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Last posts

Illuminazioni: the 54th Venice Biennale

Mónica Boixeda Only-Be, Venetian

With all the contradictions of contemporary art, a biennial involves nothing more than a business opportunity for networking where galleries compete for being the agents of any artist. Let it be said without hesitation: contemporary art is doing nothing for helping the current situation that pervades culture. May the word be read in capital letters: CRISIS. Although a significant part of the contemporary world wants to march in favor of gender equality, the fall of walls, the marginalized population and the problems between bordering countries, which are often reflected on numerous installations, videos and performances, not much happens. And it is better not to mention the residency programs that cost a fortune. What they generate are artists who enter to a cultural market, sometimes without being aware of it. Thus, they do not have a significant impact on the society. But before crisis pervaded us and before art came to an end, the Venice Biennale started around 1895, as an exhibition of international Avant-Garde, characterized by its interdisciplinary nature. For more than 100 years, it has been one of the most renowned cultural institutions in the world, which is constantly promoting new artistic trends, positioning important contemporary artists and organizing different events. Among the many events that The Venice Biennale host are the Film Festival, the Architecture Biennale, the Contemporary Music Biennale, the Theater Biennale and the Dance Biennale, comprising all the artistic fields. This year, the Venice Biennale is accessible to the public from the 4th of June until the 27th of November at the Gardini and Arsenale pavilions, as in other locations around Venice. This year, the... read more

The Alcazaba in Málaga

Mónica Boixeda Malagueño, Only-Be

Nietzsche said in his characteristic and incomparable emphatically style, while using all the power of hyperbole , as it corresponds to an artist, to give dramatic force to the idea that for his friends and loved ones he did not want happiness and a life free of hazards risks, pain and suffering, but quite the contrary. Because he wanted that his loved one to live to the last drop of their life, so that they would get drunk with its most delicate and inspiring perfumes, and this was only possible by visiting the dangerous side of things. Only the long-suffering are able to experience and recognize true pleasure, only he who knows what disease is, is able to understand the greatness of becoming and its infinite game of opposites, that is, to appreciate life on what really mattes, the victory of its ineffable entire musical and bountiful abundance. He often illustrated this concept with the example of his walks in the mountains, Once while he was “six thousand feet above men and time,”he had a revelation of the eternal return generated by Zarathustra and much of the most exciting, seductive and powerful inspiration of his awesome work appeared there. Mountain walks are tough and tiresome, the body is exposed to dangers and hardships, the weather is not always our ally, and the rigors of climbing can often lead to despair, but only by putting this aside we are able to reach the summit and then from the top, it gives us a wonderful and clear view that we strongly, deeply and, delicately value, precisely because to get there we... read more

The abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris

Mónica Boixeda Only-Be, Parisian

The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is considered the oldest church in Paris. Located in District 6,a graceful neighborhood full of cafes, art galleries and luxury shops. It was a very intellectually and prestigious area at the time of existentialism when cafes were frequented by intellectuals such as Sartre and Beauvoir. Located on the left bank of the seine river at the outskirts of early medieval Paris, a location prone to flooding at the time of its construction, the Abbey had to be placed in the middle of the prairie or “pres” in French, hence the name. Founded in the sixth century by the Merovingian king Childebert I. In 542, at war with Spain, the king withdrew the siege on the city of Zaragoza when he learned that its inhabitants had seeked protection from San Vicente Martir. In gratitude, the bishop of Zaragoza gave the Merovingian saint´s robe, and Childibert on his return to Paris built the Santa Cruz Cathedral in order to house the relic and lay conserve kings tombs. After the Benedictine monastery was erected It is believed that that was when it took its current name from the bishop of Paris, Monsignor Germain. In the ninth century, the church was looted and burned to the ground at least four times by the Normans, leaving only the columns in the clerestory. It was rebuilt and enlarged in the 12th century by Pope Alexander III. The Romanesque bell tower of the entrance was built as a solid buttress to support the weight of large bells, and is one of the oldest that are still standing in France. The French... read more