Tecla Sala Art Centre DOES Our garden needs its flowers Exhibition
2021
"2021 CIUTAT DE BARCELONA AWARD"
Our Garden Needs Its Flowers
Artistic flows and narratives in L’Hospitalet’s cultural district
Curated by David Armengol and Albert Mercadé
Creative Direction and Design Curation by DOES Work
Our Garden Needs Its Flowers is the title of the debut album by African musicians Jess Sah Bi and Peter One, released in Côte d’Ivoire in 1985. Sung in Guro, English and French, the album is a wonderful tribute to the folk music of the seventies, fusing local sounds with foreign influences. Besides its sonorous nature, the use of this phrases as the exhibition title also suggests a poetic license that, from the curatorial perspective, would enable us to establish a simile between it and contemporary art and to highlight two key aspects in our project:, firstly, that of placing the visual arts and music on the same level within the context of L’Hospitalet; and, secondly, establishing parallel between the need to tend the flowers in an imaginary garden and the need to cultivate the artistic potential in the cultural environment of L’Hospitalet. In both cases, the word “our”, the feeling of belonging, forming part of something, is essential, manifested here in all its richness and plurality.
Since 2015, more than three hundred artists have chosen the city of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat as their creative home. Musicians, designers and visual artists now live side-by-side in redeveloped spaces in the city’s former industrial zone, which has become one of the main cultural hubs in the metropolitan area. Taking a natural, spontaneous approach, this exhibition aims to illustrate the different artistic flows, synergies and narratives that have been generated in the district. Moreover, adopting the principles laid down by Gilles Clément for the landscape, we propose a rough, wild journey through a series of islands of artistic intensity where creators’ shared concerns intersect: cultivation and vindication of material; the dialectic between nature and technology; the expansive dynamics of painting; the deconstruction of the artistic gaze; cultural activism; and so on. Based on an intimate dialogue with the works and using local materials, a team of designers from L’Hospitalet, commissioned by Does Work, took charge of art direction and graphic image (Oriol Cabarrocas and Guillermo Lucena) and also designed the room (Sociedad 0). Music and sound are also woven into the show in a choral project aimed at portraying the artistic and transversal vitality of the cultural ecosystem in L’Hospitalet.
Artists: Francesca d’Alfonso, Rafael Barradas, Arnau Blanch, Lucía C. Pino, Mireia C. Saladrigues, Ludovica Carbotta, Joan Claret, Paco Chanivet, Jordi Colomer, Germán Consetti, Guillaume Darribau, Pere Díez, Quico Estivill, Arash Fayez, Lara Fluxà, David Franklin, Neus Frigola, Carles Gabarró, Duncan Gibbs, Xavier Grau, Matteo Guidi, Marc Herrero, María I. Barros, La Infinita, Víctor Jaenada, Samuel Labadie, Andrea Leria, Raúl Lobo Baroja, Laura Llaneli, Óscar Martín, Berto Martínez Tello, Paola Massi, Dolores Mendy, Antoni Muntadas, Nevenka Pavic, Rasmus Nilausen, Raúl Páez, Alex Palacín, Diego Paonessa, Ayelen Peressini, Mercedes Pimiento, Mònica Planes, German Portal, Pablo del Pozo, Maria Pratts, Antonio R. Montesinos, Alfredo Sánchez, Mario Santamaria, Isabel Servera, Sitesize, Lolo&Sosaku, TAKK, Pep Vidal, Martin Vitaliti.
Design Curation
The curatorial direction of the section devoted to design was established in response to a long, ongoing debate about form and function and the object. The museum is a space filled with objects and materials, most of which occupy it and comprise the work we see and which give meaning to the space. However, other objects also exist and coexist in that same space, accompanying the works or responding to the needs of the museum and its institutional functioning. Fire extinguishers, chairs for security personnel and hydroalcoholic gel dispensers, among other things, are objects that act as functional “prostheses “for the works, the space or the museum. A selection of designers from L’H Cultural District explored this relationship, so that they both took part in the exhibition and helped to make it possible. As a result, the objects reinterpreted or produced operate as both work and function, the significance of their presence in the space becoming blurred as they provide basic structures to articulate the exhibition.
Design participants: Èlia Bagó, BoO Barcelona, Oriol Cabarrocas, Júlia Creuheras, Cristian Herrera, Guillermo Lucena, Max Milà i Laura Sebastianes, Josep Novell, Polígono 69, Sara Torres, Sociedad 0, TAKK.
credits
Curated by David Armengol and Albert Mercadé
Creative Direction and Design Curation by DOES Work
Music curation by Sala Salamandra
Space design and production by Ignacio Ezcurra, Juan Ezcurra and Mateo Palazzi (Sociedad 0)
Graphic Design by Oriol Cabarrocas and Guillermo Lucena
Produced by Tai Sans
Photography by Dani Pujalte
Thanks to Districte Cultural L'H