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ONLY BE BARCELONIAN
Only-Be Barcelonian
Late nights during the summer at MACBA.
An interesting idea occurred to a number of museums a few years ago: why not stay open late the long and hazy nights of summer? This initiative seeks to open up these spaces to those who work during the day or might not normally be able or interested in going to museums.The Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, also known as MACBA, is one of the pioneers in this type of initiative and each year has several summer concerts as part of “Nits del MACBA”. This year, the museum will be open until midnight on Thursdays and Fridays, so that museum visitors can enjoy the night. One of those special nights will be on September 23, to end the summer. Visitors can enjoy all the exhibitions on display there. Starting from the Museum´s permanent collection, which contains works from some of the most important contemporary Spanish and international artists like Eduardo Chillida, Clyfford Still, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhard, Philip Guston and Franz Kline, along with works by informalists like Joan Hernández Pijuan, Albert Rafols Casamada, Modest Cuixart, and Antoni Tàpies. There are also temporary exhibitions such as an exhibit on International Letterist society Gil J Wolman, a journey through the archives of the Fischer collections, one of the most important collectors and curators of contemporary conceptual art, and Parallel, a show of experimental artist’s Benet Rossell cinema tinged works. We promise that there is nothing more exciting than travelling through the halls of an art museum in the wee hours of the evening. Rent the best lodging and step out of your fabulous apartments in Barcelona to...
Outdoor Cinema this summer in Barcelona at Montjuic
Montjuic is a treasure trove, flanked by the Palace Museum of Art, the Ethnographic Museum surrounded by pleasant gardens, a botanical garden and topped by ancient fortified castle originally constructed in1640 now employed as a military museum, Every year the beautiful natural area of Montjuic is filled with cultural activities both for those who inhabit this city and for the thousands of visitors who walk its streets in the warm days during the summer. Theatre, music, dance, sports all attract people to this emblematic and symbolic corner of Barcelona One of the most successful events is its animated cycle of Open Air Cinema. The program doesn’t just focus on film, but also but a fair mix of music, film and the possibility for visitors to Barcelona apartments to share a moment of leisure and relaxation in a pleasant natural environment. Each time the cycle starts at about 21:00 pm with a varied musical program that lasts an hour followed by the projection on the side of Montjuic Castle of both classic and modern movies. During August, the program consists of three projections. The first of these is the film Revolutionary Road, which will be screened on Monday August 2nd. This film by American director Sam Mendes is set in the 50´s and features stunning acting by mega-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a young couple who must fight for their ideals. The second is the director Matteo Garrone´s controversial film Gomorra which will be shown on Wednesday, August 4th. It exposes all the corrupt networks and the powerful connections of the Italian Camorra. To end the month of...
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Channels the Ghost of Glam Rock: PART 2
We talked in an earlier article on the cult phenomenon inspired by the musical and the movie “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”, similar in some respects to the fan movement that sprang up around “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” In both cases the impact of the film was such that shortly after its premiere, fan clubs that regularly projected the film and sang while dressed as glamorously as their favourite characters got together. In the case of Hedwig, diehard fans of the film are called “Hedheads”, a nickname probably related to Hedwig´s huge blonde wig … In effect, during the film Hedwig´s fans appear at her concerts are with huge yellow polystyrene wigs as they pay tribute to Hedwig. Hedwig´s own name could have been chosen as a play on words, as “head wig ” literally means “wig “. At the Hedwig parties that happen worldwide, it is customary to project the film and dance and sing to the popular songs in the room, both during the projection as well as in some kind of karaoke later. There are usually hundreds of colourful gummy bears, like those in an important scene from the movie … Overall Hedwig parties are fun events, very frantic and crazy, which revive the glam spirit of this playful and transgressive movie. In Barcelona there are places that occasionally organize screenings of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” especially in alternative venues such as the Scorpion´s Nest http://www.nidodelescorpion.com, a basement of Raval in the recently held a full-fledged Hedwig party, complete with a screening of the film, good music, many costumes and a truly memorable performance by...
Armin van Buuren in Istanbul
Istanbul has a lively cultural life, and it would be a shame to miss out on this summer´s pleasant surprises, especially for music lovers. In the coming months there will be concerts by Massive Attack (13 July), Faithless (July 17), The Cranberries (July 22), U2 (6 September) and the rust-proof heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne (30 September). This year, travelers to Istanbul will also have an opportunity to see one of the Deities of the Trance world, the Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren, who will spin 16 July in the Maçka Küçükçiftlik Park. Van Buuren has been voted best DJ in the world for 3 years running by readers of DJ Magazine, beating the equally famous and well known Tiësto and Paul Van Dyk. In 2008 also was voted as the best trance artist under the Beatport Music Awards and in March 2010 Armin was awarded the Gouden Harp, the highest recognition that musical artists in the Netherlands can win. Van Buuren began his DJ sessions in 1995 in Nexus club, while he was still in high school. Then he started with his studies in law school, but never lost his passion for music. Since the beginning, he has had his own production studio, and has always combined his dj work with being a producer. Just a few of his hits: “Touch me”, “Communication”, “The Sound of Goodbye”, “Walhalla” … Armin van Buuren has had a golden career. He has spun in clubs around the world, and was resident dj with Godskithchen of Ibiza, as well as having a popular radio broadcast, “A State of Trance” with millions of...
Edvard Munch or the Anti-Scream
The Paris Pinacothèque revisits the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) in an exhibition called the “Edvard Munch or the anti-scream.” Although this artist is internationally known for his painting “the scream” there are literally thousands more reasons to appreciate his work. Munch was incredibly productive throughout his life, and when he died, left more than 1,000 paintings, 15,400 prints, 4,500 drawings and watercolours, and six sculptures to the city of Oslo. That´s more than just one scream! The evolution of his painting can not be separated from his personal evolution, because his fragile health, both physical and mental, difficult family life and economic instability influenced his career. But through art found a way of expressing existential doubts, anxiety and c find a way to compulsively “open the heart.” He surrounded himself with artists and writers, bohemians and nihilists, and his personal life on several occasions led him to violence. The exhibition at the Pinacothèque, organized into five chronological sections to elucidate lesser-known facets of his artistic career, will run until July 18, 2010. His work touched on symbolism, naturalism, impressionism and expressionism, and he also began doing more and more portraits in the last stage of his career. The commercial success of his work, due in part to the controversy provoked by his paintings, motivated him to use screen printing to produce images for sale, like a proto Andy Warhol, First, his art was condemned by critics, then the Nazis, then was reclaimed (and even in sometimes notorious cases, stolen!) as the product of a deeply inspiring artist and key figure in the development of 20th century...
Artist friends – Georg Baselitz and Benjamin Katz
The friendship of the German artist Georg Baselitz and Belgian photographer Benjamin Katz began more than four decades ago and is now commemorated with an exhibition in Helsinki, which not only shows the last work of this neo-expressionist artist, but also will dedicate a space to Katz´s portraits of Baselitz, made in the last twenty years. Sons of modernity, these two fascinating figures have always been linked by having the courage to find their own path and their faith in change, as well as their incessant interest in the past. Baselitz, for example, has always been attracted to the darker parts of German history of as was, as well as the darkest parts of his own history. Katz, on the other hand, started in art by opening his own gallery, and then devoted himself exclusively to photography. Central themes of his work include his friends and acquaintances, important personalities from the world of art, both artists and those who operate behind the scenes: curators, gallerists, critics, collectors, etc. And in that sense, the work of Katz works as a sociological archive of the world of art then and now. Like Baselitz, he has found a way to deal with the past and pay tribute to it without losing sight of the present. In this latest exhibition at the Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace, which opened on April 16, Baselitz is engaged again to his own past as way of “remixing” his former positions. With “Remix”, the artist tries to reinterpret the dark and anxious tone of his early works with infractions of lightness and spontaneity. Katz´s work, meanwhile, is...The Night of San Juan
When I was younger, on the night of San Juan in France, I found it very boring. For me, it was nothing more than a crazy group of adults dressed up, dancing around a giant bonfire and drunkenly ambling in the street. Later on, when I discovered the night of June 23 Catalan style in Barcelona it was totally different, a magical and unforgettable time for both children and adults. A Night for Witches and Wishes This party is a gold-mine for photographers, as they can see how the beach morphs overnight. As the hours pass, the sand fills with people, who arrive with their dinners and kids. The beach begins to fill with young people who gather in bars or set up their own makeshift bars, complete with music, bonfires, alcohol and BBQ. Children come with their pockets full of firecrackers and light them until dawn. People jump into the sea, dance in the sand and throw fireworks … And the next morning when city officials come to clean the scene of the crime, they not only find kilos of garbage, but also lovers baking in the sun … Souvenirs, souvenirs … Lovers or friends who participate in the festivities should comply with the Spanish traditions for good luck: As the flames burn higher, you should jump though the fire while making a wish, or write three wishes down on a paper which is then cast into the burning flames. Typically a cake called “coca” is eaten, it’s similar to a brioche, and filled with cream, candied fruit and pieces of butter. This cake is round like the...
Kubrick’s Early Photos
Stanley Kubrick is known as the great director of some of the most important films of the twentieth century. Without a doubt, he has been one of the most influential and inspiring figures, not only with regards to the cinema, but twentieth century arts in general. His film aesthetic was marked by the revolutionary concepts of the German theatre developed by Bertolt Brecht. Brecht´s epic theatre which promoted the idea that theatre is a representation of reality on a stage, and always should maintain its artificial and groundbreaking nature, to encourage a critical eye in the audience. Kubrick´s work is now seen as a turning point in the history of celluloid. What few people know is that his first foray into the world of art began with a series of assignments from LOOK magazine when he was just 17 years old. The young Kubrick took his camera, and set forth to portray post-war American life in a comic mode, and produced a visual narrative. In these photographs the broad strokes of his cinematic language are already visible: his humour, obsession with the dark and focus on things that are easily overlooked. This marks the first time these photographs have been shown as part of a museum exhibition. Regione Pallazzo in Milan houses the exhibition, which opened on the 16th of April and will be open until the 4th of July. The exhibition is divided into narrative sections composed of the photos Kubrick shot for the magazine. It is impressive to see incredible sensitivity and maturity that the young director already possessed, and above all, his ability to capture the...
What can we eat?
It’s been more than 20 years since both obesity and the number of diets to follow both increasing We’ve gone from demonizing fat, to sugar, to too much meat and animal products, to carbohydrates, or blame our parents for having transmitted the gene for obesity or having taught us poor eating habits. To Marion Nestle, nutrition professor at New York University, however, the culprit is actually food industry itself. The truth is that few people know what to eat. And apparently the food industry knows very well how to take advantage of this ignorance, promote dubious truths about food to encourage consumers to eat up more of these nutritionally bankrupt new products, which have been invading the supermarkets in recent years. Nestle wants to shed light on the ins and outs of the food industry, because she is fed up with the lies and manipulation of an industry which, honestly, cares far more for their money than our health. Here are some rules that will help you make healthy choices when going to the market. 1. Do not eat anything your grandmother would not identify as food. So that cereal bar with a strange white layer of sticky “dairy product” which promises to be“just like drinking a glass of milk and eating cereal”: you guessed it, it’s not real food. 2. Try to walk about in the outermost aisles of the supermarket, where you will often find fresh produce and healthier options. Everything you find in the centre aisles is generally loaded with sugar, artificial colours, preservatives, hydrogenated vegetable fat and other nasty ingredients that you probably will not...
Food – Mea(l)ns of Communication
In the Western culture is it considered rude if you talk with your mouth full. However, have you ever sat at the dinner table and it was completely silent? Social gatherings nearly always include food. Having a meal together is a strong tool for our social communication and interaction. In fact, many times it is not just the meal itself that is important, often the preparation that goes into it as well. The popularity of cooking shows on TV support this notion. The exhibition Kochen, essen, redden – satt? (transl. cooking, eating, talking – full?) at the Museum of Communication in Berlin aims to reiterate the powerful role that food and meals have as tools of communication. Displaying historical flashbacks, amusing anecdotes, art, literature work, as well as anthropological analysis of daily rituals and comparisons, the exhibition shows in an interdisciplinary manner how closely knit the bond between cooking, eating and talking is. The exhibition is divided into 5 segments which all focus on different aspects and scenarios of eating: 1. zuhause essen (eating at home) is something that happens everyday in every household and yet it can be so different. From childhood memories to private dinner parties to lonely dinners in front of the TV. 2. draussen essen (eating outside): eating outside at the camp fire is how eating in a group began, but today there’s different reasons for eating outside: no time, no home, love of nature… 3. auswärts essen (eating out): cafeterias, restaurants, snack bars, etc. 4. öffentlich essen (eating publicly): eating to see and be seen. It’s all a matter of image. 5. richtig essen...Promotions
