The Collector is Present, new spring event organized by Barcelona Gallery Weekend

On May 19 and 20, 17 galleries in Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Santa Margarida i les Monjos, celebrate the first edition of The Collector is Present. Organized by Barcelona Gallery Weekend, The Collector is Present will be held in 17 galleries in Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Santa Margarida i les Monjos (the Penedès).

Participating galleries have invited collectors to intervene in their spaces for a weekend, actively getting involved in the programming. The result is an agenda of exhibitions, meetings, visits and conversations, which highlight the figure of the collector and his personal collection, underlining the relationship of trust they establish with the gallerists and showing the different ways to approach art and the motivations to acquire it.

The Collector is Present program will serve as a preamble to the 9th edition of Barcelona Gallery Weekend, which will be held in 27 galleries from September 14 to 17. Organized by the Barcelona Art Association, Barcelona Gallery Weekend vindicates the gallery as a fundamental pillar of the artistic ecosystem, and celebrates its contribution to the development of art and culture. All galleries participating in The Collector is Present will also participate in Barcelona Gallery Weekend.

The first edition of The Collector is Present has a diverse program generated through the proposals of 17 galleries and 23 collectors , which combines exhibitions and activities throughout the weekend.

Activities that reflect on the fact of collecting , exhibitions with works from private collections created ad hoc , or pieces that dialogue with ongoing exhibitions , are some of the proposals that gallerists and collectors have prepared for The Collector is Present.

Only during the weekend, the last four acquisitions from the collection of José Ángel Sanz Esquide and Marisa Cortell will be on display at the Joan Prats Gallery (with works by Esther Ferrer, Gilda Mantilla and Raimond Chaves, Jorge Satorre and Perejaume) with the exhibition hosted by the Tadáskía gallery, "rare bird". Friday, May 19, there will be a meeting with the collectors (7 p.m.). At Sala Parés , on Saturday at noon, the collector Jordi Guallar will establish links between some works from his collection and the exhibition "El olvido que nos habita" by Joseba Sánchez Zabaleta, a starting point to reflect on col lectionism in a dialogue with the curator Sergio Fuentes Milà.

In the Marlborough gallery you can hear the recitation of One Million Years, by On Kawara, a piece selected by the collector Josep Maria Civit . The sound intervention will coexist with Santi Moix's exhibition “Carbonífera. Drawings from my trips to Menorca with Macià", a dozen drawings on large format paper made in charcoal and illustrating three trips the artist has made to the island in the last two years. Civit is one of the biggest collectors of Moix.

Friday, May 19 (7 p.m.), collector Pilín de Vilallonga and gallerist Jorge Bravo ( ethall ) will share "An illustrated sequence. Intimate milestones for a shared story." In addition, the collector Asier Tapia and Jorge Bravo will establish a dialogue with Antonio Menchen's "envés" exhibition, incorporating pieces and images from their private collections with the aim of contextualizing, challenging and reclaiming subjectivity own of those who approach art. Saturday 20 May in Ethall (1pm).

The work Queen Elisabeth II by the artist Kepa Garraza will travel from the exhibition hall of the Salvat Foundation to the Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo gallery, to dialogue with Garraza's latest exhibition, "Nuevo Monumentalismo", during the beginning of week Friday 19 May (4.30pm), the collector Javier Peris , president of the Salvat Foundation's board of trustees, and the artist Kepa Garraza, will talk about the correspondence generated in the process of commissioning this work, from the first contact until delivery of the piece.

ADN Galeria inaugurates the exhibition "Back to the Present", which revolves around the presence of the artist Julio Anaya Cabanding at the Colección Manuel Expósito , showing a tour of the historical avant-gardes as reproduced by the artist, where he pays tribute to figures like Olga Rozanova, Malèvitch, or De Chirico. On Friday 19 May (5pm) and Saturday 20 May (12pm) the collector will offer a guided tour of the exhibition, accompanied by a cocktail and a vermouth, respectively.

The Suburbia Contemporary gallery will also inaugurate an exhibition created for the occasion, "Il ritratto di Rosario de Luca", a group exhibition curated by the collector Andrea de Luca . The collector will offer a guided tour on Saturday, May 20 (12:30 p.m.).

The galleries NoguerasBlanchard, Ana Mas Projects and L21 Barcelona present, simultaneously in the three spaces, an exhibition of selected works from the Q. LØSS Collection , focusing on the dialogue that arises between the works of contemporary artists from the local context and 'recognized artists of the historical avant-gardes. Xavier Aballí, as the successor of the previous recently deceased curator Sven Amundsen, and manager of the Q. LØSS Collection in southern Europe, will be in charge of curating this exhibition. Saturday 20 May, the curator will offer a guided tour and vermouth (1.30 pm).

Reflections on collecting

The Mayoral gallery will offer a guided visit to the exhibition "Saura in its context", a display resulting from a collection that prefers to remain anonymous made over the years and which presents works by Saura, Millares, Chillida, Miró, Juana Francés and Tàpies linked to a rupturist art. Ramon Tàssies (Mayoral) will talk about anonymous collectors, as well as the origins of a collection, the motivations of a collector and the importance of a story. Saturday 20 May at the gallery (11.30am).

At the Palmadotze gallery, located in the Penedès region, the collector Berta Caldentey presents a selection of her pieces, creating a context to reflect on the personal process when creating a collection. Palmadotze will open, in addition to May 19 and 20, on the morning of Sunday 21 to offer a presentation of the sample by the collector (12 noon). There will be a bus service from Barcelona to attend (limited places, prior reservation essential at info@palmadotze.com ).

The collector Kalin Coromina is temporarily returning a piece acquired at the Uxval Gochez Gallery . They will reflect together on the personal process involved in adding a new work to their art collection, Friday 19 May (7.30 pm). This activity coexists with the exhibition "Observer", by Marc Gonz, which can be visited throughout the weekend.

Under the title of "Why collect art?", Lluís Bassat (Collection Bassat, Carmen and Lluís Bassat Foundation) will discover in the Lab36 gallery what sparked his interest in starting his collection, which today it houses more than 2,500 works. Friday at 7pm, aimed especially at new and young collectors and suitable for all audiences with prior reservation ( info@lab36.org ). The activity coincides with the exhibition "Manifesto de arte y libertad / Aphorismos", by Mateo Vilagrasa.

ProjecteSD proposes a game of associations between works by the collectors Marisa Cortell and José Ángel Sanz Esquide , Aurelia and Carlos Usandizaga and Gerardo van Waalwijk van Doorn, and works from the gallery's collection. Friday 19 May (6.30 pm) and Saturday 20 (11.30 am) there will be guided presentations. The action will coincide with the exhibition "Never Never Land" by Ana Jotta.

Àngels Barcelona presents “VOICE (s) ON Daniel G. Andújar”, in collaboration with Voice of the Artist, a video with the testimony of collectors Berta Caldentey, Carlos Costa, Gabriela Galcerán, Alfonso Pons, Victoria Quintana and Amira Solh on the work of the artist Daniel G. Andújar. On Saturday (12pm), the artist will offer a visit, in conversation with collectors, to his exhibition "Damnatio Memoriae: alchemists, clowns and masks".

The Bombon Projects gallery will offer a walk with the artist Enric Farrés Duran and the collector Davison Pereira , from Plaça Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer to the gallery, Saturday 20 May (5pm). Reservations at info@bombonprojects.com