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Mónica Boixeda
On 14 May, from 7 pm until 1 am, all the museums in Barcelona will be open to art and culture lovers, as well as those of us who may not be in the habit of visiting museums but are interested in enjoying a different kind of night out. La Noche de los Museos en Barcelona (Museum Night in Barcelona) forms part of International Museum Day 2011, established by the International Council of Museums with the slogan ‘Museum and Memory’. This open day seeks to bring people closer to the treasures housed inside each museum, as well as highlighting the importance of the conservation work that is done by these institutions: places that guarantee the preservation and upkeep of our cultural heritage. The word museum comes from the Latin, mus?um, which comes in turn from the Greek, m???????, but if refers to a public or private entity dedicated to conserving, caring for, investigating and exhibiting collections which represent some aspect of human life, whether that be natural history, art, clothing or architecture etc. The concept of the museum has always been linked to the dominant and exclusive vision of a culture. In the past, they were often built to restrict access to the objects they stored, having been designed as places for experts only. However, this has begun to change in recent years with the realization that museums are not places built just for those who work in them, and that they should acknowledge the outside world by helping people to appreciate the culture they house. Museum directors are concerned about the lack of interest shown by much of the public...
Mónica Boixeda
It´s about time that local governments started to worry “more” about the environment. Well, we say “start” – “Go Green” has been on the agenda for over 30 years; and yet we seem to have the same problem, which is that our natural resources are disappearing, and that nothing seems to be able to stop it happening. Ecocity&Industry 2011 brings to the table some questions about the conservation of the environment, and some potential solutions for industry and consumers. This time round, Ecocity presents “Environmental solutions for industry and the city,” held via various installations in the Fira de Barcelona. The proposals are highly innovative – with issues broached such as waste and recycling, water shortage, renewable energies, prevention of labour risks, amongst others. The importance of this event is clear – not only for businesses, but the citizens of Barcelona, and indeed the rest of Spain and Europe.During the previous Ecocity, which was in 2009, there were a total of 160 exhibitors and around 9000 visitors. One of the exclusives of the event was the new Barcelona waste bins, adapted for disabled people, and which will put in use from November 2011. In that case, I wonder how much more time has to pass before the local governments actually put their current ingenious solutions in place. In general, I tend not write about these kinds of things – but it´s genuinely alarming how our cities are treating the environment. Adding to that the ongoing economic crisis, and the general sense of malcontent it has created, our cities will just become poorly mechanisms moving towards an generation of wasteland....
Mónica Boixeda
Music and dance are two elements which have the power to free the spirit – and electronica is one genre which is particularly innovative in this respect. What sets Folcore apart from other emergent groups is that it takes the music of Latin America into the marginal musical communities of Europe. Folcore was born as an audiovisual collective in underground spaces round Barcelona. It´s counter-cultural approach seeks to bring together different rhythms of displaced, alienated communities in the context of the economic crisis, and globalisation which has provoked people to turn to new creative horizons. Aside from the collective´s critical, multicultural approach, they the mix sounds of the cumbia villera, which was born in the marginal neighbourhoods of Argentina,; vallenato colombiano, along with others which merged the styles of reggae, salsa, bailanta, malambo, Brazilian rhythms and Angolan Kuduro. The challenge of transporting electronic music to the ethnic musical landscape, creating new tones and styles in order to provoke an aesthetic, expressive effect has prompted recognition amongst fans and lovers of electronic music and dance in Barcelona. The special thing about this type of music is its roots – most of which are variations of music styles which grew out of poor areas, where delinquency and cultural resistance were channeled into dance. Latin America has proved the fertile ground on which to express social phenomenon through music – in the 60s and 70s there was a surge in protest music, which took traditional sounds to articulate reactions to the political changes of the revolution. The 80s were marked by the Nueva Trova born in Cuba, which adapted itself to the...
Mónica Boixeda
On the 14th of May the Konzertaus Festival dedicated to Gustav Mahler takes place in Vienna as part of the XXXV Music Festival that will include nearly 60 concerts under the motto “Mahler and America” to celebrate the Mahler Year. For the opening act the interpretation of Mahler´s symphony will be interpreted by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. At the reception there will be a an interesting symposium about the live, work, influence of his music and death of Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler was born in Bohemia in 1860. He was a composer and the most recognized orchestra director at the end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX century. He wrote 10 symphonies even thou the last one was mere sketches impregnated with sounds of folk music he used to enjoy listening to. Mahler was a reformer of classical music which lead him to compose very interesting pieces based on poems by Fiedrich Rucket like “The Boy with Magical Horn” or “The Song of the Dead Boys”. He died in Vienna in 1911. Out of these almost 60 concerts of international music, the organization highlights the performance of Ian Bostridge and Florian Boesch as well as the acclaimed Music banda Franui with its iconoclastic presentation of Mahler´s earlier compositions, so strongly admired among modern classic music lovers. Important string quartets have been invited to participate, among others that can be heard we find The Pacifica Quartet, Hagen Quartet, Belcea and Mosïques along with front line guests such as Isabel Charisius, Pierre Laurent Aymará and Mihaela Urselesas. There will also be piano and violin concerts with interesting interpretations...
Mónica Boixeda
From the 14th of May, MACBA presents exhibition Museo de las Narrativas Paralelas, commissioned by Zdenka Badovinac and Bartomeu Marí. It is the first to be organised by The International, which is an initiative formed by five European museums, in 2009, of over 40,000 works. The show compiles one hundred pieces from the Galerija Museum of Modern Contemporary Art in Slovenia, in participation with the Bratislava Julius Koller Society Museum, Van Abbemuseum, de Eindhoven Museum van Edendaagsen Kunst, de Amberes, and MACBA in Barcelona. This interesting exhibition attempts to question the existing narratives in art, in which western area of Europe has implemented a series of aesthetically acceptable rules; ignoring the important creative processes taking place in the ex-Soviet Union – two parallel creative processes which did not meet. Despite the creative richness which arose from the complex political climate, many Eastern European artists are practically unknown, along with their work. During the 70s and 80s there took place interesting experimentation with the notion of the body amongst artists in Eastern Europe, who challenged and questioned the social, political and philosophical norms, denouncing the banality of power, and the irrationalities of the Soviet communist regime. It was a kind of aesthetic which confronted power through the use of the body as a liberator. Amongst these artists were Czechs Pert Stembera and Jan Mlcoch, who made installations using their bodies as a comment on the socio-political reality, deliberately subjecting themselves to physical danger and violence. Stembera started out as a painter in 1966, before moving to Paris after the events of 1968 and experimenting with self-inflicted experiments, such as going...
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