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.

Món Llibre 2011: Children’s Book Festival

The Món Llibre 2011, the children’s book festival this year being held on 9 and 10 April at the CCCB and Macba.

Among the over a hundred free activities and workshops being held, children will be able to share experiences with the Japanese illustrator Taro Gomi, the creator of Gargots: a book for drawing, painting and creating (Un llibre per dibuixar, pintar i crear).

What’s more, there will also be a series of merry-go-rounds through Japan, on which children will be able to take a tour in tribute to their Asian counterparts and listen to traditional Japanese stories.

The festival includes other disciplines, such as music, dance and theatre, which offer alternative ways to tell stories to young children.

The performer Sònia Gómez will be doing a dance version of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, while Joan Garriga, from La Troba Kung-Fú will be inviting children to live a pirate’s tale. There will also be puppets to suit all tastes, rappers like the Hipnotik Faktory.

Among the Book World areas that you really must visit is the Asterix: The Albert Uderzo’s Archives exhibition, with secret works by one of the two creators of this legendary Gaul.

Món Llibre – April 09 & 10, 2011 – Free Entrance
CCCB -> pl. de Joan Coromines & MACBA -> pl. dels Àngels

Theatre CCCB, a new venue in Barcelona

Seventeen years after the inauguration of the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB), the venue is adding the finishing touches to its extension with the opening of the Teatre CCCB, a product of the revamped Antic Teatre de la Casa de la Caritat.

The new venue, which is connected to the current building by an underground corridor, has two multi-purpose rooms, the Sala Raval, on the first floor with seating capacity for 170 people, and the Sala Teatre, on the second floor, with room for 600 standing spectators and 450 seated spectators.

The rehabilitation work made the most of the remains of earlier buildings, the old theatre designed by Josep Goday in 1912, and the façade of a cloister in the old Casa de la Caritat. It is also equipped with escalators, one of the characteristic features of the CCCB’s main building.

It also has a new entrance, at Plaça Joan Coromines, where the new theatre, painted white, invites comparison with another white building, that of the MACBA.

The first activity it is to play host to will be the Kosmopolis literature fest, which starts on Thursday 24 March.

Theatre CCCB.

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.

La Laia Festival, another festivity of Barcelona

The legend of Eulàlia tells how a thirteen year old girl who lived in a farmhouse in Sarrià rebelled against the Roman Emperor Diocles’ persecution of Christians. Eulàlia, or Laia for short, was sentenced to death but she never gave up fighting for her beliefs.

Today, this girl – Saint Eulalia – is the joint patron saint of Barcelona and star personality of the city’s winter festival. A festival aimed at every child in Barcelona who bears that extremely courageous girl’s spirit of solidarity.

On Friday, 12 February there will be the night parade and the city’s Eagle Dance, inside the Santa Maria del Mar basilica. Remember that giant figures, with Laia herself at the head, will be the special guests of this festival, which will also feature parades and dancing throughout its days.

Plaça Reial will be bursting with frenetic energy from 11am, when the city’s giants and historic mythical beasts take part in one of the most eye-catching and traditional street parades of this festival.

Another must-see event of this festival is the “correfoc” or running firework display. On Sunday, 14 February Plaça de Sant Jaume will fill up with little devils at 6.30pm and, afterwards at 8pm, Avinguda de la Catedral will be the setting for fire and colourful flames at the traditional Santa Eulalia “correfoc”.

The Teatre Poliorama, the Macba and the Museu Marítim are staging music, dance and theatre shows for all the family. You’ll be able to enjoy performances such as “En Joan sense poro Nautilus“, discover the world of dance, take part in workshops, experience the best of hip-hop and relax to music played by ensembles and chamber groups.

Santa Eulàlia Festivity website

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 !!!

Barcelona Design Week

The fourth BCN Design Week will be one of the big events on the IF Barcelona programme with sessions dealing with the main challenges facing this European project. BCN Design Week 2009 runs from 26 to 30 October and is one of the events promoting and debating design not to be missed in the international diary .

Businesses of diverse productive or services sectors, professionals and experts of the world of design as well as prestigious speakers will give themselves appointment in a platform of experiences in which the main topics to be addressed are Design Thinking & Creativity, Design Management, Mobile Design or Creativity and family business, among other topics.

The activities to be orgnized for this fourth edition will be held at top venues such as CaixaForum, MACBA, Casa Llotja de Mar and the Mies van der Rohe pavilion.

The 2009 BCN Design Week acquires special relevancy due to the celebration of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.

More inf@: www.barcelonadesignweek.es  |  Design Center Barcelona: www.bcd.es

NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

John Cage & John Baldessari at MACBA.

What do a musician and composer like John Cage and one of today’s most sought after visual artists, John Baldessari, have in common? Apart from the fact both have questioned artistic language, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) will soon be dedicating a retrospective to them.

The museum’s new season offers us monographic exhibitions dedicated to artists who have questioned perception and the senses with their work.

So, apart from the retrospectives devoted to Cage (October 2009) and Baldessari (February 2010), you will also be able to see the works of Rodney Graham, which defy authority and Ray Johnson’s risky collages.

In addition, the art museum is going to show the work of other artists who move between various disciplines, like that of Gil J. Woman (between art, poetry and the cinema), Benet Rossell (between the cinema and calligraphy) and Latifa Echakhch (between sculpture and audiovisual creation).

Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona - www.macba.cat
Pl Àngels, 1 – Ciutat Vella

NN Hotels gives support to MACBA exhibits.