Barcelona is a great city to discover new art and culture and if contemporary art is your thing or if you fancy learning a bit more about the world of contemporary art and culture, MACBA is the perfect destination. Opened to the public in 1995, it has gained international reputation for their collections and exhibitions of contemporary art. MACBA’s mission is to offer the public a diverse range of art and visions, challenging our ideas of contemporary art and enabling us to further educate ourselves, asserting Barcelona as a prominent hot spot on the world art scene.
A single adult ticket costs €10.00 and for a student just €8, which gives you access to the current four exhibitions: A.XMI, Miserachs Barcelona, Species of Space and Desires and Necessities. Each exhibition is completely different and offers a different interpretation and vision of contemporary art.
Xavier Misercah
A.XMI
12th Nov. 2015- 28th March 2016
Xavier Misercahs exhibition is based on photographs and contains over 60,000 negatives and 20,000 slides. A selection of his photographic collection will be used in this exhibition with the aim to illustrate his multiple projects and careers Miserachs had such as photojournalism and publishing. His photographs provide an insight into the daily lives of ordinary people as well as portraits of prominent people from the socio-cultural world. Each photo and slide are an intriguing insight into the time they were taken and the world around them, as well as the subject themselves. This relatively small and simple exhibition is an interesting insight into the world of photography and something anyone can enjoy.
Xavier Miserach Photograph Exhibition
Miserachs Barcelona
18th Sep. 2015-28th March 2016
Xavier Miserachs also has ‘Miserachs Barcelona’ on show at the MACBA which is an exiting journey of photos through Barcelona, showing the creative energy of the city and its inhabitants off to the viewer. The city comes alive in Miserachs exhibitions, as you walk through the huge pictures which are all aligned differently and set in front of bright colour lighting so it feels as if you are actually walking through Barcelona in the sixties. The photos are far from perfect imagery but it gives the exhibition its realism, making it a raw urban experience.
Species of Space
The Species of Space
16th July 2015-24th April 2016
This exhibition looks at the way humans exist in different spaces, looking at the way our lives play out and the correlation between us and our spatial realty. It looks at the way space can define us as humans and affect our existence. The exhibition looks at spaces and considers how we exist, move, act, think and live within them. It challenges our ideas about existence and makes you question our lives whilst also being relatable and thought provoking.
Installation by Younes Rahmoun
Desires and Necessities
18th June 2015- 30th May 2016
The final exhibition,is based upon a series of chapters focusing on different groups of works that cover a wide range of over six decades. The collection at MACBA contains over 6,000 pieces varying from classic contemporary art too minimalism.
A simple yet interesting piece in this exhibition came from the Moroccan artist Younes Rahmoun who presents an installation made of seventy-seven lanterns, grouped in ten petal showed arrangements which together make one big flower. The lanterns represent the seventy-seven branches of faith in Islam. His work is strongly influenced by Zen and philosophy and the role of mathematics and philosophy in the Muslim tradition.
Not only do the current exhibitions at MACBA open you’re eyes to several takes on contemporary art it also gives you some time out from the outside world, with spaces to relax, a bookshop to browse along with free WIFI. MACBA really does let get fully informed and immerse yourself in a world of contemporary art, in their beautiful building in the centre of El Raval.
