Galeria Dels Àngels and Llucià Homs) and the Newest One, Swab, Which Begins Its Journey in 2007

FOREWORD In our globalised world, the projection of each culture constitutes one of the indispensable strategies for the strengthening of diversity. We must be capable of turning this strategy into an opportunity for solidifying Catalan culture and making it more attractive, which requires a wider distribution of its own initiatives and products in the internal market as well as an effective outward exchange. The participation of eleven Catalan art galleries in the sixth edition of KIAF – one of the most important art fairs in Asia – constitutes a new opportunity. This catalogue compiles information of interest about these galleries. Amongst the artists in the catalogue that are introduced in Seoul are several internationally prestigious names, from Catalonia and other countries, such as Sean Scully, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Antoni Miralda, Evru, Martín Chirino, Christo, Antoni Muntadas, Vanessa Pey, Ignasi Aballí and Ester Partegàs, among others. This important initial contact with the vitality of the artistic market in Korea – and with the emerging role of the countries in eastern Asia – is the continuation of our own cultural projection. Catalan culture, with its inherent creativity and modernity, is striving to consol- idate its own presence abroad. This is being done at a time in which two ways forward into the future are found in intercultural dialogue and in exchanges of all kinds. JOAN MANUEL TRESSERRAS I GAJU Minister of Culture and the Media of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia CATALAN ART AND ITS CONTEXT NOTES ON A DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?”, Richard Hamilton asked himself in a collage in the year 1956, which has become an icon of pop art. “What is it that makes the artistic panorama of a city or a country interesting, exciting and consolidated?”, we could ask ourselves, paraphrasing Hamilton, to begin speaking about the artistic context in Catalonia. The answer is simple: a solid base that provides the education sector, artistic education, production, the scope of exhibitions, the market, which encourages discussion and debate, confrontation and exchange with other contexts. All of these things, in an urban and cultural context, serve as a stimulus for creation. However, the ideal is one thing and reality another. Although on many occasions, complications or disadvantages produce richer and more interesting situations (which are also better connected with reality) than what they may seem at first sight. It is well known; obstacles usually produce the desire to overcome… The artistic context in Catalonia has been evolving as a result of overcoming some adverse conditions. Catalonia has always had a geographical and intellectual proximity to Europe, and was a place of transit, and a centre of experimentation and the avant-garde during the first years of the twentieth century: with the sojourns of Marcel Duchamp in Cadaqués or Francis Picabia in Barcelona, or the appearance of galleries with key programmes, such as the Cadaqués Gallery in the 70s or the Sala Dalmau, which included Marcel Duchamps’s Nu baixant l’escala in the first exhibition of cubist art in 1912. Barcelona has also seen the birth of publications, such as the magazine 391 promoted by Picabia in the 20s, and a reissue of 291, Alfred Stieglitz’s publication in New York. Never- theless, a range of historic events (such as the Civil War between 1936 and 1939, and the post-war period) has brought changes and setbacks, as well as certain contradictions. When talking about the artistic context we have to start with the most important ele- ment, the artists. Catalonia is a country with an important number of visual artists, many of whom are members of various associations with a strong voice in the cultural dynamic. Within the scope of artistic education, beyond the university – where the relationship of artistic practices at any given moment depend entirely on the personal interest of the professors - in Catalonia we find an important number of parallel activities, conferences, seminars, workshops organised by museums, art or production centres, from the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) to production centres such as Hangar and Can Xalant, to name but a few. Moreover, if we are talking about artists, we should speak about production, a crucial aspect in the development of creation, which has become one of the main concerns of many art institutions. To be precise, institutionalisation seems to be the key word when we talk about art and culture. To understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to go back a lit- tle and remember some of the strategies developed in the eighties that contributed to the stabilisation of democracy. This was a time full of energy and excitement, in which Spain began a rapid process of modernisation, driven by the central government. This was the beginning of ARCO, the contemporary art festival held in Madrid, which very soon began to make a big impact in the media because it offered a modern and progressive image of the country. Although the Spanish market was not yet consolidated enough, the corporate collections began to concentrate their acquisitions within the context of the festival. From these references, it is easy to understand how this tendency towards institutionalisation resulted in a large quantity of public museums and centres of contemporary art that have been launched throughout the country over the last 10 years. If we focus only on the city of Barcelona, we find the Fundació Joan Miró, the Fundació Tàpies, the Cen- tre d’Art Santa Mònica and the Palau de la Virreina, as well as the contemporary art programmes of Fundació La Caixa or the Fundació Caixa de Catalunya. Other institutions that must be highlighted are the above-mentioned Hangar or Can Xalant, focussed on production, as well as the project rooms of the Espai 13 of the Fundació Miró, the Sala Montca- da or La Capella. The MACBA has assumed a central role in this field, becoming one of the most influential museums in the context of Europe. This panorama is not static and, in this sense, we can say that every time a new initiative appears, the whole structure has to be redefined and adapted to the new circum- stances. We can do no better than to give an historic example. During the years of the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975), Catalonia saw herself submerged in an oppressive cultural exclusion. Despite this, some initiatives worked in the interstices of this network. This was the case with the foreign culture institutes (the Goethe Institute, Institut Francès or the Institut d’Estudis Nord-Americans), which served as a bridge to cultural projects taking place in the rest of the world. There is another example related to the market. In a context in which private collections do not play a prominent role, art galleries have combined their commercial tasks with the development of genuine cultural programmes, such as the generation of debate and the exchange of ideas, as well as introducing artists of the first order, while always keeping in mind a necessary pedagogical slant. Thus, in the 70s (coinciding with the last years of an already very weak Francoism), Barcelona was experiencing a time of accelerated development, and, as a result of private initiative, promoted a series of events directed towards the re-taking and consolida- tion of an advanced cultural project open to the world. At that time there was a certain proliferation of contemporary art galleries (such as Maeght, Trece, Dau al Set, Ciento, Eude or Joan Prats), and conceptual aesthetics arose, which in re-establishing the nature of the artistic act, created a new type of space for exhibitions. Since then, the panorama of the city’s expositions has begun to welcome a wide range of exhibitions by world- renowned Catalan artists, such as Antoni Tàpies or the Dau al Set group, as well as other well-known international artists such as Kandinsky, Richard Hamilton and Christo. The 1980s, much more related to a re-interpretation of disciplines and the history of art as well with a return to more individualist attitudes, developed parallel to an international economic boom, which gave rise to an unprecedented explosion in the art market. The dizziness and euphoria of the 80s created a much more stable situation, less spectacular, but without doubt much more solid. Thus, during the 90s galleries such as Antoni Estrany, Àngels de la Mota and Senda were established, to name but a few. National and international artists, both the young and the established, participated in their programmes from Tàpies to Hans-Peter Feldman, through to Jaume Plensa, Thomas Ruff and Antoni Muntadas. Some of these galleries participated in the main international festivals. At this point, it is perhaps interesting to talk about youth art and for that we have to go back and refer to the fragile structural dynamic. Institutions which only four years ago offered programmes in Barcelona aimed at young artists, have given way to other initiatives, more on the periphery, which are presently playing this role: Processos Oberts of Terrassa, Can Xalant in Mataró, Hangar, Can Felipa or the Centre Cívic Sant Andreu in Barcelona… In the same way, new and young galleries appear with force, such as Nogueras-Blanchard, Projecte SD and ADN, along with other more established galleries, which incorporate a special attention to the creativity of youth in their programmes, such as Estrany-de la Mota, Toni Tàpies and Joan Prats. New festivals have also been established, such as Loop, which specialises in video and is promoted by three galleries (Sen- da, Galeria dels Àngels and Llucià Homs) and the newest one, Swab, which begins its journey in 2007.

Load more