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ONLY BE BARCELONIAN
Only-Be Barcelonian
Russian Architecture 1915-1935 at CaixaForum Barcelona
Until the 15th of April, the CaixaForum in Barcelona is showing an interesting exhibition about the architecture and vanguard art of the Soviet Union between 1915 – 1935. The show is made up of 250 photographs, drawings and models which belong to Moscow´s Schusev State Museum of Architecture, and the Costakis collection from The Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art. This exciting new exhibition focuses on a period of major urban and architectural development in the ex-Soviet Union. The era starts with the arrival of Stalinism – a time of high political contention and violence, but also of economic growth, and the birth of the ideals of proletarian revolution, which sought to break with the chains of oppression and global poverty. During this period of growth, the Soviet cities were redesigned according to a political project of transforming the once agrarian society into an industrial one. Huge central buildings of power sprung up, as well as wide avenues, and the Moscow underground. The architecture, which was heavily influenced by the harsh lines of constructivism and rationalism, was designed to reflect the strength and rectitude of Social Realism, and became the hallmark of the time. Constructivism was born in the Soviet Union with the October Revolution, which sparked the belief in a new, utopian society, where art and politics combine for an ideal society. So it was that Kasimir Malevich coined the term constructivism to describe the work of architect Alexander Rodchenko. It was a conceptualisation of art as a service for the revolution; the aesthetic of architecture was based on a massive social objective whereby the imagination of an...
The Go! Team in Barcelona
The Go! Team never ceases to amaze. With a sound that ranges from post punk, funk, ska and noise guitar, the combination they put on stage is so highly energetic that you forget you´re standing still, and without realizing, you fleet. The sextet formed in Brighton, UK, is one of the favorite bands of all those “intense” kids who do not miss any festival, you know who I mean. Rolling Blackouts is their latest album. Under what genre should we label this new piece? Ranging from shoegaze to the sounds of epic trumpets in the style of blackexplotation films of the 70´s. The theme “Rolling Blackouts” is an ode to My Bloody Valentine that has no limits; it’s the most beautiful one. “Back light 8 track” is a hymn to a boxing movie of the 70´s, with little cries and voices of a super pop style. Of course there is no shortage of necessary samplers. “Secretary song” is another mash-up of 60´s pop and dreampop choirs. “T.O.R.N.A.D.O” is the most rap style one. Perhaps what best describes bands like The Go! Team is the postmodern effort to condense in the most obvious way all sound spaces where they come from. That is to say, it´s a proof of our time, they make clear the origin of each song and style, it is like having a display ready to be heard with no greater desire than entertainment. I stop and compare the phenomenon with all interpretations of tracks from blues, rockabilly and beat that multiple bands, in all continents of the world performed between the 50´s and 60´s. See for...
Ibon Aranberri in the Antoni Tapies Foundation
Recently, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA) has acquired a piece dated from 2003, consisting of a closing actiong documented by photographs and several texts, using a metal structure of the access to a cave placed in a particular spot in the mountains of the Basque Country, with the particularity of allowing a small passage through which bats can enter and leave. However, the passage of people was completely closed. This is a work that aspires to give significance and recode the landscape by intervening in this landscape and which plays with philosophical notions of symbolism and identity. In the succinct words of the author of the piece, “the closing of my cave does not affect nature but human consciousness, and this is a fundamental difference… it may seem violent, but it is not. It only affects our image of what is sacred. It has a symbolic function”. The name of the operation is Ir. T. Nº513 zuloa. Extended Repertory. and its creator Ibon Aranberri (Itziar, Deba, 1969), an enigmatic artist who, being only fragmentarily known, in recent years has gained an increasingly international prestige thanks to similar works; works which were conceived in the form of projects somewhere between documentary narrative and abstract formalism where the essential artistic material is perhaps nature and history. Now and until the 15th of May, after three successive postponements, the Antoni Tapies Foundation in Barcelona (255 C/Arago, http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/) devotes a retrospective exhibition curated by Nuria Enguita Mayo covering the last ten years of his artistic activity where you will see Ir. T. Nº513 zuloa. Extended Repertory, a great illustration of...
Un siglo de circo: Exhibition at Arts Santa Mónica
The cultural phenomenon of the circus has gradually undergone a resurgence, thanks to the recent recognition of the complexity of the circus arts. Even if circuses have often been seen as places of animal exploitation, this recognition of its aesthetics, and its contribution to fine art is an opportunity to delve a little deeper. Beyond the “cruel” label of the spectacle is a wonderful way of life, whose inhabitants live for their art – an art which forces them to adapt and sacrifice a lot. Itinerant, ephemeral and diverse, the circus troupe traverses the globe – great cities and small villages alike – showcasing it´s joyful, virtuoso world. The big top and all that goes on inside it involves a lot of hard work. The inhabitants of the circus are its creators; tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, jugglers, magicians, clowns – each person has their own special role in the circus micro-community. Circuses are often made up of entire families, and is a lifestyle which is passed down, from generation to generation. Telling these stories – or at least one of them – was the aim of exhibition “Un siglo de circo” (“A century of the circus“), where we learn about Paulina Andreu Rivel, daughter of famous Barcelona-born clown Charlie Rivel.* She may not be as well known as her father, but Paulina Andreu Rivel has had an active career in the circus – on the eve of her 90th birthday – is almost a century old. A collection of photographs tell the story of Paulina Rivel, and the many well-deserved tributes she has received over the years – the...
Neil Harbisson: the cyborg-artist who hears colors
Have you ever thought how would the world be like without its colors? Seeing black and white (and grey) is a disease known as “color blindness” and Neil Harbisson was born with this hereditary condition but managed to develop (and affirmed) his career thanks to a sensor called “eyeborg” who became the first cyborg known throughout the world. Harbisson was born in London in 1984 and raised in Barcelona (Mataro), where he originally studied a Bachelor of Arts at the High School Alexandre Satorras. Here, because of his particular visual condition he was allowed to use only white, black and grey in his works. At the age of 18 he moved to Dublin, where he continued his artistic studies in the musical industry, being accepted at Dartington College of Arts (in England) where he studied composition and piano. It was at this time when his life changed radically, thanks to an encounter with Adam Montandon, a cybernetics professor at the University of Plymouth expert in techniques to expand the senses through technology. The two worked together in creating a tool called “eyeborg” a cybernetic system capable of recognizing lighting impulses and converting colors into musical notes. The “eyeborg” was awarded the British prize for innovation awarded by the Submerge in Bristol in 2004 and in the same year, it took first prize in the Interface Design Europe Europrix Multimedia Top Talent Award in Vienna. Thanks to this device, Harbisson could begin to perceive their environment differently, combining his passion for music and visual arts, and creating a series of works that are pictorial representations of musical pieces and vice...
Nacho Vegas gives up drugs and performs in Barcelona
The Zona Sucia is his fifth album, after three years of his brilliant Manifesto Disaster Nacho Vegas comes back and wins again. From his beginnings with Manta Ray I followed everything this Spaniard made, with almost religious conviction. Please note, the taste does not go indie, you know I am totally for blues, but it is precisely here where Nacho gets to sink his way to build characters in his subjects is of high quality, as well as with an endearing simplicity, as a friend says: “he embraces you and warms you”. La Zona Sucia is that side of the formula 1 highway where there is waste. What is this album about then? You guessed it! About loss, heartbreak, the end of romance, the one who leaves. But La Zona Sucia has few of dark, despite its shadow, it glows, gives hope, lightens. Album of just 44 minutes, ready for two sides of vinyl, La Zona Sucia meets a mature Nacho Vegas from a musical point of view, with more synthesis and a lot of energy. How standing the lack of love in good mood? Just listen to songs like “La gran broma final”, “Reloj sin manecillas”, “Perplejidad, and you’ll have the answer.”Lo que comen las brujas” will make you cry thinking of your mother just arrived from the store with candies. Trust me. Curiously this album came out February 14. Nacho says he tried to avoid it, but everything, sure, everything that is avoided is what pursues us most. As stated in the lyrics of “La Comedia Humana”: and if I look at you we don’t talk, although...
LP11 in Barcelona
The body as a center of expression, speech and action. Questions about current performances, the scene above rigorous aesthetic issues, how the viewer gets involved during the performance, which is the boundary between performer and audience, all these issues will be treated during the LP11. Rather than a festival for pure entertainment, LP11 offers a comprehensive dialogue from different corners of the performance through various actions at the CCCB (Contemporary Culture Centre of Barcelona), La Porta and the Mercat de les Flors. Among what is truly Tony Orricowork´s work, who with his piece Pennwald Part 2: 8 circles, explores concepts of movement and drawing, using his body as a measure of a series of circles and geometric shapes on the stage, referring to processes of physical and mechanical writing: the pictures are written by a body during the action itself, on stage. Beautiful! Another author you can’t miss is the brilliant Antoni Karkowski. He will be giving a talk in addition to the performance Horizon 2. This Polish, former member of Group A, painter and performer, carries out works that border on the poetic from archetypal and ritualistic figures, especially through materials that interact with the body, his performances are of a singular density. Perhaps my greatest interest to him is that his work goes beyond cultural contexts: in a world increasingly separated and generating multiple virtual spaces in cyberspace, identity is diluted. Thus, with materials ranging from water, paper, wax and others you can find on the shelves of any home in the universe, Karkowski draws attention to his particularities and our conditioning to use them, as well...
Aranjuez Concert at The Palau de la Musica Catalana
El Palau de la Musica Catalana is quite possibly Barcelona´s most beautiful concert venue rivaled only by the elegant Liceu Opera House. It is a special treat to see a show in this Modernista masterpiece, designed by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner in 1908. From its rosette covered ceilings to the mighty and mystical pegasus busts which spring forth around the center stage, El Palau is worth a visit all on its own. I say kill two birds with one stone, and see the rich interior of El Palau while listening to a top-notch classical concert. El Palau is not open to visitors unless they sign up for a guided tour, which is about 12.00 euros. Put that money towards a night of music, and see El Palau as it is meant to be experienced, as a part of the audience. El Palau has concerts almost every night of the week, and hosts several music festivals a year so options are abundant. However, this March my classical concert pick is the “Sinfonietta from Sofia”. These talented musicians will perform segments of the quintessential Spanish pieces: Concierto Aranjuez (Rodrigo) Carmen (Bizet), and El Amor Brujo (Falla). The guitar solo in Concierto Aranjuez will be performed by master guitarist Rolando Saad, who has played Concierto Aranjuez professionally more than any other Spanish guitarist. Tickets to the concert can be purchases at El Palau de la Musica box offices, or online (see below). El Palau is a small venue, and there aren´t bad seats. Still, for the best view front and center expect to pay between 34.00 and 50.00 euros. For...
Get Jazzed Up in Barcelona
More than any other music, the good people of Barcelona seem to embrace jazz. Throughout the summer months there is free jazz in the parks, and many a jazz festival passes through the Catalan Capital each year. Most nights of the week there is jazz to be heard somewhere in Barcelona. If you´re in the mood for something soulful, then check out these Barcelona jazz hot spots. JAMBOREE This is the first place to look for live jazz. Jamboree has music 7 nights a week, with a jam session on Mondays. Local and international jazz acts play at this hip and central Barcelona club. Tickets for concerts at Jamboree range between 10 and 15 euros, but never more. This low price means that all sorts of people come to Jamboree to see music. Check out their line up online:http://www.masimas.com/jamboree/ LUZ DE GAS This posh jazz club is known for its chic ambiance. Shows at Luz de Gas usually include two sets, an opener at 9pm and a second act around midnight or 1am! Some big names in music have played here, such as the Alan Parsons Project, Bonnie Raitt, and Noa. Ticket prices vary quite a bit depending on who the musician is. Expect to pay anywhere from 10.00 to 20 euros a seat (or more). See their website for up-coming concerts. http://www.luzdegas.com/ HARLEM On the other end of the spectrum from the refined tables at Luz de Gas, is Harlem Jazz Club. Harlem is a little more rough around the edges, which is why it is popular with many Barcelona locals. Despite the name, Harlem offers up more...
Jodorowsky in Barcelona: Dreams and fantasy
From 23rd February to 2nd March, the Caixa Forum will be holding a series of conferences themed around dreams, and the fascination that this biological activity has long held for the science world, led by writer, director, playwright and tarot expert, Alejandro Jodorowsky – a man well-known in the world of dream interpretation. We spend a large part of our lives dreaming – and not just during sleep, but also day-dreaming, which allows us to escape reality, and transport us to a fantasy world free of problems. Which is why the function of dreams and fantasy are crucial for healthy mental development, and a generally balanced body and mind. If we consider the fact that we live in a virtual society, where communication and social life have stopped being physical, with fantasies created about people we know via social networking sites – we realise that fantasy is something we encounter on a daily basis, particularly during our dreams, where the two often merge. This is why the study of dreams and their contents is an enormous point of interest in today´s society, just as it was for Swiss clinical psychiatrist and essayist Carl Gustav Jung, who collaborated with Sigmund Freud, dedicating himself to dream analysis. Jung discovered a key part of the subconscious mind which is shared by all human beings, which transcends all kinds of geographic or racial origin. It is characterized by archetypes, instinctive behavioural and perceptive patterns found in the dreams of all cultures, throughout the history of mankind. Jung studied the hallucinations of the mentally ill, finding that they all shared key characteristics throughout the world, which implied that the human...Promotions
