Volum! Exhibition at Macba Museum Barcelona

“Volum!” turns visitors to the Macba into listeners on a physical journey that aims to move from the central role of more classic three dimensionality to that of the volume of sound and voice as key artistic production materials, for exploring the transition from the 20th to the 21st century.

And it does so through 350 works of art by 75 international artists, including Miquel Barceló, Samuel Beckett, Luis Gordillo, Richard Hamilton, Joan Miró, Xavier Miserachs, Muntada, Juan Muñoz, Bruce Nauman, Antoni Tàpies, Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Allan McCollum, Anselm Kiefer, Latifa Echakhch and James Coleman.

This is the first in a series of large-scale exhibitions jointly organised by the Macba and the “la Caixa” Foundation with various selections of the 5.500 works that make up the collections of the two institutions.

The exhibition questions the continued validity of the white cube as an architectural model in which the eye is the only means of accessing art.

Paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos and installations all form part of this exhibition which explores artistic practices from the mid twentieth century to the present day, highlighting the change in the sensory paradigm.

Highlights of the exhibition include: the video Not I, a dramatic monologue that Samuel Beckett brought to television; the video installation by Bruce Nauman Shit in your hat; the room with geometric tiles Waste Land, by Juan Muñoz; the painting Saison des pluies nº2, by Miquel Barceló; the installation Hey Joe, by Kristin Oppenheim, and Cristina Iglesias‘ Corredor Suspendido II.

Gustave Courbet and Realism at MNAC Barcelona

The French Painter Gustave Courbet rocked the art world in the 19th century. Through his brush, reality entered painting: Realism was born.

With the aim of tracing his footsteps in our country, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) is exhibiting, until July 10th, a selection of his most outstanding works, most of which are being shown in Spain for the first time. The exhibition reveals Courbet’s influence on Catalan painting in the period, most of all through the work of Ramon Martí Alsina, the man responsible for the renewal of painting and who introduced Realism to the Spanish art scene.

It is an ambitious exhibition, produced by the MNAC, that invites the public to gain greater in-depth knowledge of Realism and at the same time discover its precedents and its legacy, in a show that deliberately goes beyond the temporal limits of this movement:  from the Spanish Golden Age, with paintings by Murillo, Ribera and Velázquez, to contemporary art, through the work of Antoni Tàpies, one of the most universal Catalan artists.

U232 Hotel offers you an Art Weekend in Barcelona, a special package including accommodation at our 4 star hotel, with a welcome drink and breakfast, and the Barcelona Art Ticket which entitles to visit the 7 largest museums of Barcelona: MNAC, MACBA, Museu Picasso, Fundació Joan Miró, La Pedrera, Fundació Antoni Tàpies and CCCB.

New works at Antoni Tàpies Foundation (Barcelona)

The work Fusta pintada i rascada (Painted and scratched wood), from 1960, belongs to the Antoni Tàpies collection; it is a signature piece and starting point of the new selection that features works from the Antoni Tàpies collection. This exhibition will be open to the public for the first time, in the Foundation building.

It aims to show the importance of materials used in the works of Tàpies. This interest could be noted in his first works from the mid to late 1940′s. Rope, rice, newspaper and toilet paper came to play an important part in his visual discourse.

In fact, Tàpies used this to demonstrate his support of introspective, reflexive and austere art that reflected a critical attitude towards mass culture and the emerging world of advertising.

The selection, open to the public this summer, follows a chronological tour from the 1940s to the present day, with works like Capsa de cordills (Box of Strings), Collage del paper moneda (Collage of paper coin) and Ratlles i empremtes (Lines and imprints), among others.

Antoni Tàpies. Collection | From 13/08/2010 to 26/09/2010
Aragó Street, 255 – Eixample

All Barcelona Museums with one single ticket

Imagine a city where you can see one of the most impressive Romanesque art collections and historical paintings that describe the Mediterranean countries during Middle Ages,  and then, just walking ten minutes you are on a modern building featuring an exceptionally comprehensive collection of works by Joan Miró. But don’t stop there. Continue dreaming about a gothic palace where nobles and knights have been replaced by Pablo Picasso works, a city where buildings seem a quarry or even a dragon…

 Now open your eyes. Welcome to Barcelona !!!

U232 Hotel invites you to discover it on an Art Weekend package, which includes:

• 2 nights stay at our U232 Hotel in Barcelona (on a single, double, triple or family room)
• Breakfast in the exclusive U232 buffet restaurant
• Welcome drink in the U232 bar (1 per person)
• 1 Art Ticket per person that entitle you to visit:
  • Museu Picasso: Picasso lived key years in Barcelona – those of his apprenticeship as an artist. He established and maintained strong links to the city throughout his life and it was here where he wanted his museum to be.
  • Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya: MNAC has the best known display of Romanesque frescoes in the whole of Europe, unique both for the quantity and for the quality of the works on show.
  • Fundació Joan Miró: The Foundation holds an exceptionally comprehensive collection of works by Joan Miró.
  • Centre Cultural Caixa Catalunya  – La Pedrera by Antoni Gaudí: Visit the most famous building bythe most famous architect in Barcelona.
  • Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona: One of the largests collections of Contemporary Art in Europe, in a building by Richard Meier.
  • Fundació Antoni Tàpies
  • Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

Book now your Art Weekend in Barcelona and discover all the museums of the city !!!