarian traditions and festivities, climate change and the relationship between architecture and dance”, explains the curator Beatriz Rock. An exhibition that invites us to rethink our relationship with nature and the impact of our actions on the planet. As the curator explains, in this artistic proposal “we will explore the compulsive accumulation of objects and their symbolism in relation to the Canarian identity. Through still lifes, we reinterpret festivities and traditions as fabricated myths that reflect the social and cultural organization of our environment. In addition, we present works of visual metaphors symbolizing the threat of climate change”.

The public will be able to discover the different artistic proposals at the Castillo de San Felipe Cultural Space until August 27, as well as in the Columbus Shopping Center, Alteza supermarket, Ágora Bar & Café and Autos Plaza. In this way, Phe Gallery opens up to other spaces in the city, with interventions in attached places and in shop windows to offer the public a tour and visual game with innovative artistic proposals.

vacation experience

The launch of the sixth edition of the Gallery, organized by Phe Festival and the Puerto de la Cruz Culture area, inaugurates the program of parallel activities of the Phe Festival in 2023, which in its eighth edition presents on the 18th and 19th of August, two days of concerts and more than 20 hours of live music in Puerto de la Cruz which will feature the British duo Orbital, one of the great references in dance music and electronic culture; the Argentine rapper Trueno, a phenomenon of the urban genre who premieres his live show in the Canary Islands; the also British The Reytons; and a list of outstanding national and local artists, such as Natalia Lacunza, Arde Bogotá, Second, Jimena Amarillo, Sexy Zebras, Bala, Rocío Saiz, Adora, Antiplancton Shinova, Rocío Márquez & Bronquio, Morreo, Ghouljaboy, Hoonine and Zurych. 

The Porto festival offers visitors an exceptional vacation experience and a catalog of Parallel leisure and entertainment activities for children and adults during the week of the event. Puerto de la Cruz and spaces such as Jardines Playa Jardín, Plaza Europa and La Marea Surf, in Playa Martiánez, are the settings for different experiences related to urban sports, active leisure, and healthy lifestyles for adults and children. 

Proposals like the Phe Summer, which are held from Monday, August 14, offer a range of proposals between surf classes for children and adults, at La Marea Surf School, in Playa Martiánez; capoeira, slackline, acroyoga and inverted workshops at the Playa Jardín Gardens; and surfskate and slackline workshops, as well as BMX, skate and scooter initiation workshops for all ages, in Plaza Europa, in Puerto de La Cruz. To highlight in this context the call, on Saturday August 19 in the Plaza de Europa, of the fourth edition of the popular meeting Phe Yoga, with sessions of Balance inspiration, tai chi and pilates, hatha yoga, rocket yoga, meditation and breathing, and an ecstatic yoga dance session.

The parallel activities of Phe Festival 2023 are completed with days dedicated to wine culture, with visits to the Arautava, La Haya and La Suertita wineries, which include a tasting of the reference wines of these brands and gastronomic tasting. The festival site will have a space dedicated to promoting these wines in the so-called Wine Garden. 

Subscriptions and tickets per day to attend the festival are on sale on the platform Tickety.es. 

Phe Festival is organized by Phe Team with the support of the Culture area of the Puerto de la Cruz City Hall. It also has the sponsorship of the Government of the Canary Islands through the Canarian Institute for Cultural Development and the General Directorate of Youth, Canary Islands Tourism, as well as the Cabildo de Tenerife through its cultural and tourism management entities. The brands and companies Heineken Silver, Deichmann, Aqualia, Hospiten, Ikea, Levi's, Vans, Gordon's, Pepsi, Schweppes, Jägermeister, Ron Guajiro, Fuente Alta, Grupo Rahn, Labrador Cepsa Puerto de la Cruz, Vuse also collaborate. , Alehop, Isola, La Fast, Libby's. Collaborations in the mobility sector are grateful to Fred Olsen and Titsa. And in the local hotel field they have the support of the establishments Atlantic Mirage Suites & Spa (Macaronesian Hotels), Grupo Pez Azul, Atypicap, AFHoteles, Alua Soul Orotava Valley, Dwo Nopal, Hotel Marte and Skyview Hotel.