Maguí Noguer, director of the Valvi Foundation: "Our motto is 'a cultural space with open doors to the city'"

On January 23 at 7:30 p.m., the exhibition One Hundred Artists opens on the ground floor of the Casa de la Cultura and the old Girona Library. At this event, all the Girona authorities and personalities who have been linked during these twenty years to the Valvi Foundation, a private non-profit foundation located in the city of Girona and created by Joaquim Vidal Perpiñà in 2004, will be present. The exhibition will be open to the public until March 2, 2024.

This entity devotes its efforts to the dissemination of culture in the field of plastic arts, literature (it publishes its own collection under the name of Biblioteca Valvi), poetry, music and video art, always with artists closely linked to Girona counties. Over the course of these twenty years, various individual exhibitions of contemporary art from all disciplines such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, engraving, installations and video art have been held there.

In total, the Foundation has made 114 exhibitions of which 14 have been anthological, 28 of maturity, 36 of personal memory, 19 of new talents, 17 duets, 5 new looks and 5 collective or documentaries in collaboration with institutions . Regarding the artists who have exhibited at the Valvi Foundation: 48 artists have been from Girona, 59 from the regions and 13 foreigners closely linked to the Girona regions.

The Foundation also publishes a free catalog with images of the work and a study made by different historians and art critics for each exhibition it presents. In addition, book launches, poetry recitals, lectures and round tables, as well as small-format concerts are also held. It should be noted that entry to the exhibition halls and attendance at all these activities is free.

On the occasion of the Valvi Foundation's twentieth anniversary, we talk to Maguí Noguer, director of the Valvi Foundation in Girona.

Tell us about the beginnings of the Valvi Foundation

The Valvi Foundation is the evolution of the Studium Foundation for sport, environmentalism and culture that arose in 1996. Back then, it primarily sponsored Girona basketball, achieving the promotion of the Valvi Girona team to the first division, and already had a small exhibition hall. Currently, the headquarters is located in the same place with the new name of Fundació Valvi, it reopened its doors on March 2, 2004, renovated with two exhibition rooms: Sala Mercè Huerta, and Sala M. Martí i Pol with an auditorium attachment that also bears the name of the poet and has a capacity for a total of 90 people.

How would you summarize the main objectives of the Foundation

The aim of our Foundation is not exclusively focused on the visual arts, as it is also open to music and the Catalan language, and through the Valvi Awards it recognizes people or entities that stand out in the preservation of our landscape heritage , cultural and in the field of solidarity. Our motto is "a cultural space with open doors to the city".

On the occasion of the Foundation's twenty-year anniversary, you organized the "One Hundred and Twenty Artists" exhibition at the Casa de la Cultura in Girona...

It is a collective exhibition of the Art Fund collection of the Valvi Foundation. This exhibition refers to the 120 catalogs that we have edited for all the temporary exhibitions that we have held during these twenty years at the Foundation. It should be noted that there are exhibitions that are duets. We have also added the artists who will exhibit their work in 2024 and 2025. The criteria we follow for these shows is that of excellence with all styles from the most classic to the artists who are more multidisciplinary. We can say that we have a range that covers everything!!! As it is fine art, a particular collection will be randomly placed to the collector's taste. Since we will contrast (with the aim of achieving an affinity), and mix disciplines in order to establish a dialogue between sculpture, painting, photography, video art, etc. The sample has two very distinct parts. The first, which is the large one that covers the painting section, the installation and the sculpture, while the second will be located in the old Library, which the Casa de la Cultura de Girona has opened exclusively for us this occasion In this section, visitors will be able to appreciate pieces of drawing, painting, photography and engraving, all of which are works on paper of different sizes and dimensions. We have only made this distinction. This is the only differentiating concept and that we wanted to place in a random way to make the viewer think, since he will have to think about what is the criterion we have followed, here is the fun!!! The criterion may be form, concept, color, visual, etc. But the most important thing we want to do, the excuse is the Foundation's twenty years of life, is the catalog with recognized art critics and historians that we will present at the end of this February 2024. It must be said that the production of This catalog is thanks to the collaboration of the Diputació de Girona. This new catalog provides a significant summary of all the artists who have participated in both national and international exhibitions. It should be noted that all of them have their workshop located in the regions of Girona. It should be noted that in the statutes of the Valvi Foundation there is a motto written which is that the Foundation wants to be "an open door to the city within the world of plastic arts". And therefore we must also thank all the public who have come to the openings of our temporary exhibitions over the years. All the artists who have exhibited have been linked to the Girona counties, and for all these twenty years we have taken care of going to visit them in their workshop for every exhibition we have organized. Of these 120 artists, we have calculated that sixty are from Girona and fifty are foreign.

Who is Joaquim Vidal Perpiña?

Joaquim is a patron who has always had the Foundation since 1996, when he decided to open the Studium Foundation for sport, environmentalism and culture that arose in 1996. At that time he primarily sponsored Girona basketball, achieving the promotion of the Valvi Girona team to the first division, and it already had a small exhibition hall. Currently, Vidal, through the Foundation, sponsors the Landscape, Culture and Solidarity Preservation Awards and is also linked to the Spar Girona women's basketball team.

Can you name some of the people who have been awarded the Valvi Awards?

Every year we publish a small booklet with the prize winners. The 2023 Valvi Foundation prize winners have been: Josep Cassú i Serra (Bordils, 1941) for the Joan Saqués i Roca Award; the Health us Nepal entity for the Salvador Sunyer and Aimeric Award; the Farners Excursionist Center for the Joaquim Codina i Vinyes Award. The Foundation presented a unique work by Emili Biarnès to each of the prize winners.

Of these exhibitions, which ones would you highlight the most or which have had the most impact on the Girona public?

Perhaps the retrospectives, as they are a recognition of each artist's professional career. In short, I think they have all been important, because all the artists are asked to make the exhibition unique and designed exclusively for the Valvi Foundation's exhibition space.

You also publish books from the Foundation...

Yes, it's true, since the Foundation has its own publishing house. It should be remembered that the last publication of the Valvi Library is number 35, which is the biography of the sculptor Pic Olives, that nothing had been written about him until now, nor had any study been done.

Regarding scholarships, will there continue to be the same ones or will you incorporate any new ones? And what kind of scholarships are they?

We have a pending study on the character of Santiago Russinyol. The collection of the Valvi Foundation publishes books and, through grants, asks for anthologies and biographies. On the other hand, we also do about classic writers from Girona.

In terms of the music industry, you are also very active…

Yes, with this world, there are always new virtuoso pianists coming from the Liceu de Barcelona and the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). We organize a cycle of seven concerts by young virtuoso pianists, which we always celebrate in the spring. We also act as collaborators and sponsors in different Girona Music Festivals such as: the Strenes Festival (Young Talents section), Summer-Jazz Festival, the Girona and Costa Brava Guitar Festival and we have also been participating for six years in the Girona Film Festival (video art section, as we were the creators of this section). On the other hand, we are also sponsors of the Temporada Alta Festival and collaborate with the Inund'Art Festival in Girona, with a performance at the headquarters of the Valvi Foundation. Future and news of the Valvi Foundation

The foundation's raison d'être is...

It must be said that we were born out of the need for empty exhibition halls in Girona city. Currently I think we will continue with the same philosophy. On the other hand, it should be noted that we have incorporated an assistant director to continue with the work of the Foundation, who is an art historian, and whose name is Germina Bastardas. She is responsible for helping me in the selection of exhibitions and is my right hand. Thanks to its incorporation, we want to enhance the presence of the Valvi Foundation in social networks and throughout the world of new technologies.