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.

Joan Miró: The ladder of escape

Renowned as one of the greatest Surrealist painters, filling his paintings with luxuriant colour, Joan Miró worked in a rich variety of styles. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy more than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints from moments across the six decades of his extraordinary career. This exhibition is co-organised by Tate Modern and Fundació Joan Miró.

The exhibition also traces an anxious and politically engaged side to Miró’s work that reflects his passionate response to one of the most turbulent periods in European history. Working in Barcelona and Paris, Miró tracked the mood of the Spanish Civil War and the first months of the Second World War in France. It also shows that, behind the engaging innocence of his imagery, lies a profound concern for humanity and a sense of personal and Catalan national identity. Extraordinary works from different moments of his career celebrate his roots in his native Catalonia.

Fundació Joan Miró is located at Montjuic, accesible by Funicular from Parallel station, just in front of Hotel Barcelona Universal. You can reach Fundació Joan Miró also from Plaza Espanya, by bus line 50, stopping next to B-Hotel.

More information can be found at Fundació Joan Miró website.

Montjuïc at Night: Open Music Festival

On 2 July, Barcelona will once again pay tribute to its own home-brewed live music, with a new white night on Montjuïc mountain, Montjuïc at Night, where the best bands from the city’s main music festivals will be meeting up at the same site.

Sonar, Barnasants, De Cajón! Festival Flamenco, Cruïlla BCN, Mas i Mas, BAM. Up to twenty festivals with a highly varied programme that includes some forty performances in every style to suit every taste, from pop to jazz, hip-hop and electronica.

The white night will also offer a taste of the Beefeater In-Edit, the Barcelona International Music Documentary Film Festival, with a screening of two music documentaries.

As usual, the music evening of this fourth edition of Montjuïc at Night will be accompanied by an open night at various museums and mountain venues, such as the CaixaForum, the Fundació Joan Miró, MNAC, the Poble Espanyol and the Teatre Grec gardens.

The festival will kick off at 8 pm and go on until 4 am. For access to some of the mountain stages, the public will have extra public transport and a free bus service until 5 am, connecting Montjuïc Castle to Plaça d’Espanya and Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina with the funicular.

Dies de Dansa Festival in Barcelona

Núñez i Navarro Hotels, with 9 hotels in the center of Barcelona, sponsor the Dies de Dansa Festival Barcelona from 1 to July 5, 2010.

Dies de Dansa is an international contemporary dance festival in urban spaces. It is a free annual cultural project born in Barcelona, which is part of the GREC Festival de Barcelona. During five days buildings, streets, parks and plazas flood with life in this encounter between dance, urban space and community.

Dies de Dansa takes place in different points of Barcelona, such as the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), the Joan Miró Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), the Picasso Museum; as well as in the cities of Mataró, Sabadell and Sitges. The daylight programme consists on the presentation of short performances that artists elaborate specifically for each place, with the participation of over 25 national and international companies.

Dies de Dansa also programmes Workshops for the community, a series of free dance workshops suitable to professionals and amateurs, and the workshops Dance within the Family, which throughout experimentation, creativity and research, stimulates the emotional bonds in a fun way.

Courbet exhibition at Museu Diocesa

Paintings, drawings, engravings, photographs, documents and personal objects. In all, there are 100 items in “Courbet, between Nature and Culture”, the first major exhibition in Spain dedicated to the father of realism: Gustave Courbet.

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (1819 – 1877) was a French painter  who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. Courbet occupies an important place in 19th century French painting as an innovator and as an artist willing to make bold social commentary in his work.

You can visit this exhibition at Museu Diocesa. It offers an all-round view of Courbet’s character, both as an artist and a democratic activist. It also highlights his relationship with Catalonia and Spain, and the influence his ideas had on other artists, like Picasso and Miró.

The exhibition features masterpieces such as “Le Chateau de Chillon” or “Portrait d’homme d’apres Velazquez” and many landscapes of Normandy.

Where: Museu Diocesa
Av. Catedral, 4 (next to the Cathedral)
When: Until September 5th, 2010.

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 !!!

Miró & Dupin: Art & Poetry

The poet Jacques Dupin is responsible for one of the most important works on Joan Miró. The book, written in 1961, bears witness to the relationship between Miró and Dupin, who also shared the same poetic universe.

The exhibition “Miró – Dupin. Art and Poetry” apart from documenting this relationship, also shows the interest Miró had in the work of other poets. At the same time it reveals the links Dupin had with other creators, and it features many drawins by Joan Miró done before 1948; part of his private library and some books illustrated by Joan Miró on his early years.

An interesting part of the exhibit shows the relationship Miró had in Paris with poets and writers such as Rimbaud and Apollinaire. It also features many books, poems and manuscripts by Jacques Dupin illustrated by Joan Miró and many letters, photographs and models for their joint collaborations.

Fundació Joan Miró collection currently comprises over 14,000 pieces: 217 paintings, 178 sculptures, 9 textiles, 4 ceramics, the almost complete graphic works and some 8,000 drawings; and it is considered the best collection of Joan Miró works.

Joan Miró, a man deeply rooted in his homeland but with a worldwide reputation, has also left part of his creation available to Barcelona citizens and visitors: a giant ceramic mural at Terminal 2 of the Airport, part of the pavement in La Rambla or the sculpture “Dona i Ocell” (Woman and Bird) on the park that bears his name, just next to Plaza Espanya.

B-Hotel in Plaza Espanya is a perfect location where to start a Miró Tour in Barcelona.

More inf@:  Fundació Joan Miró