18 September is #ASKACURATOR Day: You ask, the museums answer

September 12th, 2013 No Comments

The CCCB is getting involved in this international initiative together with other cultural institutions with a presence on Twitter

What does curating an exhibition involve? How is the Centre’s activities programme prepared? If you have a question for a department head, director, exhibition curator or any other CCCB staff member, then 18 September is the ideal day for asking it.

We’ve joined the initiative “Ask a Curator Day”: a worldwide event held on Twitter that encourages the public to put questions to the professional experts of cultural institutions worldwide.

Over 400 museums, galleries and centres from over 30 countries will be taking part in this event managed by @MarDixon; including, in Catalonia: the MNAC (@MNAC_museu), the Picasso Museum (@museupicasso), the Natural History Museum (@museuciencies), the Egyptian Museum (@Museu_Egipci), the Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of Lleida (@MuseuMorera), the Rural Life Museum in Espluga de Francolí (@MuseuVidaRural), the general information service @CatalanMuseums and ourselves (@cececebe).

If you want to join in, you can ask a general question with the hashtag #AskaCurator or alternatively satisfy your curiosity by directly addressing one of the participating centres: just use the Twitter username of the corresponding institution (@nameofcentre). Don’t forget to include #AskaCurator in your Tweet so that it forms part of the worldwide conversation.

Queries about exhibitions, audiences, history, challenges for the future, etc. The @cececebe will be on Twitter as every other day, but this time in a special way. On 18 September, we will be on call to answer all your questions on programming and other aspects of our activities that interest you. Depending on the subject, we will be putting your questions to the relevant department head, director, curator or staff member. See you on #Askacurator day!

(Català) Ana Ballesteros: «El problema no és l’extremisme o l’islamisme, sinó com s’instrumentalitza la religió per manipular la gent»

September 12th, 2013 No Comments

Nadeem Aslam, a Window into Pakistan

September 10th, 2013 No Comments

Ana Ballesteros

In the last few years, writing about Pakistan has become an almost obsessive account of what is wrong with the country. Sword, failure, chaos, jihad, frontline, terrorism, war, turmoil, trouble or Armageddon are just some of the words that abound in headlines regarding it since the symbolic date of 11th September 2001 and the subsequent War on Terror. A usually one-sided account of Pakistan leaves us with many questions and a certain feeling of concern, not to say fear.

Nadeem Aslam (© Richard Lea-Hair)

But a country cannot be portrayed in such a restricted way, one which ignores its past and its cultural richness. Nadeem Aslam’s writing contrasts with this monochromatic perception and shows us a world of colour, variety and nuance. The human condition and whatever remains of normality must be expressed; in this way, what is often seen as a failed state finds its foundations in the strength of its people. They, ordinary Pakistanis, are the real heroes of a daily existence that is by no means easy.

Aslam reminds us in his writing that there is a cultural legacy -brilliant, alive, surviving the dark forces of uniformity that threaten the rich heterogeneity of Pakistan. Traditions, stories and names get to live on and even come to life within our own traditions as we try to see them through our own eyes. The touchstone of it all is nothing but human nature: human feelings set in a certain context and a certain time that we can identify with because at certain times in our past, we have experienced them within our own countries, on our own doorsteps, in our own families and right in our own hearts.

That is how we can start to see this troubled area from a human perspective: not with the eyes of analysts, politicians or strategists, but with those of common people who just happened to be in the right or wrong place, at the right or wrong time. ‘The Blind Man’s Garden’ is set between Pakistan and Afghanistan at a time when the lives of its peoples were turned upside down. The story tells us that amidst the turbulence of the times, love, friendship and family prevail.

Nadeem Aslam will visit the CCCB on Monday, 16th of September, at 19:30h. He will read a fragment of his last novel and speak with Ana Ballesteros, an expert in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They will both open a window into Pakistan and the afghan conflict. Tickets can already be purchased at Telentrada or at the CCCB.

ARRIVEDERCI “PASOLINI ROMA”

September 9th, 2013 No Comments

Following its stay at the CCCB, the exhibition will tour Paris, Rome, and Berlin

On Sunday 15 September the exhibition “Pasolini Roma draws to a close at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona and embarks upon its European tour. The exhibition, the product of a project funded by the European Union and the collaboration of four museums, will continue its journey around the continent and make a first stop in Paris (La Cinémathèque Française) on 14 October this year, then will arrive in Rome for the spring (Azienda Palaexpo- Palazzo delle Esposizioni, 3 March 2014) and reach Berlin in the autumn (Martin Gropius Bau, 11 September 2014).

A week from the close of the exhibition in Barcelona, over 30.000 visitors have taken an interest in the story of Pasolini and Rome, a love affair that began in 1950 when he migrated to the city with his mother and that was tragically cut short in 1975, when he was murdered on the beach at Ostia. The exhibition, curated by Alain Bergala, Jordi Balló and Gianni Borgna, documents 25 years of vital and creative experiences by a prolific author who has left an indelible mark on European culture.

Pasolini Roma online

You can also continue to visit the exhibition online at the website www.pasoliniroma.com, which presents a map of the city of Rome with a series of itineraries connecting emblematic spots and that tour the life and work of Pasolini.

The project’s European team has also set up a blog where its members narrate the exhibition’s work in progress: http://blog.pasoliniroma.com/, tell anecdotes and explain interesting titbits about Pasolini, and file documentation relating to the debates and activities that have been organised to coincide with the exhibition. The CCCB programmed the series of talks Thinking Differently. Pasolini and the Critique of Mainstream Culture” and invited artist  Davide Toffolo to direct a workshop on comics and innovation in Pasolini’s work. The record of all the activities, as well as interviews with the curators and other videos generated by the exhibition can be viewed on the website and on the CCCB’s Vimeo channel. On Twitter, you can follow the chat on the exhibition under the hashtag #PasoliniRoma.

Pasolini Roma – Žilda por lacinematheque

Audiovisual piece created by La Cinemàteque. The artist Žilda talks about how the Rome of Pasolini inspired him to create urban art in the streets of the city.  Žilda has created a serie of artistic actions for the exhibition.

The CCCB and Xcèntric Archives, open for the holidays

July 23rd, 2013 2 Comments

CCCB © Adrià Goula, 2008

Besides the playlist of the best CCCB activities available online, another more complete form of seeing the CCCB’s programme is by visiting the CCCB Archive (located in front of the C3Bar or at the exit of the exhibitions and open every day except Monday, from 11 a.m.). In addition to offering some very comfy poufs where you can nod off or enjoy its free Wi-Fi, it offers computers where you can view videos of the debates and more multimedia documents that are not available online. The space is also a good library with books on subjects dealt with during the year by the CCCB.

CCCB © José Antonio Soria, 2012

Fans of experimental and art-house films also have a made-to-measure cinephile’s corner: the Xcèntric Archive (located on Floor 1 of the CCCB, before taking the escalators to go up to the exhibitions). The Xcèntric Archive has accumulated over 700 works by independent artists and experimental filmmakers. If what you want is a small taster or to discover the Archive’s hidden treasures, the audiovisuals team produces the Xcèntric menus, short-duration selections of the best pieces. You will find the Xcèntric menu sheets at the Archive itself.

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