Marabunda: loop, Arts Libris, Panoràmic and XXV bonart

Like a marabunda, four quite significant events in the Catalan scene have arrived and had to be compressed during these months of October and November: the Loop fair and festival, Arts Libris Barcelona, the Panoràmic Image Festival and the first events that gave the kick-off of the XXV years of Bonart Cultural in Girona and Barcelona. In addition, we also had in mind the closure of the powerful and always controversial Manifesta 15, full of clear and obscure, which has taken 9 million euros from the citizens of Catalonia.

The truth is that it is still a luxury to have events of this nature in our home, but it is also true that we must not lose our sense of reality and look at how they evolve, what support they receive and how this results in consolidating the ecosystems of proximity, always so weak and on a tightrope.

Let's start with the Panoràmic festival, an ingenuity that arises from the always hyperactive head of the artist and cultural engineer Albert Gusí, with the nuclear support of the image artist Joan Foncuberta, and from the creation factory Roca Umbert de Granollers - new centers They and their entire team have generated a very valuable artefact that is the touchstone in the image and its questioning and that exceeds the limits of Granollers. Reflection, criticism, commitment and internationalization through exhibitions, conferences and thematic conferences. One of the many proposals was inaugurated at the Lluís Coromina Isern Foundation in Barcelona and was an interesting collaboration between Catalonia and Colombia through the eyes of the artists Sandra Rengifo and Roc Parés, with the support of Kostas Tsanakas and the curators Roberta Bosco and Fernando Cuevas. Under the title 'Topografías de la memorias', the exhibition becomes a questioning of the dynamics of capitalism and its behavior with the working classes.

'Topografías de las memorias', Roc Parés i Sandra Rengifo (2024)

But let's move on to a new cultural/artistic adventure, that of another hyperactive - this kind of spirit seems to be concentrated in this profession - Rocío Santacruz and his Arts Libris, which after touring Madrid and Lisbon lands in Barcelona . A proposal that, having to overcome difficulties, and to go itinerant from place to place without stopping, compiles the artistic editorial drive from everywhere, especially from the agents of the peninsula. Paper still has its space, its prestige, its glamour, its presence value and its corporeality, its materiality as an asset. As in Panoràmic, there is support from the administrations, but they are certainly too relevant not to devote a little more attention to them. Oil is extracted - now that we are in the age of electricity maybe not the best comparison - for relatively little money. And whether we like it or not, having a budget is equivalent to being able to do things more loosely, without having to stress the teams.

And for stressed and also hyperactive, the people of the festival and the Loop fair almost win hands down. A fair that is a global reference, where it is not easy to sell because the culture of video art is recent, despite the fact that it started in the 70s. A fair that took a curious format inside a hotel and the rooms serve as creative-audiovisual Pandora's boxes. The festival is something else, with a lot of interesting proposals and surprising discoveries, such as the long tradition of video arts by the Majorcan artist Bernardí Roig, of which a small taste could be seen in the Miguel Marcos gallery, which little by little is entering this sector.

Otras manchas en el silencio, Bernardí Roig (2011)

And we end the tour with the first two events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Bonart magazine. The first, on November 19, the day of the birth of our media, with 10 awards to 10 people or articulating entities from the Girona regions, in the "la Caixa" space in Girona and, a few days later, the November 22, at the Caixafòrum in Barcelona, with 10 more awards to organizations from all over Catalonia and Andorra. The truth is that it has been more than a year of preparation by the Bonart team and the adoption Bonartians who have helped, it turned out as we wanted and it was an injection of adrenaline to be able to bring together such diverse people from the sector under the same umbrella, under the same spaces, and we must especially emphasize the strategic support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, to whom I want to thank for their effort and complicity, as well as that of the Diputació de Girona. (Add a link to the website news where all the prizes are)

In short, a good end to the year that does not stop bringing us good feelings, with projects that do not stop and that do not stop growing through the manager and cultural consultant. Communicating culture and managing it, two great goals that we have been practicing for 25 years and that we will never tire of continuing to practice with the help and complicity of artists, gallerists, museologists, cultural managers, collectors, art lovers , conscientious politicians and proactive entrepreneurs and publicists. Thank you for being there throughout this period of ups and downs, of illusions and disappointments, but which lead us to be a reference, because we have already made history in contemporary Catalan artigraphy.

VI Premis Bonart i acte de celebració dels XXV anys a Barcelona.