Enthusiasm Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection

Transcription

1 Enthusiasm Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection Travelling Exhibition Press kit #ExpoEntusiasme

2 INDEX 1. Credits / pg Organising institutions / pg Presentation / pg Curation / pg Content / pg Artists and works 5.2. Documentation area 5.3. Educational service area 6. Visitor services / pg Educational service Experimentem amb l ART: preschool and primary education and adults Jordi Ferreiro: secondary education Marta Galán: families CCCB Alzheimer Programme: Enhanced learning tour for people with Alzheimer's 6.2. Related activities Conference and conversations Performative activities Training activities for artists and people related to contemporary art from a professional or amateur perspective 7. Travelling dates/ pg More information / pg. 30 2

3 1. CREDITS Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection is a travelling exhibition from the Visual Arts Programme of the Artistic Dissemination Office (ODA by its Catalan acronym) of Barcelona Provincial Council, organised in conjunction with the Museu d Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and in collaboration with the municipalities hosting it. Artists Ignasi Aballí, Vito Acconci, Maja Bajevic, Marcel Broodthaers, Anne-Lise Coste, Esther Ferrer, Peter Friedl, Richard Hamilton, Emanuel Licha, Gordon Matta-Clark, Cildo Meireles, Younès Rahmoun, Tere Recarens, Àngels Ribé, Dieter Roth, Mireia Sallarès and Zush Curator David Armengol Production Visual Arts Programme of the Artistic Dissemination Office of Barcelona Provincial Council Travelling dates Visual Arts Programme of the Artistic Dissemination Office of Barcelona Provincial Council Participating town councils Edition coordination and production Press and Communication Office of Barcelona Provincial Council Design and execution of the educational service for preschool and primary education and adults Experimentem amb l ART Design and execution of the educational service for secondary education Jordi Ferreiro Design and execution of the educational service for families Marta Galán Related activities Ignasi Aballí David Armengol Ferran Barenblit Antònia Maria Perelló Tere Recarens Àngels Ribé Mireia Sallarès Consultancy, technical support and mail MACBA Adaptation of the exhibition for each exhibition centre David Armengol Feltrero MACBA Visual Arts Programme of the Artistic Dissemination Office of Barcelona Provincial Council Transport and installation Feltrero Packing and exhibition elements Feltrero Graphic design Setanta Insurance Salomón & Bonet Godó #ExpoEntusiasme 3

4 2. ORGANISING INSTITUTIONS Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection is a travelling exhibition from the Visual Arts Programme of the Artistic Dissemination Office (ODA) of Barcelona Provincial Council, organised in conjunction with the Museu d Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and in collaboration with the municipalities hosting it. Barcelona Provincial Council, through the Visual Arts Programme of the Artistic Dissemination Office (ODA), offers travelling exhibitions to town councils within its territorial demarcation. The objective of the Visual Arts Programme of the ODA is to offer support to local contemporary art policies within its demarcation through three strategic actions: a) contribution to the training and professionalisation of municipal visual arts experts; b) the offer of contemporary art dissemination projects, mainly travelling exhibitions, for the municipalities, and c) the promotion of services and resources related to the exhibitions for the training and participation of citizens. This programme s methodology consists of carrying out work based on the needs, the diversity and the potential of town councils, working with key institutions, curators, artists, companies and professionals; and seeking a balance between excellence and dissemination. MACBA, in its role as a public entity, assumes responsibility for disseminating contemporary art, offering a great variety of visions and generating critical debates on art and culture, while aspiring to reach an increasingly wider audience, in addition to its educational vocation, its desire to innovate and its commitment to preserving heritage and working together with other institutions. The collaboration with the Visual Arts Programme of Barcelona Provincial Council allows a large part of these objectives to be successfully achieved

5 PRESENTATION Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection is a project that addresses contemporaneity from an optimistic, persistent and passionate perspective. A direct concept that, rather than displaying work thematically or chronologically, stands as a specific whole; that is to say, a particular way of understanding artistic practice that vindicates the emotional intensity of the artwork. In general terms, enthusiasm is understood as a subjective process of exaltation of the spirit, in which passion and fervour act as an emotional trigger of what we want to achieve, be it discreet, ambitious, intimate or public. Through a plural analysis of the concept, the project reviews the MACBA collection with the aim of staging and contrasting a series of behaviours and attitudes that are prone to this excitement. A firm and obstinate position that rejects naïve or simply cheerful attitudes in favour of confidence, resistance and furore at different levels. The exhibition proposes an exercise in the activation of works, in which diverse causes and challenges are interwoven, giving rise to a selection of unique challenges that, within the field of contemporary art, move between individual obsession and aesthetic, social and political commitment. Following these premises, Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection puts forward five possible approaches based on the enthusiastic act: the cosmogonic construction, the creative power of daily life, the performative charge of the body, social activism and the crisis of the very notion of art. In other words, the determination of artists such as Zush, Anne-Lise Coste and Younès Rahmoun to build a world of their own through experiences, fantasies and beliefs; the repetition of simple and everyday gestures by Esther Ferrer, Ignasi Aballí, Dieter Roth, Richard Hamilton and Tere Recarens; the performativity of Vito Acconci and Àngels Ribé; the nonconformist actions of Maja Bajevic, Emanuel Licha, Mireia Sallarès, Cildo Meireles and Gordon Matta-Clark; and, finally, the critique of the art system by artists such as Marcel Broodthaers and Peter Friedl, who suggest a narrative sequence in which Enthusiasm denotes a strong ideological position before the artistic fact: that, in the end, conceives art as an act of faith capable of achieving its aim, whether it is changing the world or simply questioning oneself. Enthusiasm builds on the conceptual legacy of two projects based on this concept and which were developed in Barcelona in the mid-2000s. On the one hand, the Faith and Enthusiasm (2004) project by the artist Antonio Ortega: a processual exhibition focused on the notion of success and organised at Espai 13 at the Fundació Joan Miró with the aim of raising funds to build a waxwork figure of Yola Berrocal, the best example of Enthusiasm, according to the artist. On the other hand, the exhibition Enthusiasm presented at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in 2005: an archive of films linked to the Polish amateur film movement between 1950 and 1980 compiled by the artists Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska. Both projects incorporated a liberating impulse arising from passion. And it is here, in the challenge that is more visceral than rational, more passionate than strategic, that the intensity of this survey of the MACBA collection lies. Despite having very different objectives, and doing so through disparate forms of presentation, all the artists in the exhibition share the same gesture: to express themselves forcefully. Under the effect of contagion and complicity, the three concepts behind the exhibition Enthusiasm, challenge and obstinacy are also applied to the agents and structures that intervene in the project: in the curatorial stance, in the configuration of the MACBA collection, in the desire of the Visual Arts Programme of Barcelona Provincial Council to disseminate and, best of all, in the interrelation with the individuals and groups that visit the exhibition. David Armengol, curator of the exhibition 5

6 3. CURATION David Armengol (Barcelona, 1974) is an independent curator who combines his work as a curator with other activities such as cultural management and teaching. His special interest in the social status of the artist and the functionality or dysfunctionality of art has led him to curate projects that address themes closely related to other areas of study such as anthropology, psychology, literature and music. In recent years, he has worked on projects derived from a narrative and performative reading of the landscape. He has exhibited in contemporary art spaces such as CaixaForum Barcelona (2008), Matadero Madrid (2010), Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona ( ), Fabra i Coats - Centre d Art Contemporani in Barcelona (2014), EAC - Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo in Montevideo, Uruguay (2015), Tala - Centre d Art Contemporani in Girona (2016), Tabacalera Madrid (2016) and Arts Santa Mònica in Barcelona (2017). He is currently a member of the curatorial team of BCN_Producció (La Capella, Barcelona). 6

7 5. CONTENT 5.1. ARTISTS AND WORKS IGNASI ABALLÍ Pell 1 Skin Glossy varnish 100 x 100 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Donation from Jordi Soley Ignasi Aballí, 2017 Gasull Fotografia Gran error Big Mistake 1998 Correction fluid and paint on wall 100 x 100 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Donation from Jordi Soley Ignasi Aballí, 2017 Gasull Fotografia The work of Ignasi Aballí (Barcelona, 1958) invites a conceptual reflection on the representation and perception of artistic mediums such as painting, photography and video. Since the 1980s, the artist has invented and reorganised images and objects, always searching for a reflective confrontation between presence and absence, between the visible and the invisible. His work responds to the overabundance of images in modern-day society, in which everything seems to be conditioned by a type of closed and prefigured consumption. Thus, his projects are freed of the conventions of art and opt for another way of understanding the craft of the artist. In this way, his works are defined more as actions derived from a supposed non-action, incorporating concepts such as error, chance and the unforeseen. In these two installations, Aballí explores painting processes with a worthless and difficult gesture that, once finished, seems to take the work back to a state of invisibility and inexistence. On the one hand, Pell 1 is a square metre of white paint on one of the exhibition room s white walls; on the other, Gran error is a square metre of Tippex on the white surface of another wall. In both cases, Aballí plays with the meta-referential nature of art to blur the lines between content and support and between discourse and structure. 7

8 VITO ACCONCI Three Adaptation Studies 1970 Super-8 mm film transferred to video, b/w, silent, 8 min MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Vito Acconci, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photography: MACBA Vito Acconci (New York, ) began his artistic career as a poet in the mid-1960s, the same time at which he began to develop performative actions with the spaces and objects within his reach. In doing so, his actions began to enter into the sphere of art and gradually evolved into work with a particular focus on his body, built upon a physical and psychological interest. Acconci bases his work on experiences that break down traditional boundaries between the artist and his audience. In the late 1980s, his interest in public space led him to create Acconci Studio, a working team made up of architects and artists who put forward environmental and architectural projects. In this experimental film, Vito Acconci offers physical resistance to three actions of certain discomfort. In the first, the blindfolded artist tries to dodge a series of balls that are thrown at him. In the second, he remains with his eyes wide open whilst his face is covered in soap and, finally, he tries to insert his whole fist into his mouth. In spite of their simplicity and absurdity, the piece explores the senses ability to react as each of the exercises involves one resilient sense. As if it were a childlike game, touch, sight and taste must prevail in the face of adversity. 8

9 MAJA BAJEVIC-EMANUEL LICHA Green Green Grass of Home 2002 Single-channel video, colour, sound, 17 min 53 s and sound recording MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Work purchased thanks to Maria Entrecanales Maja Bajevic, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photography: Tony Coll Maja Bajevic (Sarajevo, 1967) bases her work on a poetic review of social and historical fractures derived from conflict and war. In this regard, the wars of the former Yugoslavia play a prominent role in her career. Her projects explore the dramatic impact of wartime events on the daily lives of those that must endure them, seeking to raise awareness among viewers. Bajevic garnered international recognition with Women at Work ( ), a series of performance pieces with the participation of five female victims of the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War in In one of these pieces, entitled Washing Up, the women hand-wash different cloths emblazoned with slogans from the era of the Tito dictatorship until they manage to wash away the words. This piece is an example of the collaboration between Maja Bajevic and the Canadian artist and filmmaker Emanuel Licha (Montreal, 1971). In the video, Bajevic walks through a green field whilst describing, in English, her former flat in Sarajevo, which had been occupied since the Yugoslav war by tenants who were now resisting eviction. The artist describes from memory the flat in which she lived with her parents just before the war, moving through the field in such a way that she recreates the spaces whilst recounting anecdotes related to each one of the rooms. 9

10 MARCEL BROODTHAERS Museum - Museum 1972 Photolithography on cardboard Two photolithographies 84.1 x 59.8 cm ea. MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Estate of Marcel Broodthaers, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy: Rocco Ricci Musée - Museum Museum - Museum 1972 Duotone, photolithography and collage on paper Two elements 50.7 x 74.5 cm ea. MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Estate of Marcel Broodthaers, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy: Tony Coll Les animaux de la ferme Farm Animals 1974 Offset print, duotone on cardboard Two elements 82 x 60 cm ea. MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Estate of Marcel Broodthaers, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy: Rocco Ricci Marcel Broodthaers (Brussels, 1924 Cologne, 1976) is one of the key artists of the 20 th century due to his ability to redefine the language of art and to merge diverse artistic disciplines. His work spans writing, film, the production of objects and graphic work. By using language and writing as starting points, his work offers constant reflection on the condition of art; a formal and conceptual exploration of the role of the artist, the viewer and, especially, the museum as an institution responsible for its dissemination. In his use of the written word, Broodthaers includes errors, double meanings and symbolic twists that put into doubt the social conventions that determine the functionality of both the object and the word in the art world. The exhibition includes three important examples of Broodthaers s prints, a medium that supports a certain democratisation of art and which the artist pushes to the limit by including handmade inscriptions in unlimited print runs. In doing so, Broodthaers questions the condition of artwork, playing with a double misunderstanding: on the one hand, the tension between the manufactured product and the intervened original; and, on the other, the games of meaning that it incorporates through language. Museum-museum criticises the commercialism of art based on the iconic figure of the gold ingot and different written messages that blend the names of famous artists with basic commercial products. In the same vein, Musée-Museum reproduces the floor plan of the building that housed Broodthaers s museum with a series of fake works and, finally, Les animaux de la ferme establishes a parallelism between different types of cows and car brands. 10

11 ANNE-LISE COSTE There 2010 Pastel and pencil on paper Four drawings 50 x 65 cm ea.; four 50 x 70 cm ea. MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium Anne-Lise Coste, 2017 Gasull Fotografia Through drawing and text, the French artist Anne-Lise Coste (Marseille, 1973) combines the expression of certain states of mind with a critique of social and political order. The flexibility of her lines blurs the drawing s supposed narrative in favour of a type of visceral and emotional connection that examines certain controversial aspects and even taboo within our society. The artist tends to create seemingly decorative compositions that, at the same time, allow an analysis of a series of contemporary phobias and anxieties. What s more, her work often incorporates written phrases and texts, which, with stifling lyricism, normally refer to aspects of daily life. In the winter of 2010, Anne-Lise Coste locked herself away for five days in order to evoke the five years she spent undergoing medical treatment during her adolescence. The result of this personal exorcism was a series of works that obsessively return to a single theme: the hospital architecture and the cloistered atmosphere that remain rooted in the artist s memory. The title of the works all the drawings share the same name, There sums up the emotional component of the images: their thereness. They all depict the same setting: the hospital. With austere, angular lines and geometric forms, she recreates the room, the bed, the crosses, the repetition of the rooms and an outside tower with a brick chimney. 11

12 ESTHER FERRER Silla Zaj Zaj Chair 1974 Wood and printed ink on paper 79 x 34 x 45 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Esther Ferrer, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Gasull Fotografia Esther Ferrer (San Sebastian, 1937) is a conceptual artist especially renowned for her performances. Throughout her career, she has worked both individually and as part of Zaj group. Active between 1964 and 1996, the group was an experimental artistic collective linked to art, music and sound production, made up of Juan Hidalgo, Ramón Barce, Walter Marchetti and Esther Ferrer herself. Ferrer s work focuses on the analysis of the body and its presence in everyday spaces and objects. The fact that she works from direct experience means that her work always depends on a specific time. Her actions are characterised by a disassociation from theatricality and fiction, instead opting for an idea of reality that distances itself from any game of representation to stand as an unrepeatable experience. In this sense, the scripts from her performances are usually very simple and direct: basically, small statements that suggest an action as if they were instructions. Silla Zaj is one of the most emblematic pieces to come from Esther Ferrer whilst she was part of Zaj group. Beyond the fact that it is situated in the exhibition room, the piece bears almost no difference to everyday life: a normal, ordinary chair but with a forceful statement that is directly aimed at the viewer. The message proposes an unremarkable gesture: that the spectator sits down on the chair but with the intention of remaining sat down forever. By doing so, Esther Ferrer reflects on the passing of time, a constant feature of her work. 12

13 PETER FRIEDL Untitled (Badly Organized) 2003 Neon tubes, cables and transformer Entire phrase: 64 x 300 x 6.5 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Donation from the artist Peter Friedl, 2017 Gasull Fotografia Since the early 1990s, Peter Friedl (Oberneukirchen, Austria, 1960) has been producing diverse work that explores abuses of justice and the configurations of power in the contemporary world. Friedl has also delved into more subtle concepts of exclusion, such as childhood. He is interested in exploring little known historical abuses and civil disobedience to show that conflict arises when there is a lack of consensus. His work entails social and political critique and an in-depth study of the codes, cannons and genres that sustain artistic modernity. In this sense, his work is an exercise in resisting and rejecting the art system s very own conventions. This piece by Friedl seems to create a self-critical message that solemnly demonstrates and heralds a supposed error: that which is badly organised. As if it were a scribble, the neon light uses an irregular typeface that reinforces the strangeness. The artist incorporates many layers of meaning: from the most direct the critique of the very concept of art itself and its institutional mechanism to the most complex and almost inaccessible. In short, Friedl s neon delivers an unexpected and atypical gesture: recognising that what is being show to us doesn t work as it ought to. 13

14 GORDON MATTA-CLARK Splitting 1974 Photograph with gelatin silver print 40.5 x 50.6 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy:Tony Coll Splitting 1974 Super-8 mm film transferred to video, b/w and colour, silent 11 min and 5 s MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Conical Intersect 1975 Gelatin silver print photocollage 18 x 13.3 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Estate of Gordon Matta Clark, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy:Tony Coll Conical Intersect mm film transferred to video, colour, silent, 18 min and 40 s MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Gordon Matta-Clark (New York, ) began by documenting abandoned buildings and soon progressed to intervening in them by trimming, cutting out and cutting off geometric shapes. His interventions, known as building cuts, embody a restoration of sculptural language and a critique of not only modern architecture but also capitalism and the American way of life. In just eight years, from 1970 to 1978, Matta-Clark created a complex body of artistic work, which was radical and innovative and which has influenced subsequent generations of architects and plastic artists. These two works encapsulate the processual intensity of Gordon Matta-Clark. In Splitting (1974), the artist literally sliced through the middle of a typical middle class suburban house in New Jersey. In Conical Intersect (1975), he created a series of circular openings in the walls of an apartment building that was about to be demolished in the working class neighbourhood of Les Halles, in Paris. Next to the building, the structure of the new Centre Georges Pompidou, then under construction, reinforced the critical sense of his intervention. In both cases, Matta-Clark s forcefulness acts as a form of protest against the demolition of certain urban areas. 14

15 CILDO MEIRELES Inserçoes em circuitos ideológicos. Projeto Coca-Cola Insertions in Ideological Circuits. Coca-Cola Project 1970 Object Serigraphy on plastic, glass and metal Three bottles 25 cm in height ea. MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Work purchased thanks to Corinne Disserens and Pablo Azul Disserens Cildo Meireles, 2017 Photografy:Tony Coll Since the 1960s, the Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles (Rio de Janeiro, 1948) has redefined the artistic practice by broadening the viewer s sensorial experience. Besides his opposition to Western colonialism and capitalism and the ethical and social implications that his work focuses on, the very condition of art is also at stake to a large extent. He frequently incorporates tactile, sonorous, olfactory and gustatory experiences into his work, which require full user involvement. In the 1970s and 80s, Cildo Meireles made a series of works that heavily criticised the Brazilian military dictatorship. For this reason, some of his works enter furtively into the society of the time and give rise to relative and speculative processes that blur the lines between what is considered art and what is not. In Inserçoes em circuitos ideológicos. Projeto Coca-Cola, Meireles takes advantage of Coca-Cola s deposit return scheme to write messages of political protest on the bottles before putting them back into circulation. The inscribed message Yankees Go Home was a direct protect against American imperialism. Like most of his works, the direct experience is what gives the piece meaning. 15

16 YOUNÈS RAHMOUN Light installation Variable dimensions MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Work purchased thanks to Fundació Banc Sabadell Younès Rahmoun, 2017 Fotografia: Rafael Vargas In spite of their simplicity, the installations of Younès Rahmoun (Tétouan, Morocco, 1975) have a great ability to evoke the universal dimension of spirituality: the systematic repetition of a gesture, a word, an action or an element that works as a principal of meditation. Rahmoun observes the private space of inner convictions and seeks to bring it to life in the purest way possible, sometimes only using light, space or silence. On this occasion, Younès Rahmoun presents an installation made up of 77 lanterns grouped into ten flower-shaped sets that simultaneously form another larger flower. The lanterns represent the 77 branches or paths of faith in Islam. Rahmoun s work is heavily influenced by Zen and Sufi philosophy and the role of mathematics and astronomy in the Muslim tradition. One of the piece s key details is its orientation towards Mecca. 16

17 TERE RECARENS Fucking Glory 2007 Woven wool 970 x 150 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Fundación Repsol Collection Tere Recarens, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy:Cortesia Galeria Toni Tàpies In the early 1990s, Tere Recarens (Arbúcies, 1967) began exhibiting her work: projects that are characterised by an exhaustive analysis of the direct experience as a vital gesture. Her artistic career has gradually been shaped thanks to her travels and life experiences. Using amusement as a primary value, her incursion into certain cultural contexts gives rise to multiple revisions of her status as an artist. Thus, she generates a type of self-portrait that is defined by her ability to adapt and to read the environment, as well as to relate to others. Fucking Glory is a large installation of scarves that explores the statements of protest and the sense of belonging created by the concept of the fan. Especially interested in the crisis of the notion of identity through emblems and mottos, the artist alternates the messages of the different scarves that she has created to demonstrate her immersion into and her ability to relate to places that she does not share a language with. 17

18 ÀNGELS RIBÉ 3 punts 3 3 points Gelatin silver print photograph Five elements 30.5 x 61 cm ea. MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Work purchased thanks to Dinath de Grandi de Grijalbo Àngels Ribé, 2017 Fotografia: Rocco Ricci Àngels Ribé (Barcelona, 1943) doesn t conceive art as an object, but rather as an experience. Despite having trained as a sculptor, in the late 1960s the artist abandoned the formal and matiérisme condition of her work to move towards the field of action by way of experiences based on nature and the body. In her first works, Ribé intervenes subtly in nature s own elements light, a wave, the rain, thus creating small alterations. At the end of the 1970s, she began to incorporate her own body into her work to explore the geometric conditions of the space. In these pieces, the relationship between the body and the place is created through mathematical proportions and calculations. In the series entitled 3 punts, three pieces created between 1970 and 1973, the artist explores the different variants of the triangle, the simplest figure joining three points and one of the world s basic measurements. In these types of pieces, photography becomes instrumental as a medium of documentation. 3 punts 3 is the last of these works by Àngels Ribé, dedicated to the triangular form. In 3 punts 1, the first in the series, the artist tenses a piece of string between two points on a white corner in order to project a shadow that draws a triangle onto the two walls. In 3 punts 2, she uses her body and her shadow to draw an equilateral triangle and, finally, in 3 punts 3, she once again uses her body against a wall and, by moving between the two opposite ends, she creates various types of triangles (isosceles, scalene and acute). The artist s movement in space and time creates a vital, geometrical choreography. 18

19 DIETER ROTH Lorelei - Langstreckensonate Lorelei The Long Distance Sonata 1978 Wood, paper, cassettes, audio player and sound recording, 2400 min 59.6 x 27.5 x 10.8 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Estate of Dieter Roth, 2017 Photografy:Tony Coll The work of Dieter Roth (Hannover, Basil, 1998) is characterised by a euphoric fusion between art and life. His work, which forms part of the Neo-Dada movements from the late 1950s and early 1960s, usually incorporates organic materials, which have greatly hindered the durability of his works. However, Roth took advantage of this to question the systems of commercialisation of art. His objects progressively gave rise to large installations, in which the artist directly retrieved all of the scenarios that were part of his life. His facet as a writer and his work in the field of sound is also of particular note. From the 1970s onwards, he began to collaborate with artists such as Arnulf Rainer and Richard Hamilton, with whom he spent time in Cadaqués. Dieter Roth always upheld the notion of constant change in art, an idea that led him to also play with his own name Dieter Roth, dieter roth, DITERROT, diter rot and Dietrich Roth, according to the works and context in which the artist worked. Lorelei The Long Distance Sonata is an extensive piano piece created by the artist and his children, Vera and Björn. The piece is composed of 38 cassette tapes and a radio/cassette player especially prepared for listening to them. The difficulty of coming to terms with its duration (2400 minutes) reinforces its vital condition as a work of art designed to be consumed in exhibition spaces. Lorelei was published in 1978 with a limited edition of 20 copies. Each one contains the 38 tapes and the radio/cassette player inside a hand-painted wooden box. 19

20 DIETER ROTH RICHARD HAMILTON LUIS CHISPAS Canciones de Cadaqués Songs of Cadaqués rpm vinyl records Two records 19 x 19 cm ea. Ed. 30/60 certificate copies MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Donation from Lanfranco Bombelli Estate of Dieter Roth, 2017 // Richard Hamilton, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy:Tony Coll DIETER ROTH RICHARD HAMILTON INTERFACEs III poster at Galería Eude in Barcelona 1977 Printed ink on paper 60 x 42 cm Ed. 3/30 MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Donation from Lanfranco Bombelli Estate of Dieter Roth, 2017 // Richard Hamilton, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy:Tony Coll INTERFACEs, Artists Statesments, September February Printed ink on paper 59.2 x 42 cm (open); 21 x 19.9 cm (closed) MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Bombelli family long-term loan Suite Two. The Rotham Certificates 1977 Printed ink on cardboard 40 postcards de 10.4 x 14.8 cm ea.; case: 15 x 10.9 x 1.3 cm MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation. Bombelli family long-term loan In this display cabinet, different graphic mediums sit side-by-side exploring the relationship between Dieter Roth and Richard Hamilton and their links with Cadaqués, the village in which Hamilton would spend his summers, receiving visits from Roth. We find diverse materials such as posters and references to various presentations of the INTERFACEs project, for which both artists mutually photographed each other with numerous materials and photographic resources. The series of postcards Suite Two: The Rotham Certificates a collection of 37 drawings also created through processes shared between the two artists is also included. Out of all of them, Canciones de Cadaqués a double 7 45 rpm vinyl record is particularly noteworthy. The record is a joint project based on the exchange and the relationship of complicity and friendship that they both had. The piece consists of an original and a certificate. In the original, both artists perform the vocals and accompaniment on guitar, whilst on the certificate, Luis Chispas, a dog from Cadaqués noted for his bark, contributes the vocals accompanied by guitar backing by Hamilton and Roth. 20

21 MIREIA SALLARÈS Literatura de replà, una relectura Literature on the Landing, a Rereading 2014 Wall fragment, C-Print, diverse documents, table, chairs and sound recording, 35 min Diverse dimensions MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation Mireia Sallarès, 2017 Photografy:Eva Guillamet The work of Mireia Sallarès (Barcelona, 1973) is related to cultural anthropology and sociology. It explores the true stories of people and groups from all over the world (France, United States, Mexico, Venezuela), with a special predilection for women. Another common condition of her work are the notions of foreigners and adapting to other people s contexts. The artist examines the world as a foreigner and makes use of interviews, interventions in public space and other types of supports to reflect on concepts such as truth, violence, pleasure, memory and status. Sallarès uses documentary to give voice to the people with whom she works, always with a clear social and political commitment. In October 2013, in protest at the administration of the building in which she had lived for 15 years, Sallarès decided to stick four literary texts on the brick and cement walls that blocked up four flats that had recently been occupied by tenants. The project was entitled Literatura de replà. Based on her intervention, a series of fortuitous and official events gave rise to an installation that documents the whole process: the visits to the building, the affective relationship between the neighbours (both the new ones and old ones), the court ruling and, even, the fact that the defence used her artistic intervention as part of the evidence. 21

22 ZUSH Kaenia II 1972 Painting Acrylic and ink on canvas x cm MACBA Collection. Government of Catalonia long-term loan. Formerly Salvador Riera Collection Zush/Evru, VEGAP, Barcelona, 2017 Photografy:Rocco Ricci Zush is the name that the artist Albert Porta (Barcelona, 1946) adopted between 1968 and From then onwards and until now, the artist has worked under the pseudonym Evru. The work of Zush is characterised by the construction of a personal mythology of autobiographical nature. This personal cartography is nourished by the accumulation of images that refer to notions of the body and the creation of a type of writing, a personal code asura that aims to express everything that cannot be explained in a rational way. These elements organise multiple parallel universes that maintain a delicate balance between what is apparently chaotic and monstrous, and rational composition. The desire to desacralise the figure of the artist and their array of interests led Zush to use a vast spectrum of mediums that complicates their cataloguing: from painting, drawing and graphics to assemblages, photography and collage, books and sound recordings Zush often states his confidence in everyone s creative potential and in the therapeutic nature of art. Kaenia II is a large painting in which we see the naked body of a female character. With a noticeable psychedelic aesthetic, the work reflects Zush s fantastical and dreamlike imagination, in which artistic representation allows connection with other states of consciousness that go beyond reason. The painting connects with Zush s experiences in Ibiza in the early 1970s, where life in a commune, lysergic experiences and his counterculture stance left a mark on the ideological and formal character of his work. 22

23 5.2. DOCUMENTATION SPACE Bibliography The bibliographic references of Enthusiasm include publications related to the artists that are part of the exhibition, as well as other titles that pose more flexible and intuitive connections, such as essay books and novels. 1. Àngels Ribé. En el laberint. MACBA, Cildo Meireles. MACBA, Cildo Meireles. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), De Zush a Evru. Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior (SEACEX), Esther Ferrer. En cuatro movimientos. ARTIUM, Gordon Matta-Clark, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, (MNCARS), Peter Friedl. Work MACBA, Vito Acconci. Diary of a Body. Edizioni Charta, Vito Hannibal Acconci Studio. MACBA, ABALLÍ, Ignasi. Listados. Belleza Infinita, BAJEVIC, Maja. Power, Governance, Labor. Zurich Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst and JRP Ringier, CALVINO, Italo. The Baron in the Trees. Editorial Siruela, CHESTERTON, Gilbert Keith. The Ball and the Cross. Editorial Valdemar, COSTE, Anne-Lise. Où suis-je. Edition Patrick Frey, CUMMINGS, Neil. Enthusiasm. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, DAUMAL, René. Mount Analogue. Ed. Atalanta, ROTH, Dieter and MUSIC. And Away with the Minutes: Dieter Roth and Music. Edizioni Periferia, GROENENBOOM, Roland. Galeria Cadaqués. Obres de la Col lecció Bombelli. MACBA, LYOTARD, Jean François. Enthusiasm. Editorial Gedisa, RECARENS, Tere. Sportkünstlerin (Heitere Weitere Polterei). Galería Toni Tàpies: FRAC de Bourgogne, TORRALBA, Francesc. L entusiasme. Pagès editors Entusiasme, MOURE, Gloria. Marcel Broodthaers. Works and Collected Writings. Ediciones Polígrafa, Visitor s log EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AREA All of the educational activities will take place in the exhibition hall. For part of the educational service for groups of preschool and primary education, a space will be prepared in which a small scene will be installed. 23

24 6. VISITOR SERVICES 6.1. EDUCATIONAL SERVICE Characteristics of the educational services of the Visual Arts Programme of Barcelona Provincial Council: They are led by professional experts in art and education. They are aimed at different sections of the public and are adapted to individuals, families, schools and other groups (entities, recreational centres, elderly people, etc.). They adopt different formats: enhanced learning visits, interactive visits, performative visits and experimental workshops. Their general objectives are to: o Stimulate curiosity and interest. o Promote active reception, participation, respect, the association of ideas, experimentation, critical thinking and creativity. o Foster individual and group work. o Offer tools of knowledge, contextualisation and analysis. o Create the confidence to approach contemporary art and current issues and problems (social, political, economic, etc.) in an autonomous manner. o Share the enjoyment of learning Educational service for groups of preschool and primary education and adults We would like to offer the exhibition space as a laboratory for researching and learning about states of mind, behaviour and attitudes related to the enthusiastic act. We provide an activity in which the enthusiasm of the works in the exhibition is identified, studied, learnt about and evaluated in dialogue with the enthusiasm of the participants. Depending on the characteristics of each group, some of the approximations of Enthusiasm that the exhibition poses will be explored: the cosmogonic construction, the creative potential of everyday life, the performative charge of the body, social activism and self-criticism. Educators: Experimentem amb l ART Preschool and primary education o Title: Obstinately Enthusiastic o Intended for: groups of preschool and primary pupils (preschool Y4 and over) o Groups: group/class o Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes o Type of activity: enhanced learning tour and experimental workshop Adults o Title: Enthusiastic Readings from the MACBA Collection o Intended for: adults over 16 years old o Groups: maximum 25 people, with or without prior reservation o Duration: 1 hour o Type of activity: interactive visit 24

25 Educational service for groups of secondary education pupils Title: Performative Visits Artist/educator: Jordi Ferreiro Intended for: groups of secondary education pupils Groups: group/class Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes Type of activity: performative visit With these performative visits, we invite students and teachers to adopt an active and participatory stance in regard to the artwork and, at the same time, to be participants and creators of a unique, one-off event. These visits work as an introduction to contemporary art, using the performance as the activity s guiding thread. Participants do not simply observe the exhibited works but also experience a visit to an exhibition in a fun and less passive way. The visit consists of a non-linear tour of the exhibition with different proposals for action to create conversation and activate other discourse in regard to the artwork. Led by the artists, we will explore performance as a provocative artistic language capable of transforming the passive viewer into an active subject. Video: 25

26 Educational service for families Title: Bodies that Make Things Artist/educator: Marta Galán Intended for: family groups with children over 6 years old, preferably Groups: maximum 30 people Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes Type of activity: performative visit Based on their own experiences of the body and action, the family group will explore and comprehend the enthusiastic and passionate disposition of the artists who are presented in the exhibition. The activity is not so much about explaining the works and their characteristics but about inhabiting the exhibition space with different guided actions that help to understand the methodologies used by the artists and the social, political and aesthetic commitments that they pose, based on the notion of doing. We offer a fun, participatory exercise for the whole family, which focuses on the body and action and which suggests moving through the exhibition according to one s own physical and performative experience; bodies that make things, make time and make their presence felt in the exhibition space. We invite families to perform the enthusiastic and obstinate gesture that vindicates the emotional intensity of art. Video (final part): Enhanced learning tour for people with Alzheimer's By CCCB Alzheimer Programme Pilot project that wants to explore the interest and viability in the local area of a specific contemporary art educational service for people with Alzheimer's. 26

27 6.2. RELATED ACTIVITIES Depending on the interests of each municipality, Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection provides a programme of activities that will allow the project to be defined in terms of the immediate present, thus giving rise to various temporary activities running alongside the exhibition. This programme is divided into three types of proposal: Conference and conversations Towards an Enthusiastic Reading of Contemporary Art Led by David Armengol, curator of the exhibition. This talk/conference acts as a starting point that empowers the vision of contemporary art from the perspective of enthusiasm, a viewpoint that culminates with two complementary readings: the generic vision of artistic practice through specific references artists, exhibitions, moments, etc. and a story related to the curator s professional biography. Conversations between the curator and the artists Ignasi Aballí and Tere Recarens The conversations with the local artists from the exhibition are designed as a conversation between them and the curator. In accordance with the interests and availability of the municipalities, the two artists participating in the programme will be Ignasi Aballí (on the condition of art) and Tere Recarens (on the biography as a driving force of work). The conversations are aimed at adult members of the public interested in contemporary art, although it is not necessary to have prior knowledge in this field. o Conversation with Ignasi Aballí Artistic Practice: between Doing and not Doing A conversation with Ignasi Aballí on his artistic working methods and procedures. Following a format similar to an interview, Ignasi Aballí and David Armengol will talk about the functionality or dysfunctionality of art, examining the artist s most important projects and exhibitions. o Conversation with Tere Recarens Artistic Practice: the Biography as a Working Tool In this case, the conversation between the artist and the curator will focus on the biographical aspects that determine the artistic processes and dynamics of Tere Recarens. Aspects such as the language and the routines of certain contexts in which the artist has worked will allow some of his most recent projects to be presented. Shaping a Collection A conversation between Antònia Maria Perelló, curator and head of the MACBA Collection, and David Armengol, curator of the exhibition. This dialogue seeks to delve into the lines of work and the dynamics of MACBA. The activity is aimed at adult members of the public interested in contemporary art. 27

28 Performative activities A walk through the natural environment, led by the artist Àngels Ribé, in conversation with David Armengol, curator of the exhibition This activity consists of a walk through nature alongside the artist Àngels Ribé. The activity favours an unusual receptive framework based on dialogue and collective experience. The activity is aimed at artists and people interested in contemporary art Training and activities for artists and people linked to contemporary art from a professional or amateur perspective Workshop on collaborative practices with the artist Mireia Sallarès According to the working methodologies of the artist, the workshop is envisaged as a theoretical and practical approach to processes of research with specific collectives and the dynamics of participation. The activity is aimed at artists and other people interested in social and artistic themes. 28

29 7. TRAVELLING DATES 1. Badalona Sala Josep Uclés. El Carme Cultural Centre From 14 September to 5 November Ripollet Ripollet Cultural Centre From 10 November 2017 to 7 January Vilafranca del Penedès Sala dels Trinitaris From 12 January to 18 February Martorell Muixart. Contemporary Art and Creation Space From 23 February to 6 May Cerdanyola del Vallès Cerdanyola Art Museum From June to August Igualada Igualada Leather and County Museum of L Anoia From 14 September to 4 November Vilanova i la Geltrú La Sala Contemporary Art Centre From 9 November 2018 to 6 January Sant Cugat del Vallès Maristany Art Centre From 17 January to 10 March Terrassa Sala Muncunill From 15 March to 5 May

30 8. MORE INFORMATION Anna Crosas i Barcia Director of the Visual Arts Programme Artistic Dissemination Office (ODA) Department of Culture, Education and Sport Barcelona Provincial Council Urgell, Barcelona Telephone (+34) Fax (+34) crosasba@diba.cat 30