Culture

Barcelona's Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA) is entering a new period, under the leadership of Ferran Barenblit, born in Buenos Aires in 1968. The international competition opened to choose MACBA's new director has resulted in the hiring of Barenblit, who until the present day was Director of Madrid's CA2M Art Centre. Previously, the Argentinean manager had been Director of Barcelona’s Santa Mónica Art Centre (from 2003 to 2008). The MACBA opened a public competition in March, after the previous Director, Bartomeu Marí, resigned in the wake of the great controversy surrounding the last-minute cancellation of a temporary exhibition because one of the sculptures depicted the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, being sodomised by a dog. The sculpture had been designed by the Austrian artist Ines Doujak. Marí decided to cancel the opening, provoking loud protests from curators and a significant public controversy, with accusations of censorship being aimed at the director.

For the last few weeks, the word 'Cruïlla' has been monopolising conversations with my friends. This started to happen since we decided to go to Cruïlla Festival 2015, a relatively young Barcelona music festival taking place from the 10^th to the 12^th of July at Parc del Fòrum (an enormous setup on the seafront). As we are all foreigners not yet proficient in this country's language, for us the word 'Cruïlla' became like a mantra: we kept repeating it, ignoring the fact that it had real meaning by itself. We later found out that it is a Catalan term for 'crossroads'. Indeed, this music event is conceived as a real place of encounter not just among artists coming from all over the world (45 in total this year), but especially among people coming to enjoy the music (46,000 overall). As performances vary greatly in style, very different crowds intermingle, providing the event with a pleasantly eclectic flavour and a tolerant soul.

A new tourist route tour dedicated to American writer and Nobel Prize winner Ernst Hemingway will be launched on 24 July in Tortosa, a southern Catalan city located in the Ebre Delta. The opening will take place during the 20th edition of the Renaissance Festival, an annual international event picturing life during the 16th century and attracting tourists from all over the world. The launch of the new route aims at celebrating Hemingway's short stay in the Catalan city in 1938, during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). It also follows the restoration of the largest air-raid shelter in the town and the renaming of the street where it is located after the American author.

The eighth edition of Festival Cruïlla Barcelona will run Friday through Sunday at Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona. The spectacle features an eclectic lineup of 45 artists, 18 of which hail from Spain. In addition to the three nights of music, there will be performances of castellers – a Catalan tradition of building human towers – along with displays by famous graffiti artists and a selection of music documentaries. Among the main acts are Kendrick Lamar, FFS (Franz Ferdinand + Sparks), Ms. Lauryn Hill, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Jamie Cullum.

Partner and director of El Bulli restaurant for over 30 years, Juli Soler, died Monday morning, Ferran Adrià confirmed with ACN. He was 66. Soler suffered from a neurodegenerative disease for over two years that forced him to abandon the BulliFoundation project to focus on his recovery. Doctors diagnosed the disease in October 2012. Soler was the person who hired the chef Ferran Adrià in the early '80s before El Bulli became the best restaurant in the world. Both always worked closely together and shared the executive direction of BulliFoundation from its inception.

Barcelona's summer Festival Grec is the city’s main yearly event for stage arts, taking place from the 1st to the 31st of July. On Tuesday, its unofficial opening took place with two free outdoor concerts by local artists, while on Wednesday the official opening ceremony on, with a new dance show by Catalan company 'La Veronal'. This year, during the 'unofficial inauguration' of the festival, the Catalan pop-rock band Obeses performed, presenting its new album 'Monsters and princesses' accompanied by the Barcelona Municipal Band. The concert was followed by Oques Grasses' show, a local band very popular among young audiences and winner by popular vote of the Enderrock 2014 award for best group revelation of 2013.

FiraTàrrega, an international event for the performing arts held in Lleida, and the Catalan performing arts scene in general are considered "very inspiring" by British art professionals. On Sunday, they were both back at the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF) in London, the UK capital’s leading event of free outdoor performing arts. In particular, five Catalan performing art companies and Mike Ribalta (FiraTàrrega's Head of professionals dept.) participated in the GDIF 2015 Showcase, a meeting of international programmers, in order to present their new projects and seek partnerships. This year, the British festival also has two Catalan productions in its programme: Toc de fusta and Brodas Bros.

The Barcelona sculptor Jaume Plensa, one of the most internationally renowned Catalan artists, will have an exhibition from 27 June until 15 November at the Ceret Modern Art Museum in Northern Catalonia. The display, 'The Silence of Thought' ('El silenci del pensament'), is a selection of works that speak "of the body, the soul and the word", and one that will serve as an overview of his work. The sculptor is particularly famous for his sculptures of giant heads and people sitting in the foetal position. Plensa encourages visitors to "enjoy and have fun" because, thanks to the "intimate spaces and cosy human scale" of the museum and the use of light and shadows, they can fully understand his sculptural universe. The exhibition consists of three creative installations, each with their own room, and five monumental faces of alabaster and bronze.

The Institut Ramon Llull (IRL) is a public body in charge of promoting Catalan culture and language abroad. On Thursday, "it expressed optimism for the first time" about a collaboration with the new Governments of Valencia and the Balearic Islands, both led by left-wing coalitions. The Director of the institute, Àlex Susanna, said that, following the May 2015 elections, "positive signs" are emerging but still could not confirm any conclusive agreement. According to him, the new political landscape opens a "great opportunity" to promote the international mobility of artists and intellectuals from Catalan-speaking territories. Asked about the new Head of Barcelona City Council – part of the consortium constituting the institute – Susanna said that he foresees "continuity" with the work of previous local Executives.

The 22^nd edition of Sónar, the largest electronic music festival in Europe, roared out of the gate Thursday in Barcelona. Considered the "most ambitious" iteration of the festival in Sónar's history, this year's programme has 147 performances scheduled between the festival's two campuses – Sónar by Day at Fira Montjüic and Sónar by Night at Fira GranVia – from Thursday to Saturday. But apart from the musical acts, there is a greater presence of audiovisual and technological shows than ever before. In addition, Sónar+D is an international tech conference at the festival geared toward artists, entrepreneurs and businesses and features over 120 activities and networking opportunities, showcasing big-name companies like Kickstarter, Google and Vimeo.The festival's biggest attractions include The Chemical Brothers, Skrillex, Duran Duran, Die Antwoord, A$AP Rocky, FKA Twigs, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX and Arca.

On Tuesday, Laurent Le Bon, Chairman of the Picasso Museum in Paris, visited Horta de Sant Joan (also known as 'Horta' or 'Orta'). This village – located in the Province of Tarragona (south Catalonia) – has a profound connection with the art of Picasso, as the Malaga-born artist lived and painted there during two periods of his life. During the visit – part of a tour of the most important Spanish spots for the painter – Le Bon expressed his full support for the creation of a new Picasso museum in this Catalan village, an initiative promoted by the Picasso Centre of Horta de Sant Joan. "In this place it is still possible to feel the spirit of Picasso", he said. "The artist did not travel much, but here we can see how he revolutionised the way the world is represented through art", he added. Commenting on the idea of opening a new museum in Horta, Le Bon said "it's a project that I believe in. I give it all my support and we will work together."

For the first time in 11 years, the internationally-renowned Basque artist Eduardo Chillida has an exclusive exhibit on display in Barcelona. Since 20 April, the Mayoral Gallery has hosted the Chillida exhibition, 'Awakening' ('Despertar'). The exhibition is comprised of a carefully curated selection of sculptures, drawings and prints, as well as supplementary material for his monumental works photographs and the video 'Art and Dreams' ('El arte y los sueños'). Among the works are two emblematic sculptures, 'La estela' and one of the pieces from the series 'Trembling Iron' ('Hierros de temblor'). Barcelona displays 3 large-scale sculptures of Chillida in the Gothic Quarter and in parks. In 2004, the Jordi Barnadas art gallery hosted the last individual exhibition devoted to the artist held in the Catalan capital.

The 22nd edition of Barcelona’s Sónar festival – one of Europe's most well-known electronic music events – is about to kick off, taking place between the 18th and 20th of June. This year, Sónar's activities are divided into two main locations: Sónar by Day and Sónar+D (the professional event on digital creative industries) will be held in Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic venue, with Sónar by Night taking place at the Fira GranVia L'Hospitalet venue. The festival features 147 concerts (morning, afternoon and night sessions) in addition to 120 activities related to Sónar+D, which this year makes an ambitious leap forward in comparison to previous editions. The eclectic 2015 line-up includes several internationally renowned artists. Among the most famous ones appearing on stage will be: The Chemical Brothers, Autechre, Skrillex, Hot Chip, Die Antwoord, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX, Arca and Duran Duran.

The Fundació Joan Miró museum in Barcelona is to redistribute its rooms and include a new set of 20 works from the Miró family collection. The Mirós’ collection and the Japanese Kazumasa Katsuta collection, currently exhibited in a special room, will now be included in the permanent collection. The Fundació Miró is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an extensive programme of activities, including exhibitions, music and dancing. The 10th of June will be an Open Doors Day at the museum, and during the next months all those born in 1975 will be able to enter the Fundació for free.

In 15 years, Primavera Sound has established itself as the most international musical festival in Southern Europe and a global point of reference in the realm of urban music events, particularly among indie and pop fans. With more than 190,000 festival-goers expected this year, the core of the show takes place in Barcelona's Fòrum Park - an enormous setup by the sea - from Thursday the 28^th to Saturday the 30^th of May. During this 3-day-session, a total of 193 concerts will be held, with international artists performing non-stop from the afternoon (around 5 p.m.) until the next morning. The 2015 line-up looks once again to be pretty spectacular: The Black Keys, Interpol, The Replacements, alt-J, Underworld, Damien Rice, Belle & Sebastian, The Strokes, Patti Smith, Tori Amos, Antony and the Johnsons, Ride, Caribou and many (many) others will be playing on the 8 main stages of the festival. 49 concerts can be followed in high definition streaming on both the web and via the festival’s official app.