Pure Modernity at the Museum

At the Reina Sofia Museum there is the wonderful exhibition A.C. La revista del GATEPAC (1931-1937). By the title one never would guess the vastness, rigor and quality of such an exhibition. In my opinion it could have been called "The various origins of modernity" or something like this: there are architectural plans, models, photography, painting, sculpture, cinema all originals. And have a look at the names: Le Corbusier, Sert, Gropius, Mies (the full scale originals of the Tugendhant), Man Ray, Neutra (the most amazing original perspectives in pencil of the Lowell House and some urban projects), Arp, lots of the best Miro, Picasso, Aalto, Terragni, exceptional sculptures by Julio Gonzalez, films by Buñuel...

It is almost impossible to see it properly in one day. It should be better advertized the excellence of this fountain of knowledge.

Visuality in the Digital era

Net.art is to our era what Cubism and Purism were to industrialization. Back in the beginnings of the 20th century people were disguised by the formal discoveries of the historical avant-garde, because they challenged what art had been until then. Internet has changed our world because it has changed our relation with it, that is undeniable. Art is still about making visible that part of the world that only makes sense when is seen.

Well, again, people fear to be teased by digital art and new media when they visit the exposition "Souls & Machines" at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. The combination of "art, technology, mystery, emotion and beauty" makes this exhibition, together with Javier Riera´s "Noche Áurea", worth visiting. Visuality is alive, long life to art. Have a look (which means enjoy in this context) to the work of Sachiko Kodama on ferrofluids and electromagnetic camps: it is a film, just a film, that shows what happens in front of your eyes when you are before the work at the museum.

Picasso, París y Madrid

Por primera y única vez se pueden ver juntas las colecciones del Museo Reina Sofía de Madrid y del Museo Picasso de París. Aproximadamente cuatrocientas obras (algunas de ellas las hemos visto en clase al analizar Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon) se han podido juntar en España porque se está remodelando el museo parisino. Son cuatro salas, y si se quiere disfrutar la visita se debería ver una sala a la vez, o al menos hacer descansos entre sala y sala. Los sábados por la tarde es gratis la entrada y cierran a las nueve de la noche (el último autobús de la Sepulvedana sale de Madrid a las 10). El museo tiene una excelente biblioteca en la extensión diseñada por Jean Nouvel (la vimos también en clase en los casos de estudio del primer ejercicio) a la que se puede entrar libremente. Tiene unos fondos estupendos de arte (no así de arquitectura).

Las precisas y rigurosas deformaciones de las obras de Picassso siguen siendo una enseñanza para todo el que tenga que enfrentarse al problema de la forma por oficio.
¡A disfrutar!