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Motel X: Horror Film Festival in Lisbon
The horror genre in world film is among the favourites. And, undoubtedly, fear is one of the most used narrative themes in history. From the first oral stories that have existed, including before language as we know it today, until the gloomiest digital modern adventures, the horror genre doesn´t stop surprising us, captivating us and causing great fanaticism. And it´s because fear is an essential factor in many stories. The surprise factor, the suspense, the possibility of discovering the unknown or to be invaded by the unknown in a violent way, doesn´t stop causing fascination around the world. In modern film, classics like ´Dracula´ or ´Frankenstein´ were the first stories brought to the silver screen to cause horror. With time and the implementation of new narratives and technology, the horror genre has changed and mutated accordingly. And horror advances with culture, and it´s possibly one of the best ways to analyze societies with its paranoias and fetishes, its struggles to contain the hidden and to reveal it, to frighten the public, to scare it. Today, you only have to use a television or access the Internet to prove that horror is closer to all of us, around the corner if you want to say so. And these really are times of horror that we´re living in: global economic crisis, violence, wars… and, however, the public maintains the liking for horror in all of its shapes, in action, police and animation films. The horror genre is represented in all the possibilities in the reach of film, video, television and the internet. Generally, horror films in the United States usually tend...
International Bear Week in Sitges
Barcelona is one of Spain´s most liberal cities. The large quantity of visitors from around the world that arrive to the Catalan capital make of it a meeting point for various generations and styles, musical tastes, art and culture. Barcelona´s economy is effectively reliant on this large affluence of tourism. Therefore, different activities take place, from parties, festivals, concerts, exhibitions, cultural meetings and seminars among others, that promote cultural exchange and the visit of representatives from different countries. The openness that Barcelona has on a cultural, academic and artistic level makes it suitable for change and diffusion. On the other hand, there´s still great conservativeness among the people of Barcelona, above all when it comes to new trends and migrations. During the last ten years, Barcelona has grown in a considerable way due to the large quantity of immigrants, students and artists that arrive in the city looking for new encounters. That´s how, despite the break that tradition and culture brings, there´s a wide open mind when it comes to new sexual and gender identities. This way, Barcelona is an open bridge for the gay, lesbian and LGBT community in general. Sitges´ beach, located only a few minutes away, is one of the most popular places for the gay and lesbian community. On this beach, thousands of people gather every year to build a community and have a good time during summer. The nice sands, the shiny sea and the sun are perfect complements for whoever is looking for new friends, romance or maybe just an adventure. Sitges is only 35km away from Barcelona, which makes it easily accessible...
Ruth Ewan in the CAAC in Seville
Up until 16 October the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo hosts The Ephemeral Past, an art exhibit by Ruth Ewan. This exhibition forms part of a cycle entitled La Canción como Fuerza Social Transformadora organised by, and held at, the Andalucia-based gallery. This cycle looks at the role played by music and art in social change during the second half of the 20th century. During this period rock music emerged as a symbol of youthful rejection of conservative values. It became a symbol of freedom, protest and resistance. Music brought a change in everyday relationships, aesthetics and literature. The Beatles had a huge influence on male aesthetics, saying nothing of their enormous musical impact with their sophisticated take on rock and roll and skiffle and their pioneering use of psychedelia in pop. The work of British artist Ruth Ewan investigates the social impact of songs, oral traditions and myths in communities. She explores non-hierarchic communication: that which does not go through the usual channels like education or media, but is instead transmitted orally. In The Ephemeral Past Ewan exhibits five pieces that have been shown before: A Jukebox of People Trying to Change the World; Did you kiss the foot that kicked you?; Unrecorded Future Tell Us What Broods There; Fang Sang; and The Cut Wren. However, the exhibition also includes a conceptual work, Six Signs, created by the artist especially for the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo. In the piece, Did you kiss the foot that kicked you?, the artist brought together 100 buskers to perform The Ballad of Accounting, a song composed by Ewan MacColl in 1964. MacColl was a...
Murals under the magnifying glass at MUHBA in Barcelona
Gothic art, one of the most important in existence in the entire world, was born in Western Europe after the middle ages. The art originated in the north of France, but it soon expanded throughout the entire West. In the most part of Europe, Gothic art developed through many different forms which have today become high icons of art; central places for this include Germany, England and Spain. In counter position to Roman art, which expressed the rural society of peasants and fighters, the gothic represents the cultural development of the sectors of the bourgeoisie, the universities, the religious orders, and other, more revolutionary sections of society. Unlike the small rural churches which had principally displayed Roman art, Gothic art was characterised by incredible, vast constructions, full of light and unique; unmistakably original architecture. Although architecture is the most famous form of this artistic movement, it is not the only one; there are also numerous painting and other Gothic art works. It was in this style that the San Miquel chapel of the Pedralbes monastery was decorated; with mural work appointed in 1346 to Ferrer Bassa, who lived from 1285 until 1348, by abbess Francesca Saportella, for her cell. The works, as anyone immersed in the world of art will know, are closely related to the Franciscan devotion for the passion of the christ, the pleasures of the Virgin, and other saintly figures. The History Museum in Barcelona is presenting an exhibition called “Murales bajo la lupa. Las pinturas de la capilla de San Miquel”, until the 31st January, which is all about Gothic Barcelona, and its many important...
Birth of perspective in the Piazza del Duomo in Florence
In one of the entries of the marvelously penetrative and lucid book of notes, essays, interviews, drawings and description of projects of Bill Viola, ´Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House´. Writings 1973-1994´, the American artist reconstructs the transcendental implications of what probably happened in the Piazza del Duomo in Florence that day in 1425, when Philippo Brunelleschi, creator of the iconic and important Duomo, not yet finished by then, in the Santa Maria dei Fiore Cathedral, stood in front of the doors of this building and installed a small wooden box on a stand, looking at what has become the city´s oldest building, the famous and admirable Battisterio, not yet immortalized by the Doors of Paradise of Ghiberti, located right in front, on the other side of the piazza. Little by little his friends started to come, as well as different groups of people and ´cognoscenti´, an important part of the cream of Florence´s artistic community of that time, who Brunelleschi had previously invited to come by the piazza to check out with one eye (the other one had to be closed) through the small orifice that there was to one side of the box. By moving a lever a mirror came up, that put a small painting of the Battisterio right in front of them, in line and proportional to the first monocular and direct vision of the building which they´d come across before the ´operation´. Regarding the shape and geometry, both visions were hardly differentiable. Viola compares the scene with one of a photograph pioneer who makes a demonstration of how a camera works, because on...Adega da Tia Matilde Restaurant Lisbon
Typical Portuguese cuisine restaurant with a traditionally decorated atmosphere. They have a different menu for every day of the week.
Librería Xoroi Barcelona
Librería Xoroi is a place dedicated exclusively to books about psychology and psychoanalysis.
Whisky Autumn: Whiskey Festival in Berlin
When you watch a cowboy film, everyone´s drinking whiskey. If you think of Lemmy from Motorhead, he´s never stopped drinking whiskey. Parties, losses, celebrations, deflations… whiskey has always known how to feed the fire of so many drunken times which has been part of our every day life. The history of whiskey is long and deep, and it´s possible that it began to be distilled in Mesopotamia, around the year 2BC, by the Babylonians, with distilled aromas and perfumes. And so, the process of distillation was taken from Africa to Europe by the moors and its use began to spread among the monasteries, especially for medicinal use in the treatment for paralysis, colics and smallpox. As it was to be expected, from 1100 until 1300, the distillation process spread around England and Scotland, with distilleries existing in monasteries in Ireland from the 12th century. As well, because both islands have few vineyards for wine production, wheat beer was used instead of it, thus the appearance of whiskey. What´s true is that today, whiskey is one of the most drunk alcoholic beverages in all continents. Imagine a party where there´s not a single shot of whiskey available, it would be completely boring. There are so many versions of whiskey as there are of beer. They say that the first versions of whiskey were so strong that they were dangerous., and it didn´t happen until someone, by chance, opened an abandoned barrel that had been so for many years. Whisky Autumn Festival in Berlin is another chance to have a good time with friends and to try the best whiskey from...
Belle Epoque Portraits in Barcelona
La CaixaForum de Barcelona exhibe hasta el 20 de octubre Retratos. CaixaForum in Barcelona exhibits, until the 20th of October, ´Retratos de la Belle Epoque´ (Portraits of the Belle Epoque), which shows the historical period that goes from the end of the 19th century until 1914 – date of the First World War – through portraits. During this period there was a great change in European society that would affect art and the relationship between the artist and its public. It´s then when the first art avant-gardes surge, as well as impressionism, post-impressionism and Art Nouveau. The exhibition explores in a majestic way the iconographic and psychological transformations from a delimited period, through 78 works and 42 artists, among which we can find Giovani Boldini, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, John Singer Sargeant, Joaquín Sorolla, Oskar Kokoschka and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec among others. The works are organized around nine outlooks on the portrait of the Belle Epoque, which go from its beginning until the crisis that ends up in war. After the Franco-Prussian war, Europe lived a period of peace that lasted close to four decades. During that period, which is where Belle Epoque belongs, there´s a very important economic, technical and scientific development that would reflect in arts and thoughts. During those years, Sigmund Freud broke academia with his therapeutical practice of psychoanalysis. There are the years of the Industrial Revolution and the surge of Marxism, the proliferation of the unions, the large migrations of poor Europeans to the United States and urban growth. The process of enormous accumulation of the industrial bourgeoisie began to sophisticate its tastes...A Punto Bookshop Madrid
Wine and cuisine are two passions that many people have and A Punto is a specialized bookshop where you´ll be able to know both subjects in depth.
