This weekend, I visited the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, also widely known as the MACBA. This has been on my list ever since arriving in Spain to study abroad, but I never got the chance to visit until now. The MACBA is a cultural monument here in Barcelona, architecturally designed by American architect Richard Meier. The museum holds many works from the late 20th century to now, including various permanent collections, rotating installations, and various workshops. It’s important to note that the MACBA is also home to skate culture in Barcelona, the open space in front of the museum is a destination for skaters all over the world. Creativity radiates from the blocks surrounding the museum, with skaters, graffiti artists and art, and an overall inspiring community that flock to the general area.
When walking towards the MACBA’s entrance, lined among one of the walls is a mural by famous street and pop artist, Keith Haring. The mural titled “Mural del Sida” was created by Haring in 1989, also known as “Todos juntos podemos parar el SIDA”, which means “Together We Can Stop AIDS”. Haring painted this mural in Raval for free, in the last years of his life. This mural has been reproduced with approval of the Haring foundation over the course of the last 35 years, reproducing its legacy.
Inside the actual museum, I explored various art exhibitions as well as the permanent collection. One of my favorites was the Visual Origin exhibit, featuring various film and video medium based works by the Film Video Informacio (FVI) group in Barcelona created in June of 1977. This exhibit highlighted works from 1976 to 1988, particularly in the field of experimental film using super 8 and 16 mm film. The FVI was one of the firsts of its kind in Barcelona in the 1970s to create revolutionary art, collaging various elements of poetry, photography, film, and audio components.
Another art piece that caught my attention within the MACBA was the piece Activissimme, by Iván Argote (2011–2013). Activissimme is presented as a series of various workshops for children ages 4 to 8, with the purpose to develop critical thinking skills, to inspire young minds, and to help children form their own opinions through classes surrounding language games and playful situations. I found this to be quite the inspiring project, and admire the importance of kids using their voices and being heard.
Lastly, one of my favorite exhibitions from the MACBA was Habitus, by Xavier Ribas (2008). Ribas is well known for his photography surrounding aspects of the varying ways of life in contemporary cities around the world. In his project Habitus, he focused on different neighborhoods across Barcelona including La Mina, Bellvitge, and Can Serra, among others. This particular project analyzed photographs documenting different social classes, and working class citizens and immigrants in stigmatized, overcrowded areas. The name, Habitus, refers to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieo’s concept of the “habitus or disposition in the way of acting, thinking, or feeling associated with social class. The habitus means that people from the same social environment end up sharing a way of life”.
I’m grateful that I got to end my art tour of Europe in one of the most influential museums of the city I have come to love and adore, Barcelona. Thank you all for following along with my adventures surrounding European art.
